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Arin Hanson was a huntsman his whole life, he had started hunting with his dad when he was just 12 years old and had become one of the best hunters of his village incredibly fast. He is very reliable when it comes to finding food and if someone spots a wolf in the area Arin is usually the one to shoot it down. Usually.
Lately in Arin's village there has been rumors of a beast wolf that was twice as large as a normal wolf. Some even saying it could be a werewolf. Arin scoffed at an idea like that, he had been hunting wolves his whole life, he was sure that the people in the town were probably just overreacting.
Arin's Village was located in the middle of a Californian red-wood forest. It was next to a river that was the water supply for most of the town and upstream there was a bigger town where they got most of their supplies from.
Arin was wandering around in the forest, scouting the area for any animals. He was hoping he would eventually come across that wolf his neighbors were talking about but he wouldn't mind a deer or pheasant while he was at it.
He heard a rustling coming from a bush nearby. He picked up his gun and pointed it towards the bush hoping the animal would come out, but after a few minutes instead of some sort of quadruped it was a tall lanky man with a mane of brown curly hair. he was shirtless and looked as if he hadn't bathed in a month.
The man looked very tired until he noticed the gun pointed toward him. He jumped backwards and immediately fell into the bush again. Arin put his gun down to help the man up.
"Are you okay? What are you doing out here?" Arin asked concernedly at the tall man.
"I got lost a few days ago, man I'm so glad to see you. I didn't think I'd ever see another human being again!" The man grabbed Arin's hand and Arin pulled him up winning him a hug from the taller man.
"Hey dude it's alright, what's your name?" Arin asked
"It's Dan, I'm from a village probably not far from here. I wasn't really paying attention to where i was going so I probably wouldn't be able to tell you where it is though." Dan's voice was dry and scratchy. Arin wondered how long he had really been out in the forest. Arin knew of a few villages that were just a days walk so he wondered if Dan was from a farther place or just really bad a navigating in the area.
"Well, I'm sure we have someone in town who will know how to get back to your village, but you're welcome to stay at my place for the night. The name's Arin by the way." Arin offered.
"Oh thank you so much, you're a life saver. For real man, thanks so much!" thanked Dan.
The two men walked back to the village, Arin showing Dan around the shops and houses, introducing to a few people. They eventually reached a rather small cottage at the edge of the town.
"well this is my place, it's a bit small but its cozy." Arin unlocked the front door and let Dan in. the entrance opened to a small kitchen that connected to a living room that featured nothing but a brown love-seat and a short coffee table. There was a door that Dan assumed lead to the bedroom and another to a bathroom. the walls were decorated with deer antlers and a few skulls of other animals.
"You live here alone?" the taller man inquired.
"Yeah I do, but if I ever start a family I'd probably build a second story to this house although, as the hunter i don't really have much time to talk with ladies, you know?"
"ah yeah" Dan muttered, he seemed distracted by the decorations on the wall.
"you admiring my trophies? They're pretty impressive huh?"
"uh I guess..." Dan felt a bit uneasy but couldn't refuse the night here after it had been offered.
"well anyway you can sleep on the couch and I guess I'll get you to your town tomorrow, I'm sure I've got a spare blanket around here somewhere." Arin said opening a closet and pulling out a blanket and a small wool pillow and then handing them to Dan.
"thank you so much, Arin, right?" Dan thanked
"yeah, and don't mention it, if I was in your place I would've wanted someone to do the same."
That night Arin slept like a log, while Dan waited for everything to get quiet. After a few hours of lying tirelessly in the bed he crawled out and thanked god that Arin lived on the outside of the village so he didn't have to pass any buildings to get back into the forest.
Once he felt he was far enough he shed his human form, his hands sprouting claws and his skin replaced by a thick brown fur. He dawned his wolf form a ran from the village, he was frustrated with himself for wasting all this time, but he couldn't risk getting caught by a human.
