Nikolai settled into his perch, a hill high above the surrounding trees. Far out of the range of even a werewolf’s heightened sense of smell, he knew. Again he took out his viewing scope and gazed between the lines of wood. Three wolf creatures, standing on their hind legs. They’d barely moved since the last time he checked, presumably they were hunting. Hopefully not a human.

Somewhat bored, Nikolai decided to try to get a better assessment of his targets. The distance was too high to get a good sense of scale, but he estimated each werewolf was somewhere around 8 or 9 feet tall. The target one, clearly the alpha and Nikolai’s main target, had a dark and incredibly thick pelt. Meanwhile the two who followed behind him had pelts resembling a typical black white and beige of a grey wolf, and the other bright golden fur with darker accents.

The bored hunter sighed. The colour of these wolves would hardly be relevant in bringing them to justice. What was more, getting a closer look at these creatures made him feel a little uncomfortable. They didn’t look much like the savage beasts he’d heard stories about, or seen in rare captured footage. But of course, he’d been warned about this in training scenarios and written tests. Werewolves had been known to lure humans in by various means, whether it was promises of power or seducing in their human form. Sighing again he decided to take a break from espionage. The werewolves clearly weren’t going anywhere any time soon. He took a swig of now cold coffee.

Suddenly he recalled a man he’d encountered earlier that day on the outskirts of the city. For some reason it felt like every detail about that man had been etched into Nikolai’s mind, despite barely laying eyes on him for half a minute. He often kept to himself, but he was by no means antisocial. Yet for some reason he’d never had a reaction like this to anyone else before. Whenever he closed his eyes he could remember everything, his short dusty brown hair, the grin that made him look just a little goofy. The stubble that looked like he tried to shave regularly but gave up somewhere along the way. Those eyes.

It was frustrating.

He almost wished the werewolves would somehow notice him and attack. Being stuck watching them with nothing but his thoughts was like torture. It also worried the hunter. It felt like a large part of his mind was being occupied by meaningless details about a complete stranger. What if he forgot an important observation about his targets? Or a key piece of training? It was tradition for hunters to go out into the world and capture their first werewolf with no help, but he was still green. He was confident in his skills, but now he was wondering if he was more stressed than he realized, and it was manifesting with these strange thoughts.

Nickolai groaned. There would be no relaxing in this state. He looked at his gear, but it was already neatly organized from the last three times he’d gone over it. Silver based armaments for subduing, even killing werewolves if need be. He peered through his scope again. He’d mostly focused on the one he assumed was the alpha, it couldn’t hurt to assess the other two a little more, could it? He focused as hard as he could on the one with the mottled grey wolf-like pelt. It only took a few minutes before he looked away again, uncomfortable.

…..

There was something about their faces.

Clearly canine, yet human at the same time. In particular their eyes held a clearly human intelligence to them. Nickolai wondered idly how many hunters had been killed because a crafty wolf caught them off guard by giving them “puppy dog eyes”. He shuddered before looking back into the scope, swiveling over towards the golden furred werewolf when something else caught his eye.

A human.

A worst case scenario.

Nickolai swore under his breath. Just moments ago he’d been praying for something to break up the monotony, and like a wish on a monkey’s paw he’d gotten what he wanted in the worst possible way. It was almost as if this innocent was in danger because of his boredom. Trying to stay rational, he focused on the newcomer human.

He had dark hair and skin, Latino, if he could guess right. He seemed to greet the wolves in a friendly sort of way, but that didn’t mean much. Werewolves lured in unsuspecting humans all the time, either to eat, convert, or use for some other nefarious purpose.

Even if this human thought he was safe, Nikolai knew it was his duty as a hunter to protect the innocent. He wouldn’t be able to plan ahead as far as he’d like, he had to act now. But he had his gear, his training, his raw strength. Nickolai slicked back his fiery orange hair.

He could do this.


Lee carefully crept up beside the werewolves. They’d been tracking some big game for quite a while now and he didn’t want to screw it up with his lackluster human reflexes. The hunting party was made up of Dominic, his boyfriend John’s alpha; Adam, a friendly guy Lee had only spoken to a couple times, and a golden brown werewolf Lee didn’t even know the name of. Each of them wore a look of extreme focus, though none more than Dominic whose hunting expertise, like many of his skills, was unparalleled in the entire pack.

“Did you find it yet?” Lee whispered as quietly as he could.

“Shhh!” Adam hissed, glaring at Lee.

“It’s fine,” came the deep rumble of Dominic’s voice, “it seems our prey had a run in with a nasty little rock slide. Not only is he injured, the noise made it all but deaf.”

“Wow… you can tell all that just by smelling?” Lee whispered, a little louder this time.

“Of course,” Dominic’s muzzle curled into a smile, “it’s easy to forget you humans see the world in such a limited way.”

“Show off,” the golden werewolf grumbled, “I doubt anybody else in the entire pack could get all that just by sniffing.”

