A/N This was a ton of fun to write. I've had a werewolf story planned for a while now (time is not my friend), and this story is basically an adapted version of the beginning. It got me excited to work on that story again. I hope you all enjoy this!  

The Scottish cave, which was currently Dominic's home, felt cold. Hollow, like his heart. Dom sat cross-legged on the hard ground with a book lying in his lap. The only light falling on the pages was a thin stream of sun piercing through the vegetation that nearly blocked up the entrance.

Dom let out a sigh and flicked to the next page. How on earth could a book on witchcraft be so... useless? He'd stolen it from what he thought was a reliable source, but perhaps the old woman wasn't a real witch after all.

Another page, and suddenly his eye caught something. His heart picked up. The spell was called the Findo curse. According to the text, it was used to split things.

Something inside him growled menacingly, but he pushed it down. Not now, he thought. Not when I'm so close.

He jumped to his feet, balancing the book in one hand. With the other, he drew the complicated gestures in the air which the pages described. "Hoc ente te scindite," Dom muttered, the words echoing off the cave walls. "Hoc ente te scindite. Hoc ente te scindite!"

As the echo died down, Dom felt more and more silly, standing with one arm raised in the air, waiting for something to happen. Mostly because nothing actually happened.

The growl once again reverberated in his chest, stronger this time. It drowned out the wave of disappointment that tightened his throat.

Enough, said the low, guttural voice in his head. You failed. Again.

"I'll figure out a way someday," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Soon."

Not today, said the voice. With that, a surge of pain shot through Dom's body. His own screams echoed through the cave so loud it was unbearable. His bones snapped. His skin was on fire. It felt as though his hands and feet were bound, and something pulled on both sides, stretching him out further and further until he was at breaking point.

And then it stopped, just as suddenly as it had begun. Dom panted, scrambling to his feet... No – his paws.

Conin! he roared, but the wolf had taken over his body. He was no longer in control.

Conin howled, loud and long. Then he ticked his sharp claws against the stone ground of the cave and leaped into the cold night air.

You wanted to get rid of me! Conin growling inside their shared mind.

Shadows of trees flashed by as his paws pattered the soft ground. It was all Dom could see through the angry red haze that clouded their consciousness.

Where is your loyalty, Dominic?

A flock of birds burst up from the trees above their head, startled by the predator racing below them.

Where is your –

The final word of his accusation dissipated into thin air, as Conin slowed. He sniffed the air. The haze lifted enough for Dom to take a proper look around. On the other side of the clearing they found themselves in, sat a girl. She looked about 17, Dom's age. Her eyes were fixed on the ground below her feet, which was why she hadn't noticed them yet. A deep frown jagged her otherwise delicate face.

Who is she?

Conin, what are you doing?

The wolf stepped forward, and a twig snapped under his paw. The girl's head shot up.

Dom watched her eyes widen as she jumped to her feet. All of a sudden something glittered in her hand.

Knife.

Conin's ears flattened against his neck. A snarl escaped him.

Conin, stop! Get back!

But he wouldn't listen. The girl's screams filled his ears as Conin leaped forward.

***

"Oh God..." Dom reached the wall, put his hands on his head, turned on his heel and paced back in the other direction, just like he'd done for the past hour or so. "Oh God, oh God, oh God..."

The girl stirred below his feet, making him jump. She groaned quietly, then stilled again.

"Oh shit..." Dom whispered. "What have you done, Conin?"

But Conin stayed silent, as he had ever since they'd returned to the cave. Ever since he'd yielded control back to Dom.

The girl gasped. Her body convulsed. Her muscles were pulled taut and then, just as Dom turned away with his eyes pinched shut, he heard that familiar snap of bones. If she'd been awake, she'd be screaming right now, he was sure of it. But her eyes were still shut, despite her body's radical transformation.

He looked over his shoulder just in time. She was beautiful. Lean, with a lovely, tip-tilted nose, even in her wolf-form. Her fur a shining auburn, despite the strawberry blonde her human hair had been. She must've dyed it.