He ran as far north as he could trying to get to his packs land, hoping no other humans would be a problem, or other wolves for that matter. He was terrified running through a different pack's land.
Dan's pack had been seen by humans as a band of thieves as they didn't belong to a village and everyone had just assumed that that was how they stayed alive so everyone feared their pack. Usually the packs stayed in the forest and didn't run into humans but recently a group a soldiers were sent out to arrest Dan's pack. Although most of them were able to escape Dan was caught and arrested. He managed to escape them halfway to the town as the smaller villages didn't have actual jails.
Returning to the pack would have been no problem for Dan as he knows the woods like he knows the back of his hand/paw but unfortunately The town was in the territory of a rivaling pack and Dan had to travel carefully to avoid contact with any of them.
Dan was so close to the edge of their territory however so he felt his best bet would just be to run till he was back in his territory.
But as Dan was running he felt a familiar scent and felt a pit in his stomach as he ran as fast as he could. Suddenly a large Reddish-Brown beast jumped out from behind a tree and tackled Dan from the side and pinned him to the ground.
"Hey pretty boy, what the fuck do you think you're doing on our territory?" The Wolf growled through his teeth breathing down the smaller canines throat.
"Listen man, I wasn't hunting or anything! I got arrested, I'm just trying to get home. I mean no trouble I'm serious!" Dan tried to negotiate
"likely story, you know what we do to fuckers like you who don't understand what territory is" the larger dog snarled.
Dan shut his eyes and turned away his head, knowing there was nothing he could say to prevent what was coming.
then both dogs heard a rustling in a nearby bush. Dan quickly turned back into his human form out of panic but immediately regretting it as his weaker human skin was ripping under the pressure of the larger wolves claws sinking into his arms earning a scream from him. The larger canine snarled at him again for making such a loud noise.
Out of the bush a man with familiar brown hair and a familiar hunting rifle emerged. the gun was pointed straight at the wolf, who noticed the weapon and ran away.
"Dan!? What are you doing out here!? You could've died! What the hell!" Arin shouted immediately ripping his shirt to use as a gauze to stop the bleeding on his arms.
"I- I'm sorry." Dan panted out as he was lifted up by Arin to a sitting position. "I, uh, I felt guilty about making you spend a whole day taking me back to my village, I uh, I just thought maybe I could find my way back myself." Dan lied, knowing he'd be shot on the spot if this Huntsman knew he himself was also a wolf.
"Dan you idiot, you shouldn't feel guilty. I'm happy to help you. You could've gotten mauled by a fucking wolf dude, you need someone to go with you." Arin said in a much calmer voice now, he hugged Dan gently and held the cloth to his wounds. "Let's get back to the village, you need to get this sewn up."
"o-ok" Dan accepted, trying to remember a name of a village in his territory but nothing came to mind as his his brain was clouded by the pain in his arms.
That night, Arin took Dan to a doctor and had his wounds taken care of and then went to sleep at Arin's house finally.
The next morning he awoke to Arin frying some eggs in his tiny kitchen.
"man that smells pretty good" Dan mumbled as he rose up from the bed feeling well rested.
"aw thanks, we should leave right after breakfast. So what's the name of the village you're from anyway?
Dan's mind was completely blank, he tried to remember the name of any town or village near or in his territory but couldn't remember. He stood there and tried his best to remember but nothing came to mind
"uh dude, don't you know the name of your own village?" Arin asked suspiciously. Dan became nervous again. No stories coming to mind that would Arin would believe about why he cant remember.
"well it's north from here i know that much" Dan spat out. interrupting the end of Arin's sentence.
"well, uh... okay..." Arin turned back around to fry the eggs.
"well, I'll travel with you for a day, to at least make sure you don't get killed but after that you're on your own."
"Thank you so much Arin, you're a real life saver!" Dan was so grateful. He wondered what Arin thought was reason that he couldn't come up with a name but this was enough for him.
The men ate breakfast then went on their way, Arin packed his hunting supplied along with some food for the two of them and then they left.
