Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The trees were a blur—just shapes, shadows, and wind-slick leaves rushing past.
Caitlyn ran faster.
Her paws hit the forest floor in rhythm with her heart. The earth beneath her felt alive. Damp moss, curled bark, deep-rooted pines—it all moved with her. The weight of the world, of Piltover, of House Kiramman—none of it could catch her here.
She leapt a ditch, landed clean. Her ears twitched at the sound of an owl. Her nose lifted to the breeze.
Pine. Dew. Dirt.
And then—
metal.
Her body snapped still mid-stride. Ears perked. Muscles locked.
That scent didn’t belong here.
She took a cautious step forward, angling toward the ridge where the trees opened just enough for moonlight to spill across the ground. There was a sharpness in the air now, something oily and cold.
She knew that smell.
Click.
The sound was impossibly loud in the stillness.
Caitlyn's eyes snapped to the ridgeline. A silhouette stood there.
A slight movement.
The gun fired.
Crack.
Pain sliced across her side. It burned hot and deep, searing through fur and flesh like acid—
She yelped—loud and raw. As the bullet buried itself in her side. Silver. Every instinct screamed as the toxic metal burned at her skin, sending waves of heat and nausea up her spine.
She wasn't going to stick around to let the figure try again.
She turned and bolted.
Leaves ripped beneath her claws. The pain burned, but her fear burned hotter. She’d run the perimeter of Piltover a thousand times. No one had ever gotten that close.
She scrambled over fallen branches, breath heaving, the forest slanting around her. Behind her she heard the hurried footsteps.
Too quick to be fully human.
She was being hunted.
She cut left, ducked under a tree root, dropped low in the brush and increased her speed. But the footsteps followed.
Her side throbbed.
Not a warning shot.
Whoever that was—they meant to kill her.
She knew these woods.
She had grown up threading through their roots and shadows. As a child, she’d memorized every stream bend and deer trail. No one knew this forest like she did.
And yet—
The trees blurred together, their gnarled limbs clawing at her coat, catching her flank. Blood streaked her side, warm and sticky, and she could feel the hunter closing in. Each footfall behind her struck like a countdown.
Caitlyn veered sharply, plunging down a narrow deer path toward the ravine. The undergrowth thickened, thorns dragging at her fur, but she didn’t stop.
Move. Move.
She bounded up a ridge, slipping on loose rock, her claws scrambling for traction.
Behind her—movement. Not panicked. Not hesitant.
Trained.
A figure emerged between the trees, silhouetted by moonlight.
Caitlyn’s breath hitched.
She took a sharp turn and dropped low again, cutting under a root arch as cold wind sliced through the clearing. Her muscles burned. Her head spun.
She wasn’t sure how much farther she could go.
She needed distance. A plan.
But mostly—
She needed to not die.
And if this hunter caught her, they’d do more than finish what that bullet started.
So, she ran. Bleeding and panting.
Afraid.
A flash of bright pink.
Shimmer.
The figure emerged from the trees—strong, fast, barreling through the brush. A girl. She couldn't be any older than Caitlyn.
Caitlyn’s heart stuttered.
She didn't want to fight her.
But she wanted to make it home tonight.
The wolf was close. The shimmer roared in her veins, sharpening every sound, every breath, every flick of shadow in her path. Her boots hit the forest floor hard, controlled, hungry.
She’d grazed it. The silver was doing its job, slowing the beast.
Vi ducked under a low-hanging branch. Her fingers ached from her tight grip on the revolver.
The wolf was faster than it should’ve been. Smarter too.
She had been sent to remove it. It was a sneaky beast—she had tracked it all the way from Zaun.
Tonight she'd put an end to it.
Branches whipped at her arms, snapping as she barreled forward. Then—movement.
Black fur. A glint of gold eyes.
Vi locked on.
"Got you," she whispered, and surged forward.
She closed the distance fast, fists already raised. Her gloves—silver-plated and spiked—gleamed in the moonlight, and she led with a brutal hook to the ribs. The hit connected—hard. The wolf reeled, breath knocked from its chest.
Vi didn’t let up. She pivoted on her heel and slammed a backhand into the creature’s flank, silver cutting shallow into fur and skin. A guttural growl burst from its throat, but it didn’t fall.
It lashed out with its claws. Vi ducked, rolled beneath her, and came up with a hard uppercut to the jaw. Another blow followed, fast and merciless—blunt force meeting bone. The wolf was strong. But Vi was relentless, shimmer burning in her veins.
She was winning.
Blows landed. Blood sprayed. The forest echoed with grunts, snarls, and the sharp crack of knuckle to flesh. The wolf lashed out, jaws snapping, but Vi was already moving—shimmer enhancing her reflexes beyond what instinct could track.
The forest rang with growls and panting and the dull thud of fists against flesh.
Then—the wolf stumbled.
Vi grinned. “Slowing down, are we?”
She lunged again, fist raised for the finish—
—but the wolf dropped low.
Using the hunter’s movement against her, the wolf’s jaws opened wide, clamping down on Vi’s shoulder. Teeth met flesh. Pressure crushed muscle and bone.
Vi screamed.
And then she flew.
The wolf hurled her sideways with everything it had, Vi’s body slamming into a tree with a bone-snapping thud.
She collapsed to the ground, breath shallow.
Shadows creeping through the edges of her vision.
The gigantic wolf loomed above her, breath steaming, eyes locked, Teeth bloody—and then everything went dark.