Logan couldn’t help laughing as Sarah fell face first into the water. He was so relived that she had calmed down so much over the last hour. His stress ever since hearing about her episode lessened further as she spluttered out of the water much like he had not that long ago.

  When Amara had called and told him, he had to take a closer look. It took a minute to escape Lilith’s grasp until he told her that he was leaving to look after “the new kitten,” she let him go with only a promise to meet up again. As much as he was reticent to admit, he was a little disappointed that he had to leave early since she had promised she had plans to fill the rest of the day. That woman was a force of chaos that was a master of pushing buttons and somehow making an entertaining day out.

  He smiled as Sarah reached the shore looking like a waterlogged cat. She grumbled as she trudged out of the water making him hold back another laugh. It wasn’t long before he had her dried off and back through the caverns and into The Temple.

  With only how she walked through the stone halls he recognized how much more put together she was. Before her meditation session her body language screamed closed off and scared, now it was much more loose and while not exactly confident, was more in control.

  “How did it go?” he asked with his best self-assured tone.

  “I think it went well,” she answered, “I didn’t meditate, but I did calm down.” She sighed as if she dropped a heavy weight. “You were right about that place, it was amazing.”

  “Yeah, meditation is difficult at first until. you get used to it. Once you do it can be a great way to recenter yourself or calm own your beast when you can’t appease it an any other way. I remember back when I was still Guardian-Class, I had to work one of the most boring protection jobs ever. For two months I was stuck in the middle of New York City sitting in a basement as a bunch of egg heads studied an Artifact.”

  He winced at the memory. “Even though it was long before the invention of security cameras, it wasn’t like I could run around Central Park in my hybrid form and hunt down a bunch of squirrels. That’s both an easy way to scare the shit out of a ton of humans and piss off my beast with unsatisfying prey. To keep it stable, let alone calm, I had to do daily meditations before I was finally able to get a weekend off to do some proper hunting. I think I killed an ate three adult deer over the course of the two days.”

  After telling his story he glanced at her and instead of humor she looked disturbed. He chastised himself as he reminded himself of her history. Usually when he told the story to another Beast-Cursed they responded with their own stories of having to deal with their beasts. Why did she have to be a city girl? If she could have hunted just once in her life all of this would’ve been so much easier.

  “Sarah,” he said stopping both of them, “I know you’re going through a lot, but this is your life now. Unfortunately for you, your beast if a predator with the best and easiest way to appease it is with hunting and eating prey.”

  Her discomfort instantly turned to anger as she turned on him, surprising Logan with its ferocity. “Fuck off!” she yelled. “What the hell do you know about what I’m going through?! Did your entire life fall apart around you in an instant!? I’ll never see my family again because of some stupid overgrown cat! You know nothing!”

  Both he and his beast rose at the clear challenge. He clenched his teeth as he tried to stay in control. He stared with reminding himself that she was just a girl barely twenty years old with no real experience outside the safe and easy life she had. It was barely enough to keep his beast down as dark memories flooded in. Unfortunately, as he was taking a centering breath she started up again.

  “Well!?” she asked actually poking him in the chest.

  That was all his beast needed to surge and take control for a brief moment. Faster than a newly cursed like Sarah could react, his internal energy filled his arm as he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into a wall.

  “You know nothing!” he growled in her face that quickly went from anger to fear. “You think you’re the only one who lost everything. Go to any beast-cursed and you’ll hear stories just like yours.” He released her and stepped back leaving her coughing and sliding to the ground.

  He was doing everything he could to keep his beast down as memory after bloody memory flashed. His father smiling with pride at him as he came home with the rabbit he hunted all by himself, his mother teaching him and his sister their letters since they weren’t allowed to go to their town’s tiny school, and the three crosses he planted in the ground after he was finally able to salvage and bury their bodies. Even two-hundred years later his chest clenched and hands shook as he remembered the dirt under his fingernails and the tears that streamed down his face.

  He sneered down at her. “Get over yourself. Yeah, you lost your family, so did the rest of us, you’re not special and the faster you get it through your head the faster you’ll be able to move on. Now get up, I have to get you back to the barracks.”

  She sat stunned starring up at him still clearly scared and after her what she said, he stopped caring. “I said get up!” he barked leaving his caring tone behind and entering solider mode.

  She scrambled to her feet like a beaten kitten and retreated fell in line behind him as he briskly led her to the car depot and got in one of the waiting trucks. Through the whole walk and half the car ride they were in utter silence as his pain fueled anger burned.

  The entire time he struggled to bring both his beast and emotions under control and only when he was driving did he calm down enough to speak without the urge to bite Sarah’s head off for her disrespect.

  “I was born in 1808 in what is currently Maine,” he forced out. “I wouldn’t call my childhood easy but I wouldn’t call it overly hard either. After the war of 1812, the border was very tense but with the British pulling out there was a need for more hands. Because he saw an opportunity, my father packed up me, my mother, and my little sister to move further north.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Logan had to push through the knot in his throat. “We were expecting a rude welcome but was still surprised at how much hatred we were met with. Because of that we were forced to live in a cabin on the far border of the town we moved to and were treated as something unclean. Thankfully, father was nothing if not kind and charismatic. It took a few years but we were able to at least become amicable with everyone. It even got to the point where we could walk through town without getting stink eyes or being avoided, shop and eat wherever we wanted, I was even starting to court a girl.”