The two men trekked the forest and talked casually for hours, Dan leading them, although he looked completely lost when Arin found him he knew where he was going quite well.
"so in your village do you have a girlfriend or anything yet?" Arin asked as they walked through the thick foliage.
"Oh no, nothing like that." Dan chuckled trying to imagine himself with a human girlfriend.
"oh that's cool..." Arin trailed off watching Dan walk in front of him. Only now noticing how finely toned his muscles are, his mess of hair had a few leaves in it but it made him look very cute.
" Even after I help you get home, you're welcome to visit at any time Dan."
"really?" Dan turned around to look at Arin when he said that, filling his heart with sadness because although they hadn't interacted this human had been so kind to him and he'd never be able to see him again.
They walked for a few more hours talking about plants and the weather and what kind of food they like the most and how to properly prepare deer. (Although Dan didn't admit that he just prefers it raw.)
Once the sun was setting Dan couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched, He was almost out of enemy territory but he was nervous as all hell. Arin picked up on this and tapped his shoulder making Dan jump.
"yes!?" Dan answered to the grabbing of his attention
"dude are you okay? You seem a bit tense, if you're worried another wolf will show up I've got my gun so don't worry." Arin reassured
"thanks, yeah, no, I'm okay" Dan lied, he just wanted to run but he didn't want Arin to freak out or something. He wished he could just get back to his wolf form, but he was only an hour of walking away from getting back home.
He heard something moving, but he was in his human form so he couldn't smell what it was, Dan was getting so anxious he felt as if his chest was being constricted, he grabbed Arin's hand and started running.
"Dan!? Dan!? What's going on!?" Arin asked as he struggled to keep up with the taller man.
"We're so close, We just gotta go! Come on!!!" Dan shouted, through his tears now having a full on anxiety attack, but did his best to work though it so he could focus on running, but he couldn't pay attention to where he was going and tripped on a tree root sticking out of the ground, he didn't let go of Arin's hand and he fell on top of him. Arin quickly blushed and got off Dan and sat on the ground next to him, Dan had fallen on his face but turned to his side to rub to dirt off his face and into his sleeve.
"Dan, are you okay? Is this because you got attacked yesterday?" Arin's face had a soft concerned look.
"I guess... I just... I'm sorry..." Dan had trouble speaking through his sobs, he his his face in his hands.
Arin removed one of Dan's hand and placed on of his onto Dan's cheek.
"It's okay man I'm here for you, I'll protect you. You don't have to be afraid." He comforted.
Arin helped Dan off the ground and Dan let himself believe Arin's comforting words. He hugged him and apologized again. Arin was glad that no one from his village could see how he was acting with another man for that moment.
The two kept walking in silence but Dan was holding Arin's hand. That feeling of being watched soon returned to Dan however and it was much darker now.
"Hey Dan, do you think maybe we should stop to sleep or something soon, it's getting pretty dark." Arin suggested
"NO! we're so close!" Dan accidentally snapped.
"well, um alright." Arin agreed as they walked further
Then they finally made it. The river that separated the two wolf pack's territory. Dan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it.
"Thank you so much for coming with me Arin." Dan turned to the huntsman and smiled at him. "I'm where I want to be now." He continued hoping Arin would just accept this and leave.
"what? This isn't a village though, this is just the river." Arin didn't understand.
"I wasn't actually trying to get to a village, I'm sorry but there's no real way I could explain this in a way where you would understand."
Arin tried anyway to make sense of what Dan was saying. Refusing the idea that he was just some crazy guy who was panicking about being lost only to not want to get anywhere.
"If you don't live anywhere you could come live with me in the village."
"No, this is where i want to be but thank you. Um, you should probably turn around and try to get back or something..."
"Are you waiting for someone else here?"
"No, not really"
Then Arin grabbed Dan's hands again.
"You're not going to drown yourself are you?" Arin looked up at Dan with such worried eyes that Dan for a moment wanted to.
