Chapter Text
You crashed through the underbrush of the woods, dodging trees as best you could while avoiding missteps that would cost you precious ground and speed. Your pursuers were even louder than you were, shouting to each other and openly communicating their strategy uncaring if you heard them or not. Luckily it seems that none of them had a clear shot to shoot you again while you all ran at full speed.
You curse the silver scattershot still in your leg, the allergic reaction to the metal making you unable to shift into your wolf form fully. The best you can do for now is your feet and hands to give you extra traction and claws just in case one of them caught up to you. Your body had immediately started healing itself but the pain of the silver and the energy it took to push the pellets out was taking its toll on your overall energy levels.
A sudden crack of a shotgun breaks your concentration and you stumble for a moment before the pain hits you. One of the bastards clipped your thigh and hip of your already wounded leg. Even if you didn’t hit the ground you wouldn’t have been able to go much further taking that much damage to one side. Your partial change even reverts itself as your body prioritizes healing the new wound leaving you barefoot and clawless on the forest floor. You can’t give up here though. You do your best to keep moving, any direction will do as long as its away from the group of hunters.
You don’t make it to the brush and trees ahead of you before the group clamors into the area. You turn and give your best snarl and growl at them. “Fuckin finally! Yo- get a collar on this bitch and let’s get out of here!” One of them moves forward holding a device. You growl louder as he nears, snapping at air as your instincts scream at you to MOVE, to DO SOMETHING before you are apparently taken captive.
A louder growl echoes from the woods around and all movement in the clearing comes to a halt.
The hair on your arms and neck stands straight up as you recognize another predator has entered the fray.
From your right, between you and the group of hunters steps the largest fully transformed wolf you’ve ever seen. He’s probably close to 8 ft tall and made of solid muscle. His black fur made his ghostly blue eyes shine like spectral fire, like burning stars in the night sky of his face. Your body remains frozen in fear. One on one against the hunters you may have stood a chance, but against this behemoth…
He looks directly at you for a moment and even your breath freezes in your lungs. You are almost relieved when the hunters regroup before you do and stumble into formation while shooting at the newcomer. Their shots all miss their target as the large male moves so fast you swear he teleported.
Now that both threats were fully engaged with each other you move as quickly as you can without the use of your injured leg. You whine quietly as your higher thoughts seem to shut off. All you can do now is find shelter and try to hide from whoever is going to be the victor of the fight happening behind you. The sound of fighting and gunshots grows more distant and you are unsure if its because you are making progress at fleeing the scene or the other wolf is leading them away.
It seems to take forever in your adrenalin and instinct haze but you come across an outcropping of rocks. Perhaps you can fit between them or… wait, there is a ledge. The jutting rock looks like it makes an alcove big enough and deep enough to give you some shelter, or at least limit who would be small enough to come crawling in after you. You shuffle in and lie on your side pressing your back to the solid rock and facing the entrance of your not-quite a cave.
You can’t hear anything for minutes besides your own panting and occasional whine that slips from your throat. You calm down after a bit and realize you really can’t hear any noise, not the sound of fighting but also not the other sounds of the forest. The narrow view out the entrance looks like it has been frozen in time. Not even the trees sway to make a sound in the wind.
The unnatural silence is explained as the massive wolf fills your view of the outside world. He sniffs the air and you realize no matter how good your hiding spot was it had all been for naught as you had left a trail of blood behind in your escape. He looks directly at you and for a moment you are tempted to hide your face and show submission. No. If this is the end you won’t cower like a pup. You hold the eye contact as he shifts away from the entrance.
Then he completely flips your expectations as instead of charging in or trying to dig you out he instead drops his transformation. His black fur sheds to the ground and in its place is slightly tanned skin and short black hair. He’s still one of the largest men you’ve ever seen and has the bone structure of a tank. He slowly removes the oversized coat he’s wearing leaving him in a tight black turtleneck.
He doesn’t break the steady eye contact as he lays the coat on the ground and remains kneeling after spreading it out like a blanket. You hear a low rumble and realize he’s purring.
You let out a loud whine in response, your instincts are begging you to trust this stranger. He’s had ample opportunity to try and attack or threaten but he’s showing you submission. You know he wants to help. He purrs louder in response and lifts his hands out in offering.
You nod to him and slowly crawl out of your hiding spot, keeping weight off your leg as best you can. You stop just before you reach his coat on the ground. The line in the sand. You look at it numbly while your instincts scream at you to just go ahead. He’s offering safety. You need to be safe.
His purrs rumble even louder and he extends his hands again reaching out to you but not grabbing. You nod and take his hands and he pulls you easily to lean on his chest, uncaring that your blood is messing up his white coat and pants. You sigh as you let yourself rest against him. He supports you with a hand in the middle of your back as he leans over to gather his coat from the floor in his other hand.
Carefully he wraps you up in the large coat, which is more like a blanket on you due to it being made for someone so much bigger than you. You rest your head on his shoulder as he stands up with you in his arms and walks calmly into the forest.