Call My Name, Breathe Life Into Me

At the time of his birth, his father's kingdom was seeing a long reign of peace. The kingdoms to the east and south had reached an agreement with his father that allowed for peaceful operations and understandings. He was the product of such peaceful understandings. His mother had been a noble from the great Roman Empire and by marrying his father, he ensured his kingdom peace from their ever chaotic army. But his blood was both Romanian and Roman and from the moment of his birth, till now, he'd  been a restless soul. He sought conflict in everything, just for the sake of conflict. He wanted to fight, he wanted to go riding into war and he certainly wanted to feel what it was like to take a life. He was taught the basic fighting skills as a child, those he would need for traitors, assassins and for basic self-defense but it wasn't enough for the young prince. Even when his sister was born, the ever peaceful flower who was always smiling, he hadn't been able to calm down. As he got older, he sought out fights, even challenging warriors and other boys his age. The times that he was in trouble were insurmountable but it never seemed to deter him.

As his sister grew up, she and Drake were very close. They shared a bond that most said surpassed that of normal brother and sister. In those days, women were forbidden from men's duties and were instead groomed to be wives and mothers for their future husbands. But his sister shared the same chaotic spirit as Drake and finally, after many years, he was able to find his sparring partner. He taught her the basic moves and from there, she created her own style that gave Drake the challenge he needed. When he was introduced into the family tradition of becoming a wolf, Drake quickly seized the opportunity, It was merely just another challenge for him. But even with his sparring with his sister and the occasional thieves to run out of town, Drake grew bored. His blood screamed for blood. He wanted to know what it was like to take a life, to feel powerful. Much to his sisters protesting, Drake decided on a neighboring town while he was in his wolf form. He felt it was the perfect way to feel powerful, by ending a life with his own jaws. 

It all had happened so fast, even after it happened, Drake had no memory of it. Perhaps it was the blood craze or perhaps the curse had taken the memory from him but he found himself stuck within his wolf body for thousands of years, slowly giving into the monster inside him. It was that such monster he fought everyday, being a human once more. He was no longer a wolf who could, and would, attack just to do so. No, doing that in human form now would only draw unwanted attention and probably land him a step back in his plan. He wasn't looking to tangle with those he didn't want to, too early in his game plan. 

But it was the sudden smell of blood and a terrified yell that had Drake's body snapping into predator mode. Forgetting everything around him, he ran for the source of the noise, his blood pumping through his veins as the wolf inside him wanted to rip free and sink it's fangs into whatever prey was down. But when he neared the alley, the little humanity he'd managed to get back kicked in and he found himself angry. Not at the scene unfolding before him but because he no longer felt interested in joining the wolf in her meal. Was it possible he'd felt sorry for the man who'd been thrown onto the street like mere trash? He pushed the thought aside. There was no room for those kinds of thoughts. Instead, without thinking any more of it, he moved forward and with, ungodly speed and strength, yanked the young werewolf from the man and grabbed the man by his collar, hoisting him off the ground before throwing him down the alley and away from the snarling wolf. 

"Go home and grow some balls!" he snarled at the man, feeling his temper rise and with it, the feeling of a shift. The moonstone against his chest burned as it fought to hold back the wolf that was threatening to tear from his body. The man stared horrified at the monster of a man that was before him before getting up and running back the way he'd come. When the man's scent had completely disappeared, it was quickly replaced by the she-wolf behind him and he turned to look at her, a smirk on his face. "You know, once, I would have joined you but you really are reckless." Just as he said it, there was laughed and a group of people appeared around the corner, passing the alley without barely a glance and not shortly after that, sirens flared up and an undercover popped up beside him, scattering the group to the wind as cop and canine took chase. Perhaps that's why Drake had decided to live in this shady part of town. There was always some kind of reckless excitement. He couldn't help but turn back to her with yet another cocky smile. "I like reckless."

