It was another two days before Sage felt strong enough to leave his nest.

He had been jolted awake from a deep sleep by a sharp nip to his midsection almost 48 hours prior. Upon looking down he had found a pup had latched on to one of the six nipples on his underbelly. 

Waking up to find four tiny wet babies squirming underneath him had been euphoric for Sage. He could confidently say it was the happiest moment of his life - he had never experienced something so joyful in all his twenty summers. They seemed completely healthy too as he nosed their soft bodies, to get them to move next to each other along his stomach, and close enough for him to start licking them clean. His instincts guiding him on what to do since the moment he first reawakened.

That was when he hazily remembered drifting in and out of consciousness as he labored through the birth of a total of four pups, his instincts having taken over during his periods of unawareness. He had briefly regained consciousness abruptly after the first one was born to find the entrance to his den empty and the night air undisturbed once again.

If it were not for the disturbed earth around the dirt incline between where he lay and the opening, Sage nearly convinced himself he had hallucinated the whole thing. Whatever it was he had seen, it had gone and left all of them unscathed. He could only hope that it would never return.

His pups would be blind for the next two weeks and it would take another week on top of that for them to be able to hear. But by then they could be weaned and start eating solid foods. And Sage would try his damndest to make sure that they never had to fight amongst themselves for equal shares of whatever he could hunt. 

First though, he had to rehydrate himself. While wolves could go several days without eating, that was only if they had been consuming a stable diet. For the last three months Sage had been traveling extensively on his own - which meant he was unable to take down large prey as a single wolf - and a majority of his energy from food was going to his developing pups. He would have to drink, but go without hunting until he had fully recovered.

Sage poked his head out from the den, taking a moment to listen to the sounds around him. He had no idea if the creature was nocturnal since he had only encountered it at nighttime so he wasn’t about to risk the safety of his new family by leaving them unguarded. It obviously had no fear of approaching a wolf since it nearly entered his den, which meant it was quite possibly another predator.

Upon not hearing or smelling anything in the vicinity, Sage slowly crept out from the den, turning briefly to look at his pups, taking in the sight of their shiny coats he had just groomed this morning, their closed eyes and tiny ears. He found comfort watching them wriggle around to be on top of each other, creating that precious bond as litter mates. Without hesitating further he trotted off down the short hill to the river bank.

The river was calm and reflecting the rising sunlight off its surface as Sage approached. A blanket of calm enveloped him as he bent his head to lap at the water. The combination of the tranquillity of his current surroundings and the knowledge that he and all his pups had survived his entire pregnancy ordeal lifted off the stress he had been carrying around all this time. 

Stepping away from the water he sat down and listened to the sounds of nature around him - still vigilant of his den directly behind him - but passively enjoying the moment of peace before he had to start to think about his future and the future of his pups. For now he would enjoy - and maybe go for a swim.

He strode a few feet into the river, enough to submerged his belly, before closing his eyes and relaxing his full body. Sage couldn’t remember the last time he had just simply taken a moment for himself. It seemed all he had known was constantly fighting for survival. Even before becoming pregnant, Sage was part of a wolf pack operated on the ideology that only the strong survived. Those that were capable of hunting down prey were the ones that were first to eat and bullied others who tried to feed off their kills. Day to day life was violent and chaotic. There was a lot of infighting and very little order was enforced by the reigning dominant wolf pair. The pack resided in a forested mountain territory, sleeping under trees or in small caves at the base of the mountain range.

In that kind of harsh environment there was no guarantee that Sage would have something to eat, and if he did manage to catch something it could just as easily be stolen away from him by a stronger pack member who wanted it for themselves. He wasn’t a skilled fighter by any means and he was physically smaller than most of his male pack mates, so he usually let them take it without a fight. 

It hadn’t always been that way. There was a time when he spent his days running and playing and wandering freely with no worries if he’d make it through the night. That was when he was just a pup himself and his parents were still with him. He spent hours chasing frogs and butterflies and sleeping in meadows filled with flowers at night. They visited waterfalls and climbed mountains. His parents had always been free spirits, they never stayed in one location for long, constantly on the move and always willing to try new adventures. Sage didn’t think he was ever really part of that plan though, for however much of their life was actually planned, otherwise they wouldn’t have abandoned him was he was 10. 

Despite him always being small, his parents must have gotten tired of carrying him and they must not have wanted him to hold them back further by not being able to keep pace with them while traveling. That’s the only explanation Sage could ever reach. Why else would one day he be with them, then the next he is being left with an older female wolf he instinctively knew must be his grandmother, despite never having met her before.

Life within his pack wasn’t all bad though, it had its nice moments too. Like when he got to watch the birth of new pups into the pack every year. Only the dominate pair was able to mate but Sage enjoyed bringing the new litter little gifts and bits of food every time he was allowed near. Someday he dreamed of having his own pups.

Or when he would stumble across a group of humans traveling on one of the many well used paths he’d find scattered throughout their territory. The pack must have been located near a populated human territory because they were a very common occurrence in the spring and summer times, usually in small groups. Sage found it comical when he’d run out from the underbrush chasing after a rabbit and the humans would freeze, their eyes going wide and their jaws hanging open with their blunt teeth on display. Some even tried to tempt him to approach them with sweet smelling foods. There were a few times when Sage had gone many days without eating that he almost took the bait, but the fear of the unknown stopped him from doing so.

It was this natural curiosity and covetousness for his own offspring that ultimately drove him out of the pack. But even though it was all he had really know, he wasn’t about to look back.

