Anger seethed in the female as the male before her spoke about such stupid things as a pack hunt. A pack hunt with a group of wolves filled with nothing but hated and evil in their heart and souls. Why was she here? Why had she stayed here? For Perdere? That was stupid, why would she want to stay for a wolf that had kidnapped her. So instead she convinced herself that he was forcing her here. He had taken her away, and when they had come back to what she thought was her home, everything was different. The wolves that had been willing to protect her were all gone. And instead stood Sindicate. A male that scared her more than anything else. But Perdere did not flinch away from him or the other wolves that were happy to flock to his side. Did that make the kalak as evil as the rest? She wasn’t sure. But for whatever reason or another, she was here. And she was blaming Perdere for it and for what would happen to her now. When the male laughed at her outburst, it made her want to cry. Really it made her want to bite him, but she knew how useless an attempt at any sort of violence would be. She was not strong or quick or anything. So it just left Shilo with frustration and the threat of tears because she didn’t know what else there was that she could do. His laughter just made her more and more angry.

Most that heard Perdere’s story of past torture and hardship would feel bad for what the others had done to him. He had suffered immensely and had become the killer he was because of it. Had been forced into it really. But Shilo was too mad to truly listen to the words. She was mad enough that he wanted him to be hurt again. ”I don’t care what they did to you. You deserve it. You’re as mean as the rest of them!” Deep down Shilo knew that she didn’t mean the hateful words she said, but they all came pouring out of her like poison. She took for granted how personal what he just spoke of was. And surely she would come to regret her words at another date. But for now, she was too angry and upset.

The male breathed heavily before he spoke again, his words quieter this time. As if he was forcing himself to be calmer. He went on to speak of how little she knew, of how he had done nothing wrong. That it was Sindicate that changed things. Shilo knew that Sindicate was the one to blame for the change in the packlands, but Perdere had still been the one to take her. Would she still be with the rest of the previous pack if she had just stayed at home? Where had they all gone? She didn’t know. But she didn’t want to be around the wolves that now lived in Mona Toforan. She wanted to get out of here. Why didn’t Perdere want to leave as well? He had saved her before, had been kinder to her, so why would he be with these monsters? It didn’t make any sense to her. And for some reason she felt the need to stay near him. So she had to convince him to get away from here. When he said his last words…how he hated all the kalaks, it hurt her. Did that mean that he hated her? She had done nothing wrong to him, so why would he have any reason to hate her? Shilo turned her head away, not wanting him to see that he had hurt her. She didn’t know why she cared what he thought, but she did. She wanted him to not hate her, maybe to even like her.

”You must be real or Akuji would be here and not you. And you and I both know that Akuji is not about to appear anytime soon.” Her cool mint orbs glanced to him for a moment before looking away again. She wanted to ask him for them to leave. To forget Sindicate and the rest, but she didn’t know how. ”My bloodline is the same as yours. Like you said, I was always alone so who was there to teach me to be an asshole. If I can be different than so can you. You don’t need to hate all of us…” He kept talking about them as if they were different. But they were both maned wolves, both carrying similar blood. Kalaks were interbred enough to all be related in one way or another in the end, so it wasn’t fair for him to try and act like they were different. They could easily be the same. ”Can’t we just leave Perdere? Get away from this pack instead of going to this stupid hunt and trying to join them? We don’t belong here. We’re not bad like them. I’ll go wherever you want…do whatever you want…if we can just leave.” Her eyes were pleading with him, hoping that he would see reason to her words.

Picture and table credit to Casey!

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