AXEL
~For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted.~
My paws thudded against the soft ground as I raced through the forest. I just hoped I was heading in the right direction and not further toward trouble.
~Why do I always seem to get myself into trouble?~
My senses were on overload: the fresh air, the freedom. Iâd no idea how long I had been locked up, but I couldnât wait to get back home, bury myself in my mate, and call it a day.
A snapping twig to my left caught my attention. I picked up the pace.
I wasnât stupid. I had figured I wouldnât be the only creature running loose in the forest. Iâd just hoped I wouldnât bump into any of them, thatâs all.
A whistling past my ear made me change direction. Clawing up the ground, I quickly started running to the left.
Heading further off my course, a loud bang followed by the whistling sound again had me running to the right.
I chanced a look over my shoulder, my heart about to beat out of my chest. Four men were running in my direction, all of them holding guns.
~Great.~
~Hunters.~
They were either ordinary people completely oblivious to what I was who just thought Iâd make a nice rug, ~or ~they were werewolf hunters who knew exactly what I was.
I jumped over a fallen tree, landing harshly, my claws digging into the ground. I quickly headed back south again.
Running at max capacity, I thought my lungs would cave in. I couldnât afford to stop and rest. Who knew how far behind me they were.
I hoped and prayed to the Goddess that I was heading in the right direction and not just running into more trouble.
~Like right back into the hands of Keir.~
A tree fell in front of me, blocking my path, making me skid to a halt. I turned back around to where I had come from and spotted the men catching up to me, breathless.
Either they were inhumanly fast, or I wasnât running fast enough.
âWell, well, would you look at this mighty animal,â one of them proclaimed, his eyes lighting up.
The others stood beside him, their shifty hands on their guns, ready to draw at a momentâs notice.
I growled at them, and they took a panicked step back, wide-eyed and terrified. In a matter of seconds, they had regained themselves, and I found myself facing down the barrels of several guns.
âWell, I reckon this one is a bit wild and needs to be put down.â Hunter one sneered
âHow about we capture it. Iâm sure we can tame the beast.â Hunter two clutched his gun gingerly.
I howled in pain as one of them got trigger-happy and shot at me, the bullet grazing along my side. They stalked closer to me, I let out a warning growl, but they ignored it.
âMust be a fully grown male. Heâs massive. Iâve never seen a werewolf this size.â
I snapped my jaws as one hunter got too close. ~Rat bastards. ~I just barely missed his hand. He snapped it back too quickly.
âI say we tranquilize it and bring it back with us, see what weâre working with.â
A twig snapping in the distance distracted them long enough for me to lunge forward. I clawed one hunter leaving large gashes across his abdomen.
I turned on the others before they could shoot at me. I lunged, knocking their guns out of their hands.
A large black wolf leapt over the fallen tree trunk, coming to a stop just in front of me. It was followed by a white wolf and a blonde one.
Storm landed from the sky, glancing over her shoulder to look at me, smiling slightly.
I donât think Iâd ever been so happy to see my family. The large black wolf was drooling at the mouth. Didnât take a genius to guess it was Diego. He always loved a good hunt.
Together we all released bone-chilling howls up to the sky. Storm put her hands over her ears.
The remaining hunter went white in the face seeing his friends ripped to shreds and very clearly outnumbered by wolves.
He stumbled backward, trying to make an escape, but Diego wasnât having it. In a second, he was on the hunter, having clawed into him. His screams faded away as Diego took his life quickly.
Storm reached out to stroke my head. âLetâs go home, Axel.â
Storm climbed onto my back, clutching chunks of my fur to hold herself steady. Together we took off running, heading south.
We ran for about five miles before we got to the royal convoy waiting for us.
âSo good to see you back, your majesties!â General Paul called out to us, handing us our spare sets of clothes. We shifted back to our human bodies and dressed quickly.
Mom gave me a tight hug, tears streaming down her face. Diego clapped my shoulder as he climbed into one of the cars. Reign squeezed my hand tightly. âItâs good to have you back, big bro.â
I climbed into a car, settling in beside Storm. I pulled her close, inhaling her sweet scent.
She nestled into me, just allowing me to take her all in, not saying a word. We sat in silence the whole way back to the castle.
We still needed to figure out how to defeat Keir, but that could wait for another day. I was just happy to be back with my family and my mate.