On the night of the attack, Cinder's pack stood ready. Their leader watched the gold and red flames leap into the sky, matching the colors of her fur and eyes. Her claws dug in the ground as she scanned the borders of the human village. She was familiar with the layout, as well as the best places to go in and come out. If her knowledge was correct, Adam's pack would be emerging soon.
Nearby, Reine gazed at the town with nervous eyes. She had tried to get out of being a part of this attack, but Cinder had been clear that all of the strongest fighters had to be here. We're not attacking the town, she reminded herself. We're just using this opportunity to further weaken Adam's pack.
Practically everything Cinder did was to undermine Adam's pack, which controlled most of the woodlands and plains in the area. They were ruthless, ferocious fighters. Their weakness, ironically, was their bloodthirsty leader, who relished in the killing of humans. Cinder often exploited that, staging small raids and attacks on the towns and then leading the Huntsmen toward Adam's territory before hiding.
Now, she hoped to use their weakened state after a large raid in order to decimate their forces further. It was a brilliant, risky strategy that invited the Huntsmen's weapons and Dust as much as it did Adam's fangs.
When the first of Adam's werewolves came into view, Cinder was quick to kill it. She stood on her hind legs, freeing her forepaws to slash at the next. As more ran from the flames, the rest of Cinder's pack rose up and met them.
Reine was knocked back by a larger male wolf, but managed to get ahold of his shoulders. She bit down, cringing at the smoky scent of his fur. She almost yelped when his claws dug into her back, but managed to lift her back feet to dig into his exposed belly. Toppling him over, she let go of his shoulder and bit down on his throat, turning her head sharply. A sickly crack told her that this fight was over. Eyes blazing, she gave in to her natural bloodlust and ran eagerly to meet her next opponent.
The salty tang on her tongue and the frantic singing in her veins caused her fur to bristle, as if charged with lightning. She fell upon another wolf, slashing wildly with her claws. Some part of her mind coldly observed how easily flesh was cut, how richly blood flowed from new wound after new wound. Another form grabbed at her, and she roared her defiance. She could hear her packmates fighting, could feel the vibrations of dozens of paws on the ground. She smelled blood as it soaked into the earth.
As she threw off her new attacker and turned to face him, something broke her out of her battle-induced stupor. It was a tiny cry of pain and fear. It was a soft sound that just barely carried over to her keen ears, likely because of a chance breeze blowing in her direction. It was the distressed call of a young girl.
Reine turned her head in time to see a small group of wolves fleeing the town several tree-lengths away from the barrage made by Cinder's pack. Two of them were running on their hind legs and carrying something in their forearms.
Narrowing her eyes, Reine broke away from the battle and ran at them. She heard some of Adam's wolves pursuing her and sped up as much as she could. She barked over her shoulder, hoping that some of her packmates would hear her.
As she drew closer, her eyes widened and she suddenly became very aware of the painful rasp of breath in and out of her heaving lungs. Adam was in the group of fleeing wolves. A large, black beast with streaks of red that reminded her of dried blood, he turned and bared his fangs at her as she approached.
Knowing that she had no chance in a fight, she barely dodged to the side and kept running. Planting her paws, she spun around, losing one of her pursuers and allowing herself another look at the fleeing group. One of the upright wolves was less guarded and trailing behind the other. Also, Adam was staying near the front one, making it easy to decide who to attack.
Reine lunged at the werewolf's side, knocking him off balance. The thing he had been holding fell out of his arms, letting out another girlish cry. Sharp pain in Reine's shoulder caused her to spin around and snap desperately at a new attacker.
Luckily, several members of the pack approached at that point, pulling Reine's attacker away and easily killing the wolf that had been carrying the small girl. Adam, the other upright wolf, and the rest of that group disappeared into the forest.
A frightened howl signaled the pursuit of Huntsmen. Adam's pack was mostly gone at this point, so Cinder called for a retreat. Reine quickly bent down and picked up the tiny body before following. Since she was running on her hind legs, she quickly fell behind.
To her relief, she saw her friends Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, and Sage slow down to keep pace with her. She smiled gratefully at them before ducking as an arrow whizzed past her ear. She heard Sage pause and turn around to attack one of the Huntsman pursuers. There was a slash and a thump before he rejoined them.
Reine chanced a glance over her shoulder. The human, or Faunus, was moving. There was no way to tell from where she was if it was her human.
Ever since that night eight years ago, when she had run away after an argument with her parents, she thought often about the young human she had met. Initially, he had been ready to kill her, just as any civilized person would. It had taken a total stalemate between them before he had even tried talking to her. Still, once Reine had let down her guard, he could have easily changed his mind and killed her.
Instead, he had freed her from the brambles. He had given her a piece of cloth from his own shirt to bind her wound (a piece of cloth that she still kept in her den). He had spoken to her as if he actually expected her to keep her end of their bargain. That night had changed everything Reine thought she had known about humans.
After that, whenever Cinder called a raid on the town, Reine made herself scarce, drawing the ire of the rest of her pack. She didn't care, though. Technically, her promise had been to not lead her pack to the town. However, the pack already knew about the town, making the promise useless. Instead, she chose to not take part in any of the attacks. Her fangs had never tasted human or Faunus blood, and she intended to keep it that way.
She hoped that her human was okay, that Adam's pack hadn't hurt him. Subconsciously, she hugged the girl in her arms closer, listening to the scared, weak whimpers. Do you know my human? she couldn't help but wonder.
She could see bite marks on the girl. This didn't surprise her. The only reason why Adam would take humans alive would be to turn them. She felt a flush of pride at having foiled him at least this much. You won't be getting this whelp, you monster. This one is ours.
The run back to the pack's territory beneath the mountains was long and strenuous. They had some pursuit from Huntsmen, but thankfully not much. It seemed that most of the humans and Faunus were either tending to their own wounded or pursuing Adam's wolves. By the time Cinder's pack got home, they were perfectly safe.
Reine found a patch of grass and placed the girl down on it before regarding her thoroughly for the first time. She was a tiny thing with wide silver eyes. She wore a red cloak, which had been badly damaged during the fight. She was covered with bite wounds and was trembling violently.
Why did they savage a young girl so badly? Reine wondered before noticing an empty weapons belt. She stiffened. So, you're a Huntsman. At least you don't have your weapon anymore.
An angry bark caused her to turn around. Red eyes blazing, Emerald approached. The beta wolf snapped angrily at Reine's face, glaring at the human girl at the same time. She was angry at Reine for endangering packmates for the sake of a human's life.
Reine's hackles rose as she indicated the bites on the girl. She's one of us, now, she tried to explain. She had risked herself in order to get something Adam wanted, and had strengthened the pack as a result. She would take responsibility for the whelp's education.
Emerald took another step forward before a sudden bark from Cinder caused her to pause. Her ears flattened as the flame-colored wolf approached.
Cinder eyed Reine before looking down at the girl. She leaned down and sniffed a few times, letting out a growl when she caught the smell of Adam. The black leader had bitten this girl personally. She was a prize, for whatever reason. Cinder turned to Reine and nodded once.
Relieved, Reine left the girl in Sun's care while she went to collect healing herbs. This werewolf-to-be wouldn't be any good to the pack dead, after all.