A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

While his armor was clearly different from last time, Anne still easily recognized the werewolf in front of her. She wasn't able to smell him and most of his body was covered, but his white fur with black lightning marks together with this voice was more than enough for her.

"Erik!" she roared furiously. "How dare you show your face here after you caused us all that trouble!"

"I think you're misremembering, Anne," Erik sneered dismissively. "You were the ones who came to my home uninvited and brought trouble with you. You got what you deserved."

The shapeshifters gathered here quickly picked up on the vibe and naturally bared their claws and fangs at Erik. Yet, they were all merely first-rankers. They felt the power rolling off him and quickly backed down with a single intense glare promising pain and death.

In the back of this group Erik also noticed a hungry and lustful pair of eyes who clearly wanted to devour him. But not in the same way as Anne. He didn't pay her much attention, however. Although two of his wives had submissive personalities and enjoyed special relationships with him, Nora was different. She actually was a servant to him, and nothing more.

Although… he had to admit she'd been very useful, and eager. Perhaps a reward was in order?

Putting aside his thoughts, he refocused on Anne, who was seething angrily and yelling, "Shut up!". Her body quickly changed as she grew yellow fur with black stripes, whiskers, and mean looking claws. In mere moments, she had changed to her werelynx form and growled threateningly at him, seemingly ready to attack.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Anne?" Erik chuckled casually. "How much stronger have you grown in these eleven months? Do you think you stand a chance now?"

Panning his gaze over the, by now, hundreds of shapeshifters gathered around this entrance into town, he continued, "And how many of them do you think will get caught up in it?"

Despite the fact that Nora had already turned the alarm off, more shapeshifters kept showing up to see what all the commotion was about. Anything was better than the mind-numbing waiting around and training they had been doing for the past month or so.

At this point, besides the many first-rankers, a few tens of second-rankers had also shown up. Thus, with the weaker shapeshifters falling back a little, Erik was now becoming surrounded by tens of second-rankers instead.

Still, he didn't look worried, and simply smirked at them all with confidence, as if daring them to try something. Yet, they had all heard Erik's words, and noticed Anne's hesitation, and even some fear, behind her anger.

"Shouldn't we do something?!" one of the second-rankers whispered to the person next to him. "This guy may be a werewolf, but he's clearly an enemy, right? I mean, I barely ever see general Anne loose her temper, I always thought she was cold as ice!"

"Just shut up and wait for her to make a move!" the other hissed back. "She clearly knows this guy, but there must be a reason she's not attacking. Do you want to get in trouble with her?!"

"N— No," the first shapeshifter quickly shook his head and fel silent. But it didn't take long before he continued again, "Do you think she's waiting for the other generals?"

Since Nora had blended in with the first-rankers at this point, they didn't realize there already was another general there.

Before the other could answer, a third general arrived.

The crowd of shapeshifters parted as the large form of a ginger haired Viking slowly passed between them. Immediately, Erik stopped intimidating the people around him and grinned happily at the newly arrived general instead.

"Erik…" a deep, warm voice full of care echoed across the area. "I've been worried about you."

"Worried about me?" Erik chuckled playfully. "I wasn't the one fighting a war, old man."

Unsurprisingly, a shock went through the gathered shapeshifters as they heard the familiar tone with which these two addressed each other. They even saw Anne scoffing, but not looking surprised. Suddenly, they wondered if this was the reason she hadn't attacked him yet.

Yet, their initial shock was nothing to what came soon after.

Viljar suddenly looked sad as he looked at his nephew and continued moving closer. "You were smart to get away from it all, Erik. The council hasn't contacted us at all since that day, and I doubt even with you and your friends help we could have won. Now, we are trapped here, and… so are you. There's no way you'll be able to get out the way you came in, so why did you come?

You should have stayed away."

"You know why I came back, Uncle," Erik said somberly. "In fact, you should know all of my reasons."

It was Viljar who first pointed out the likelihood of Astrid pulling Erik into this war, and Erik doubted his uncle hadn't considered the possibility that Erik might come back for revenge on Frostfang. Plus, there was the fact that Viljar would die in this siege, sooner or later, if Erik didn't do anything.

Erik loved his uncle, and he didn't want to reunite with his mother by telling her that Viljar died.

A complicated look appeared on Viljar's face as he realized his fears had come true, and Erik came here for revenge. Although why Erik would pick now, when they were all likely to die soon anyway, was a mystery to him. Not to mention that Erik remained a second-ranker, so how was he going to stand up to Frostfang?

Meanwhile, the second shock wave hit the spectators as they heard Erik call Viljar his uncle, and the old werebear didn't deny it.

"Hold up!" one shapeshifter whispered urgently to another. "Did he just say 'Uncle'?! Isn't general Viljar Lady Runa's brother-in-law?! Does that mean what I think it means?!"

His conversation partner was just as wound up as he was and his whispering ended up as more like hushed yelling when he answered. "How the fuck should I know?! Do you think I know any more than you?! But holy shit that would be something!"

"I guess it could just be a term of endearment if they were particularly close," the first voice pondered, before suddenly turning excited again. "Either way, though. This certainly brakes up this fucking monotony we've been suffering for the last month. I almost wish the Dominion would just attack already so we can at least die fighting."

"You're not wrong," the second voice chuckled, before focusing back on the spectacle in front of them.

Several versions of that same conversation went on almost everywhere throughout the crowd, causing a wave of hushed whispers to echo through the area.

Sighing heavily, Viljar decided to worry about this later, and first greet his nephew properly. Erik already had his arms wide as the two met and encased each other in a bear hug where Erik's normally large form got dwarfed by his uncle's massive one.

"Well, either way, its good to see you again, Nephew," Viljar sighed, putting his more complicated feelings aside for now.

"You too, Uncle," Erik smiled, genuinely happy to see Viljar was still alive and well.

While they hugged, Nora looked from a distance as she leaned against a wall and looked at them with a slightly crazed smile. Over the past eleven months, she had been aching to feel Erik's touch again. He had forbidden her from playing with her toys, after all, and even if he hadn't, none of them could make her feel anything close to what she experienced during those few days in Frostvik.

Thus, her dependence on him and desire to see him again had steadily grown. Now, her mind was constantly occupied with thoughts of pleasing him in the hope of being rewarded for her service. In fact, she had ballooned his image in her mind so much, that she didn't even doubt he would solve their current predicament.

Naturally, Nora was the one to inform Erik about everything that had happened in the last eleven months, and where to find them, using the Bond of Service she was bound by.

Meanwhile, Anne looked at them as well, but her gaze and accompanying feelings were quite the opposite from Nora's. Although her hot fury had cooled down somewhat, she now looked at him with cold fury instead. A fury that even spilled over to Viljar a little.

She felt Erik had betrayed his mother's legacy, and his fellow shapeshifters, by not joining the war eleven months ago, and now Viljar was still welcoming him like true family.

On some level, she felt betrayed by two family members of the one person she admired and respected more than any other: her teacher, Runa. She realized that that was what was making her angry most of all. More than even the disgusting humans Erik shacked up with.

Unaware of either Nora or Anne's thoughts, Erik and Viljar finally separated, and Viljar looked at Erik solemnly. "Look, Erik. I may be happy to see you alive, but my question remains. Why come here now?"

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com