Once there was a beautiful kingdom with a wise ruler, a red wolf demon. He was cunning and strong, and loved long. During an especially daunting hunt, chasing a herd of water buffalo, he was joined by a pack of ordinary wolves, gray and black and brown. They all enjoyed the feast that hunting together had brought them, and in the celebrations, he met the most beautiful she-wolf he had ever laid eyes on. Her fur was gray, with that glossy sort of sheen you only see in the mornings of the reddest of sunrises, a color that rivaled his own. He took her as his wife and they soon had a litter. Most of their children were a gray color that mimicked their mother's sheen, but one, the runt of the litter, had the bright fire red that their demonic father considered his own.
This little family grew up, and they ruled their territory well. But the children were mean to the little red-furred one, and chased her out of their territory as soon as their father had passed. She changed to human form, to blend in with the natives. And waited.