This had been the fifth time already. Her fifth transformation. It had been over an hour since they'd gotten her to the cave. Surely it wouldn't be much longer until she woke up?

Another moan escaped her lips, as spasms coursed through her body. Seconds later, she was a girl again.

"We are in so much trouble..." Dom's groan echoed off the cave walls. He slumped against the wall and rested his head back against the cold stone.

Conin still kept quiet, but Dom could feel the unease brewing in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't only his own. Conin was ashamed. As he should be.

The rough stone pricked into the back of his head, but he welcomed the pain. He didn't deserve any better. Not after what he and Conin had done.

The girl groaned. Dom held his breath as her hands moved up to her head. She pushed herself up from the ground, before rubbing the palm of her hand over her eyes. Blinking groggily, her eyes finally caught him.

He felt like in deer in headlights. Caught in an inevitable disaster, waiting for fate to strike.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice raspy. "Where am I?"

Dom opened his mouth to explain, but the words seemed lost on him. How on earth was he supposed to explain this? "Erm... Well, you see..."

"Oh no." Her face fell. "Fucking hell, please tell me we didn't."

His brows furrowed. "Didn't... Didn't what?"

"Please tell me I didn't get drunk off my arse and slept with a nerd in a cave." She buried her face in her hands and added, "The fuck am I doing with my life?"

"Er, no, that's... That's not what happened." A hollow solace, Dom knew, considering the truth was so much worse.

She raised her head and looked at him curiously. "It isn't? What are we doing here then? I must've had too much to drink, because I feel so hungover."

Dom cleared his throat. "What's your name?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "Jasmine."

"Nice to meet you, Jasmine. My name is Dominic. My friends call me Dom." He tried to smile, but her glare made it falter.

"Stop messing around and tell me what I'm doing here, Dominic."

Dom sighed. "Do you remember going to the forest last night?"

A cute little wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows as she thought. "Yes... Yes, I do remember that. I sat in the clearing, where I..." Her voice trailed off.

"Right. Do you remember the... the wolf?"

For a second she looked confused, but soon it turned to shock and then fear. "You're right, there was a wolf! It... It lunged at me!" Jasmine grasped at the leg Conin has gone for. Her finger hooked inside one of the four holes his teeth had left in her jeans. She pulled her trouser-leg up, but the skin beneath was untouched. "Holy shit..." she whispered. "How?"

"Funny story, really." A nervous chuckle escaped Dom. "You see, the wolf you saw in the forest wasn't really a wolf. He was a lycan."

He searched for recognition in her eyes, wondering if she even knew what that word meant. She just looked back blankly. He cleared his throat and continued, "When a human gets bitten by a lycan, they, er... Well, they turn into a lycan themselves."

The silence stretched so long that he automatically continued talking. "That's why I brought you here. To make sure you were in a safe place when you --"

"Are you telling me," said Jasmine, slowly and threateningly, "that you've turned me into a... A werewolf?"

The relief over her understanding was immediately drowned out by the cold tone in her voice. "Yes," he whispered, so quietly he barely heard it himself. He stared down at his fiddling fingers.

"You're insane." Jasmine nodded to herself, then scrambled to her feet. "I've been dragged into a cave by a lunatic. Fucking fantastic."

"No, I'm telling you the truth!" Dom followed her example and stood up, but she was already on her way to the cave opening. "You can't go, Jasmine, you can transform again any minute."

"Transform? Do you even hear yourself? Stay away from me. I'm going home."

"No, wait! It's not safe. Come back!"

She'd already stepped back into the forest, when all of a sudden she froze. For a moment, she just stood there, stock-still. Then she collapsed.

"Jasmine!" Dom rushed out to help her, but she was already convulsing again. Her limbs bent into weird angles, and the snap of her bones sent birds around them fleeing up into the air.

