His howl ripped through the forest, a foreign invader painfully out of place in the quiet sounds of night. Silence fell around him as his claws pulled furrows into the ground, kneading the soil and grounding his mind. His belly burned with the fire of almost a decade of slow-burning anger; it blazed in his eyes, the usual hazel replaced by gold that gleamed like a dragon’s hoard. He let out another bellow from deep in his chest, spooking an animal from hiding. An animal. A target. An enemy. The creature’s attempt at escape was enough to enrage him, as if the mere suggestion that it could outrun him was an unforgivable insult. The lupundra tore through fern and frond after the little beast, caring not what he plowed over as he went. His claws captured his prey’s hind, yanking to an abrupt halt its flight as well as its life.
Bone crunched between the monstrous wolf’s powerful jaws, snapping completely through to the spine and silencing the creature’s cry. What had once been some sort of cat was reduced to a limp bag of flesh as the werewolf whipped his head from one side to the other. He trapped one of the animal’s legs beneath a jointed paw and pulled, not intending to eat, but simply to destroy.
One ear flicked back to the sound of wretching. His hackles bristled, making his already wide shoulders look even broader. The beast turned slowly, eyes fixating on the girl who’d appeared. Not human. Flowers, and not. Unimportant. A target. An enemy. The dead jungle cat slumped from his jaws, a string of blood trailing after it from the monster’s teeth. A low growl, wet with gore bubbled out of his throat. He stepped forward. When she didn’t step back, he adjusted his course to circle behind her. Run away. Chase life. Flee death.
She remained still, earning another longer, louder growl. His ears were locked forward, lips pulled into a tight ‘C’ to bare his fangs. Unblinking eyes glinted an eerie green in the poor light. The flower girl did not turn, barely moved in fact. It was infuriating. And then, she dare have the nerve to speak to him. The beast let out a vicious snarl, bolting after the stranger as she ran. Anger ran red hot through his veins as long claws stabbed into the earth, pulling him forward in a tight, predatory lope.
The rainforest whipped past his face, but so focused was he on his pursuit that he paid little attention to his surroundings. The girl vanished from sight, and he nearly collided with the tree she’d been pressed against. His rampage ripped gashes in the bark, splintering greenwood and throwing shards of the tree to the earth. He circled the trunk tightly, the girl’s smell still heavy in the air. She had just been here. Where was she? The loss flared his temper yet again, and he bellowed in rage. Where was she??
A sudden weight on his back provided the answer. Somehow she had gotten into the branches. How didn’t matter. He wanted her off. He threw his shoulders to one side in an attempt to throw her off. When that failed he threw his claws back over his head, feeling them catch briefly before losing her again. The lupundra snarled loudly, starting to throw his weight again, but this time with less dedication. An odd sensation had begun on his back, like cool water flowing over a burn. A low growl became a soft rumble. A soft rumble became a quiet whine. The beast stood on all fours, head beginning to droop as his hackles fell flat.
Slowly, the monstrous wolf fueled only by rageful hate fell still, only turning his head in response to a shout nearby. He smelled humans, then nothing but flowers, followed by the telltale scent of another werewolf. A growl was mustered, but little more. For as long as the blanket was on him, he only stood and watched the forest begin to move around him again. It was almost as if he was waiting for something.
As the night ended, so too did the effects of the curse. The wolf grew anxious, pacing in small steps before descending into the same painful throes he’d endured the previous night. This time, the howls of pain became a scream.
Olvar’s scream broke apart into a series of curses and whimpers as the transformation finished. On the floor of the rainforest he lay trembling, eyes glancing fearfully around before falling on a familiar face. “Gaea…” What was she doing here? He’d told her to stay in camp… His eyes narrowed. “Gaea! I told you not to come out here! It’s dangerou–” He was cut off abruptly by a sudden kiss from the half-nymph, eyes widening in surprise. He was almost too stunned to reciprocate, but he returned the affection just before she broke it off. They stared at each other for a moment before an exhausted hand caught her cheek, gently pulling her back for one more.
Even before her kiss he had been struggling to catch his breath from his shift, but now it was only worse. "What happened?" he asked, referring to last night in general. His eyes, however, found her arm, and his brow furrowed. "What happened?" he asked again, this time quieter, with all focus on her injury.
