Getting into town was easy. Staying there was immensly difficult.

In the forest, where night's darkness could rule unchallenged, Toivo had felt relatively comfortable in his black Pelt. He'd almost been able to let himself forget its true meaning, and how its simple colour had swept into his life and changed it in a heartbeat. The dark was a friendly companion in the forest, content to hide him from view, calming the Shadow twisting within him. It provided safety, and he embraced it.

That safety had long since left him now.

Light pooled virtually everywhere, spilling from the seeming thousands of lanterns cramping the streets. A smart move on the town's part, whether they knew about the Shadewylf ability to blend with dark or not. It made Toivo's Pelt feel more like a blackened beaken, a clear smudge of life against the flickering light.

Concentrating hard, he felt for the ribbons of shadow, pulling them inwards until he felt himself vanish within them. He took another step forwards, and his claws glided in front of the light. His dark cloak fell away and he was visible again, leaving him to grit his teeth and duck hurriedly away from the glow of the lantern.

The others were doing a far better job. Apart from the occasional flash of black crossing a stretch of light, the three wolves he travelled with were doing fine. The only one visible enough to follow so that he didn't lose his way was Jaser, though Toivo was sure that the general was keeping himself fairly noticeable on purpose. He'd seen enough of Jaser to know that he wasn't one to even attempt to avoid a fight.

They slid beneath tree cover as they took a wide turn to round a corner, and Toivo could temporarily relax, becoming entirely invisible for the first time in several minutes. He hung back as the others continued, taking a moment to hold onto the shadows tightly, before moving off again and hoping they would remain.

The street before them led to the plaza. Even without the sun-like glare of the lamps, Toivo would have known that. He knew these streets better than anything. Far better than he'd ever known the cave.

His heart twinged.

There lay the second reason staying here was difficult, wrapped up in the one thought train he refused to follow. His paws itched to turn the other way, to avert his gaze from any of this crawling familiarity, and vanish back into the forest. His black fur seemed to pulse, brighter than all of the lanterns combined. It screamed to everyone who lay eyes on it that he didn't belong here, not in any form, and that he should return to the darkness he came from.

It hurt more that he agreed with that train of thought. In truth, if he would admit to himself, it was why he'd joined the Shadewylves in the first place. Other, more honourable reasons had come later, but it had been this place, this feeling, that drove his first impulsive decision.

For even without his Shadow, he had never really belonged here, and no Pelt would ever have changed that.

A beam of light cut through his veil of power yet again, forcing him to pull his concentration away from those uncomfortable thoughts and focus them into disappearing. At least they were growing close to their destination now. Crossing the plaza would not be easy, but once they reached the other side, there would be no more hiding.

Suddenly, Jaser halted, then slid soundlessly into the undergrowth beside the nearest house. Toivo stumbled, barely preventing himself from falling on his face, before righting himself and picking his way over to where Jaser and the others were already crouched. He winced at the crunch of leaves beneath his paws.

The questino of why they'd stopped built in the back of his jaw. He clamped down on it hurriedly as his eyes reached the same point as Jaser's gaze, and he sank lower into the house's shadow. Two shapes paced there, one with fur that glinted bronze in the swathes of light, the other a paler yellow.

Fiammetta and Alvis. Even remembering their names made Toivo want to disappear completely, not just visible but from this place entirely. Two of the Twilytra members that had hidden him in the woods in that first day he'd worn his Pelt.

He remembered Fiammetta's distrustful scowls, and the edge that tainted her words whenever she glanced his way. She hadn't trusted him then. She'd expected him to betray them, and she'd been right.

No, he growled to himself, forcing his ears not to bend. He hadn't betrayed them. One day, when the world was as it should be - equal and peaceful - he'd show her that this was the right choice.

Doubt pricked at his heart. But you've got to make that happen first.

The area around him remained inky black, but Toivo's sensitive eyes caught the brush of movement through the darkness, the softest sound of a placed paw confirming the sighting not to be a figment of imagination. A wolf turning. Though the usual red glow of Jaser's eyes was absent, Toivo could feel its gaze latching onto him, and its brightness slid through in the general's whisper.