“Well we’d still get further than our little human, I bet,” Adam laughed.

Lee scrunched his face a little as he tried to come up with a good retort, when Adam held up his hand.

“Wait, do you hear that?” Adam said, his ears lowered slightly with worry.

“Of course I hear it,” Dominic said, seemingly unconcerned.

A few seconds passed before the forest erupted into a blur of action.


I've got this, Nikolai thought, I've got this, I've got this

He knew there wasn’t a chance of taking the werewolves by surprise with their heightened senses, but he could surprise them by being a legitimate threat. He rushed straight at the golden furred wolf, and was rewarded with a look of surprise. Clearly he didn’t expect a mere human to be bold enough to try a direct attack. He moved just slightly to the side, avoiding a golden blur of a punch from his opponent before using the momentum of his strike against him to make his own punch hit all the harder. It probably wouldn’t even leave a bruise thanks to their monstrous endurance, but it gave Nikolai the opening he needed, lifting the wolf onto his shoulder and throwing him directly at the wolf he was now certain was their alpha.

Just as Nikolai suspected, the alpha would not harm his own packmate, allowing the heavy golden furred body to crash right into him. An alpha would be the biggest threat, the overconfident hunter knew, so he needed to take any chance to keep him off balance while he dealt with the other two. Without even turning to look, he swept his leg out, catching the grey wolf’s legs and sending him tumbling onto the grassy forest floor. Satisfied, Nikolai dashed away and quickly took stock of the scene. The golden wolf and his alpha were still tangled, the human looked terrified, but he also clearly hadn’t even processed what was happening yet. The grey wolf was already almost back on his feet, and that was a real problem. It was now or never.

Reaching onto his back he retrieved his favourite weapon, a dart rifle.

Three shots, that’s all I need. Nickolai thought to himself as he loaded his rifle with their unique ammunition. Silver Darts, projectiles with enough of a silver-based concoction to suppress a werewolf’s wolf form. In a smooth motion he drew, took aim.

Bang.

On shot. The golden wolf’s fur started to melt away revealing a blond human. Not wasting a moment, Nickolai turned and swung his rifle and knocked the grey wolf to the ground.

Bang.

Another shot, this time he hit the alpha. The biggest threat had been neutralized. Nikolai was pushing himself to his absolute limit, he knew, but even if he wasn’t able to get the grey wolf, he was confident he could handle one non-alpha wolf.

However the grey wolf wasn’t even moving to fight back, his face looked almost confused. But Nickolai knew better than to not press an advantage. In some smooth motion the final werewolf crumpled to the ground as he returned to his human form. His somewhat familiar human form.

It couldn’t be.

Was this the man he’d seen earlier today? The man who he couldn’t get out of his head? It...it couldn’t be. Nikolai knew he needed to get a closer look.

“Hey, Hunter,” a voice of pure bass growled behind him.

Nickolai swung around to see the alpha wolf approaching him, thistles adorned in his deep thick pelt. Besides a tiny spot of human skin there was no sign he’d even been hit by the Silver Dart, which the beast now held gingerly between two massive claws.

"This is cute,” the alpha said with a wry smile, “real cute. But.”

There was a blur of quick motion and the alpha was suddenly face to face with Nikolai, the easily ten foot tall wolf bending over to look him dead in the eye.

“You’re going to need more silver, I think,” it grinned, each syllable dripping with danger.

Nikolai’s instincts were flaring into overdrive. He soared past the limit he’d thought he’d been breaking before. He knew he was out of his depth, but he also knew if he didn’t fight with every skill that had been ingrained in him, this would be how he died.

To Nikolai’s credit, he managed to fend off a few of Dominic’s strikes, but the speed of the alpha meant he had to guess where the wolf would be rather than react to his movements. The same speed advantage wasn't possible by even the most well trained hunters or huntresses. For each hit landed there were five given in retaliation. It wasn’t long before he was laying in the dirt, aching all over.

"Next time, maybe don’t camp out so close to us. I could smell you watching us all day,” was the last thing Nickolai heard before losing consciousness, for what he assumed would be the last time.


"I dunno, he seems harmless now,” a voice said.

"He’s a hunter,” another voice stated, rumbling with a deep authority. The voice sounded so familiar…

The alpha! Nikolai’s eye shot open and he lurched upward. Immediately pain lanced through every part of his body, and he collapsed back into the… bed?

Unable to move in any meaningful way, he tried to take stock of his surroundings. It looked like he was in a bedroom of some sort. He’d expected a cave, if anything. He realized with horror that the werewolves must have ransacked some human’s home and made it their base of operations. He couldn’t get a good look at either of the speakers, but now that the haze was clearing from his head he recognized it as the alpha and the grey wolf.

"You broke all his toys though,” the voice of the grey wolf insisted.

“Adam, how hard did he hit you with that rifle?” the alpha’s voice said sternly, “did you not see how easily he took the two of you out? He was even able to keep up with me a little bit.”

