True Nature of the Beast
Chapter 1

It seems like any other day, the sky is clear, the sun is shining, and everything seems peaceful. A local School group decides to camp at a small site located by a forest. The teens are all getting their tents set up for the night.
"Ok how is everyone doing on their tents?" The teacher asks the group. The group of teenage students responds with cheers as they were nearing completing their tents. As the teacher checks on everyone he spot's one small tent that was already compete but its owner was nowhere in sight. "Umm excuse me but where has Daniel took off to?" the teacher asks.
"He finished early so he said that he was going somewhere to think for a bit" Said one of the students.
"Well we need him to come back because it will be getting dark soon."
"I will get him." A 16 year old girl from the group says as she takes off into the forest.
Mean wile at a small lake in the forest a 17 year boy sits on a pile of rocks looking at the water. "I really don’t want to be here." The boy mumbles to himself. He tosses stones into the lake attempting to get them to skip with little success. Just then a rock is thrown from behind him and it skips 3 times across the water. Turning around the boy sees the girl from class.
"I'm not too surprised to find you here Daniel." The girl says "I know you like to look at the water."
"Oh, hi Mary." Daniel replies quietly.
"Is there something wrong?" Mary walks up and sit's next to him.
"It's nothing, I just thought I would do some thinking." Daniel says as he looks at the lake. Mary quietly put's her hand on his back and Daniel looks at her.
"I know it is not easy to move on." Mary says with a smile "But it will get easyer. Trust me." A small smile onto Daniel’s face.
"Thanks." Daniel says quietly.
"Your welcome." Mary stands up "I'm heading back to the camp site, we are about ready to make a fire."
"Ok." Daniel stands up as well "I'll meet you in a sec, I think I might get some drift wood for the fire."
"Ok don't be long." Mary says as she walks back to the camp sight.
Daniel spends a few minutes gathering drift wood by the lake holding a long, funny shaped stick that he found and decided to keep it as a staff. As he walks he stops when he hears voices in the woods. He walks behind a tree and peaks to see two men talking with each other. Daniel stays quiet and listens.
"Are you sure our heist will go according to plan?"
"Yes it will. Just bring the boys here to the forest and we will go over the plan. Once we pull this off we will be rich for a long time."
Scared by the conversation Daniel quickly flees the scene as quietly as he could. Just as Daniel runs onto the forest path he runs into someone sending Daniel to the ground.
"I'm so sorry" Daniel says as he looks up and sees a man about 19 years old looking down at him.
"It's alright." The man holds his hand to Daniel to help him up "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." Daniel takes the man's hand and gets to his feet.
"Here let me give you a hand with your fire wood." The man says as he helps Daniel gather the drift wood you collected. He then spots the stick Daniel were using and looks at it. "You found that?”
"Yeah, down by the lake." Daniel says as he gathers the rest of the wood up "The water tends to shape the wood in interesting ways. I was just using it as a walking stick"
"Ummm you mind if I have this?" The man asks picking up the stick "I know someone who really likes stuff like this."
"Sure." Daniel replies holding the cluster of wood in his arms "Well it's getting dark so I need to get going to camp."
"Alright then, take care." The man says as he watches Daniel walk away. The man then walks off into the woods with the stick in hand.
After the group had their camp fire fun they all went into their tents and went to bed, except for Daniel who stayed awake for some time in his tent. As he was just about to lie down for the night he hears rustling outside. Suspicious Daniel peeks outside of his tent and sees lights going into the forest. Knowing that something bad was going to happen he slips on his shoes, he grabs his pocket knife and follows them into the forest. As he quietly followed the lights they soon stop when they reach a small group of thugs. Daniel quickly hides behind a tree and listens in.
"All right boys tonight we are going to hit the town hard." Daniel hears the group of the thugs speaking. "We are going to break into the bank and make with the money while the police are busy with a distraction outside of town . They won't be able to get back in time and they won't be able to track us. Tonight we will be rich!"
Daniel turns pale as he runs to try and get help. Sudenly a big man grabs him in a head lock.
"Where do you think you're going?" the man says threateningly.
Daniel takes his knife and stabs him in the leg getting the thug to drop him, letting Daniel take off into the woods. Runs for his life as he hears the thugs running after him. Daniel suddenly trips over a branch causing him to drop his knife into a bush. Before Daniel could get up he was grabbed by his leg and draged. The thugs surrounded Daniel as he lay on the ground helpless.