"Stay here, Toivo. Montasir would be very displeased with me if I got our most important asset injured." A chuckle hung off the end of his order. "Donahue, Kalah, with me."

Toivo felt the three of them leave, and saw their flicker in the lamps ahead moments after. He did his best to stay still, though nerves thumped his heart so loud he was sure his paws shook as a result. He was hardly disappointed to be avoiding the fight, but it made his skin crawl all the same as he tracked Jaser's progress towards Fiammetta and Alvis. If only his mission was beside a slightly less bloodthirsty wolf.

The clatter of claws on stone cut through the air, making Toivo's shoulders tense. Fiammetta's head whipped around. Alvis sunk into a defensive crouch, ears flicking apprehensively.

A sleak black shape leaped from the shadows, claws reaching for Fiammetta's neck. She rolled aside and came up hissing, amber flames snaking down her paws and burning in her responding strike.

In the fire's pulsing glow, the other two Shadewylves became visible, one with bright red eyes that glinted as he raced for Alvis and the other with the broad shoulders of a male. Donahue, which meant that the one attacking Fiammetta was Kalah. As Kalah ducked beneath Fiammetta's claws and took a tactful step back, Toivo took recognised the thin tail he'd trailed after through the forest.

A blast of light switched his attention back to the other battle. Alvis had released a fragile trail of lightning, striking Jaser square in the chest. He yelped and fell, a spasm ripping through his body as a growl hissed from his jaw.

But the victory lasted only a moment before Donahue sprung from behind, wrapping his paws around Alvis' neck and sending them both crashing down. Donahue swiped his claws across the yellow snout pinned beneath him, then struck harder, and Alvis fell limp.

Toivo dug his claws into the dirt. At least Alvis wasn't dead.

His attention flicked back to Fiammetta in time to catch her blazing claws rake Kalah's flank, casting her away. She rushed to Alvis' side immediately, paw running from his bleeding snout to his chest, relief sagging her shoulders when she felt a pulse.

But she shouldn't have allowed herself to become so distracted. Kalah had recovered quickly from her wound and now pounced, latching her claws into Fiammetta's side, while Donahue swiped at her paws with stinging ferocity. Fiammetta stumbled, and then fell, Kalah still digging claws deep into her shoulder.

The dull thud of her head smacking against the hard stone of the plaza reached even Toivo, hidden behind the house. He winced at the pain woven into the sound.

Fiammetta barely made an effort to climb to her paws again. A blinding mist seemed to have shielded her vision. Her strikes were without aim, lacking in power, and so it wasn't long until Kalah slashed at her snout and she sank entirely into unconciousness. Kalah raised her claws again, ready to deliver a far more costly blow.

But another sound stilled her paw. A shout nearby, and then the thump of approaching paws. The battle had not gone unnoticed. Tail flicking in frustration, Kalah retreated from Fiammetta's body and slunk away, sliding beneath the veil of darkness. Donahue followed quickly.

Casting his eyes back towards Alvis, Toivo realised that Jaser was now climbing to his paws, shaking out his fur with clear annoyance. He swept his gaze over the two fallen forms, a hint of desire swirling like decorative blood in his eyes. But there wasn't time. The shouts were growing closer. Jaser had time only to jerk his head to Toivo, beckoning him to join them in fleeing, before vanishing after his companions.

Toivo obeyed, forcing himself not to spare another glance towards Fiammetta or Alvis as he drew closer. There was no time for him to consider how he felt about this. All he could focus his steps with was how rapidly they needed to flee from this place and lock onto their true target.

Though he couldn't see the others, he sensed their rapid speed as they raced across the plaza, and did his best to keep up. By the time he slowed to a stop near the Wylfire headquarters, it was becoming a struggle to keep his breathing under control. He snatched tentative gulps of air, forcing them to stay as quiet as possible. Together with his thundering heart, he was sure the sound would give them all away.

Another shout, louder this time, cut through the air, and then an orange wolf dashed into view. Specs of darkened orange caught in the beams of light, mixed with streaks of brown to form a russet-like shade. His eyes swept the area, slicing through the spot Toivo stood with hardened readiness.

