Verander's hackles immediately lifted to pinpoints as the smell of rot assaulted his nose. The scent had lingered around the massive cavern plenty, but now it smelled as if the scent had quadrupled in strength, stinging his nostrils even though he could see no new decaying wolves from where he stood within a carved-out pathway. 

He'd been tracking the remaining doctors and guards from their little escort group that he hadn't managed to tear apart yet, but had been forced to slow down because of the three silver crossbow bolts stuck in his flesh right behind his head. He'd managed to break their shafts apart with a simple swipe of his massive paws, but he couldn't get the blasted poison tips out of his skin!

He was just lowering himself to the ground, his legs shaking with the stress of trying to keep his weight up with such strong poison rushing through his system, when he heard an earth-shaking howl from a good-ways back. The tremors it caused did have him dropping to the hard stone beneath his paws after only a short moment. There was no reason to waste what little energy he still had trying to stay standing in such a situation. 

Alpha Verander?

That voice sounded familiar... and too loud in his aching head. 

Stop yelling, he replied as he sneezed hard, then made a face as blood began to run from his sore nose. He could also taste it in the back of his mouth, but it thankfully hadn't come up from his growing internal injuries yet. 

As crazy as he was sometimes, he did not like the taste of his own blood. 

"Verander!" Silas shouted as he ran toward him, drawing the wolf's tired head up from where it had unintentionally dropped to rest on its paws. 

He was just-about to him when the sound of a weapon being discharged rang out in the hauntingly quiet tunnel. Verander tried to get up and intercept whatever it was, but evidently, he hadn't been needed. 

Silas jerked his hand up just in time to snag the arrow out of the air as he came to a skidding, snarling halt right beside Verander's crippled wolf. 

The two guards that had snuck back to try and finish him off looked like they'd just seen a miracle happen right in front of their eyes. 

He couldn't argue. He'd honestly thought that he was about to finally die. 

Thank you, he thought right as Silas caught a second arrow from the other guard, snapping it in half without an ounce of effort... even as the silver coating burned his hand. 

Of course, once they realized that their tactic was completely useless, the two humans quickly retreated again... or, at least tried to. 

Silas had already been naked when he'd arrived, so it was no surprise when he shifted abruptly and tore the two men apart. For as long as he'd known the guy, he'd liked to toy with his targets and wasn't big on gore, but when he tore apart those two people? There was definitely something else pushing him to make sure that they never stood up again.

He was honestly kind of proud of the man's sudden urge for carnage. 

When Silas had finally finished his gruesome task, barely any distinguishable pieces of the two men remained. 

Verander tried to stand as Silas's bloody wolf approached, but he couldn't manage the simple task. With an exhausted grumble he forced himself to wait impatiently until Silas had shifted back to his human form and knelt beside him. 

The moment he was close enough Verander began nudging his head and muzzle against the man's bare torso. His wolf really wanted to push him over, repeatedly, but he just-barely managed to hold it at bay by allowing the simple nudges. 

"It seems like we've finally found the way to keep your wolf in line. Just shoot it with three silver arrows," Silas noted as he wrapped one hand around the first broken shaft, then yanked it out with a grunt. 

He got a slight nip for his efforts, but he didn't seem to mind since he quickly moved to start pulling out the second arrow. When that one finally came out after a full minute of carefully tugging, Verander did actually yelp as his nose ran with more blood.

"I'm sorry, Vera. Just one more," Silas said, his own voice sounding pained as he moved to grip the last arrow. 

He was just trying to work it out from where it was wedged right behind Verander's right ear when they heard a deep rumble a few hundred yards away, back by the entrance of the cave. 

What is that? Verander asked as Silas's entire body stiffened and the stench of rot increased three-fold. 

"I ran here after meeting one of Marquise's old acquaintances. That person is the one behind all of this, but I... I can smell his blood mixed in with the rot of Marquise's wolf."

Marquise's wolf? It's rotted? 

He'd never seen the animal, but how was it possible that Marquise looked perfectly healthy, and was incredibly strong, while his wolf was rotted so badly that they could smell its decay from so far away?

"He was the first wolf to take part in these kinds of experiments. He did it in order to allow his pack to settle within the city limits. He did it for their safety, and yet his friend had gone behind his back once his wolf had been unable to participate any further due to the rot from the silver mixed into its blood..." 

Silas quickly returned his attention to the last arrow as they heard the sound of heavy footsteps slowly approaching. It almost sounded like two of the beast's paws were unusually large or, at least, responsible for holding more weight than the other two. In fact, it didn't even sound like there were two other paws. 

Is he limping? 

Silas didn't spare a single glance in the direction of the encroaching creature. 

"I don't know. I tried to send a message to its mind but it's so chaotic that I can't get anything through," Silas said as he finally grabbed a fistful of Verander's scruff and tightened his hand around the remaining arrow shaft and yanked it out with a yell. 

His hand shook as it sizzled from gripping the silver-soaked wood so tightly, but Silas ignored the pain as he threw the broken arrow away, then, finally, looked toward the approaching beast. It slowed to a stop at the slight bend in the pathway with a gurgled, hissing growl and slowly, very slowly, inched its decayed face around the corner to stare at the two with one wide, blood-shot eye. 

"Alpha Marquise..." Silas whispered as he felt Verander's wolf move in his arms in order to see better. 

What happened to him? he questioned as the massive beast slowly began to creep forward on three legs. It was holding up a rotted paw, the flesh barely clinging to bone and tendon. 

Shift, quickly. 