Shit. He always seemed to find the flighty ones. The cops and their canines had already successfully apprehended the men on the street they'd been after and were further down the street from the alley he was standing in. He peered around the corner of the alley and assessed his surroundings. Alone, once more. He cursed himself once more as he went back into the alley, pulling his shirt off, a milky white stone resting against his chest. He laid his clothes in a pile behind the dumpster, cursed himself once more and pulled the moonstone from around his neck. In his place, stood a giant wolf, fur as black as the abyss and bright yellow eyes as harsh as the sun. He shook himself off, feeling as though it was too early to be back in this form. Before he took off after her, he turned and picked up the moonstone in his mouth. He wasn't about to leave this laying around anywhere. He turned and caught her scent. Bitten werewolves always had a strong scent to Drake, especially those who were still "fresh", as he called them. So it wasn't hard to catch her scent and follow in her paw steps. 

He'd only lived in New York a short while and still didn't know every nook and cranny in the city. This warehouse though, he'd spotted a few times on his meanderings through the city. Her scent was strongest at the entrance. He went inside, the chain of his moonstone necklace, though making only the slightest sound, seemed to echo around the vast empty space. He stopped in the middle of the floor, muscles ripping beneath his fur and bright yellow eyes seeming more intelligent than the actual animal. He dropped the moonstone on the floor and, with his nose, managed to get it back around his neck where he shifted once more, returning to human form, the moonstone warm against his chest. 

"Hey!" He called, voice echoing around the warehouse. Why was he giving so much thought into this werewolf? Perhaps it was because it was the only one he'd managed to come across lately. "You know running away marks you as a coward!" He'd only meant it as a jibe to get her to show herself. He could tell she was far from being a coward and just had some serious issues with the police. Who didn't? But if she would have just stayed still, they would have never noticed her. They had been too preoccupied with other targets. Hell, the canines they'd been using hadn't even picked up his scent. 

All he pictured when she came out of the side room was a kitten spitting and hissing with it's back arched as if it thought it was five times it's normal size. The sheer madness of this vision had him chuckling as she approached him. Clearly this little pup didn't realize who she was messing with. Not that he expected her to. He was, after all, the father of her race. Without his bite to a prior ancestor, she would still be a normal human. Never mind that he was also standing stark ass naked in the middle of the warehouse except for the moonstone burning gently against the skin of his chest. 

"You were being over reckless. Not only were you attacking an innocent human for clearly no reason, the police didn't even know we were in the alley. They had been following those thugs the last couple blocks. Fuck, the dogs didn't even catch  my scent." He wasn't even going to bother giving her the run down of just how much he wanted to tear into that man, letting fresh warm blood paint his muzzle and listen to the raw screams he would have uttered. It brought him back to a time when he'd been a free beast and had killed at his leisure simply because he hated the world. The fact that she didn't even know who he was, even with being able to catch his scent standing this close, told him just how anonymous he'd really fallen in these later centuries. His sister had urged the importance of remaining anonymous until he gained enough followers to follow his dream. But standing at the bottom of the totem pole made him angry. He hated not being feared anymore, he hated the insolence and disrespect. 

"Who am I?" he asked, hazel eyes shining mysteriously as he continued to smirk at her. "Probably someone you should be asking such a question a little nicer?" he prompted, crossing his arms over his chest, essentially hiding the moonstone from view. 

Judging by her temperament, she'd had been changed very long. She was still grappling with the newly turned problem of controlling her emotions. He found himself inwardly disappointed in whoever had turned her. A Sire was meant to teach his beta how to control themselves and how to blend in. She had clearly been bit then left to the wolves, so to speak. He didn't feel pity for her, he'd lost that ability centuries ago, but he did feel a sudden need to keep her from getting herself killed. Even if it meant teaching it to her in the hardest way possible. He'd give her the chance to "teach him" but then he'd quickly put her in her place. Besides, he was an Alpha and the only way to get pack members was to bring them to their knees. 