Toivo's breath hitched. Even without searching in the dark to find the silver letters etched onto the wolf's paw, he knew that they would spell Maynard.

For the first time in days, he and his father would face each other.

As fire crept up the auburn tuft that cloaked Maynard's neck, more Flamewylves rushed in behind him, their gazes also searching in the striped light. Toivo didn't dare move. The others still hadn't showed themselves, and he wasn't going to be the one to attack first.

His teeth clenched. The longer he remained here, the more he realised how awkward the place he'd halted in was. Most of his fur was helpfully concealed in a stretching shadow, but the lamp's beam shone across his snout, cutting a clean line to encompass his right forepaw. At first, staying hidden was doable, but he could feel his grip slipping. Either he needed to move, or he would show himself.

Holding his breath, he slowly lifted a paw, pleased with its soundless result. Now for the more difficult part. He edged it sideways and set it down.

A soft crunch, incredibly quiet, and yet loud enough to pierce right into Toivo's ear. Surely the Flamewylves had heard it too. But when he glanced up, their attention still lay elsewhere. Breath still held, he moved a second paw, with a similar result. The darkness settled more easily around him.

Just as he made to step a touch further, a crackle of fire made him flinch. His father was sliding a paw over the nearest lamp. The flames reared higher, and with them came a widening sheet of light.

Within seconds, Toivo's safe circle of shadow was exposed. He did his best to cling to the scraps of darkness, pulling wisps of night's cloak tight against him, but they were swift to abandon him. They would not hide him. They wanted nothing but to flee from the light.

He felt the light brush his fur a moment before eyes found him.

A female Flamewylf snapped her attention to him, emitting a quiet growl. From somewhere in the recesses of Toivo's memory, the name Vixa emerged. He remembered Maynard mentioning her: a young official, showing surprising promise and a fierce fighting style.

Toivo moved a hind paw backwards. He didn't even have chance to fully set it down before Vixa was pouncing, flares of fire flying like darts from her claws. He rolled away from the projectiles, giving up on all hope of hiding now. Their battle had begun.

The same thought had clearly crossed the others' minds, because in the corner of his eye, Toivo made out Jaser's form charging from the shadows to engage a Flamewylf. Donahue and Kalah followed close behind, the latter leaping straight for Maynard.

But Toivo had no time to consider where her claws would land. Vixa had recovered from her unsuccessful pounce and now whirled around to face him, fire in her gaze. He shot to his paws, bracing himself for a second attack, but she lingered. The fire now tipping her ears dimmed slightly.

"You're Maynard's pup," she murmured thoughtfully, studying him. Toivo winced. Sometimes, he had to curse his blue eyes for being so obvious.

Something changed in her expression, something far more ferocious. Her fangs emerged. "The traitor." Her ears angled forwards, dancing with new flame. "You insult your father to fight with such beasts."

There were a hundred guilts that ate away at his heart for fighting beside the Shadewylves, but insulting his father was certainly not one of them. He mirrored her position. "Then let him be insulted."

They both jumped at the same time. He slashed his claws at her neck, but hers were already catching a hold on his flank, and though he shoved her weight was greater than his. He fell beneath her, doing his best to twist in order to escape her grip. No sooner had his side hit the ground did he squirm away from her, striking a wide arc towards her shoulder. She dodged, but the movement gave him time to right his paws.

She pounced again, and they entered a more desperate frenzy. The detail of every strike was lost in the simple determination to keep dodging, and then retaliating, pulling away whenever she started to force him downwards. She was both bigger and stronger than him, so he couldn't make it easy for her to trap him against the plaza's unforgiving stone.

Her claws caught his leg, and he stumbled. In his lapse of concentration, she drew back for a second strike. There wasn't enough time to register it. He flinched away, protecting his neck, but pain still seared his shoulder.

This wasn't going to work. He wasn't strong enough to beat her like this. A new tactic was necessary. Ignoring the way his new wound stung, he bunched his shoulders and pushed off from the ground. But instead of aiming for distance or height, like many pounces did, he aimed for power.

