Sierra was shocked. Astonished. Thoroughly fascinated.

The blue, glowing girl stared back at her, wide-eyed and fearful. She was like nothing Sierra had ever seen. Strange, foreign, and beautiful. What really made her curious was her scent. The metallic, energy scent, only this time not masked by the manufactured smell of human.

Without that mask, the scent was more... natural. Still foreign, but not so wrong-smelling. Every unique, soft detail was easier to detect. In fact, she recognized it much faster than she thought she would.

It was Aja.

So, this was what she was hiding. She wasn't human for sure, but this actually wasn't so bad. Wow, four arms. Very cool. Sierra wasn't worried. Aja wouldn't recognize her while she was in wolf form.

She noticed her dog Lizzie standing near the girl. The little creature quickly ran to greet her master.

"Sierra! I made a new friend!" She barked. Bring a werewolf meant she could speak and understand the language of canines, known in werewolf packs as Wolfspeak.

"Really? Is she nice?" Sierra replied. Aja had taken quite the tumble falling down that hill. What was she running from? Was it still nearby? Lizzie seemed unfazed, standing next to the blue girl and wagging her tail. Sierra cautiously approached, sniffing in Aja's unmasked scent. It wasn't scary anymore; in it's true, undisguised form, it was full of information.

The girl suddenly snatched up a strange blue weapon and aimed it at her. "Stay back!" She warned. Sierra flinched back, but smelling her fear, decided to refrain from self-defense.

"Are you okay?" She asked, despite knowing that Aja couldn't understand her Wolfspeak. She wasn't going to risk using her human voice.

"Stay back. I will hurt you."

Silence followed. Sierra wasn't sure what to do. Aja looked okay, so maybe she could just walk away and she'd be alright. On the other hand, something had definitely scared her, and if that thing was dangerous it could still be nearby.

Looking up, she suddenly tensed.

At the top of the hill, another werewolf stood, snarling. Ember-red eyes burned bright, and fear struck Sierra like a spear. She'd only heard the legends of these wolves so far, and seeing one now was the picture of murderous fury.

The other wolf cleared the slope in one leap, landing in the stream and immediately jumping for Aja, knocking her down in one swipe. Sierra didn't even stop to think.

"GRRRAAAWWRRRRR!!" She snarled, leaping for the red-eyed wolf. She'd never been in an actual fight, but she wasn't about to let Aja get killed. She managed to drive the mad wolf back, snarling and snapping. She heard Aja get up, as well as Lizzie cheering her master on. She continued to snap, not landing any bites, but neither was her opponent.

All at once she was thrown aside. The other wolf lunged for the girl she was protecting, and thankfully that girl was able to swing her weapon to keep the mad wolf back. She jumped up and ran at the wolf, teeth bared. The mad wolf snapped at Aja's face, and dodged away as she swung her blue blade again. Sierra made to snap at the mad wolf, but it slipped away to the side and Aja's arms were still outstretched as she closed her jaws--

SNAP! The feel of flesh between her teeth sent a shiver through her. She looked up and realized that the mad wolf was staring at her, shocked. The full moon glowed brightly, and she realized with horror what she'd done.

Aja was gazing at her with startled, fearful eyes. She immediately released the girl's arm and reared back. Her heart was beating frantically to the rhythm of oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
The bite began to glow white like the moon, and a sensation ran through Sierra that sent her mind reeling. The mad wolf seemed to feel it, too. Aja clutched the wound and started panting, dropping to her knees. Oh no. Oh no. What have I done?!

It was an accident.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

"I'm so sorry!" She said, guilt flooding her heart and making her want to cry.

"You fool!" The mad wolf yelled before running away.

Sierra heard more people approaching from a little ways away, calling Aja's name. Not knowing what else to do, she turned and ran off as well, Lizzie close behind her. She ran and ran, feeling worse and worse until tears spilled from her eyes. She finally collapsed in the center of a large clearing, deep in the forest, a place only her pack knew of. A tall rock ledge overlooked it, and just below it, a white circle in the dirt, with a werewolf paw print and the sigil of a wizard inside it.

The pack meeting grounds.

"What have I done?!" She fretted, letting her human voice through. "What do I do?! What can I do?!" She remembered when she'd been bitten. The pain. The dizziness. How could she do that to anyone else? How could she do that?