"Well looks like someone needs to be taught not to sneak into other people's business." The leader says as he kicks Daniel's side. Daniel groans and cry's in pain as the thugs kick him repeatedly. As they continue Daniel starts to cough up blood and cracks can be heard as some of his bones break.
"That's enough." The thug says as the others stop. Daniel cries as he is in so much pain. "You should have stayed in your tent boy." Daniel hears the sound of a gun being loaded "You better make your peace."
Feeling helpless Daniel starts praying weakly as he waits for the trigger to end it. "I'm coming home Father." Daniel cries as he closes his eyes.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!" A thug screams followed by the sound of ripping and growling.
The thugs seem to scatter in a panic as the man fires his gun at whatever is attacking. Daniel opens his eyes as screams and tears drown out the night silence and splashes of blood can be seen in his line of sight. Daniel laid there shaking as he continues to hear the sounds of the thugs getting slaughtered. After the carnage seems to end a deafening howl breaks through the night. Daniel weakly turns his head towards the source and spots a silhouette outlined by the light of the moon. A tall beast standing on two legs, long claws on its hands, a long muzzle filled with razor sharp teeth, a long tail brushing against the ground, and fur covering its entire body. There was only one thing that could be standing before Daniel, A Werewolf.
Daniel shakes in fear as the Werewolf looks amongst the bodies of the thugs. "These humans disgust me!" The creature says with a growling voice "People like them are the real monsters in this world!" Unable to keep his head turned Daniel's head drops and he closes his eyes pretending to be dead. "Hey human, Are you alright?" Daniel hears a growling voice. Daniel keeps as still as he can as he feels the creatures breath on his neck. "I know you are not dead boy." The creature says as his growl seems to get calmer sounding sounding closer to a human "I understand you are frightened but I mean you no harm. Please open your eyes." Daniel opens his eyes as he quietly cries in fear. "Now then let's see the damage." The werewolf says as he rolls Daniel on his back. Daniel winces in pain he is turned over. “I know it hurts just bear with me.” The Lycan said as he felt for any broken bones. Daniel gets a good look at the wolf's face in the moonlight's full glow.
It looked nothing like the wolfman style of monster they show in movies. Its head was exactly that of a wolf’s, two pointed ears on the top of the head and a long muzzle with a black nose at the end. His eyes where a soft shade of yellow, that almost seemed to pierce through the darkness of night. Its body was completely covered in dark grey fur, so much so that if it wasn’t for his voice it would be hard to determine its gender. Despite the fact that the wolf’s fur and muzzle was covered in the blood of his attackers, it was actually a beautiful looking creature.
“It feels like you have some broken bones.” The wolf says as he sets his ear on Daniel’s chest “And it sounds like you have some internal bleeding. We better get you some medical help soon.” The Lycan lifted up Daniel in his arms and bolted into the forest at amazing speed,
On the edge of the forest far away from the public camp sight sits a red truck where two werewolf. "Where is Kiilik at?" A brown furred female says as she looks to the forest "Usually his nature walks don't take this long."
"You worry too much Nala." The black furred male says as he lounges in the back of the truck "He probably is just looking around that nature freak."
"Oh shut up Shade!" The female, Nala says annoyed "Honestly you are nothing but a lazy beta." "Shade, Nala!" A voice yells from the forest as the wolf nears the truck.
"Hey Kiilik." Shade says as he sits up "About time you showed up."
Kiilik emerges from the woods holding Daniel in his arms.
"Oh my!" Nala says as she approaches him and looks at Daniel "He is all beat up, what happened?"
"A group of thugs was in the forest, they grabbed him and beat him up," Kiilik says "They were almost about to execute him before I came in and attacked them."
"Oh dear." Nala says as she looks at Daniel with concern "Let me see him quick."
Kiilik hands Daniel to Nala as she sets him in the back seat of the truck. Daniel lays motionless occasionally groaning from the pain as he feels the female examining him more closely than the male did. Just then he hears the two other wolves speaking.
“Hey, are you ok?”
“I-I just got so mad that I just slaughtered all of them.” Shakiness filled the gray wolf’s voice “I was so angry that I had to do something, but it doesn’t change the fact I killed them.”