She expected him to latch paws around her neck, or shove down on her back, and so it was that she was ready for. But he didn't do that. With all his body weight, he collided with her head, his claws not even drawn.

The thud would have made him wince, had he not been dealing with his own collision. He fell sideways, directly into the hard stone. Releasing a sharp hiss of pain, he forced himself to clamber to his paws, mustering the prepatation to fight had his idea failed.

Before him, Vixa stumbled back, her fangs clenched to hold in a rush of sudden aches. She bent her head, eyes partially closed. Enduring, hoping to recover quickly.

Toivo sighed his relief. It had worked, but he couldn't allow her to recover. As quickly as his paws could manage, he dashed forward and leaped again, though this time not quite in the same destructive manner.

His strike drove into her snout. She wasn't ready to defend it, and so collapsed beneath it. By the time her head reached the ground, she was too dazed to be of danger anymore.

Still, Toivo rested his paws on his chest, ensuring that she stayed pinned there. He allowed his senses to widen and take in the rest of the battle. Donahue was perched atop a similarly-stunned Flamewylf, while Kalah prowled away from a third fallen orange body, a deep gash darkening its chest. Closer to the headquarters, Jaser still tackled a bigger Flamewylf, though as Toivo watched the general's fangs carved an opening and sank into an orange throat.

A knot tightened in Toivo's chest. His snout twitched, caught between a triumphant smile and a fearful grimace.

There was only one member of the Wylfire left standing, and his identity only dug deeper into Toivo's heart. He caught Maynard's flash of orange-brown as he leaped to fight Kalah. But she was far less exhausted than he was, and with Donahue running in to assist, Maynard simply didn't have a chance. He was pinned to the ground in moments.

Toivo's claws dug into Vixa's side. He hurriedly retracted them, flinching at the warmth of her blood. Pulling away from her, he took a tentative step towards his father, and retreated again, eyes darting to the fighting wolves and then away.

Kalah's claws edged their way towards Maynard's throat. An itch circled Toivo's own neck, as if miniature claws were also wrapping around his airway, shortening his breaths. His father was about to die, right before his eyes. His father was about to die, and he didn't know what to do. His paws shifted with the will to do something, anything, and yet he did nothing.

His father should have deserved to die. Every cruel word still stalked around Toivo's mind, a constant prick aiming to falter every movement he made. Perhaps the Shadow inside of him wouldn't exist without his father. Perhaps the drive in his claws hadn't always belonged to him, and instead been gifted through those earlier years.

But another voice, one not his own, rose up to counter the thoughts. No-one deserves to die. Lexi's voice, quiet and calm, but steel in its surity. Life isn't something you earn. It's a right. It's yours.

Toivo took another step forward, and didn't retract it this time. "Wait," he called. His voice sounded so small. He repeated himself, strengthening the tone.

Gaze whipping to him, Kalah frowned. "Why?"

But his attention wasn't on her. His eyes met Maynard's. He noted the way they widened, realisation brightening them, and then sinking low and dark, filled with heavy sadness.

"Son." The word was dry, devoid of not only the love it should hold, but also the anger it usually hissed with.

Toivo swallowed hard. His Pelt didn't feel quite as secure as it had before. "Father."

"Father?" Head cocked, Kalah glanced between them, her claws inching backwards, though her weight remained on Maynard's chest. Something clicked in her expression, and her snout parted in a silent oh.

A silence, still and suffocating, hung in the air.

It was broken abruptly by the slice of Jaser's laugh, unnaturally loud, pressing the sting further into Toivo's throat. The Shadewylf general strolled into view, eyes alight with a strange excitement.

"Well." He shook his head, a final chuckle fighting its way through the thick tension. "Isn't this a touching reunion?"

He paced the final distance to meet Toivo, standing to his full height so that he stared down his snout at him. Almost automatically, Toivo shrank under his gaze, distinctly aware of how vulnerable he was beside the general. He saw the blood-tinged spark in Jaser's eyes. Perhaps this one show of weakness was enough to lead him to yet another kill.