He smirked at her, suddenly feeling fired up. "What you'll do to me?" he asked, blue eyes dancing with merriment. "I'm so scared!" He pulled his arms away from his chest and grasped the silver chain around his neck. "Tell you what, if you can manage to get me on my back, I'll submit to you and I'll admit I'm wrong but if you can't, you join my pack and you admit to your recklessness." he offered, his arms hesitating to pull the moonstone off. With one final smirk in her direction, he pulled the moonstone up an over his head where it clattered to the floor, a massive black wolf standing over it and shaking out it's fur, dark yellow eyes gazing at her as if challenging her. He picked the moonstone up in his mouth and pulled his lips back, as if smiling at her, tail waving like a flag in the air. 

If felt so natural to shift into his wolf form, considering he'd spent longer in that form than his own human skin but he still couldn't shake the thoughts of destruction that came with being a wolf. Ever since his first turn at sixteen, his wolf had whispered impure thoughts towards him; thoughts of slaughtering without mercy and taking over and they had only intensified the more times he shifted to his wolf form until that fateful night when he'd butchered the villagers he was supposed to be protecting and been cursed for all eternity as a wolf. It was then he finally succumbed to his wolf, building off his hatred of man and his need for revenge, he spent the next four thousand years wrecking havoc everywhere he went, purely out of his anger for the unfairness of his curse. Childish? Perhaps but he didn't see anyone daring to speak up. He had been feared and he liked it that way. Now, he was living in a time that no one even knew his name. Hell, the fucking werewolves of this city didn't even know who he was and there was one of them standing before him, shaking out her own fur as she completed her change, his challenge burning in her eyes. She was young, too young, to understand what she was getting herself into. 

He prepared himself as she charged and he was quick to realize where she was heading by the movement of her eyes. Wolves attacked by sight. They would zone in on a particular location they were looking to attack to make sure they didn't miss. Most went for the throat, others for the stomach but never had they met his eyes square on and, even as she latched her teeth onto the silver chain, he was given enough warning of her intent to keep her from ripping the moonstone from his mouth. Instead, he decided to use his weight to knock her over and force her to release her grip on the chain. Lucky for him, he didn't care about the chain the moonstone hung onto. The most important part of the necklace was still in his mouth, behind a row of vicious teeth. He whipped his hind quarters around and thrust his hips into hers all the while, yanking his head to the side to throw her off her feet, hoping to send her flat onto her back. He might have experience and size on her, but she had speed and he was going to have to take her down quick before she found any weaknesses. 

He gave her a wolfish grin, white fangs bright against his black fur, chain dangling free between his teeth, almost mocking her at losing it. Chains were replaceable .Even if it had broken, he still had the most valuable part firmly locked behind his teeth. When he'd first gained the moonstone, killing the Magi who he'd taken it from, his sister had warned flashing it around. The sheer size of the valuable gem would cause some to steal it while others might figure out the connection he had to the moonstone and steal out of spite and he'd be forced to return to his wolf form eternally. Just thinking of the moonstone leaving his possession was enough to make his blood pump and fear to enter his belly. He considered the moonstone a part of him, the most important part of him and if taken from him, he'd never be the same. Granted, four thousands years spent as a wolf had already altered his mind and changed him from the man he'd been born as but to return to the life of a wolf; he would probably break. 

She backed off, if only for a moment, to recollect herself. He gave a low growl, the sound echoing like thunder around the near empty room. In the semi darkness, he truly resembled a demon from Hell. He faced her, squaring his shoulders as she charged again, expecting her to try something else. But when he saw her going for the chain again, he faltered, suddenly trying to get his mind to catch up. No sane wolf would have attempted such a failed plan again. Just when he thought he'd caught onto her plan, she threw him again when she dived lower than the chain and he found his body couldn't catch up with his mind and she was able to burrow beneath him, hoisting her back up as she attempted to throw him off his feet. 

Which she succeeded. But by this time, his mind caught up and as his front paws left the ground, he decided to take a gigantic risk. His only reasoning for doing what he did was she was the only other one here and if he focused all his attention on her, could be sure it was safe. As he felt himself falling, he let go of the moonstone and, instead, reached around and grabbed her back leg, hoping to rip it out from under her and send her onto her stomach. If he was going down, so was she.