"N-no, I'm fine, I just live here! I don't know! Listen Arin, you're like the only real friend I've ever made and you're not making this easy."
Then a dark figure approached from behind the two men. It was the same one as before but this time there were two more smaller wolves behind him.
"What is this. Not only are you some disgusting abomination that falls in love with a human but also a human ON MY TERRITORY" Snarled the red canine. Dan could understand but Arin couldn't because he was a human.
Dan didn't know what to do, he stepped backwards planning on ju,ping into the river to somehow get to the other side but he didn't want Arin to get left here.
Arin loaded his rifle quickly and pointed it at the wolf in front. But the other two approached the side.
"Just tell us when to kill this fucker, Mark" said the black wolf on the left of him.
"No" murmured Dan, "leave him out of this please" Arin looked at Dan confused. He wondered why he was trying to reason with wolves.
"Dan run" Arin whispered to Dan as his hand hovered over the trigger of the gun.
"A-Arin no" Dan shut his eyes.
"How about you show your pet your true form huh? I bet if he knew you were one of us he'd shoot you the same!" the large dog barked as Arin was about to shoot.
Out of desperation Dan grabbed him by the arm and pulled him as hard as he could into the river with him.
"DAN!?" Arin shouted as the two landed in the cold rushing water, the three wolves looked down to them and turned around and left. The head of the pack, Mark telling the other wolves that if they ever see that human to leave him alone but to kill Dan at all costs when he crosses again.
Arin struggled to keep himself afloat as the current carried him and Dan away. But then he felt the lanky man grab him and pull him to land.
"Oh God, are you okay Arin?" Dan asked as he layed Arin down on the edge of the water.
"y-yeah I'm okay" Arin replied, taking off his wet shirt, allowing Dan to admire his chest for a brief amount of time.
"that's good"
The two men climbed up the side of the small cliff that lead to the river, now on Dan's pack's territory making them safe from further harm.
Dan sighed as they reached the top.
"We finally made it." He said hugged Arin again.
"Made it to where?" Arin felt a bit frustrated that Dan wouldn't explain this to him.
"My home. I'll explain tomorrow morning, maybe we should sleep, it's late." Dan suggested looking back seeing that the wolves that had been chasing them thus far had left.
"oh, well, okay. Hey I brought a cooler, I've got some ham sandwiches and some popsicles too. You want some?" Arin offered.
"I'll take a sandwich." Dan smiled at Arin for the offer and worked on starting a fire.
Eventually Dan was able to make a fire and the two fell asleep in the grass cuddling each other for warmth.
That morning as the sun rose, Dan woke up before Arin and decided that he was ready to show Arin his true form so before his new found companion awoke he let himself transform. After being a full 24 hours without being a wolf it felt as though a great weight had been lifted Dan finally felt like himself again.
He stretched out and ran around a bit. Luckily They were at a large clearing allowing Dan plenty of space to run.
All that moving however woke Arin up. He looked around and the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't home, the second thing was that Dan wasn't with him. He stood up and immediately focused on the abnormally large brown wolf in the distance.
Dan saw that Arin woke up and was filled with so much joy that he could finally show himself to him.
Arin realized that if he left them in the cooler any longer his popsicles were gonna melt.
Dan ran towards Arin, and Arin panicked. Wondering if the wolf had something to do with Dan's disappearance. He grabbed his gun. He Fired, but he missed. Dan got startled but felt he couldn't run away from his best friend.
But then Arin fired again. And then he missed. And then he fired, and then he fired again, and he missed. He missed both times. And then he fired. And then he missed. This went on for several hours. And then he fired. And then he missed. And then he was out of bullets. And then he got sad. He had a popsicle. And then he passed out in the grass. Then he woke up, and then he reloaded. And then he fired and he missed. He missed again. He fired. He hit something, but it wasn't what he was going for, so he missed. He passed out again. He had another popsicle. He had a dream he was firing at something. He missed.