I felt blood covering my face, flowing down on the wooden floor of the butcher's shop.

  It was so stupid of me, I had to see it coming. I had felt it though, a tingling sensation of apprehension in my gut that something was amiss when I heard that old lady's voice begging for help. Luring me in. And their trap had sprung. Not perfectly, I had my ego placated knowing I put up a good fight. Giving one of those bastards a broken nose before they hit me in the head with something hard enough to knock my senses out good. Of course in return I got the shit beaten out of me after.

  -Dearest, is he even edible? Look at his blood, it's so black! Maybe he stood too long with those filthy scavengers.

  -Nobody in the lumberjack village has blood this dark, no matter how diseased with originum. I'd know. I skinned Peter myself!

  -Oh my, I remember. I hope you didn't mix that meat with ours!

  -No ma, rest assured. We packed and sent it to the villagers, and called it quality muscle!

  Might as well should have asked ''grandma'' for some biscuits and tea while I was there, judging by the leisurely tone of their discussion.

  -''Guh.'' I escaped a heavy groan of pain. It felt like my liver had been beaten to a pulp.

  -Oh don't worry deary. I have no painkillers to dull your hurt, but it won't last long. We'll chop you up soon enough into some fine home-made meat pies!

  -''I wouldn't in your place grandma. I'd give a Hell of an indigestion. Guh!'' I groaned as a fist planted itself deep into my stomach.

  -Respect our mother, landship filth!

  -Your brother has quite a temper Baskamov. Is that why you left him behind?

  -Somebody had to take care of the homestead, Tacet.

  -So. Did you really come to us for a new life? For you and maybe them? Or just for the skills to continue doing your thing?

  -Would have been nice. But there was never really any chance for that, was there? The past caught up. Fortunately slow enough for your course to have ended before I was found out.

  -You could have left your past behind. You could have brought your family with you. Made a change. Instead, you chose to fuck it all up for yourselves.

  -Too big of a gamble. In the end it's the choices that make us. And I made a lot of choices in my past. At first, it was out of necessity. But it was too late once I started enjoying it. I knew it would stick with me to the marrow of my bones.

  -A most rotten end my former pupil. But choosing to believe that you only made sure to bury any chance for change.

  -It doesn't really matter anymore though, does it? Besides, I'm content with it.

  -So then, what's your direction in life now? Not that this place has any prospects from what I've seen.

  -This whole region is a corpse that doesn't know it's already dead, diseased and starved as it is. But my family and I will start anew. Ursus is vast after all, and your SUV will take us far.

  -I'm sure you think you have it all figured out.

  -Pretty much, and we're ready for the unexpected. You made sure of that.

  -I guess I did.

  -''You're taking your time, and we're running out of wood for the stove brother.'' Baskamov's sibling nudged in our conversation.

  -''Let your big brother handle things dear. I'm used to the cold.'' The old lady spoke softly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  -It won't take long now Harolov. Once our greedy, two faced merchant of a neighbour comes we can pack up and-

  ''Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!'' Four loud, distinct beats were heard outside the exit.

  -''Finally!'' Exclaimed Harolov.

  -I'll get it dear, you two can start chopping up the fella now.

  Time was running dangerously short for me, and the thought of becoming food for a bunch of cannibals ill sat with my stomach. I wasn't exactly idle all this while. Using the time I prolonged the conversation with I mentally channelled my gift to infuse me with as much strength and adrenaline as it could gather out of my body. The chair I was tied to seemed sturdy but beyond old. Perhaps not sturdy enough for a concentrated burst if I gathered all my force and momentum just right. I was dancing again on a blade's edge with death.

  The old lady had opened a hatch in the door to check on the newcomer. I then heard the tell-tale sound of a ''whoosh'' of air before she leaned heavily against the door, silent and unmoving.

  -''Ma?'' Harolov inquired as he turned around momentarily.

  I thought it a good of a chance as any, and with a tremendous burst of force I ripped the chair asunder! Quickly grappling onto the most dangerous threat. Tackling Baskamov down onto the ground. His younger brother having returned his focus on us again decided to pull a knife instead of his holstered handgun, ready to use it. However, he was reluctant to attack. My struggle with Baskamov being so vicious and so fast-paced that he wouldn't risk stabbing his brother.

  I heard the door suddenly being kicked in with such tremendous force that it went off its hinges along with the corpse of the old lady that was propped against it. Through the ensuing scuffle I saw Harolov having his heart impaled with an arrow in the next moment.

  Baskamov achieved gaining the upper hand first, bashing the but of the handgun against my head. My own actual handgun, stolen by him, ready to make full use of it. Making me stumble hard against the cold floor, seeing flashes. However, I could still discern Baskamov quickly turning to face this fresh new threat, as he was re-aiming.