"It was just an accident, Sierra. It'll be okay." Lizzie told her reassuringly. "Besides, if you hadn't tried to defend her, that mad wolf would have killed her for sure." But Sierra didn't feel like it would be okay. Sure, when she had been bitten, she'd joined the pack and took the oath and was keeping the secret, but Aja wasn't human. Would the werewolf bite be different for her? Would she be okay? Would it kill her?

She lay on the soft earth, mind and heart racing. Tears still wet her face, and she was desperately holding back sobs. She was tempted to shift back to human form, to curl up somewhere and just disappear.

"Young Omega."

The deep growl startled her, and she looked up. Two werewolves were walking into the clearing. She stood, hanging her head with her tail between her legs. The first wolf was jet black with glowing orange eyes, and he was bigger than any other werewolf in the pack. He was easily twelve feet tall on all-fours. The other was an average size for a male werewolf, about eight feet tall, with green eyes and beige fur. It had been the black one who'd spoken.

"Alpha Daniels!" Sierra called to him in a despairing woof. The big black wolf approached her and lowered his head to look at her.

"Sierra, what are doing here? Are you... crying?" The Alpha asked, a concerned frown forming on his snout.

"Alpha, I've done something terrible!" Sierra wailed, dropping the Wolfspeak and letting her emotions flow out through her human voice. The beige wolf raised his eyebrows.

"Something terrible? How terrible?" He asked, taking her cue and speaking with his human voice also.

"Horrible! I'm a monster!" Sierra continued to sob. "I broke the code, Warren!"

"Calm down, Omega. Just explain what happened." Said Alpha Daniels.

"So you know those two kids in school I've been watching 'cause they didn't smell right?" Sierra sniffed, calming herself enough to sit down and look the Alpha in the eye. "Well, I was in the woods just now and I saw this really weird glowing person fall down this hill and when I got close I recognized her scent!"

"Glowing?" The beige wolf, Warren, asked.

"Strange beings live here in Arcadia, Warren. It would take more than that to surprise me. Go on, Sierra." The Alpha said coolly.

"I recognized her scent, and...it was her! I couldn't believe it! I don't know how she disguised herself as a human, but that's her secret! She's a glowing blue being with four arms!" Sierra explained excitedly. She quickly wilted again. "But then this skinny mad wolf attacked. I knew I had to protect her, because, and I'm not kidding, this wolf had red eyes, like blood-cursed red, and it was was going right for her! So I drove it back and--"

"Wait, a blood-cursed wolf? You're sure?" The Alpha cut her off. Sierra nodded solemnly.

"But that's not the worst part! Me and the wolf were fighting, and then the wolf made to hurt her again, so I lunged but the wolf dodged and I couldn't quite see what I was doing and then--" She paused, forcing herself to hold it together. "And then I bit her." She drove her snout into the ground, hiding her face.

"Wait, you bit who?" Asked Warren.

"The girl! Aja! I didn't mean to, her arm got right in the way!" Sierra mumbled with her face still in the dirt. Alpha Daniels growled.

"Don't punish yourself, Sierra. We'll figure out what to do. If this girl really isn't human, we'll have to watch her carefully. Keep an eye on her. What troubles me is the blood-cursed wolf. Such a creature could wreak havoc in Arcadia. We will watch for them as our first priority." He said seriously. Sierra lifted her head.

"But if she's not human...will the bite hurt her?" She asked.

"Any living creature with a soul can become a werewolf. I think she'll make a normal transition. I'm tasking you with monitoring her. Understand?" Said Alpha Daniels.

"Yes, Alpha." Sierra confirmed.

"Warren, I want a squad searching the woods for any evidence of a blood-cursed wolf tomorrow night." The Alpha lowly growled to the beige wolf at his side.

Sierra was glad the Alpha wasn't mad. But that might have been because he was more worried about the mad wolf.

"Sierra, you said the accident happened while you were defending her?" The Alpha asked as Warren walked away. She nodded.

"Yeah."

"Well, think of it this way:" He said simply.

"Better bitten than dead."

He said that in human for emphasis. Sierra thought as she bowed her head respectfully and turned to leave. Better bitten than dead. If I hadn't fought, that wolf really would have killed her. Maybe Liz was right. She kept repeating it to herself as she went home. Better bitten than dead. Better bitten than dead. You did the right thing. It's not your fault.

But she wasn't sure Aja would believe that.