A few busy hours later, and everyone was in place. The pod we’d chosen was both in an isolated part of the campsite, and with clear fields of fire. There was a small copse roughly 20 metres from it, which in turn was another 10 metres from the three-sided hedge bordering the pod’s small enclosure.

Both the hedge and copse gave DuCrow an excellent means of approaching the pod without being seen until the last moment. He was more than capable of crossing the distance from the copse to the pod in just a few seconds. Even if it was from standing start.

The wind was blowing steadily from the North-West, meaning that DuCrow was most likely to approach from the South-East so that he could catch the scent of any possible threat.

Captain Hart had positioned her team along the eastern section of the hedge; the support team doing some work to thin the hedge to allow the Seelies easy egress.

My team was positioned with myself and Ragnhild in the pod, Marcus and Dawn in the North-Eastern corner of the enclosure. Both of them were equipped with night vision binoculars which would allow them to spot DuCrow on approach.

By agreement the Seelies were going to remain concealed for as long as possible. Captain Hart had proved to be especially effective at creating Concealment Glamours; camouflaging the Seelie Team as well as hiding their scents. Still, it paid to be cautious. Once DuCrow had entered the pod, the Seelies would attack. DuCrow would be trapped between a tiger and a Werebear on one front, and a highly trained Seelie Team on the other.

‘I need the toilet. Again,’ I said. ‘God, this waiting is killing me.’

Marcus had accessed the server just over an hour ago. Exeter, where we thought DuCrow was most likely hiding out, was roughly 40 minutes’ drive away. If his technical knowledge was as good as we thought it was, he’d have set up some sort of alert to tell him when anyone accessed the server. A few minutes to check the connection, track the IP, plan the route here as well as looking at the site with Google maps and he should be with us anywhere between an hour-and-a-half and two hours. Knowing that did nothing for my nerves.

‘Hold it in, my love,’ said Ragnhild. She was, on the outside, utterly calm. Her breathing was calm and controlled, whereas mine was starting to get ragged like it always did when the adrenaline flowed. I tried to emulate her, to slow my breathing and my heart rate. To calm the fuck down.

‘Movement spotted. Target is moving along the rear of the hedge towards the copse,’ whispered Marcus’ voice over our earpieces.

Dark outside, we’d turned on a small light and drawn the pod’s curtains. DuCrow would be able to tell that someone was inside. Whilst the light was dim, in order to avoid our shadows giving anything away, t was also sufficiently bright enough that he would be temporarily blinded when he entered the pod. It was a small advantage, but we’d take anything offered.

‘Target is moving from the hedge to the copse. Standby for go,’ said Marcus.

‘Time to Shift beautiful,’ said Ragnhild, leaning in to give me a swift kiss on the cheek.

I nodded, Shifting into a Tiger-hybrid. The pod was small, nowhere big enough to properly accommodate a full-sized tiger and bear. Ragnhild Were’d into in a bear hybrid. My nostrils filled with her scent; it was giddying. My tiger nature saw her as a threat, a fellow predator, prey and a mate all in one.

‘Standby. He’s at the edge of the copse. He’s Were’d.’

‘This will be a battle my ancestors would be proud to fight,’ rumbled Ragnhild, sounding more like Barry White than the woman who had my heart.

Adrenalin flooded through my system, a primal reaction to the threat that both Ragnhild and DuCrow posed. It made me feel alive, made me want to fight, to fuck whilst at the same time wanting to run away.

‘Hold. He’s moving back into the copse.’

Shit, what the hell is this guy up to? I thought.

‘Hold. He’s moving to the hedge again. He’s moving North.’

We’d thought that putting Dawn and Marcus in the North-Eastern corner meant that they’d have been safer, with just enough of a viewpoint to communicate DuCrow’s movements without exposing them to any risk. However, their part of the hedge joined to the shortest part of the enclosure, meaning that DuCrow only had to move North from the copse and he’d be on the side which linked to Marcus and Dawn’s position

There was a pause, no more than a few seconds but it felt like hours. ‘He’s moving along the hedge again. Towards our position.’

‘Seelie Team, moving.’ That was Perseus. He and Park were the fastest beings at the campsite bar DuCrow, but they were still more than 100 metres away from Marcus and Dawn’s position.

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My stomach flipped, Ragnhild and I looked at each for a split second and then burst into action.

Our position was slightly closer, but DuCrow already had a head start. No matter how quickly we moved, he was going to get to them first.

A blood-chilling howl filled the air.

I Shifted further, dropping to all fours, moving faster than I ever could on two feet. Fear for my friends seemed to add wings to my paws, even though it still felt as though I was running through treacle.

