Just before dawn, as promised, Daphne sent Arthur off to the training field. It was nerve-racking to let him go alone, but she did because Arthur was adamant that he wouldn’t risk her getting hurt again. She made him promise at least three times to keep in control of his anger, behave, and remember that they needed the safety the pack could give them.
Despite the promises, she was still uneasy. She spent the morning cleaning the house and organizing things to keep herself calm, but the cottage wasn’t that large. She wandered around the house and took stock of the little bit of land behind the house that was fenced in. Maybe it had been a little garden.
She poked and prodded the earth and weeded the area. Soon, she lost herself and her worry to the work. It was about lunchtime when she heard the front door open.
“Daphne?” Arthur called.
“Coming!” She washed her hands and hurried around the side of the house until she ent
“Out of the way!” The doctor yelled, forcing his way through the crowd. A group of werewolves followed him, forcing their way through. Daphne watched Mamie follow, holding Blade’s hand as they carried him away. She was going to follow them, but Arthur remained standing in the middle of the town, staring after them with a strange expression on his face.“What happened?” Arthur said nothing, staring. “Arthur?”“We encountered two groups of rogues. The smaller group lured us ahead, while the group behind us attacked... They were very cunning.”Daphne frowned, “But… But Mamie said that rogues couldn’t cooperate, let alone plan. They can’t even communicate—”“I don't know.”Daphne froze at his tone.He looked a little strange, his palms clenched tightly as if he was trying to restrain himself from losing control. He seemed different from t
Arthur woke up alone on the ground. The ground was wet as if it had rained or water had been spilled nearby, but his fur was mostly dry. The scent of blood mingled with something spicy and flavorful. Whatever it was, it made him turn over with a little growl of hunger and open his eyes slowly. Something sizzled in a pan and he heard the rustling of clothing. He frowned and looked toward the source of the sound, before rising to his feet and shifting to his human form so he could open the front door. Daphne turned to look at him, looking a little harried as she stood at the stove.He frowned, “Daphne?”She blinked at him, seemingly uncertain before turning back to the stove. She turned again with the skillet and set out breakfast on the table.“How are you feeling?”Arthur rolled his shoulder and walked to the table, “Good.”“You didn’t come back…” Daphne met his gaze, “What…
The road leading into the forest was the only thing she could make sense of as the sun was setting, but she didn’t turn back. Arthur vanished into the distance, streaking ahead with his speed, but she could follow the path his body had created as he barreled through the forest. Broken branches and large, muddy paw prints led her forward.She soon heard Arthur's growling and the sound of claws tearing into a tree. Something thudded, skidded in the dirt, and thudded again. He roared as the tree creaked after a few strikes. It tilted and crashed to the ground as Daphne reached the clearing. Arthur stumbled, seemingly hurt. A shallow gash was on his shoulder, yet he threw himself at another tree with a growl of fury.She gasped in horror then anger over took her as he threw himself again. She ran foward.“Stop, Arthur!”Arthur stopped, turning his head to look at her as she reached him and threw her arms around his neck, clutching tight in c
She gasped, choking on her scream as emotions stormed through her, fierce and unrelenting like a raging river rushing towards a great fall. She was hot, filled with a desire she had never felt before. A lightness and overwhelming joy was breaking through it. She didn’t know how to make sense of any of it, so she clung to Arthur as if they were going over another waterfall.Her blood was rushing in her ears as her heart pounded against her ribcage.Were they her feelings? She didn’t think so. With shock, she realized that they were all coming from Arthur and a little glimmer of hope was twinkling at the edge of her mind. She wanted to reach for it, but it was swept away in all the other emotions.She was pulled into the darkness of unconciousness.“Daphne!”Daphne groaned awake, turning over in bed as she opened her eyes. There wasn’t a lot of light coming in through the window, so she guessed it was close
The days passed in peace for a while. It was almost shocking to Arthur considering how out of control his life had been. He thought back to his time in the Brown Valley pack, getting worse with every passing day and shunned from even the most basic of the pack’s activities.It seemed like a lifetime ago that he’d been running for his life through the forest. Had it only been a few weeks since he’d met Daphne? His bond with Daphne had done wonders for his control, let alone just meeting her.He would have never imagined that he would be even a stand-in leader of a pack’s patrol before.Lucas seemed calmer in the middle of battle, and even when he started to lose himself in the bloodshed, he could reach out to Daphne with ease and she always answered.Her voice in her mind was magical, like her scent, and calmed him down quickly. The people on the patrol were delighted and relieved. They had feared the way Arthur lost control in the
Mamie opened the door with bleary eyes, “What’s happened?”“Arthur needs help!” Daphne cried. “There’s a rogue in the village!”Mamie gasped and ushered her in as Blade darted out the door, letting out a warning howl to the entire village. He heard people mobilizing as he yelled orders and tried to find Arthur’s scent through the village.The scent of blood grew stronger as he ran and he hoped it wasn’t Arthur who was injured. He didn’t hear anyone coming from the village fast enough to be of help, but he heard Arthur growling and the familiar sounds of blood splashing on the ground coming from the northern side of the village.He turned towards the north well. A rogue howled in pain as Arthur ripped its paws off with a terrible snapping sound. The rogue stumbled on the nubs of its legs and Arthur slammed it to the ground with a swipe of his paw. Not far away lay the body of another rogue i
“They poisoned the well,” Daphne told Blade. "I made tea from the well water and he drank it."Blade looked at the doctor and nodded, “Check him. Quickly.”Arthur followed the other doctor and Blade came to Daphne. She explained how they figured it out, and his expression drew tight with annoyance.“Damn rogues. Who knew they could be so crafty…”It was worse than he imagined. The doctors had figured out that it wasn’t just any poison, but wolfsbane, a poison that was specifically cultivated to use against werewolves. Blade knew that it had been the poison of choice during the battle against vampires from all the stories of the war. Once a werewolf consumed enough, or if they consumed just a bit and were left untreated, they died. Treatment wasn't exactly difficult, but it took a lot of time.If the rogues really poisoned the wells, the entire village was in danger. Several of the wells in the villag
What truth? Arthur was confused and narrowed his gaze at him in suspicion. Rex wasn’t usually cryptic. Maybe it was because Rex knew that Arthur still didn’t trust anyone and he needed his strength to defend Sharp Armor, but he didn’t care."Why are you being so cryptic?”“It’s complicated.“What do you mean?"“I want to be sure,” Rex said. “But I’ll need you to come with me to verify it. When I’m sure, I’ll tell you everything.”Arthur glared at him, “Why won’t you just tell me now? Why bring it up at all if you weren’t sure?”Rex’s eyes widened, seemingly shocked and Arthur wasn’t sure what to do or say. He had expected defensiveness and anger, but Rex’s eyes just softened and seemed misty.“Well,” Rex said. “That is one way of thinking about it… Will you come with me