A voice broke through her panicked thoughts, and it took a moment for Ylva to realize what it was.  It had a strange familiarity to it, and if she had not been preoccupied she might have been able to place why it sounded like someone she knew.  Before she could attempt to question the voice, sparks and smoke enveloped her and suddenly she was not in the middle of the forest with the wolves on her tail.  Instead, she was laying on her belly inside the hollow trunk of a tree.<br/><br/>Her heart still beat wildly in her chest, but the smell of the wood surrounding her inspired a sense of safety.  Someone had made a move to protect her from near-certain death.  The voice had told her to stay still, but she quietly crawled upward so she could see some of the forests around her.  Ylva kept her head low, just enough that her eyes could see out of the end of the trunk.<br/><br/><i>Adam Scorchbark</i>.  The name immediately caused Ylva to register why the voice had sounded familiar.  Her mind conjured the memory of his face, his striking grey eyes complimented by an easy smile.  Despite the difference in their ages, she had found him to be so very attractive back then.  One memory was followed by another, and suddenly she could remember the night that things escalated between them.  Her pack had been celebrating, dancing around campfires and imbibing a bit too much mead.<br/><br/>He and a few others who were friendly with the pack had been invited to share in the festivities.  Though the Evergreen pack mostly kept their existence quiet, they did have a few friends among humans and other races.  Something about the mead and the songs of the night caused Ylva to forget her future duty to the pack and indulge in the moment.  She could almost still taste his mouth on hers, the feeling of his hands on her body.<br/><br/>It was easy to drown herself in her attraction to him that night.  For all intents and purposes, he seemed like a good man with a fairly steady moral compass.  He also seemed to be her equal, a man that could match her in both ability and strength, though in vastly different ways than her own powers.<br/><br/>She had almost been the one to stop the night from progressing further back then, despite the haze of pleasure and alcohol that had clouded her mind.  It would have been easy to take their attraction to its end, but a sudden thought of her eventual duty to her pack had caused her to pull away.  To end any chance of a relationship before they could get any further.  She had still thought of him from time to time, but Ylva always assumed she made the right choice.  Now she wondered if fate had another design for her, something entirely different from the future she had envisioned for herself.<br/><br/>It was only as the giant tree began to move that she realized she was no longer chained.  Whatever the wizard had done to move her, the thin silver around her wrists was now gone.  She was still no match for all those werewolves, but she might be able to give Adam some help.  Ylva wondered if it was best to stay put and let him handle it, but four large wolves against one wizard still felt like the odds were not in his favor.  These men that Antony had sent with her, sent to kill her, they were probably not his best and brightest...But she was not sure that truly mattered.  They were still huge with sharp teeth and nails that could tear Adam's flesh to shreds if they got the chance.  She had to do something, even in her weakened state.<br/><br/>Ylva crawled free of the trunk and began to remove the dress she wore, along with the rest of her clothing.  Had the wolves been looking, they might have noticed her pale skin against the darkened shadows of the woods around her, but their focus remained on the wizard.<br/><br/>For the first time in months, Ylva called upon the wolf within her and her body began to shift, change and reform until the maiden she had been was gone, save for her eyes which seemed almost the same.  Crystal blue against white fur with some shades of light gray throughout.  Unlike the wolves trying to kill her, Ylva's form looked like the wolves found in the forest, though she was much bigger in size than a normal wolf.  Though she was perhaps more skin and bones than she was in her prime, thanks to Antony's mistreatment of her.<br/><br/>Once the transformation was complete, Ylva lifted her snout to the sky and let out a howl of her own.  The tone held a different quality than the panicked and predatory howls of her assailants.  Her howl had an immediate effect on them, they went from gnashing their teeth, ready to attack the wizard to suddenly dazed.  Calmer than they should have been.  Docile for a moment, one that Ylva knew she could not sustain beyond a few moments.  Still, she hoped it would be long enough to give the wizard an edge.  He had used his powers to save her, she could use hers to help him.