Night was starting to fall on the forest. It meant that it would be time soon for them to leave the den and to hunt.
Normally this wouldn't be something new if you understood the predicament at hand. However, things were a little bit strange in this circumstance. One of the particular den-dwellers, amongst the pack of ten wolves, was not a wolf at all. Though, you'd never really care to argue that she didn't seem at least part wolf. Her grey hair was marred with dirt, the hair coming just down past her waist. It was ripped and torn in some placed, the ends were frayed and she had a number of small twigs and leaves stuck in it. She had yet to bathe herself, so it was understandable.
Crudely created clothes of fur covered her body, barely held together by gut and sinew, she didn't know why she felt shame at her naked body, she just knew that like wolves, she felt better with a bit of fur covering herself.
She awoke from her sleep with a stretch, nestled between two of the other female wolves in the pack. She began to clean herself, clearing the twigs and leaves from her hair to make herself a little more presentable. After all, she was going hunting, and she needed to look a bit more graceful for that. Her long fingernails, sharpened into claws carefully got the knots and tangles from her hair, as well as any debris she had picked up while sleeping. Other wolves began to stir, awaking and starting to lope outside and prepare for the night.
One wolf howled outside of the den, which meant they would all be starting soon. It was like a bell at a monastery, intoning that the day was over.
The young woman finished cleaning her hair and calmly walked on all fours outside of the den. Once outside however, she did stand on her hind legs. The other wolves didn't much understand it, but she found that she could run faster this way, for whatever reason, her front paws were not very good for running. Though, they were a very valuable asset, considering that she could grip things easier with them. This made her invaluable at times, like clearing large bunches of rocks and sticks from the den, or helping to tear apart a fresh kill.
Tonight wasn't like any other night though. Some of the wolves were a little nervous. There were things in the forest that weren't usually there. The wolves knew them to be dangerous, they walked on hind legs like one of their fellow wolves, but they clad themselves sometimes in strange shiny rocks, that could cut through things with large sharp rocks as well. They were best to be avoided of course, all things considered.
So the hunt went on however, and soon the pack had taken down a couple of deer. Death wasn't really understood, they needed to eat, and it wasn't their fault they had been born to eat creatures. The one wolf, the wolf who wasn't a wolf, would admit she had tried eating grass, leaves, and these weird little round things that grew on bushes and actually liked them. They all thought her a little weird, so she stopped it, though grass did seem to settle her stomach, and so did those round things at times.
The deer were delicious as usual, and the wolf girl waited her turn as the Alpha male and female got their fill, and then the rest of the pack was allowed to eat.
Something was off about that night though. It was in the air, a strange smell. She could barely remember the time the forest had been under a large storm, and light flashed in the clouds and loud noises accompanied them. She could remember when a few of these flashes of light struck the ground, and the trees had burst into a brilliant display of light and heat. There was probably a word for it, but the wolves just knew it was dangerous.
However this didn't seem to be like then, where there had been a lot of it, it was just a wafting smell, while the other danger had given off a LOT of the strange acrid cloud. Despite some whines from her pack, she decided she'd go and investigate the smell anyway. It couldn't hurt, it was night time, and most of the two legged things that would walk or ride the four legged non-deer creatures through the woods usually stopped. Ah! That's right!
The smell was from the Danger that they created. They always seemed to find a clearing and then make the strange light in the middle. It did do a good job of deterring most animals she noticed, the wolves didn't like the idea of looking for food in there, though the flying creatures didn't much care and would perch in trees and watch them. So she would do the same. She was coming close to the strange light, creeping silently like any of the wolves would. She wasn't hunting, but she was using all her experience to make sure that she wasn't spotted. These things could often be dangerous, the hot light could burn, and the two legged creatures could have strange sharp and shiny rocks with them. She just...had to be careful.
Careful.