Aedre had never been a fan of wolves. Many of her people had a respect for the creatures, but she had never come to feel that respect. When she had been four years old, a pack of them had wandered into their sleeping village. It had been a hard winter for food, and it was obvious in their pursuit of humans. They had abducted and probably killed and eaten eight children while their parents slept, and had wounded many others in their hunger. Her older brother, in particular, had been taken from them.
Luag had always been the sibling that would cart Aedre around with him through the village. She would be seen more often with her compassionate brother than her mother. She remembers that night all too clearly – it was one of her first clear memories. All of the children had shared a room, and when the growls started, Ciaran had rushed to protect his baby sister.
That was all that was passing through her head when Aedre saw Garrett wandering into her traps. She was especially careful when she stopped to rest in the wilderness, and thankfully it had come to be quite helpful.
Rising from her bedroll, the Chasind shaman listened as her traps were set off. The familiar sound of metal meeting metal had her up, pulling on her furs as she did. Her fingers secured around a hunting knife while she climbed out of the hollow tree she had claimed as a home for the night. She emerged just a moment before Garrett shifted into human form. Immediately she thought of Flemeth, her eyes opening wide in fright. Even though she hadn’t heard the stories since she was a child, they were still frightening enough to make her pause.
Naked feet crunched against the wet of the ground, settling her feet carefully in the mud. Spending her entire life in the wilderness had taught her to move next to silently in the sucking mud, and as she came up behind Garrett, she hoped that he did not hear her. Aedre approached his unclothed form with her knife raised, intent on setting it to his neck as she lunged toward him. She had questions about his similarity to the Witches, how he was a man-wolf. She would not kill this creature until she knew its answers.