A Rogue's Fear

Chapter 1: Bittersweet Home

Paws padding softly through the dirt, a wolf walks over to a running stream and leans down to drink. Her soft, white and brown fur stands out against the light blues and greens of the wilderness. Bright blue accents on her head and tail, along with a crescent on her side of the same color, clash against the color of her coat. The wolf drinks for a few seconds, then goes upright and continues to walk.

Making her way to a small stone quarry, the wolf crawls up to a peak and scouts the surrounding area. The sun glints in her eyes, the purple irises visibly scanning the horizon for potential foes. Satisfied, she goes down into the quarry. Now her fur makes her blend into the rocky landscape. If anyone else was there, the wolf could vanish into a number of caves before intruders would even know a wolf was there.

The wolf disappears into a cave, tail swishing behind her. For a moment, she keeps moving forward. Then she stops. Her fur melds into her body, replaced by a cotton shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Legs and arms shift to accomodate the new clothes, a human now in the place of the wolf. Only the tail and ears remain of the wolf.

Her red hair, cropped short, glints in the sun until she walks beyond the mouth of her cave. She looks at her few belongings lying around the cave: a cooler, a sleeping mat, and an olive drab backpack sitting next to a slab of smoked deer meat. Pulling off a chunk, she puts it in her mouth and eats. "Gonna need this for later." She mutters, walking over to a wall covered in scratch marks. She pulls on a small knife dangling from a hook and proceeds to add another tally mark.

It's been months since she last saw a hunter from the Blood Paw pack, and years since her first fight with them. She sighs as she puts the knife back on the hook. Going to the mat and kneeling down, her head goes down to her chest as she thinks back on her life so far.

Her mother, Thelia, ran away from the Blood Paw two years after she mated with one of their members. Taking her daughter, Erin, with her, they fled from the pack's territory and stumbled upon the caves. The Blood Paw pack was enraged at Thelia's choice and hunted her and her daughter ever since then. Eventually, they found Thelia and killed her, leaving Erin fending for herself. Knowing that she had no choice, Erin trained herself to be a fighter, and she became one of the fiercest the Blood Paw pack hunters had ever gone against. So far, only one escaped her fangs, but he had come back on a separate hunt and met his fate.

Now a rogue, Erin stayed as quiet and invisible as she could, never going into town, never straying near human campsites, and hiding from all of the wolf packs. Her mother taught her well while she could, and she whispered a silent prayer for her mother. Erin pushed a few buttons on her watch, setting an alarm for midnight. Wih that done, she lies back and dozes off.