Chapter 33

"When I was young, at a time before I can even remember, hunters came to my pack. Like they had done with many before, and many since, they killed the adults and any children older than five. All those under five were taken and given to hunter couples to raise as their own child." She began to explain, the face of the man before her taking on a hard edge. She was not sure if he did not believe what she said, or if the information was too must for him to take in.

"From the moment they are able, the hunters begin feeding the wolf children small doses of wolves bane, to keep their wolf blood suppressed.  The goal is to raise them and have them take human partners and breed the wolf out of their offspring. A slow genocide to the monsters they see us as." She explained to him.

"How did you find all this out? Did they just tell you?" He sounded skeptical, Ariel unable to stop the bitter grin that came to her face.

"A few months ago the train carrying the wolves bane crashed. We did not get the shipment, and so the poison worked it's way out of our systems. Many of us began to embrace what we were when one of us broke into the library and found the records kept by the hunters. We knew what we were, and we planned to leave." She paused, her eyes dropping from him as she recalled the events of that night.

"Some of the others began to go missing, so we went to go find them.." Her tone dropped and she could see a subtle shift in the man as she continued. His posture was more open, less guarded.

"They were experimenting on those they caught. Overdosing them on wolves bane, putting liquid silver into them, cutting them open to see the results." Her voice had become monotone, her eyes unfocused.

"We had read about the traps, but we never expected they had put them up outside of the town. We had released as many of the others as we could, and spread word that we were escaping. I got out with my close friends, my chosen pack but..." She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath.

"Traps, guns, and explosions separated us. I got out with Jole, but he had stepped into a trap on our way out. It took him almost a full day to die from the silver poisoning." She opened her eyes again, not able to stop the exhausted look that passed over her features.

"When I saw that wolf and knew they were going to go through the same thing Jole did. I didn't want anyone else to suffer that experience." She finished, only her eyes, now narrowed, shifting back to his face.

"As for the children, I smelled the smoke before I saw the columns. I knew the smell because of a house fire I had witnessed. When I got there, i knew there was nothing I could do to help. The hunters had wolves bane in their blood, so biting them was just going to weaken the wolves, making them easier to kill. There were only two hunters with the children that had been taken, so I killed them and left with the kids in the van. This was the closest territory, so I brought them here." She finished, watching him closely.

There was conflicting mix of emotions in his eyes, and he seemed like he wanted to be angry. The muscles of his jaw tensed and flexed, though his eyes never left her.

"How can we be sure you are telling the truth?" He asked her, Ariel letting out a soft sigh. She then stood and strode to the front of the cell. The man remained rooted in place, looking down at her as she gripped the cold iron bars.

"Go to the pack the children are from. In a field on the southern side you will find two bodies. Both are hunters. One will have his throat ripped out and he is missing his shirt. The other will have one arm broken by wolf teeth, and he will have a single stab wound in his throat. They are the hunters I killed to save the children." She told him. His gaze was intense as he watched her, that conflicting mix of emotions swirling in his amber eyes.

"And the rest of your story?" He asked, almost sounding like he wanted her to be right.

"Hunters have their own towns, like all humans. It looks and operates like a normal human town, except the children are almost never allowed to leave. There will be many more of those traps around the town, leaving it to smell strongly of humans and acorns. They don't welcome strangers, and there will always be just a single road in and out. Find the closest hunter town, and you can find their records. Everything will be there." With that she let go of the bars and backed away from them, settling back down on the rotting bench.

He stood there for a long moment before swiftly turning and walking away, soon plunging Ariel back into darkness. She felt his absence as soon as he was gone, longing for the light and the warmth of the torch. The image of his face was burned into her mind, the strong contours of his face and strong edge to his jaw. The image was comforting and torturous at the same time, leaving Ariel feeling confused. She reached out to her wolf, but she was similarly confused. Ariel wanted the man to come back, to keep talking to her in his musical voice and warm her with his presence.

He was a pack wolf, though, and she just a rogue. She was pack-less and seen as just a criminal. Even if she was proven to have been telling the truth, the best possible option for her was for them to just let her go, put her back out into the wilderness she had come from. The cold settled deep into her bones at the thought, pulling her legs up into her chest and resting her chin on her knees. Death, or being alone. Neither was an outcome she wished for, but it was the harsh reality of her world now. With her chosen pack gone, and her word about as good as fake money, she was left to the whims of this pack.