Pov Daria
So I took advantage of what they didn't know.
My wolf.
They had no idea what it meant for me to stop being just Daria for a few hours. They didn't know that every time she emerged—my other half, the wild one, the cunning one—it wasn't just a shift in shape. It was a surrender. A yielding.
I slipped through the forest like a shadow among shadows. The night air brushed my skin like icy blades. The humans were close. I smelled the metal before I saw them. Their flashlights tore through the darkness like open wounds.
Idiots. They didn't realize the forest was watching. That the dark wasn't their enemy, but their judge.
I hid behind a moss-covered trunk. The wolf in me wanted to advance, to intimidate, to strike. But I knew we were one now. And I had to think like her: fast, precise, invisible.
"Did you see that?" one of the humans whispered. "Were those tracks?"
"Animal tracks? No... they look... barefoot?"
The second one lowered his voice.
"You think the legends...?"
The legends, I thought. They meant us. Tavern tales, stories children whisper with excitement and adults dismiss with nervous laughter.
But they weren't just stories. We were real. And they were dangerously close to finding out.
I clenched my jaw. I had to drive them away without raising suspicion. Without revealing what I truly was.
What would she do? I asked myself.
What would the wolf do—fearless, lawless?
And then I knew.
I howled.
Not a war cry. Not a savage scream. A warning howl—low, deep, distant.
The humans froze.
"Was that...?"
"A wolf."
"That close? Aren't they supposed to stay in the mountains?"
"I'm not sticking around to find out. Let's go. This isn't worth it."
I watched them turn back. Watched the tension in their shoulders melt as fear replaced curiosity. I stayed until their lights vanished among the trees.
Only when silence returned to the forest... I smiled.
My wolf had won this time.
The moment my feet touched the forest floor, the cold embraced me just as sweetly as before… but now, I couldn't afford to enjoy it. My breathing was steady, nearly held back. Every sound—the snap of a twig, the brush of fabric, the invisible footsteps of the night—could be a clue… or a threat.
Shaleen said nothing at first. But I felt her unease.
"Are you sure about this?"
"No," I whispered. "But it's the right thing to do."
The silence stretched so long I thought she had decided not to answer.
Until her voice returned—deeper, more instinctive.
"Be careful trusting what you see. Humans lie with their eyes too."
She said no more. Just left that warning echoing in my chest—impossible to ignore.
I moved through the underbrush with soft steps, using the knowledge my pack had carved into my bones. I wasn't a warrior. Not yet. But I knew this forest. And it knew me.
Then I felt it: a change in the wind. A scent that didn't belong.
Metal, sweat, smoke… and something else: fear.
I crouched behind a fallen trunk, sharpening my hearing. It wasn't the same group—I could tell by the number of steps, the voices. There were more. Another patrol maybe. Or the same ones... returning.
Voices. Three men. Walking slowly, like they were searching for something. Like they knew there was more than trees and birds in these woods.
One of them stopped. His flashlight swept the terrain. The light froze just meters away from me.
I held my breath. One wrong move and we'd be exposed.
"You see that?" one said.
"No. Just branches," the other replied. "Though… don't you think it's weird to find tracks so close to the clearing?"
The clearing. Damn it.
I had to get them out. But I couldn't shift. Not here. Not this close.
I thought fast. Picked up a stone and tossed it with perfect aim toward the far side of the woods. A loud, dry crack.
"There!" one shouted.
They all ran toward the sound. The time I bought was short… but enough.
I rose and slipped between the trees like a shadow with a purpose. I had to reach the clearing before them. I had to erase the tracks.
I had to protect the secret. Even if it meant losing myself in the lie.
But the air shifted again.
A new scent entered the scene. Thicker. Familiar, but twisted. Wolves.
Not mine. Not from the pack.
Renegades.
My pulse quickened.
I followed cautiously, unsure why. Something in me needed to know what they were doing so close to the humans. They were right at the border, far too exposed.
And then it happened.
One of them lunged at the humans. No hesitation.
They were going to kill them. Or worse—expose us.
I didn't think.
My body was already shifting as moonlight touched me. Skin into fur, flesh into instinct. A gray wolf—almost silver. The ancestral strength roared in my chest.
I attacked.
The first never saw me coming. The second barely had time to turn before my fangs found him.
The third fled. I didn't chase.
The humans lay on the ground, frozen with fear. One of them raised a weapon, pointing it at me.
I stopped.
I could kill them. My size alone would make it easy.
But that wasn't the point anymore.
I lowered my head. Bent my front legs.
Not in submission—but like a confused wolf, scared... feral.
My heartbeat slowed, steadied.
I waited. Waited for them to decide if I was a monster or just an animal.
And when I felt they wouldn't shoot... I slipped back into the trees.
Silent. Invisible.
Behind me, only voices remained.
"Did you see its fur?"
"It was beautiful…"
"That wasn't normal. But… it was just a wolf, right?"
I made sure they left. That they abandoned the forest.
And when they did, I returned to where I had left my clothes.
My body still trembled with the wolf's echo. I changed.
The night felt darker without her.
Neris was waiting for me in the clearing where we practice transformations. Watching me from the shadows.
"Where the hell were you?" she snapped. "We handled the humans. Just saw them leave the border."
I only nodded.
I didn't say I'd faced them. Or that I'd killed the renegades.
Saying it would reveal secrets I wasn't ready to give up.
And I was already carrying too many.
Her gaze was ice. Contained disdain.
But she said nothing else.
And neither did I.
Neris stared at me for a few seconds longer, as if trying to find something in me she couldn't quite name.
Then she turned toward the darkness and raised her voice—just enough for the others at the edge of the clearing to hear.
"I want someone to find out who the wolf was that howled near the border a few minutes ago. I don't want guesses."
A knot formed in my throat.
They were talking about me.
I felt the weight of her words dig into me like claws. I hadn't just disobeyed. I'd given in. I'd exposed myself.
And now…
I had to make sure no one ever found out.
At any cost.