"But he’s still just a human,” Adam complained, “if I knew he was coming I’d knock him on his ass.”

"I’m sure you would, but knowing a threat is coming is a luxury, it’s not something to rely on.”

“Okay well if he’s such a problem, why not just kill him?”

“Hmm… why indeed...” the bassy voice intoned, “Is showing a little mercy not reason enough? Then consider, what would Lee think?”

"Lee? What does he have to do with this?”

"He is a human as well. I might be within my right to get rid of this problem, sure, but not unless I have no other choice.”

Apparently that was the end of the conversation, because after a brief silence Nikolai heard footsteps approaching and soon shapes began to enter his vision. But these were not the shapes of the wolves he had fought. Instead he was greeted with the sight of a middle aged man. His body was awash with thick black and grey hair, and it didn’t take much puzzling to guess that this was the human form of the alpha wolf, especially when he still towered easily over 7 feet.

Next to him, however, was that man. Nikolai tried to deny it, but he knew it even back in the forest. How could he not know? Every feature on that man’s face was burned into his memory. Even now, in this serious situation his mouth had just the slightest hint of that lopsided grin. Instincts told him not to trust it even slightly.

"Hunter,” the alpha said curtly, “You’re going to be ours for a while.”

Said hunter tried as hard as he could to keep the fear out of his eyes. Not that it mattered. He knew they could smell it.

"Adam is going to be taking care of you,” the man smirked, “And if you relax a little you might even enjoy it.”

"Hey there!” Adam chirped, “So you're a hunter huh? Never would’ve guessed when I saw you this morning! Hey Dominic, did you know? Do Hunters like… smell?”

Dominic glared at Adam before turning back to Nickolai.

"Adam is going to make sure you don’t do anything stupid,” Dominic explained, “You’re not seriously injured. You’re lucky you happened to show up with him around.”

Him? Nickolai wondered, does he mean that human? Sounds like they want to keep appearances up. That poor human probably has no idea how vile these creatures are.

"Either way, the door’s locked and you’re not going anywhere in your condition,” Dominic shrugged, “I may have given you a bit of a beating but you really did a number on your little human body trying to keep up with me.”

Nikolai already knew of course. Besides his aches and pain, a fundamental sense of exhaustion clung to his bones. It almost felt like his soul was trying to leave his body. Still, he simply glared at his captors.

“Don’t worry too much though, we’ll help you get back on your feet,” Dominic said, “We’ll even let you go if you promise not to bother us. And of course if you do decide to threaten my pack again I won’t stop until you're dust.”

Nikolai shivered. The threat was so nonchalant, but there was no doubt he meant every word. Still, he had no intention of playing by this monsters’ rules.

“I’d never-AAAGH!” Nikolai couldn’t contain his scream as even the effort of spitting his retort pushed him too hard, sending sharp pain through his jaw and making his lungs burn with effort.

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say,” Dominic smirked, “Adam will take good care of you. Like I said, you’ll even enjoy it, if you let yourself.”

Dominic turned and began to exit the room. But before he left he'd take a moment to rub one particular misfortune in his face.

"Oh and just so you know, the heating in here sucks,” he gestured to a dusty vent near the door, “And you’re not invited to my cuddle pile. Not that you'd even be willing to let a bunch of wolves keep you warm.”

The door slammed shut, leaving Nikolai alone with the younger werewolf. That man. It was even more agonizing than his aches, being in the same room as him. A werewolf in his thoughts and ruining his focus. But not so unfocused that a plan couldn’t form. He’d trained for this. Identifying weak points, not just physically of course and he already found one. This wolf, Adam it apparently liked to call itself, seemed talkative. Friendly. Trusting.

He would get out of this.

“Hey so uh…” Adam looked awkwardly at the injured man, “You’re kinda a mess so…”

Nikolai watched as the man shifted, his features growing more canine. He’d imagined a more painful, horrific transformation in all honesty. He eyed the werewolf warily when it suddenly lunged straight at him. Too hurt to even have the ability to flinch in response. No way to fend off the attack, to save himself, to…

Lick.

Nikolai opened his eyes just in time to see the canine’s large tongue sweep above his brow, organizing his messy hair back into the professional slicked look he’d been wearing before he had his ass handed to him.

“Oh uh… I dunno if you Hunter types know,” Adam said apologetically, “I just assumed, but werewolves can accelerate healing a little bit by licking stuff. That’s why we groom each other all the time.”

If he could manage even just that, Nikolai’s face would have contorted in rage. As it was, he simply hoped his eyes could convey the disgust he felt. But apparently they didn’t, because the wolf simply continued to cheerfully lick at him. Not even a painful twitch of his brow could dissuade the enthusiastic wolf.

In his head, Nikolai screamed. This was clearly the beginning of his own personal Hell.

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Pub: 18 Jun 2021 14:34 UTC
Views: 1408