Hearing Verander's thought, Silas looked back at him, confused, but when Verander just nipped his arm and let out a low warning growl, he hurried to shift right as Marquise's massive beast gave out an earth-shaking bellow and spittle mixed with blood misted from its mouth. 

What the hell happened to him? Verander asked as his wolf nervously scooted itself in front of Silas's slightly smaller one. 

He knew that Silas would have chastised him for trying to act tough, but their current situation wasn't going to change depending on who stood in front of the other, anyways. 

They both focused entirely on the creature in front of them as its partially-rotted nostrils flared, taking in all of the scents in the tunnel with slow, raspy inhales, then hissing, stuttering exhales. Thin lines of blood dribbled from a hole hidden within its neck as it finally decided to hunch forward and take another heavy step towards them. 

He never let his wolf out after it got too poisoned from the experiments. It looks like it might have finally forced itself into control of both bodies. 

It almost looked like it had melded both its human and wolf side together, stretching out its back wolf legs to nearly twice the length they had been. At the same time, its front legs had grown as well, but they were much more bony and lacked much muscle, and even skin, in most places. 

It's paws had also grown, nearly doubling in size in the back while stretching into rotted, stick-like, clawed fingers in the front. 

They watched in silence as it crept closer, its damaged paw remaining above the ground as it's body struggled to complete each simple action that would eventually end with forward momentum. 

 Marquise? Verander tried again, doing his best to push his way through the creature's chaotic mind. He stopped his efforts when it got close enough to nudge its decayed muzzle against his own. 

The rotted flesh of its upper lip twitched upward off and on as it seemed to try and figure out whether they were friend or foe. 

Verander flattened his ears against the side of his head and gave out a quiet wine but refused to return the physical gesture more than a slight nudge. His stomach was already twisting with the terrible smell coming from the decomposing wolf. He couldn't intentionally push himself to get closer. 

Thankfully, Marquise's nostrils flared again and his one eye jerked to look past them at the mangled corpses of the two guards Silas had killed. A low rumble began to echo from its slightly-shaky lower jaw as it started to limp past them. 

Silas, we need to help him somehow. 

Unfortunately, they both knew that such a thing would be much easier said than done. They were in no shape to even try to subdue the beast, let alone somehow get it to let Marquise have control back. 

We have to get out of here first, Silas replied as they slowly and silently got back to their feet. They waited until the moment they heard Marquise's deformed wolf begin tearing into the two corpses Silas had left before carefully sneaking away with their tails tucked tightly between their legs. 

Verander staggered behind Silas but managed to keep up as he clenched his jaw and forced himself forward. His muscles were burning with exhaustion and poison when they finally got to the mouth of the tunnel. 

Holy hell...

Bodies were scattered everywhere. Most of them were human, but a wolf or two had met an unfortunate end as well. 

Shift. 

Verander grumbled at Silas's abrupt order, but did as told. His wolf immediately retreated to the back of his mind to start healing and licking its wounds as Verander had to fight himself to stay on his hands and knees. 

Get on. 

Before he could question him, Silas slid beneath Verander from his right side and waited until he was settled atop his wolf's thick fur before straightening back up. 

Silas took off as soon as he had a decent hold on him, but thankfully passed by a small abandoned room nearby that had a few doctor's coats scattered about, allowing Verander to tug one on for at least a slight hint of decency. 

Thankfully, there was no more fighting going on in the main cavern and as soon as they got to the ground level several wolves greeted them. Three shifted immediately and carefully helped him from Silas's back, even though he really didn't want to get down yet... no matter how embarrassing it was to appear so weak. 

"Where is alpha Ruoka and lord Pretennon?" he asked immediately, needing to know the situation. 

"I'm here, but alpha Ruoka and my heir, as well as the other remaining test subject wolves, have been buried in the initial holding area," Pretennon said as he walked over with only the slightest hint of a limp. 

He definitely looked worse for wear, though. There were quite a few holes from arrows and crossbow bolts, and a long burn mark covered half of his neck and the left side of his jaw. 

"The wolves are rounding up whatever humans are still alive, if they don't resist further," he added as Verander nodded and nudged aside those helping him stand. 

"Lord Pretennon, Marquise..." he said, his words dying off into silence as his brow furrowed and he frowned solemnly. 

The vampire before him nodded in acknowledgement. 

"He seems to understand that other wolves aren't enemies, but if he wanders back out here, you need to shift immediately. He will attack anything he sees as human," he said as he turned and gestured for him to follow. 

"Wait... that's it? We're just going to avoid him or shift if he shows up again? Isn't he extremely dangerous to humans now? Can he get out of here?" Verander asked as he hurried after Pretennon, doing his best not to fall on his face as they ascended a staircase. 

Thankfully, Silas was at his side in moments, his large wolf allowing him to use it whenever he needed some extra help staying upright. 

He's stuck in here... for now. He's extremely strong, but also, quite literally, falling apart. I've never seen a wolf like his, and I'd love to sit and think on a way to help him, since communication seems impossible at the moment, but now is not the time. The wolves have already gathered up most of the remaining humans and taken them out of here. If he happens to find anymore... that's unfortunate for them," Pretennon said as they stopped outside of what appeared to be a cave-in. 

"What I care about right at this moment is saving my heir," the vampire said as he looked back at him. 

"Help me find a way to do that. Then I will do my best to assist you with alpha Marquise's situation." 

What about Kandza? 

Verander glanced around, his brow furrowing when he didn't see the other wolf that should have been glued to Pretennon's side. 

"He is alive..." Pretennon replied cryptically as he stepped closer to the wall of boulders. 

"I will take you to him once we have freed those who remain trapped."

(Edited)