"I'm not gonna kill you..." I wince as I say it. Yeesh, that sounded awkward. It implies that I could kill him but am not for now. I mean, technically I could but it's against my morals as a werewolf and a Nightfang.

"Yeah. Clearly. What're you gonna do instead, pluck me some flowers and prance away?" the boy says sarcastically. "How we got those bloodthirsty creature myths, I'll never know," he mutters, thinking I can't hear him. Either werewolves have stronger hearing, or humans are inherently dumb and can't tell how loud they are, because I can hear him clearly. Maybe it's a combination of both.

"Listen up pretty boy. You're gonna tell me who you are, why you're here, and how to stop the rest of those guys. Then you're gonna run, far, far away from here, all the way back to your hidey-hole buildings. Got it?" I growl, seizing his shirt. 

He glares at me. Amazing how his demeanor barely changes when he's being threatened by a creature that could theoretically kill him. Not that I would, probably. I'm even a vegetarian, I love animals too much to kill them. But he doesn't need to know that.

"My name is Viktor, I'm here to hunt with my father, and you can't. They have guns as outnumber you," he smirks. "And in return, tell me your name. Are you the exception, or are all werewolves like you?"

"My name is Raven Nightfang. My friends call me Raven. You can call me Raven Nightfang."

He throws his head back and laughs, a surprisingly beautiful sound for such a grim boy. "Most of my friends call me Viktor Krum. You wouldn't get it, growing up so far from proper civilization."

I release him and step back. His words hurt. My family is quite civilized, thank you very much. I ball and unball my fists at my sides.

"Now, my second question?"

I take deep breath. "Most werewolves are kind, like me. It's only a select few who are actually like how you humans describe them. My family is a loving family," I say coolly. I don't tell him we can shift on other nights, or the network that connects all of us.

He looks at me, half baffled, half annoyed, and half thoughtful, as if he's contemplating something. Something that likely has to do with me. I can only hope it isn't how best to kill me, because that would end badly for both of us.

"You... could come back with us," he says slowly. "You could probably pass as a human. If you get proper clothes and brush your hair," he adds, gesturing at my hair.

I reach up and feel my hair. Do humans not leave it wild and free, like how it's meant to be? Why not? And I'm wearing proper clothes! Since when is a dress not proper? I've seen ladies in their cars once from the edge of the forest wearing dresses similar to mine, why is mine bad but theirs aren't?

"No. I belong here," I say coldly. "You humans are too weird and uptight. I'd offer you to live in the forest but for one you wouldn't last a day and two, I kinda hate you. No offense, but you did come in here with the intention of hurting animals."

He regards me curiously. "There's something wrong with that?"

Is he crazy?! Of course there's something wrong with that!

"Think about it from the deer's point of view. Or the duck's," I begin.

He snorted. "Why would I think about it from a duck of all things?" His eyes glint, like he's enjoying toying with me.

I sigh. "Just, bear with me here. Imagine you can hear something behind you. You turn, and then in an instant there's a bullet through your heart and you're dead. How would you feel?"

"Nothing. I'm dead."

"I- ok fair point. But seriously. It's murder, don't you get that? It's not like you need to kill for food, don't you have shops or whatever they're called?" I say forcefully. I need to get him ok my side, and fast. The hunters might circle back around at any time, and I need to be ready, whether Viktor wants to come or not.

He nods slowly. I can tell he's starting to see my reasoning, but not fast enough.

"Come on. We have to go, we've been here too long." I grab his arm and try to drag him away from the middle. Unfortunately for me, he's well muscled, and as a human I'm not. If I was a wolf, I would be. But being a wolf makes it awfully hard to grab onto something without biting them and injuring them, doesn't it?

"Where are we going? I'm not leaving, I need to get back to my father," he says. He's standing his ground easily, as if it requires no effort to resist me.

"Well I don't, and I don't wanna leave you in the forest alone. It can be quite dangerous here," I say dryly, abandoning my attempt at dragging him. "Plus, it's dangerous for me to stay. Lord knows what they'd do to me when they catch me." I shudder.

"Not humans are bad, just like you say all werewolves aren't bad," he says.

"Come on! We're running out of time!" I plead. My sharp ears hear the sound of footsteps coming back in our direction. "Please, Viktor!" I look at him, my dark brown eyes staring deep into his green ones.

"Fine..." he concedes, but it's too late.

"There he is!" I hear one of them shout as they burst into the clearing. "Viktor!"

"Wait, who are you?" Another says, pointing a gun at me. "You must be the werewolf..."

Fangs and Fates, a Wattpad story.

Word count, 965