Mercy's POV

The mess hall was big – big and packed with Horde cadets.  Shadow Weaver lead us around the sides of the room, pressed to the wall, as far as we could be from the cadets that ate quickly – tables becoming silent as we passed them, and growing louder behind us.  Everyone was either curious or nervous as Shadow Weaver lead us on.  People stared at our muzzles, and I felt eyes burning holes in the back of my head.

"Adora." Shadow Weaver cooed endearingly.  I looked up as Shadow Weaver stopped at a metal table identical to the others, five cadets settled on the benches.

There was a reptilian like man, his head was that of a lizard, and his body was scaled, with claws and thick tail adding to the reptilian features.  There was a distinct feline sent, and I craned my neck to see a girl with tanned skin, wild auburn hair, with velvety feline ears, and a slim tail that flicked curiously.  A blonde sat next to the catlike girl; her hair pulled back in a ponytail with blue eyes and was relaxed in posture.  There was a tan girl with caramel dreadlocks, pulled back into a ponytail.  The one on the end of the bench was a nervous looking boy, brown eyed, blond, and skinny.

Senna and Nieta pushed back towards me, and I took their hands in mine, holding them tight.

"Oh, Shadow Weaver." The blonde smiled while the other cadets saluted and stiffened in their seats. "Who are they?" The blonde asked, looking past Shadow Weaver at us.  The catlike girl leaned back, and her eyes raked over us, scrutinizing our muzzles.

"These are the new recruits from Valor." Shadow Weaver gestured back to us, and my eyes flicked from Shadow Weaver to the cadets. "Introduce yourselves." Shadow Weaver commanded in a sickly-sweet voice.  I narrowed my eyes at her before Senna spoke.

"Senna Wicker." Senna said plainly then looked at me.

"Mercy McGee."

"Nieta Wicker."

The introduction was brief, but Shadow Weaver seemed satisfied for now.  The blonde must have been Adora – as far as Shadow Weaver was concerned, the blonde was the only one there.  There was a distinct maternal vibe wafting off of Shadow Weaver as she addressed Adora.

"They will be training under my supervision – they just need someone to point them in the right direction." Shadow Weaver said and motioned for us to sit down at the empty table behind the cadets.  I followed Senna's lead and sat down at the table, subtly sniffing the air.

The smell of the food could be likened to dates and various types of grains that had been soaked in vinegar.  The food that the cadets ate looked like bricks – thin and grainy bricks.  The smell was unappetizing, but there was obviously no kind of meat hidden in this lump of mush.

Wolves were omnivores, but on average we consumed nine pounds of meet a day; just imagine how much a wolf – double the usual size of four feet could consume.  It was important for us to get the protein and fats from the meat while we grew, and as we still had a good year or two of internal growing to do, we needed meat more than fruits and grains.  I kept this in mind as Shadow Weaver hovered over to a cooking station through a swinging metal door and disappeared.

"You guys live in Valor?" I turned to face the speaker which was the girl with the cat ears.

"No one lives in Valor." The girl with the dreadlocks scoffed. "Everybody knows the wolves are eight feet tall and kill anything that crosses that river."

"I asked them, not you." The cat sneered petulantly.

"Shadow Weaver did say they were from Valor." The blonde – Adora said, trying to side with the feline.

"We are." Nieta said firmly and they group turned to look at her.  I peeled my lips back slightly, indicating that the stares were not welcome.  "Did the muzzles not tip you off?" Nieta added. None of us were in the mood to talk about home with these Horde strangers.

"I knew it, you kind of smelled like wet dog, no offense." The feline said with a smirk at the dreadlock girl. "I am Catra." She said, extending a hand towards Senna, who was nearest to her.

"Senna. This is my sister Nieta, and our friend Mercy." Senna informed her for the second time.  It was helpful to get the names in their heads, so we didn't have to do this again later.

"This is Adora, Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle." Catra introduced us to the group and we nodded civilly.

"Can you really turn into eight-foot-tall wolves?" Adora asked – leaning over the table.  Senna, Nieta and I looked between one another.

"We can, but it takes a while.  We have to get our adrenaline up to a point before something happens in our body that becomes triggered by the rush and automatically sets off a switch in our brain that allows our bodies to expand." Senna informed them as I looked on.

"It isn't anything crazy, our bodies have our bones and muscle so compacted within itself that we can expand." I added, not sure of the science of it all myself – relaying bits of what I had heard from Nisha when I first morphed.