  He was denied that chance as Grape, Provence's large wolf companion lashed at him with incredible speed. Engulfing the wrist of his gun holding hand in his mouth. Grape's teeth sank, and fingers were shredded. Not before Baskamov shot prematurely, the bullet ricocheting dangerously around the metal shack.

  Then, another shot reverberated almost deafeningly in the cabin. As Provence planted a bullet between his eyes. As Grape let go of the corpse all his five fingers dropped out of the wolf's mouth.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I was feeling beyond dizzy, out of if it even. I've received to many blows to my damn head that day. Swearing it should be a lesson to avoid sticking my nose in other people's troubles. But knowing the state of affairs in the world that would be quite a fat chance enough to break any landship in two.

  -''Cassiel! Any more?'' Spoke a very familiar voice.

  -A merchant on their side at least should be on his way. Possibly not alone, so keep your guard up!

  -''Oh, I took care of that one. Means we're in the clear. Oh, Cassiel!'' And I felt her grasping me in her rush.

  She wiped my visage clean of my own blood as she sat down, grasping me. And I could finally see Provence in all her deadly beauty.

  -Hello there my lupa.

  -You fool! You almost died! And you would have left me alone in the world!

  -Believe me it was far from my intention.

  -Reckless human! You're not infallible! Even if the stars graced you alone to live out of all from your kind!

  -''I know... I know.'' I spoke yieldingly.

  She tempered down hearing my last words, instead focusing on making use of a medical kit attached to her belt as a pouch. Mister Grape came to lay just behind me, acting as a warm cushion to lay on as Provence bandaged the worst of what I had. We quickly left the crime scene after grabbing all the gear that was stolen off of me, and making sure nothing of interest was left behind. That included any traces that might have linked Baskamov to Rhodes Island. She drove us into the cover of a smaller forest not too far away, and then she took her time to tend to my wounds more closely.

  -You followed me... even when I told you not to.

  -''The lone wolf dies alone.'' Provence replied simply.

  -... Yes.

  -But we are a pack, my mate.

  -We are, my lupa.

  And she wiped my brow gingerly. I felt her care palpable in her every gesture.

  -You were reckless going alone.

  -You know why I didn't want to.

  -Tell me anyway.

  -I couldn't stand the thought of losing you.

  -And you well-know that the same would go for me to you, my mate. You're not aware of the fright I've had as I believed I've nearly lost you.

  -I believe you.

  -Please. Trust this lupa to be by your side. In times of peace as well as in times of peril.

  -I trust you, my lupa.

  I should have trusted her no matter my concerns... my fears of losing her. She was more than an experienced operator herself after all at this point. And one I have personally trained in private all this time. She was now proficient with most small arms, and I had even imparted more skills and knowledge to her than I did to the pupils in the advanced course. I had helped train her to a greater degree than she ever were previously.

  She was now indeed an apex lupa. A survivor and probably closer to the other top tier operators than most yet knew. Besides, I should have known better that she wasn't the one to stay in the safety of a place while her mate faced danger. Remarkable was the skill with which she tracked my trail while remaining in the shadow. To the point that I truly believed I wasn't being stalked all this time. And I was oh so glad I was wrong, just this once.

  We had left in the safety of my own SUV, and she took the time to tend to me. All the windows were one way, so we could clearly see all around if anyone approached. While if anyone approached they would be denied any clue to the presence of any occupants. Her own jeep was parked not too far away in the same woods. The only difference was that hers was nearly bereft of any supplies, and with a near empty originum fuel tank.

  We decided to burn her vehicle down. Mimicking arson and return back home with mine. That way we would get rid of evidence regarding Rhodes Island's involvement, even if the vehicle was not visibly marked as the company's. As we neared the border we came towards the last matter of our mission.

  -How should we leave?

  -Hmm, leave like guilty men on the run, by a vast detour. Or by the front gate, denouncing all there is to denounce. Thus leaving with our and the company's reputation unblemished.

  -''It will affect a lot of people.'' She said, but not with the decisive tone she was accustomed to in her usual fervour to saving lives. Indeed, that fire seemed tamed, at least for the moment. It was because she also had found out the truth hidden in those villages.

  The results of the investigation were clear. Throughout my detective meddling I had gathered a complete picture of what had been transpiring in the region. The runaway criminal being only a drop in the bucket.

  Indeed, most members of all three villages were guilty of one thing or another. Most damning morally being the herder's village. There, Baskamov and his family pretty much converted most if not all the residents into cannibals in order to survive.

