In that moment, I knew I should have been as furious as I was terrified, that I should fight to defend the species I'd become. But instead, I just felt numb. E.B. and I had gone up against these wolves, tried to outsmart them, and lost. Our plan to lay low through the weekend was over before it had even really gotten started. And becoming a vulnerable rabbit hadn't exactly filled my veins with courage. The only option left, that wouldn't lead to certain death, was surrender.
"I- I'll do it," I stammered, choking the words out against the claws that clung onto my throat. "I'll join you... Dirk. Just don't hurt me..."
Dirk's sneering grin widened, and a barking laugh came out. "Ha! Wonderful! Looks like our pack just gained another member!" I saw something glowing on the paw he held against my neck, and soon I felt the surge of hot energy that he was transferring from himself into me. "But please," he said as the tingling sensation died down, "while you're in a were-creature form, don't trouble yourself with silly human things like names. From now on, you're going to call me Alpha. Because that's what I am to you... Omega."
I shuddered at the thought, but I knew I would have to go along with it if I wanted to live. "Okay... Alpha."
"I don't get it," one of the Betas spoke up. I wondered if Dirk knew how to tell them apart - I certainly couldn't. "You said you were going to turn him into one of us, Alpha."
"Yeah," the other one added, "he still looks just like a rabbit. Are you sure we can't just go ahead and eat him right now, Alpha? He smells really tasty."
"Don't be silly, Betas," Dirk replied - he could make me call him "Alpha" out loud, but I wasn't about to start thinking of him that way. "Our new little Omega here may be the runt of the litter, but that just gives him more room to grow into a wolf worthy of the name. Remember when I was trying to explain to you two about 'delayed gratification'? This is one of those times where you'll be better off waiting a little longer for your supper, because it'll taste all the sweeter when the right time finally comes."
The three of them brought me back to their den just as the last wisps of twilight disappeared from the sky, the whole forest thrust into an inky darkness. I could feel the changes slowly working their way through me, the same way they had when I became a bunny in the first place. "Where is E- um, the other rabbit you caught?", I asked when we arrived at their camp. I was dreading the thought of laying eyes on him, all tied up and defeated, but seeing that there was no sign (or scent) of him here didn't make me feel any better.
"Oh, we left him at the ritual ground," Dirk explained. "He's weakened enough, and we already drained enough of his magic, that we don't have to worry about him escaping. We'll take you there for the big night tomorrow - assuming you've done enough to earn our trust by then."
I didn't hesitate. "What do I have to do?"
He slapped me on the back with a paw. "Now that's the attitude I want to hear, Omega! You already know your proper place in the pack, just like that! When I say 'jump', you say 'how high?'" Dirk was clearly enjoying every minute of this, lording it over me both because I was his defeated, humiliated prey and because I was a human he'd always had it out for, for some reason. And I just had to sit there and submit to it. I knew in my bones that any resistance meant death.
"It's time for the hunt," Dirk explained. "And if you really want to be a wolf... well, what good is a wolf if he can't hunt? You'll have to come with us tonight. You need to learn our ways."
"How's he supposed to hunt, Alpha?", asked one of the Betas. "He's just like the creatures we're supposed to be hunting! He doesn't have sharp teeth, or claws, or anything!"
"He doesn't need them, my dear Beta," Dirk replied. "When the spirit of the werewolf gets into you, it starts to come out long before the transformation is complete. Remember when I first found you two? When I had only just begun to change for the first time? I took down that deer with my bare human hands, before I even had a scrap of fur on me! Our new Omega here might be a little smaller, but I know he can do the same. The power is already in him."
I thought I would be disgusted at the very mention of hunting prey, but I could barely concentrate on what Dirk was saying. That conversation had reminded me that I hadn't had anything to eat all day - and only now, as I sat in the wolf camp, was it starting to get to me. My stomach growled, sounding very much like a ferocious predator as it did.
Dirk, hearing the noise that it made and sensing my discomfort with it, turned back to me. "There. You see what I mean? You're feeling it already. The hunger of the wolf. That's how you know you're not prey any longer. And, as you're about to find out, it's constant. It doesn't just go away. You need to feed yourself - you need to kill something - if you want to live. And that goes for all four of us, regularly. So let's not delay this any longer. Shall we?"
The three werewolves closed ranks around me as they skulked forward into the darkened forest. I couldn't break out of the circle they formed, not without getting trampled on. I felt like a prisoner being led to the guillotine. Worse than that: I was the executioner, being led to the spot where I would have to kill some other poor innocent creature - or else lose my own head for disobeying.
We weren't in that formation for long before all four of us suddenly, instinctually, stopped. Movement. We all saw it, the edge of a shadow in the darkness, at the same time. Something small and fuzzy was darting across the forest floor, desperately trying to get away. Looking for the right tree trunk to climb up on to make its getaway. The werewolves quickly left my side and took up their positions, chasing the squirrel from three different angles - just like they'd been doing to me a couple hours ago. But there was no fence to run their prey up against. Instead, they delivered the squirrel straight into my paws.
"Come on, Omega!", said a Beta when I didn't do anything right away. "This one's all yours!"
"You need the fuel," Dirk said, smiling, "if you're ever going to grow any bigger than the runt you are."
In the thin shards of moonlight that filtered through the trees, I watched the squirrel - an ordinary one, not any sort of human-like were-creature, at least as far as I could tell - pace back and forth in terror, realizing that it was boxed in on all four sides. It chittered to itself, a tiny high-pitched noise that sounded to my twitching ears just like it was saying "No, no, no, no!" I didn't want to watch it die, let alone be the one to kill it myself. But I understood very well that it was either the squirrel or me that was going to lose its life tonight.
My stomach growled again. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and lunged forward, my jaws wide open, hoping against hope that I would humiliate myself by missing my unseen target completely. But I knew I had failed - or, I guess, succeeded - when I felt the small wriggling body thrashing around against my face, trying to get out of my mouth. Instinctively, I bit down, hard, and felt the frantic motion suddenly stop. I heard the crunch of tiny bones snapping under the pressure of my bite. I tasted the rough rodent fur on my lips, and the warm spatter of coppery blood that stuck to my fangs. My fangs?
"Hey, look at that!", a Beta cried out as I opened my eyes again. "It's working, Alpha!"
I saw a snout that stuck out a lot further in front of my face than I'd had as a rabbit, tipped with a wet black nose. It must have changed just in time for me to catch the prey with it. I swallowed without really chewing, the dead body of the squirrel sliding down my throat, its bushy tail tickling the roof of my mouth as it went down last. I shuddered at the feeling. But when it finally hit my stomach, I was hit by a wave of relief, rather than the nausea I was expecting. That gnawing hunger was abruptly gone. Deep down, whether I enjoyed it or not, I felt satisfied. It felt good. And I knew right away that I would be doing it again, without any hesitation. I would have to, or else starve to death. But more than that, I knew that it would be disturbingly easy to go along with those instincts.
"Very impressive," Dirk said. His tone had shifted from a mocking bully to an encouraging father, nodding his approval down to my still much smaller form, as he saw just how compliant I had become. "Let's keep it moving. At this rate, Omega, you'll be going after moose in no time!"