What The Fox? (Completely Free!)

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

I didn't reveal to Daoming that Alix disappeared into the smoke of the battlefield, and I hadn't seen him since. I supposed in his deepest of hearts, Daoming thought Alix allowed me to stay until he was well enough to get up on his feet. Perhaps the former Prince even believed that my presence was possible out of the goodness of Alix's heart. The truth was that I didn't think I would ever see Alix again.

Yet, all the same, I couldn't stay with Daoming. I didn't want to go back to the werewolf camp. My fate laid back among the humans. I wasn't a wolf, nor did I have the powers of a fox spirit now. I had no right to be here. I should go back where my very nonremarkable and entirely human healing skills were of use.

A week after dragging Daoming from that fateful battlefield, I dreamed of sneaking away in mid-day. Daoming was a powerful wolf, but he was still a young wolf. He slept during the day and hunted at night. I thought he hadn't honed his senses enough to catch me as I crept away. Still, as the days went by, I didn't sneak away.

Two weeks after Daoming's transformation, we had completed scavenging a make-shift tent from the ruins of the battlefield. He even built me a bed of heated bricks to sleep on during cold nights. It wasn't long before I found myself curling against his body for warmth.

When I woke up with Daoming's arms around me, I knew that I had to leave soon. If I didn't, I would be here again, trying to be another Alpha's Luna.

Before I could leave, I needed to help Daoming find the rest of the Wolfpack of Mongli. With Zurui dead and Alix gone, they had no leadership. The few remaining wolves fought among themselves to seize leadership, but these squabbles didn't produce another Alpha.

The wolves didn't recognize Daoming as the Sixth Prince when he went strutting into their camp one night. It figures as the Prince always wore a helmet with magnificent woven plates over his face. It had been decorated with a carving of a gold lion cheek guard graced with radiating wings. Now, Prince Daoming no longer needed such armor because he carried that lion's spirit inside his heart.

"Who are you?" The wolves demanded in horror when they saw me standing by Daoming's side. They were baffled by my presence at this new intruder's side. Could it be that Daoming had defeated Alix in battle and had taken his mate captive? I saw the confusion in their faces slowly twist into hatred.

No, impossible!

They stood up with the intent of killing us both so they could go back to squabbling over who got the lion's share of the elk herd they were tracking.

"I'm Julong Tian," Daoming proclaimed, proudly returning to that fake name. "You will call me Alpha Tian from now on, for it is the gods' will that I was sent from the heavens above, and I will conquer all the land under it."

The Lángrén stood up from where they sat around the campfire and reached for their weapons. I saw that they didn't take Daoming's claim seriously, seeing as he was speaking with the accent of an Imperial City upper-class boy and his polite way, almost deferent way of speaking, hinted at the upbringing of a well-educated scholar and not an outer region warrior.

I was pretty sure the wolves took a single glance at his perfect teeth, his hairless chin, and his clean clothing, and they decided not even to shift to fight him. How wrong they were!

One of the wolves who approached Daoming with a scavenged fire lance was a man I recognized as Zurui's beta. His name was Jizi, and I recalled his shrill voice from that conversation with Zurui about their plan to poison me. Those days seemed decades ago, and Jizi clearly felt the weight of the recent events too. His clothes were even more tattered than usual, and his stringy, armpit hair-like beard was singed by fire.

"Foolish boy, you will have to defeat me first," Jizi said while pointing the sharp tip of his fire lance at Daoming's chest. As Jizi attacked Daoming, he easily ducked from the older man's clumsy motions. When Jizi tried again, Daoming kicked the firelance into the heat of the fire. When Jizi attempted to retrieve the weapon, it exploded in his face, sending shards of metal flying everywhere. Jizi and his pack mates howled, and their bodies were punctured with a multitude of deadly holes.

Jizi clutched his eye and screamed. He and his men were lucky that they were Lángrén and not human men, or the explosion would have surely killed them all.

Daoming politely covered his mouth and stifled a small chuckle at their moaning.

"Perhaps, old man, you should not steal weapons you do not know how to wield."

"What are you? Some bastard army deserter?" Jizi was spewing bits of saliva, broken teeth, and clotted blood everywhere. "You'll regret coming here to disturb the rest of a man old enough to be your grandfather, the great Mongli Wolf Jizi."

With those words, Jizi finally had it with the mysterious stranger. He turned to the moon and transformed into his wolf form. It happened quickly, as expected of a seasoned wolf who had transformed countless times before.

Jizi's wolf form was small and lanky, much like his human form. Although his body was a plain grey, he had chestnut patches over his cheeks. I could see the dark hollow of his eye sockets which was the hallmark of an underfed wolf who had fallen on hard times.

He growled, and in his advanced age, I saw his black serrated lips hanging low and flop in the wind. Saliva leaked out from between his yellow canines.

Daoming's scholarly demeanor was gone. At the sight of another wolf, instinct took over. Daoming's normally straight back was arched and hunched now. I saw his arms reach for the ground. He resisted it for just a second. I knew even now, despite everything, he was still in denial that he was not a Prince and was, in fact, a wolf.

Perhaps, there was still a small shard of him that believed this was all a bad dream. That's why he resisted the transformation which gripped him. Yet I imagined it was perhaps like the act of coughing or trying to stop oneself from throwing up once one's throat muscles had already started contracting. It came over him, and he was helpless to stop it. At some point, thoughts dissipated, and animal reflex took over.

When Daoming's hands touched the ground, thick hair appeared on the back of his hands. His hair, though, was not gray like Jizi's or a cold black like Alix's. His hair was gold, not a bronze gold like the legendary Sun Wukong, but a fiery dazzling gold. As the fur erupted across his body, snaking up his muscular arms and along his arched back, every inch of Daoming was covered with hair. But it was not animal-like, as he had so feared. Instead, it was glorious, beautiful, and divine.

It reminded me of fireworks multiplying in the night sky to celebrate the New Year I had seen when I was a child. There was no need for Jizi to show us the might of his teeth. The other wolves immediately fell to their knees with one flick of Daoming's monstrous, dragon-like jaw.

Even Jizi, who proclaimed himself to be our grandfather just seconds ago, left his wolf form and hastily touched his forehead to the dirt.

"Alpha Tian, this old maggot apologizes for his impertinence. He will never dare to question your authority again."

"Alpha Tian, please spare us," the other wolves pleaded. At the sight of Daoming's heavenly form, other wolves appeared out of their hiding places. I recognized Geriel even though she had lost some of the vibrant, peach blossom-colored bloom in her cheeks from the recent events. Along with her, I saw the other female wolves of the pack appear as well. There were many more she-wolves now than males. They easily outnumbered the males at the campfire.

After the latest battle, I imagined that more than half of the shewolves lost their mates. Now, this gorgeous, outwardly Alpha had appeared like a Lángshén appearing out of the sacred mountains.

"Alpha Tian, accept our pledge of fidelity to your illustrious reign."

"Long live, Alpha Tian!" The wolves started chanting in unison.

Upon hearing their chanting, Daoming's front paws lifted from the ground. It was as though simply the act of standing up on his hind legs prompted this body to transform back to that of a human.