"I thought you become savage beasts." Lonnie said skeptically.  Of course, the wild speculation where we become savage, unable to recognize friend from foe, which of course is not true, we keep our common sense.

"We look like savage beasts." Nieta corrected.

"Some of us are cinnamon rolls." Senna added.

I looked up as Shadow Weaver floated back into the mess hall with what looked and smelled like raw beef.   It sounds disgusting, but it smelled really good, and the mushy texture didn't bother us.  I watched – perhaps a little too eagerly as she set the plastic tray of meet before us.  My pupils dilated as I inhaled the metallic tang of the meat, and my mouth began to water.

It wasn't till now – till the set reached my nose and triggered the animalistic hunger deep in my body that I realized it had been quite a while since I had eaten.  I thought hard to remember what I had eaten last as Shadow Weaver made her way over to the table at a painfully sluggish pace.  I could feel Senna and Nieta tense beside me as well, and I exchanged looks with them, staring into Nieta's Amethyst eyes, flecked with mauve and violet, sharp with hunger and curiosity – Senna's flaxen eyes were narrowed, amber and golden flecks shimmered ravenously within her irises.

I wondered what my eyes looked like to them – they were coal black pits that I expected to explode with emotions unchecked at my hunger, my eyes must have held things I didn't even know myself.

"Despite the fact that we know so little about you, we know your person needs red meat to grow." Shadow Weaver explained and my eyes locked on the flesh as she set it down before us. "Enjoy." I briefly searched her eyes, finding no trace of deceit.  She reached towards me, and I went stiff, lips curling back over pointed fangs – her hands only unfastened the muzzle around my head, and I relaxed slightly.

I waited for Senna and Nieta's muzzles to be removed before we turned on the chunk of flesh. My hands were shaky as I reached forward and curled my fingers into the flesh and with a slight yank, I pulled a piece from the chunk and brought it to my face, sinking my teeth into the meat. Juices ran down my throat, fueling the fire within my body, and I felt some of the blood dribble down my chin – someone squirmed but I payed no attention as I heard Senna and Nieta sinking their teeth into the meat.  I heard the squelch of my teeth ripping into the flesh over again and relished the rich taste in my mouth.

We tore over the meat ignoring the stares we got from the other tables, and the squeamish recoils from Kyle.  If he moved another inch, he'd fall off the bench and wind up on the hard metal floor.  I then purposely stared into his wide brown eyes as I pulled on the fatty edge of the flesh, making a very loud squelching sound, maybe even squirting a bit of blood over my fingers that wrapped protectively around the cold flesh – Kyle promptly toppled backward only to be caught in the claws of the massive reptile.

I felt a snicker rumble in my throat and felt Senna chuckle as well.  There was nothing left on the tray within six minutes – the whole nine pounds sat evenly split in our stomachs.  I felt a rush of satisfaction run through my body but something in the back of my head raged against the boundaries of my skull, wanting more – needing more.

I watched desperately as Shadow Weaver waved a hand over the deep sided tray and the inch of blood at the bottom ripped and disappeared along with the tray under a layer of blackness. Once the shadow cleared all I saw was my reflection staring up at me, blood covered my chin and crusted at the corners of my mouth, and my eyes were dull with longing.  I missed the taste of the fresh venison and mutton back home, the meat that wasn't frozen in clumps and sat in freezers for days.

"Look at you." Shadow Weaver cooed, reaching for Nieta's face which was also covered in the gore. "All dirty. We'll have to fix that." She said, maternal tones underlying her silvery tone.

The muzzles were strapped once again to our faces and we stood, looking down at bloodied uniforms and back to the group of cadets on the table next to us.  Adora looked a little confused, and Catra held disgust in her eyes.  Lonnie was staring at the table, stained with the blood of our victim.

I felt heat rise to my cheeks, embarrassed that I had lost control like that.  I was after all a human first and a wolf second.  I was only half, I wasn't as in touch with my instincts as Senna and Nieta, but after that I thought maybe I was neglecting a part of me that needed to be embraced.

"let's get you cleaned up." Shadow Weaver said, placing a hand on Nieta and Senna's back, strapping me in the middle of the two before she stepped around us and walked back the way we had come.  I didn't look back at the group of cadets, and kept my eyes locks on my bare feet, a fleck of blood on the arch of my foot.

Maybe we could fit in here somehow, maybe it wouldn't be all that bad.  All we had to do was earn their trust and gain outdoor privileges – after all a wolf should not be contained...