Red

Ten.

One more guard left, Court thought to himself as he moved through the castle. He had arranged his bed in a manner that would lead them to think he was asleep. And the queen had already done her check of the room.

All Court was waiting on was for the last guard to slowly fall asleep on his post. He had memorized how it worked on the full moon.

The king, his adoptive father was always paranoid on the full moon. He had a reason to be though, he just didn't know it. He had no idea his own son was a wolf and could maul him in his sleep and take the crown.

Court knew the crown was his. When his adoptive parents died it would make him the rightful ruler of the village. Court both loathed and awaited that day. He would no longer have to carefully plan his daily trips to the forest.

The queen and king always assumed him to be riding around the village and reading out in one of the pastures. Court worked hard to make sure they never suspected a thing. He had gone this far with infiltrating, he couldn't back down now.

It was so long ago when he thought them to be his real parents. That he was human. Court shook those thoughts from his head as the guard fell asleep. 

Court quietly walked out of the castle and out into the open. He left Celeste in his stall and disappeared into the woods. He walked through before shedding his clothes on the ground and hiding them under brush.

Then he left the shift take him.

His bones shifted underneath his skin breaking and reforming into his wolf form as fur pushed forth from the pores until he stood there in his wolf form. Court shook his pelt before sniffing the air to track where his pack would be.

Thorin's pack was near. He caught their scent. His pack was coming up a few miles behind them to wait their turn. Court walked the side of the forest checking for any people.

Court was determined to make sure there were no casualties tonight. The last thing he needed was the king trying to sacrifice another girl to appease the wolves or worse someone attempting to hunt them. Court could already envision it.

His father picking a girl who had an eye of one of the boys in the village. Him convincing the others to hunt the wolves to save her and then reckless slaughter would happen. And Court knew he wouldn't be able to hold Thorin back any longer after that.

Thorin wouldn't hesitate to slaughter them if they came to hunt the wolves, regardless of what pack they ended up hunting. Thorin wasn't fond of humans.

Court was satisfied to see all the humans in their houses with the doors locked. Even the guards had gone back to the center of the village away from the sacrifice. Court passed the sacrifice taking a glance at it. The sacrifice had returned to normal.

Two cows had been left out. The cows weren't as common due to how long they took to breed and reach maturity compared to the chickens. Court had been able to get Thorin to understand that at least.

They had left two bulls out this time. Along with the cows there were ten chickens, a few ducks, two lambs, and three goats. Court darted off in the woods before Thorin would arrive and circled back over to his pack.

Xerxes was at the front leading them. Court trotted up over as Xerxes paused in front of him. Xerxes stopped before Court as the rest of his pack halted as well.

Court's pack was decent sized. He saw his brother Lyell there as well. The rest were other wolves who were part of the pack. The children of the wolves who had followed his parents and were part of his pack. As well as a few older ones.