Feral

Chapter 1

Adrian knew he shouldn't have given in to exhaustion yesterday. When he had been out hunting, he had aimed for one of the young boars, still a piglet really. It wasn't that difficult to separate it from the herd and have the other hogs run rampant.

Preferably he would've gone after something that wasn't inclined to fight back, but after days of hunting and coming up with nothing, Adrian would be a fool to ignore the possible meal that was grunting and churning up the soil with its stubby nose.

And it had been impossible to ignore his growling stomach.

He wasn't willingly going head to head with one of the adults and he knew that if the herd got spooked and the parents distracted, they'd flee. Still, there was a small risk that the females would defend their young, so his aim was to kill the youngster quickly and without a sound, reducing the chance of it alerting its mother with a squeal.

Even if he was detected after he made his kill, he could outrun the hogs with ease or, if they got too close, abandon his meal momentarily and return for it when the hogs dispersed.

And he succeeded, if only partially. The piglet hadn't made a squeak when he pounced on top of it, slamming it against the floor without a sound. It was still alive and breathing but stunned from having the air knocked out of it.

That's when Adrian made his first mistake. Instead of killing it, he paused, having heard the baying of hounds in the distance. The loud barks were familiar, as he had heard them before and had always ran away to make sure that he wasn't spotted by the humans always following in the trail of the hounds.

Still, the hounds proved to be a welcomed distraction as well, given that the hogs could clearly hear them too and were sent running for the woods. On the other hand, the hounds could be a threat themselves, if they managed to catch up with the boy. He'd seen the damage they could do, so it made sense that he was more than a little wary.

However, Adrian hadn't anticipated one of the mature males to come running from the opposite direction, catching the teen off guard before it drove its tusks in his ribs. If he had been standing up and not pinning the piglet to the floor, he might've limped it off with minor injuries to his leg.

As it was, his ribs took the full brunt of the attack. They gave way under the persistent shoving of the boar, cracking painfully as the sharp tusk tore skin and came dangerously close of piercing his lungs.

Adrian had struggled for his life, knowing that the boar could and would easily end it with those sharp tusks. He had managed to shift and kill the hog, though the action had drained all of his energy.

Mouth bloodied and side pulsing with pain, Adrian had barely managed to shift back and take two staggering steps before collapsing on the forest floor, shivering with exhaustion.

Technically, his first mistake was hunting in an area too small to contain his shift. If he had been able to hunt in his animal form, the hunt would've been over instantly.

But his tracks weren't exactly easy to hide, especially with humans so close by. So Adrian had went with the next best option.

He hissed as he finally woke, stretching slowly as he blinked past the tears in his eyes. He already knew he was in a metal cage before he had opened his eyes, could smell the people outside. Adrian had even heard snippets of their conversation and a vague recollection of hounds baying and people whispering before he had passed out again.

Adrian even caught a faint whiff of an unknown human's scent on him, as if he had been draped by something while he was passed out. He hissed and slowly pressed up on his arm to take a look at himself.