But instead of striking, or even showing any hint of fury, Jaser's snout twisted into a smile. "I hear you and your father had something of a... strained relationship."

So Jaser knew. Of course he did. Twice Toivo could recall hints of spies watching the town, especially him. His whole life had been documented for the Shadewylf generals. They knew of everything Maynard had done, everything that spurred the hatred prowling his heart.

Stepping aside, Jaser nodded his head towards the Flamewylf imprisoned beneath Shadewylf paws. "I'm sure you've dreamed of revenge."

The worst thing was that Toivo had. There were times when he'd told Lexi that he wished his father would be hurt in the same way he'd hurt others. He even recalled wishing his father dead. Now that wish had come true, and he understood why Lexi had so strongly denied the concept.

Jaser's fangs inched closer, drawn and sharp. They bent to his ears, releasing a hissed whisper. "A true Shadewylf would kill him without a second thought. It is what he deserves, I'm sure." His flank brushed Toivo's side, forcing Toivo to take another step, and another, the click of claws warning him not to turn back. "Or perhaps you could give him something worse."

The Shadow within Toivo squirmed within its cage. Flashes of Deimos writhing in the cave's hollowed room, contorted with pure pain, filled his mind. Something worse.

A moment of deepest pain, one that did not cause death but made its sufferer long for it.

Both Donahue and Kalah stepped aside as Toivo moved to press Maynard down. His father didn't squirm beneath his grip. He only stared up at him with desperate eyes, scraps of hope drowned in a sea of fear.

Jaser's breath reached his neck. "Don't be weak, Toivo. Don't be the weak pup he thinks you are."

His paws clenched. He wasn't weak, not anymore. He had his Pelt, his power, everything he'd wanted. He was certainly strong enough to face up to his father now. Yet still he hesitated.

"Don't be his prey," came Jaser's whisper. "Be the predator."

The Shadow hissed its will for release. The night touched Toivo's fur, chilled with its agreement. He pictured his parents circling him, trapping him in his own weakness. No longer.

"You aren't a failure, are you?"

The words rung with a different tone in Toivo's ears, morphing into another voice. His father's voice, punctuated with the same growls as always. The same disappointment.

The cage fell away, and darkness encompassed him.

It slid from his heart, soundless, but not for long. Terror flooded Maynard's eyes. Shadows chased away their light. His breathing rasped, growing more rapid, as his fangs pressed against one another. He twisted beneath Toivo's grip.

A scream tore from his throat, and Toivo smiled.

Slowly, he stepped back, feeling his eyes narrow. It didn't feel like it had with Deimos - another force, enacting its pain without his consent. Instead, he was the driving force behind it. He channelled it, pure and strong, delicately weaving its way through his father's veins.

Another scream sliced the air. His heart should have been hammering frantically, but instead its beat was steady, oddly calmed. The Shadow knew what it was doing. No panic accompanied it.

Maynard's claws beat at the stone, attempting to dig, but to not avail. His tail lashed, a viper pierced with its own venom. His jaw was hinged open, carved with a third scream, but no sound emerged. The sounds choked him now, as everything did. Even the air itself could not be his ally.

"Is... Isn't that enough?" Donahue's voice, nervous, quivering.

"Not nearly," Jaser answered. Toivo agreed. He pushed harder.

The dark was his now, and it pulsed within him. Control was his. There was no need for him to stop, for no-one could stop him.

The thump of nearby paws, speeding closer, tickled the edges of his conciousness. He ignored them. He also ignored Donahue's further question of what they should do about the incoming threat. What was there to do? They couldn't stand up to the flow of power.

A slice of pain dug into Toivo's paw. He paid it little attention. Pain was his also. But the thread of thought he cast its way allowed him to catch Jaser's hiss, sharp enough to temporarily cut through the cage of Shadow he dwelled in.

"More prey for you, Toivo." The claws dug in deeper, and Toivo inflicted their pain upon Maynard. "Expand. Take them too."

Toivo raised his head a fraction. Another Flamewylf was approaching, accompanied by more shapes of wolves he didn't care to give a name to. His smile widened.

More prey.