It only took a few seconds. When she finally got to her feet - no, paws - she trembled. Her ears were flat on her neck, and she held her head close to the ground. She turned to Dom. For a moment, they simply stared at each other. Then, out of nowhere, she jumped into the air like she'd been burned, shaking her head as if to get rid of an angry wasp.

Before Dom had a chance to try and help her - not that he'd known how - she already transformed again. Seconds later, he was staring at the girl again, her blonde hair sprawled around her.

She trembled on the forest floor. She raised her head to look at him, fear clear in her eyes. "What happened?" she asked. "That voice... What was that?"

"Your wolf," said Dom. "That was your wolf talking to you."

***

Dom sat on the ground inside the cave, his arms wrapped around his knees and his worried eyes on Jasmine. She sat against the other wall, her knees up as well, but her face hidden in her arms. For the past twenty minutes she'd sat there in silence, refusing to even look up at him. It was starting to worry him.

"Are you okay?" he asked for the umpteenth time, knowing full well what the answer was.

She did not respond.

"Listen, I know it's tough to grasp, but you'll be okay. Being a werewolf..." He broke off his sentence. How was he supposed to comfort her? He had been a lycan his whole life, and he hated it. He hated it so much that he'd tried to get rid of his wolf. "Well, we're not that different to humans, really. There's a small anomaly in our DNA, but other than that, we're the same."

Jasmine did not respond.

Guilt ate away at him. He wanted to blame Conin, but his wolf had pulled away as well. Probably just as embarrassed about what he'd done. So you should be, Dom thought angrily. You're the one who caused this.

"You'll be okay, I promise. Being a lycan isn't so bad, for most of us. I mean, your wound healed, right? What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." He let out a dry, nervous chuckle. "My pack... My old pack lives right here in the forest. I'm sure they'd be happy to take you in and help you get accustomed. They're good people. They'll take care of you. Don't worry."

He gratefully broke off his rattling when she finally looked up. "Your old pack?"

Dom hesitated. "Yeah, I... I kind of left them, recently."

"Why did you do that, if they're such good people?"

He gulped. Her eyes had hardened, as if she'd built a thick wall behind them. "It's... It's complicated. I have a... difficult relationship with my wolf. But it's got nothing to do with the pack. They're alright."

Dom cowered under her stare.

"This pack of yours... How long have they been living in this forest?"

"Oh, for ages!" said Dom. "We've lived right next to your town for hundreds of years. We keep to ourselves, so it works out quite well."

"What about the normal wolves?" she asked. "Does your kind get along with them?"

He couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping him. "There are no normal wolves, not in this forest. There haven't been for a very long time. It's just us."

Her eyes darkened even more. "No normal wolves? Just werewolves?"

"Yep," he nodded. "Why do you ask?"

Jasmine sat up straight, her eyes never leaving him. "How do you control the transformations?"

"Oh, that's easy," he said, happy to be able to help. "Your wolf will help you with that. Just let her take charge, it'll be easy."

She kept quiet for a moment, and he noticed the tell-tale signs of someone talking in their shared consciousness with their wolf: the subtle motions with her head, the glazing over of her eyes. Then, all of a sudden, she jumped to her feet and marched to the cave exit.

"Where are you going?" Dom called behind her.

"To do what I've been dreaming of for years," said Jasmine. "To take revenge on the wolves – no, the werewolves – that killed my mother ten years ago."

"What?!" Dom squealed, sprinting after her. "What are you talking about? You can't do that! You... They... They'll rip you apart!"

Jasmine smirked over her shoulder. "I was seven years old when I watched my mother die. I haven't been the same since. I'm already going through hell, so I might as well keep going."

With that, she let her wolf take over, leaping towards the slowly setting sun.

Dom watched her as she disappeared among the shrubs. "Oh, bullocks..."

I'm sorry, came the low, guttural voice inside his head.

Too late for that, Conin. You were the one who wanted to stay in the pack. And yet it was your actions that created a new enemy for the pack. 

Round 2.2

Prompt: Write a werewolf story based on two images and two quotes from a list.

Wordcount: 2393