Fear was not something that was new to the femme, but it was different this time. Somehow she sensed that she might not survive this this time. There had been many times where she had gotten out of a situation that she didn’t expect to, from the war to the fire, she had somehow made it out alive so far. But this was different. There were plenty of kalaks that she knew that were not sane, but this new place had a new insanity to it. Fighting for positions of power, becoming mates with your own siblings, all of that was just their way of life. But it didn’t have to affect other wolves unless they put themselves in their wars. But this place, what had once been a pack she belonged to, was now run by a different type of insanity. One where none that were here were safe. She didn’t have protection from a pack anymore, this leader wouldn’t understand that a sickness was what made her weak and fearful. He would harm those that came to his pack lands because he was stronger and could. He hunted those that he wanted to, and didn’t just enjoy torture and murder, but eating them. That was something that she couldn’t wrap her head around. When her and Perdere arrived here, she had expected him to want to leave. That he would see that this was no place for sane wolves to live. But the opposite had happened. And now Shilo didn’t know what to do.

The young wolf didn’t have a pack now to help her, and thus she had no home. The only connections she had left to any friends or family was her brother, Tiresias, and she had not been around to help him. So why would he then help her now? She felt that she had nowhere to go. Even when Perdere had taken her captive, he had been looking after her and protecting her. And now she had no one to help her. She would die very quickly in the real world without any sort of protection. And so Shilo felt she had no choice. She could either venture out on her own, possibly find her brother, or she could stay with Perdere and hope that they had made some sort of connection that he would be okay with her sticking around. Sure she had hated him and feared him at first, but after traveling with him, and him protecting her on multiple occasions, she had some sort of emotional bond with him now. One that she didn’t fully understand yet. But she knew that without him she would not last long.

Nervous paws carried the kalak through the trees, trying to find a good spot to hunt so she could follow Perdere into the pack. Finding a good crop of brush to hide herself in, she settled in to wait for some prey to come along. After some time she saw the form of a small vole approaching its den, which happened to bring it close enough for her to strike. She did not hunt as often as most, it was just too draining for her. But even though she had hunted recently for herself and Perdere, she knew this was important and that without it she wouldn’t be able to stay with the other kalak. Forcing her tired muscles to spring forward, she was able to quickly dislocate its spine and kill it. This wasn’t something that she liked doing, she knew that she needed to kill to eat, but otherwise she didn’t see any point in it. Working carefully with the smaller creature, she was able to pull its head from its body. She decided not to waste the meat that was there, and ate the rest of the body, leaving just the head. Now came the part that she was not looking forward to. The head was small, but so was she and she was able to get her teeth under the skin, carefully pulling from the bone but leaving the muscle underneath. It was messy and by no means perfect. She had pulled too hard on some areas, ripping off the muscle as well as the skin. But it was the best she could do.

Feeling sick to her stomach, Shilo picked up the offering and headed back to the pack. She had not traveled too far, knowing that it would take her too long to get back if she had done that. It didn’t take her long to get back into the pack lands, pausing momentarily at the border to try and get her courage up for what she was about to do. She didn’t know what else she could do though. Catching Perdere’s scent she focused on that and followed it. Eventually she made it to where they had gathered, and caught the site of the alpha as well as the other kalak. Glancing around quickly, she saw multiple other wolves, none of which she recognized. How could there be this many wolves that were willing to follow an evil and cannibalistic beast? And all of them had some sort of skinned head, so they were clearly here to join. There was only one other that seemed unhappy, but she was showing it more than Shilo. At least for now. She quickly padded over to Perdere, dropping the skinned head as she did so. She didn’t want to hide behind him, but she also didn’t want to be out in the open and feel so exposed. She settled to sit close beside the male instead, trying to calm her nerves for the pack that she was about to become a member of. Every part of her told her to run and never return, but she had no other option. Forcing herself not to let out a whimper of fear, her mint green orbs glanced to Perdere, trying to gauge what he felt about this place.

Picture and table credit to Casey!

//Shilo//Fae//Daughter of Shae and Caspian//Sister to Tiresias, Malina, and Rylan//Crith Thalmhainn//Young Adult//Violet//