“You did the right thing. They were wicked men wishing to kill an innocent child.”
“I just pray that I’m not too late.”
“We need to get him medical attention fast.” The brown wolf said with up most urgency “Shade, I need you to call Doctor Laurence. Tell him to meet us at the nearest pack sanctuary.”
Without any questioning they all got in the truck, the female sat in the back making sure to keep your head positioned correctly. “Just stay with us ok. Well get you help soon.” The brown wolf pleads to Daniel as they drive into the night.
The next morning Daniel wakes up in a bed in a wooden cabin, all bandaged up with some IV lines in his arm. His head was hurting as the details of the night before where fuzzy.
"Where am I?" Daniel moans in pain as he lifts his head. Daniel then froze in place when he spotted a massive black wolf at the foot of the bed. It looked like a normal wolf, but it was way bigger than average.
"Shade what are you doing?" Both Daniel and the black wolf looked to the door and saw the brown werewolf from last night.
"Uhhhhh this isn't what it looks like." The black wolf says as he quickly jumps of the bed "I was just, checking on him."
"Sure you where you big lap dog" The female wolf bends down and scratches the black wolf's ear.
"H-hey I'm not, Mmmmmm" the black wolf says as his hind leg bounces.
Daniel was very confused hoping that he just hit his head very hard "A-am I dreaming?"
"Nope you’re awake." The female wolf says as she sits at the foot of the bed "We brought you here last night after you were attacked. You were in very bad shape and we were afraid we would lose you, lucky we got you medical help in time to save you. You do have some broken bones but they should heal with time"
"O-ok." Daniel replies feeling nervous.
"What's the matter? Are you afraid of the big bad wolves?" The black wolf gives a sharp grin, but soon gets a swift hit on the back of the head "Ow ow ow what was that for?"
"For trying to scare him." The female gently pets Daniel’s head, her soft patted hand gently pressing against his hair "I understand you are scared, but you we won't hurt you. We are nothing like the beasts from those stories. You can trust us ok."
"Ok"
"Anyway my name is Nala, and that black one is Shade." The female wolf says in a cheerful voice "What is your name?"
"D-Daniel." Daniel still feeling nervous around the his werewolf
"Well it is nice to meet you." Nala says in a cheerful tone.
Just then the door opens and Daniel sees the man that he ran into yesterday.
"Kiilik." Shade says looking up at him "Are you feeling alright?”
“I just took a walk to clear my head. I will get over it eventually” He said as he looks over to Nala “Where is Dr. Laurence?”
“He went back to the commune to continue his work; he told me what I needed to do.” Nala calmly walked up to him “Also the doctor wanted me to you that the boy will be ok. Recovery will take time though and we don’t know how well it will heal, but most importantly we got him help in time.”
“That’s good to hear.” Kiilik sat down on the foot of the bed “I feel now that the blood I shed wasn’t in vein.”
“Y-you’re the wolf that saved me?” Daniel was in shock.
“Yes I was.” Kiilik looks Daniel in the eyes “As you can see now, we are werewolves and since you know we exist we can’t let you go just yet.”
“Please Kiilik.” Nala looks to him pleading “Daniel has been through enough, we don’t need to…”
“Nala calm down.” Kiilik interrupts “I don’t want to get him anymore involved as much as you do, but we have no choice. With all that he has seen, he is a target for the knowledge. This is for his safety.”
Nala backs up as she slowly nods, a whimper escaping her throat.
“Now then, Daniel.” Kiilik looks back at Daniel. “I know that this is frightening for you and you probably want to go home, but we can’t do that right now. We need to take you to see our Alpha and he needs to make a decision about what needs to be done. I assure you though you are safe with us, understand?”
“I-I think so.” Daniel shakes.
“Good.” Kiilik stands to his feet “Go on and get some rest. We will leave tomorrow for the commune.” Kiilik leaves the room the Shade following.
The Nala slowly walked up to Daniel as she petted his head. She could since the fear going through Daniel’s mind. “Don’t be afraid ok. I promise you that everything will be ok.” Daniel only nodded as he soon grew very tired “Get some sleep now. It will be a long day tomorrow.” Nala says as she walks away.
Daniel soon falls fast asleep, knowing that tomorrow will decide his fate.

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This is a short story that I am planning on expanding upon. Some feed back would be appreciated.