The Story of the Beast with the Four Dirty Paws

Chapter One

England, 2005
⠀⠀"Come on, Tala.. You've got this.."
Seven-year-old Tala had been in the small clearing of her pack's territory for about three hours. She was training for battle with her older brother, as they were supposedly preparing for an attack from the Lupum, yet another werewolf pack.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Tala was used to these battles. They probably had at least five of them a month. Her father loved getting more and more territory, and he was constantly using other people's territory, too. He would wait until they attacked so that they could claim their territory.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Unfortunately, she hated these battles. She simply refused to fight in them. Here she was though, being forced to do this for the sake of her people.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Amo, do I have to do this?" She asked, her voice strained by a childish whine. Amo sighed at her, "Lala, don't you want to make Dad proud?" She nodded, biting her lip, "Yes, I do, but-"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"But nothing. This is how we will make him proud. You know what he expects of us." She frowned, but didn't complain again as her brother told her to transform. As a little girl who was only seven, she was still having trouble with her transformations. Still, she did as he said, yelping a bit in pain. It felt like all of her organs and bones were being snapped and twisted and shrunk. In a way, she guessed, they were. After fifteen agonizing minutes, she had finally managed to change into her full wolf form. She was sort of the rut of her pack. Everyone else had either black or white fur, but somehow she had ended up with a fiery shade of red. Her brother pointed to a rabbit that was passing by, and she understood. She was in charge of making sure nobody got away when the battle started. If they did, she was responsible for taking care of it, no matter how small she was compared to them. This was her practice.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Wincing a little at what she was doing, she went to attack the rabbit. The wolf side of her seemed to take over and soon enough, the rabbit was still and half mauled. Realizing what she'd done, she transformed back into her human form and backed away. "Oh no.. Not again.." Tears started streaming down her face as she looked at the dead rabbit. She turned to look at Amo, "Why!? Why the heck do I have to be this!?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀She started to walk away, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Tala, I know.. I know you hate this.. I'm sorry... But Dad needs us to do this for him.. We'll be responsible for leading the pack if anything happens to him or Mum, and he wants to know that we can handle it." She sighed exasperatedly, "I'm not even ten! Why am I held responsible for this stuff!? It doesn't make sense. And why do we have to kill things?" She sniffed, feeling herself close to crying. She blinked back any tears, not wanting to seem like a cry baby.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"I don't know. Look, if I'm ever in charge-.. If we're ever in charge," he corrected himself as he saw the look on her face. "I'll make sure we don't fight as much. But this is what Dad wants."
⠀⠀⠀⠀She looked at him skeptically, "Promise?" He chuckled a little, "I swear by the Moon." That was how Tala knew he was serious. If a werewolf broke a promise when it was sworn by the moon, there was a legend that they would be punished greatly. After all, they were the Children of Moon. "Alright," she murmured softly. "What next?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀• • •
⠀⠀⠀⠀After about three hours of hand-to-hand combat with her brother, Tala was finally returning to a large clearing full of tents where her pack was camping out in Lupum. Her father was standing in middle of the clearing, calling out orders for the upcoming battle. Tala sighed and walked into the largest tent, where her family was staying. Her mother was standing in the 'kitchen', the small area of the tent that held the majority of the cooking supplies.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh, hello, Lala," called her mother in a singsong voice as Tala neared the kitchen. "How was training?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀Tala's eyes teared up and a worried expression went over her mother's face. "Oh, sweetie.. I'm sorry.." She cooed softly, walking over to her daughter and picking her up. Tala sobbed into her mother's shoulder while her mother stroked her hair soothingly. "I don't like this stuff, Mummy.."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"I know, I know... It'll be okay.. We'll be back in our village in no time.. We'll be in peace.. It'll be okay.."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"No it won't! We're just going to end up getting ready for another fight with some other pack!" She cried, but her voice was drained out by the sound of a loud siren. Her mother set her down quickly and ran out the door, transforming into her wolf form while doing so. Tala peaked her head out of the tent to see that the battle had started.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Tala! Get out here!" She heard her father yell as he transformed. He was the largest wolf of the pack, with pitch black fur and eyes that practically glowed yellow. With a very sad sigh, she transformed and hesitantly walked into battle.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀• • •
⠀⠀⠀⠀The battle took a whole day, and only one wolf from the other pack was standing – a wolf that was only slightly bigger than Tala who had cowered to the side. Tala's father was cornering him, and the poor cub whimpered in distress.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Tala transformed back to her human form and stood there helplessly. When she saw her father bare his teeth at the other cub, she unconsciously walked over to her father and was at his side. "Daddy, please stop.. He's my age.. Just let him go.." Her father snapped his head towards her and seemed to be calculating who she was. When he was in his wolf form, he always had trouble identifying who was his friend or foe.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Her father transformed into a human and scowled at Tala. "What makes you think you can tell your own father what to do?" He asked in a rough, angry voice. "I-I just-.. L-look at him.. He's not going to f-fight you.." She pointed to the cub, who had turned into a small boy, about eight years of age, with shaggy black hair and light blue eyes. Her father looked at the boy and sighed reluctantly. He stepped closer to the boy, "What's your name?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"C-Caleb, sir," he stuttered nervously. The tall, intimidatingly strong man, who Caleb had guessed was the leader of the pack, was looking at him as if the sight of him was disgusting. "Alright, Caleb," the man started. "I am Reulle, alpha of Lycan. I've got a proposition for you, since my daughter appears to be so keen on keeping you alive..."
⠀⠀⠀⠀The boy, Caleb, looked at Tala as her father spoke. She gave him a weak smile and mouthed the word, "Listen."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Caleb looked back to Reulle, who was speaking. "As you can see, your pack is dead. You will be the only one left. You're a young boy, you'll get yourself killed out there.. So, if you swear your loyalty to my pack, I will take you under my wing. You will train with my children and fight in our battles. You shall follow my orders. You can live in your own house if you wish, but you are underage, so if you would like to stay with someone else you may. Do we have a deal?" Reulle stuck a hand out.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Yessir." Caleb took his hand and shook it. "Very well. Your initiation to the pack will take place as soon as we get to our village."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Reulle turned to his pack, "My friends, my family.. We have won the battle! This land is now ours!" While her father went to celebrate with the pack, Tala walked up to Caleb. "Hello, Caleb," she murmured softly. "I'm Tala. I'm sorry for my dad. He's a bit.. angry.."
⠀⠀⠀⠀He laughed in response, "I saw. Thanks for helping me out." She smiled at him, "It was no problem. Us cubs have to stick together, right? Anyway, come on. I know you don't want to celebrate the death of your pack." She took his arm and started walking.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Where are we going?" He asked curiously, following her. "To celebrate that you're joining our pack, not that you've lost your pack," she said lightly. "Who are we going to celebrate with? Your pack doesn't seem to like me very much."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"My friends. And it's /our/ pack now. My friends and I don't like the fighting, though. We only do it because we have to," she said quietly as she lead the boy out of the clearing.