Opening his eyes, Sage moved from out of the water and up onto the sandy bank to shake out his fur. Reminiscing on his past only prevented him from moving forward with his future. 

His new found positivity did not last long. For as he crested the hill to his new home the scene laid out in from of him shook him to his core.

Crouching in front of his den, with its back to him and an arm rooting around inside, was what could only be described as a monster. It had to be well over six feet tall, even in its current crouched position it was taller than Sage’s head. Huge knots lined the length of its spine, almost as if the skin - skin that was an almost translucent white - could not contain the mass of the bones. It had no sort of fur, from his far away position, Sage could just make out a tuft of thin white hair on the top of its skull. With no covering of any kind it was entirely naked, and its profile would have reminded Sage slightly of a human if it were not for the shape of its skull. 

Sage stood frozen as he watched this creature shuffle backwards from his den with one of his newborn pups in its grasp. Still crouched, it used the knuckles on its free arm to push away from the dirt shelter and balance as it moved. Long clawed fingers caged his helpless pup as it was removed from its siblings. Broad shoulders suspended two rippling arms each with a human like hand with five elongated fingers and immense straight black claws. Following its torso was two bent legs supported by arched feet, as if it never stood to its full height but always walked on all fours on its toes.

The tiny cries and chirps coming from his nest with his remaining pups and now the one taken captive finally reached Sage’s ears and spurred him into action. He charged forward without another thought, dashing around the side of the creature to cut it off from the entrance of his den. Because of the size difference between the two, Sage was practically underneath the bent figure, its looming shadow casting over him. He released a series of loud barks and snapped his teeth in its face in an effort to appear threatening. Surprised by his appearance it stumbled back, its free arm windmilling to regain balance, but never dropping the fragile pup it had taken hostage.

From this position Sage could see that its jaw was square and protruded outwards almost like a snout but its nose remained flat to its face, while brow bones extended out over milky white eyes with no pupils. Sage didn’t bother to pause to think if the creature was blind or not, it had his pup in its claws! With the entrance to his den blocked off Sage switched gears to retrieving what was stolen from him. Bowing downward in a striking position he continued to snarl and snap his teeth, hoping that despite his size he could intimidate whatever thing was in front of him.

The creature regained its balance from Sage’s surprise appearance and produced a high-pitched keening noise. It dropped down into a squat, planting its heels into the earth as if to stand its ground. It brought the hand holding Sage’s pup into its flat chest and opening the palm raised its other hand to lay on top of the newborn’s head - almost as if to mimic a petting motion.

Sage released an angry bark, not liking that it was touching what was his, he thrusted forward in a warning attack. The creature leaned back but made no attempt to retaliate, instead it made another shrill sound and cradled the pup in its hand further this time bringing it up to its face, brows furrowing. Fearing that it would try to put his newborn in its mouth, Sage shot forward in an attempt to grab his pup out of the hand of the beast. It turned at the last second and Sage caught its shoulder in his canines. Biting down hard Sage torn through skin and muscle before retreating before it could get its own attack in.

Screeching at the attack to its upper arm, the creature lurched forward, head coming down to headbutt at Sage’s front. He quickly backpedaled to avoid as much weight from the sudden assault as he could. This caused him to falter and land on his ass. But the creature didn’t pursue its attack any further. It seemed satisfied that it had knocked Sage back as it right itself and returned to lifting his pup to its face, shoulder wound trailing blood down it’s empty arm, and rubbing the tiny body against its cheek then turning its head to sniff at the pup slightly. As if to scent it. 

Surprised, Sage made no further moves to attack, he just watched in stunned silence as the beast let out a huff then gently put the chirping pup down on a patch of grass. It made eye contact with Sage who swore its eyes looked almost… sad to be leaving, turned on its toes and bounded into the forest on all fours.

Hours later, when the sun was setting and Sage had returned his pup to their den where he proceeded to lick it clean, he briefly wondered how the strange creature had managed to even reach his pups with out a sound or a scent to notify Sage of its presence. It hadn’t wanted to hurt either his pups or himself even after he bit it. Sage got the feeling it would be back.

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Author's Note:

Putting this here this week just so it's not super long in the desciption box below {or to the side for desktop readers}.

LOL this chapter is literally twice as long as the last one. I know I prefer longer chapters, but I primarily read on mobile so please share with me what you're reading on and the length you prefer!

I didn't get to upload last week, my apologies. This chapter was also a little more difficult to write. As a genderqueer piece of metal who can get pregnant (ew) actually writing about pregnancy is just extremely weird. I have no issue reading it when it's someone else's writing, but fat chance when I am the one doing it. So if you'd like me to expand upon any of the "details" I can try my best, but I pretty much just stuck with glossing over it.

This chapter is also incredibly nuanced. It's super hard to write from the pov of a wolf who doesn't know they're actually a werewolf??? LMAO I can comfortably tell you that now now that you have more of Sage's backstory. It's like, he doesn't know what colors are, or the word for parents, etc. so how do I portray his pov without just typing "bark bark woof woof" ya know? I kinda said "screw it" at the end a little bit just so you'd get the most accurate description of the mystery creature. I'm trying to world build without simultaneously info dumping so if you don't know how Sage knows the word for "human" and all that, that's okay, you will later! <3

BEST GUESSES on what you think it is??

My guess is ya'll ain't gonna get it (hopefully) for a few more chapters. Mwuahahah!