The first growl split the night, swinging through the clearing like a blade.
Kaelith's head snapped towards the figure that had emerged, every muscle pulled taut. Very soon, the shadows behind the lowly growling wolf shifted, writhing, and out of them slunk out a half dozen more wolves- feral, low-born things that hadn't quite evolved to be the ape predators that his family were.
No, these wolves had matted fur, and too-bright eyes. Their stench, raw and unyielding, hit the air first, it's metallic countenance impossible to ignore, and Enid stiffened in Kaelith's arms.
"They shouldn't be here." Thorien murmured, his voice low and edging on something that Kaelith woudl have refused to admit.
Enid watched as Thorien's lips curled in a way that made a shiver run down her spine. Even when not directed at her, all she wanted to do was run.
He was enjoying this.
Kaelith gently moved Enid behind him, the human was at a much higer risk than any of them, and stepped in front of her as a shield. It was instinctual, something he didn't even have to think about.
She stumbled at the unexpected movement, catching herself, as her wide eyes darted furiously from one predator to the next.
At that moment, she was completely and uninhibitedly aware of her weaknesses, her mortality. She swallowed.
The wolves moved around the clearing, circling the trio in the middle. They formed a barrier as they moved, teeth bared at the obvious prey among them.
Not a single wolf dared to step any closer, but their hunger was palpable. Saliva dripped from their mouths.
"Stay behind me," Kaelith said without looking back at her. He extended his hands, claws ripping forth from his fingers as veins covered his hands. His incisors elongated.
"Don't you mean us" Thorien drawled, already stepping forward with his brother. His expression was flat and calm, almost disturbingly so, as his hands too extended into claws. A low excited growl build up in his throat, the smile still present on his face. "Don't be greedy, big brother."
Kaelith let out a humorless laugh that cut through the steadily climbing tense atmosphere, "Greedy? We all know I'm the only one here with something to protect." His eyes flickered towards Enid for a brief moment, just long enough to notice the way her breaths came rapidly, afraid of the wolves circling them.
Thorien's smile- thin, almost enough to be amusement- didn't reach his eyes.
He looked away from his brother to the wolves in front, and that is when it happened.
The wolves snapped forward as one.
The clearing erupted in violence.
Kaelith lunged, meeting his first wolf mid-jump. His hands clamped around the jaws of teh fully transformed beast, swinging the teeth away from his face. His own teeth clamped down on the throat of the predator, and blood sprayed forth as teh beast howled in pain.
He threw the beast away, and turned towards the next, hot blood splayed across his face and mouth, teeth glistening.
Another wolf lunged at Enid from the side, but suddenly Thorien was there, twisting himseld so that he was on the back of the creature, his hands around the throat of the animal. He dragged the wold back from the woman. He didn't kill the almost-mindless animal easily, no, he toyed with it. Thorien let it thrash wildly in his grip, snapping the bones under his heavy grip until the wolf at last thrashed so wildly that it's spine cracked beneath the hands.
Enid stumbled back, her eyes barely believing the horror taking place in front of her.
Kaelith was battling another wolf now, as he put his arms around his belly, he planted his feet and swirled with the beast in his hands.
"Ahhh!"
He yelled in exertion, throwing the wolf into a nearby tree. The sound echoed.
The wolf did not get up again. He glanced back, breathing heavily.
Enid was still there- breath trembling, terrified, but still alive.
Good.
Two wolves were left. They moved in front of the trio, circling, as they waited for the perfect opportunity to attack. Low growls vibrated in their chests.
The previously clean grass was now slicked with blood, the stench burning Kaelith's nose.
It was not yet over.
Thorien's voice cut through the chaos as he pointed out something that had been eating both of their minds, "The wolves- they're not here by accident."
Kaelith tore away the throat of a wolf, tossing it aside as he turned to Thorien. Blood covered hia face, and dripped down his chin. At this instance, Enid thought he looked more dangerous than the beasts that lay dead or dying around them.
"What do you mean?" Enid focused back, looking away from the carcass closest to her as Kaelith spoke.
Thorien snapped the head of the last wolf, and let it fall. The animal dropped without a sound. He straightened, dark hair falling over his hazel eyes, his expression unreadable, "Someone sent them."
Enid gasped. Kaelith instinctively made his way over to her and she fisted one hand into the back of his tunic, terrified.
Oh, if only she could see herself clearly, without the horror still fresh in her eyes, she would be mortified.
"Sent them? Who?" Kaelith asked, but dropped trying to find the answer as he felt it.
The shift.
It was palpable in the air. The oppressive silence. Goosebumps rose along their skin as they trained their eyes on something unseen, soething just beyond the treeline, watching them.
Thorien smiled, sharp and unhinged. The blood only added to his terrifying air, " Oh, I think we're about to find out."
The three of them watched the forest, unmoving, waiting for the slightest motion.
There! The forest moved.
Kaelith and Thorien moved a step forward getting ready for another altercation, when a glowing pair of eyes appeared in the shadows.
Their hands fisted.
…And then there was another pair, and another. Until there were at least a dozen more pair of eyes watching them, glowing in the darkness of the night.
Kaelith and Enid tensed. But Thorien…
…Thorien tilted his head, delighted.
"It seems we have been invited to play." He mused.
Kaleith's jaw ticked, but he turned his head to the side, to Enid, not daring to look away from the predators in front of them. "Stay close, no matter what."
She nodded, before she realised they couldn't see her and uttered a terrified, "Y-yes."
Enid's heart beat in her chest. Kaelith and Thorien had protected her from the previous wolves. She had no idea why, but she was nonetheless grateful.
But now…she wasn't sure even they could take the dozens of wolves that broke out of the treeline, snarling but more subdued, more clever than the previous bunch had been.
And suddenly, she realised something.
The clearing she had run to, hoping for an escape…well it was not what she had hoped it to be.
For it was not an escape. It was a trap.
And Enid was in the centre of it.