  Even with hundreds of years or therapy and experiences it was still hard to talk about. “It was some time mid autumn when it happened.” He was thankful Sarah remained silent as he pushed through. “It turned out a group of Canadian militia turned bandits came through town and heard about us. They hated that my family was living on ‘their land’ and believed that the only good yank was a dead yank.

  “The next day five fully-armed men rode up and raided our home. It wasn’t even a fight. They killed my family execution style and burnt our cabin down around them. The only reason I survived was because I was out hunting for meat to turn into winter rations when it happened. I knew something was wrong when I heard multiple gunshots coming from the direction of our cabin. I dropped everything and ran back to find my family dead with the only home I could remember set ablaze. Even if I wasn’t too late what was I supposed to do? I was just a lanky teenager with a hunting musket.”

  “Logan I-” she said but was stopped by a raised hand. He knew if he stopped he wouldn’t be able to start again.

  “When I buried them on our land, something broke. I vowed revenge on the monsters who took my family from me.” He paused as he prepared himself for the next step of his story.

  “And did you?” she asked.

  “Almost. Over the course of about three years I was able to eliminate four of the five killers after they split up and went their separate ways. Three I did myself while the fourth I got caught and hanged by the local government. The fifth…the last one was their leader and was the hardest. He had started up another gang and was able to gather ten men under him, all of them were as ruthless as they were stupid.

  “It all came to a head a week after the year’s first snowfall somewhere in northern Quebec. I caught up to the gang as they were getting ready to move south into the United States for the winter. Turns out dealing with dirty yanks was better than the cold. They were all distracted with packing when I was given my opportunity.”

  It took a second for him to unclench his jaw and continue. “I almost got him. Just as I fired my father’s hunting musket to finish my goal, one of his men got in the way. The bullet went through the subordinate’s head and instead of going through the bastard’s eye, all it did was shave off an ear. They instantly knew where I was and chased me. I ran and ran killing two more of them before getting shot in the leg and falling into a mountain crevice. They apparently assumed I was dead or as good as dead and left.

  “I must have hit my head on the way down since when I woke up I was in a cave and barely cognizant. While fumbling through my pack for bandages I heard a deep growl. My first thought was that I landed in front of a bear, but who’ve heard of a talking bear? I couldn’t understand the language of whatever was in there with me, but I had a bigger problem. My bullet wound was pouring blood and was pretty sure my other leg was broken. I probably only had a few minutes before bleeding out.

  “I then heard whatever it was move closer. The little light that came from the crevice above showed a wolf the size of a large horse with a sash around its neck acting as a leash disappearing into the darkness. By then I was lightheaded from blood loss and pain so what happened next is pretty fuzzy. They somehow convinced me that it could give me the power to survive and take revenge in exchange for something later.

  “I apparently took it, after all, it was my only hope for both survival and justice. I accepted him within myself and became beast-cursed. With my weakened consciousness he was able to completely take over and turned me feral. Unlike usual feral cursed I’ve seen, Fenrir was able have a measure of control over my beast while it was in full control. True to his word he healed me, tracked down the gang and slaughtered them all. The last was their leader who I literally tore apart limb from limb.

  “That started a decade long stretch of Fenrir, and me on occasion when he let me be in charge, hunting and killing through northern Canada. I became one with my instincts and truly became an animal. I no longer thought in any language or even considered returning to civilization. Unfortunately for me and much of humanity, Fenrir eventually got bored of regular animals and an living as a lone wolf and wanted to move onto humans. At first what little of me left was able to convince him to only go after people who deserved it. Bandits, thieves, and so on. When Fenrir finally got to the point of wanting more I met Master Sigurd.

  “He was already a Councilor but something about the reports about a rampaging werewolf only going after those widely considered evil interested him. Before we even saw him, we knew he was a superior being. The sheer power he radiated was world changing. Fenrir tried to run but was caught leading to us being brought in for evaluation. When they determined that I was still in there and wasn’t completely lost, Master forcefully suppressed Fenrir and for the first time in over ten years I was back to being a human.

  “Just because my body returned didn’t mean my mind did. You know how Cadet Wyn is very animalistic? I was worse when I first came out. It took years of work on Dr. Rigas’ part to get me to be able to function in regular society let alone become a Keeper. They never gave up on me and I will always be thankful for that. After I was rehabilitated Master Sigurd took me in for a few years and acted as a sort of mentor for me. He taught me about the world of magic and how to function as a beast cursed. I think he saw me as one of his lost sons after hearing my story. After that I joined the Keepers, became a Guardian and eventually a Hunter.”

  As he finished his story they arrived at the trainee barracks. “Do you understand why I told you that story?”

  Sarah was hesitant but nodded. “I think so.”

  “Good. Now out you go.” He said as emotionless as possible. He had to work hard to suppress his sorrow and anger.

  While in deep thought she exited the car but tuned back to him before closing the door. “I know this doesn’t sound like much coming from me, but I’m sorry for your loss.” She gave him a humorless smile, “maybe if you can go from mutt to human I have a chance after all.”

  He huffed at her, his feelings simmering but under control. “Just remember you’re not alone and we’re here to help. As you said, if they were able to turn me from a mutt they can help you with a little separation trauma. Take the rest of they day off, maybe go for a walk through the valley or one of the forests. Got it?”

  She nodded and closed the door behind her.

  Logan waited a minute before turning the truck and heading back to the Temple. On the way back he did something he though he never would. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and dialed the contact that always reappeared no matter how many times he tried to delete it.

  “Hey Lilith, what was next on your plan? I could go for a distraction.”