She has grown, survived, thrived on her own. For the vast majority of her short life she has been alone, her existence a solitary one. And this was the way it had been, for longer than she had ever belonged anywhere she had roamed nowhere. She had not forgotten where she came from, the distant lands to the north, the endless grass seas that gave way to the salty waters of the bay. In her mind she can still picture besting her brothers in combat as they rolled amongst the foliage. Even now she can recall her few encounters with the beast that bore the label ‘sire,’ and she licked her lips at the memory of that first taste of lupine flesh that he had regurgitated on her command. Jaidah, too, was there amongst the myriad of memories associated with the only home she’d ever known. But she cared not for what was lost, for the life she’d gained on her own was satisfactory enough. Always she was on the hunt for perfection, one to match her own. She thought she’d found it in the purple eyes of the cavern boy, but he had disappeared nearly as soon as he had come into her life. Not perfect, not the one, not good enough to become a permanent fixture in her life

Now she feasts upon the flesh that is her favorite – a meal that fills her in ways that rodents could not. Though as she stands over the carcass she is a sight to behold – beautiful as she grew taller with each passing month and musculature flourished and flowed across her frame. Her perfect face was buried in the gut of a wolf, swallowing his innards with reckless abandon, as if she may never eat again or perhaps as though she had not eaten in weeks. Neither was true, she simply lacked the decorum to take her time or mind the mess she made while gorging herself on this tasty treat. The male had been injured, a fractured paw slowing him down enough that Raum could toy with him a little bit in her beguiling way, getting her close enough in the draw of winter to bury her fangs in his throat and end his life. Blood stained the white snow that blanketed the earth, and the black of her fur stood out brazenly against the white and red.

Her sides swelled with a fullness that she pushed past, consuming as much of the wolf as she could before giving in to the meat-drunk feeling that pulled at her eyelids. Crawling on top of her kill protectively, she lay down upon it and gave way to sleep, napping in the afternoon sunlight. Dreams of a male who matched her perfection filled her mind, and together they ran the hunt and killed for pleasure and for sustenance. There was no other like her, no other until him. But it was only a dream, and when she wakened Raum was still never much so alone. Only what remained of the wolf’s body that she slept upon kept her company. Cocking her head, she looked down at his mangled throat and dead eyes. Nipping at his ear, she snorted and stood up, grabbing him by the throat she had ripped out and dragging what remained of his body away to stash for another day. She buried him in a snow bank, satisfied with her job and then turning back towards the blood stained snow where she had ended his life.

Dropping to the earth, she rolled in the snow, in the blood, in the tufts of fur and bits of skin, in the scent of death. On her back she wriggled into the cold embrace of her favorite aromas, bathing in the success of her hunt and reveling in the fullness that tightened her belly.

"You can't change your nature. Some fear you. Not me! Some loathe you. Nobody likes you. That's just the way it is!"