  The most damning in the eyes of the Ursus government would be the lumberjack village. Where a large number of residents were infected with oripathy. A curse in the coming considering the disaster that produced the mine cave-ins was provoked by the greed of the local miners of the same village who were digging unauthorised veins. Siphoning the excess in secret deals. Their greed caught up with them when a volatile originum ore vein met a malfunctioning heavy drilling machine.

  As for the fishing village. They were straight up greedy, self aggrandizing, wannabe merchants that robbed the other two villages with their thieving trade. Bringing them to even more desperation and acts of atrocities. All the village residents and their mothers knew the truth about both their neighbouring villages. And they chose to keep the secret, at a price. Another reason that impoverished the herding village, which brought them one step closer to the monsters they became. As for Baskamov, he was a straight-up murderer who loved doing it. He hunted people ever since the region was prosperous, and wound have probably come to making it a family tradition if that degenerate ever left the region alive.

  Provence knew all of this now, having discussed in detail on our long road.

  -''What should they have done then?'' She asked with a visible effort.

  -''They should have left long ago.'' I said, with a tone of voice too harsh I realised, and one that overcame the heaviness of her own intent.

  I had lashed out in my answer. For me, it was cut and dry as far at this thing came to. The matter of one's principles and... their humanity. I would have died... no, I would have ended my life before I would have lost what made me human again. And it was oh so close back then, before I bonded with her. Before she saved my life and brought me the peace and surety of what was normal, and good in life. I softened my voice.

  -They should have left, rather than become what they became.

  After a long pause she spoke again, resigned over the matter.

  -You are right.

  -We, nor Rhodes Island can do any more for these people or this country. At least not yet. We will do what we can, always. But we cannot break our back, or we will fall.

  I sighed.

  -You may think me merciless. You're probably right. I've lost all I had to lose in the past. I fought so much to find that in the end it didn't even matter.

  -''That's why you really wanted me out of the way, somewhere safe. Where you knew you could not fail to protect me.'' She spoke.

  -You could say that.

  -Do you care for anything else?

  -I care for you before anything else, bar our future children. But I also care to make this world a better place, for us, for you. You make me desire that. Even if I do it in my own, cold and calculated way.

  -''I believe in you, Cassiel. So please, believe in me as well.'' She pleaded

  -''I do, my lupa. I shall never shun you from my side ever again.'' I answered full of passion and determination before I continued.

  -You balance me. I feel like you're bringing the best out of me.

  -''And you remind me that if I give myself too foolhardy to solving the struggles of the world then I risk burning down my own soul. Withering myself into the dust of the wasteland.'' Provence had told me.

  We spent little under an hour debriefing the same fat Ursian colonel and the civilian attaché of the situation at large. As well as handing them a written report that I took the time to compile on the ride back. To say that they were pleased, especially when I subtly handed them all the credit to assume in their report to the higher echelon, would have been an understatement.

  They gobbled up everything I had to offer without so much as batting an eye. For my trouble I would get refuelled, restocked, and even given a hefty sum of converted LMD from the civilian treasury as compensation. A lot of guilty people would be executed or sent into labor camps, that was inevitable. And probably quite a few innocent ones.

  This was life on Terra. With the choices we made, and the winds of change always on the move. But the summer sun far in the distance seemingly promised a respite. And as I looked at my lupa briefly while driving I felt at ease, satisfied at the outcome of this undertaking.

  She was alive, by my side. And our home awaited us for respite.

  We arrived a week later back on the Rhodes landship, unwinding at our place. Provence was upon me on my bed, close to feel me better.

  -''I saved your life now, one could say we're even. But... you know what, I'm greedy. You belong to this lupa solely now, Cassiel.'' She spoke passionately as she came closer. Tackling me down on the bed and biting me mischievously but in a dominating manner that gave weight to her words.

  I would notice that our lovemaking would always be spicier, even more passionate if that was possible when we would do it shortly after overcoming a threat of death to our lives. And this time would be no different.

  Provence would be feisty, almost aggressive in that love making session after that particular mission. She would envelop me, entangle with me. Bite me most ferociously even if playfully, drawing my blood out. Her euphoria would be infectious. And I gave in, giving it all for the lupa that was my life. Wishing almost as if to meld my soul with her. Each time reaching reckless fulfilment with her that brought her closer to bearing our pups.

  She would lay closely by my side, even in the darkest of nights, even in the deepest slumbers. She would make me enjoy living once more. She would gladly accept all my affection for her, my intent.

  And she would caress me with her love. Marked by her scent, by her bites, by her touch, accepting me as hers. Gifting me her loyalty as my mate.