It was then, as I was just few yards away that I saw him.

DuCrow was big, easily the largest Werewolf I'd ever come across. He wasn't tapered at the hips like Mundane fiction so that he could retain some modesty, he was full-on wolf boy. Still in 'human form', his muscles bulged as if he was being filmed for Pumping Iron. Easily the size of a brown bear, he was gut churningly powerful. If my friends hadn't been in danger, I would have seriously considered turning tail and never looking back. Even with my friends in danger, my brain was still suggesting that discretion was the better part of valour. I shifted slightly so that I could at least try to reason with him.

'Oi! Wanker!' Fear had tightened my vocal cords, so what should have been a confident challenge sounded more like a choirboy saying naughty words whilst realising that he was going to be in very big trouble indeed. Still, it had the effect I wanted. The effect I thought I wanted that was. As soon as his snout turned in my direction and I saw fangs longer than my middle finger dripping with saliva, I suffered a crisis of confidence. It probably wasn’t the best way to start trying to reason with someone. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound.

'Yeah. You, you wannabe-teen wolf arsehole.' Seriously, if any of the Seelie Team was recording this for posterity, I was going to have the piss ripped out of me forever in those circles. That's if my heart and lungs weren't ripped out of me before then.

DuCrow just stood there, lip curling, barrel of a chest rising and falling with each large breath that he took. And he stared. Not a vacant stare like when you catch people staring off into the distance. This was a stare that felt like it could cut through to the very marrow of my being. As if he could discern my true name, my true nature, and by that define everything I was, I am, and I could be.

At that moment, the world stood utterly still. There wasn't a sound to be heard, and I'm not even sure whether I continued breathing, or my heart stopped. We were one hundred percent in the moment. There was him, Alpha, and me, Omega. Nothing else. I think that's when I wet myself.

One of his huge nostrils twitched, sensing my fear. With no warning, not even a hint of what was to come, he attacked. From being just over sixty feet away DuCrow was slashing at my face in the literal blink of an eye. My cat-like reflexes were the only thing that saved me from having my face completely degloved. Had I not Shifted; I doubt I'd have even realised what was happening before I was dead. Even so pain flared as one of his claws cut through the delicate tissue on my nose. First blood to him before I'd even had a chance to switch from challenger to prey.

'Move, Doe! Move!' With no warning the world snapped back, time restarted, and an arrow flew just past my head to land with a loud thwack in DuCrow's chest. He didn't even blink. One swipe and the finger-thick shaft was snapped, another swipe and yet more pain flared. This time on my shoulder. Another arrow was closely followed by a third. Each one struck home and each one was batted away as if nothing more than a mere irritant.

Ox appeared to my right, about 20 feet, opening fire, the flare from his machine gun lighting up the sky as yet more arrows struck home. Ox's bullets tore chunks from DuCrow's side, the iron-rich smell of blood competing with the smell of Ox's weapon's red-hot barrel and propellant. The GPMG the orc wielded was a beast of a weapon. Fully automatic it spat 7.65mm bullet after 7.62mm bullet, empty casings pouring out of the ejector port, eating through the large box magazine, turning DuCrow's flesh into bloody pieces. For a second, I actually believed we could defeat him.

With a howl, rage or pain I couldn't tell, DuCrow leapt into the air. Whilst Werewolves are athletic, DuCrow was more like an Olympic gold medallist. Ox had time for a barely started shriek before DuCrow landed, both feet crashing into Ox’s chest with a loud series of wet pops as Ox’s ribs were totally crushed, his corpse flying away into the night.

Corporal Park was next, pistols blazing. Shot after shot struck DuCrow as Park closed the distance whilst circling around the Were, trying to get him to turn away from Ox. I tried to join the attack, but another arrow zipped past, and Perseus yelled at me to keep clear. Snarling, feeling utterly useless, I retreated.

Park holstered his pistols and drew his long silver-edged knives faster than I thought possible. Slipping into the Sight, I gasped as I saw just how many Icons he had Activated. Park glowed. He had Icons of Strength, Speed, Resilience, Fortitude, Healing, Pain-dampening, the list went on. Yet, as he thrust a knife home into DuCrow's gut, none of them saved him from the skull-crushing headbutt that DuCrow delivered.

'Get to Dawn and Marcus!' Koric yelled as they stepped up and opened fire with their AA-12 shotgun. Perseus appeared next to him, firing arrows faster than I thought possible from a seemingly-never-emptying quiver. I'd heard about the resources available to Seelie Teams before but had always thought they were the stuff of legend. Invented to make people fear and respect them even more than they had before. It was all true. Never again would I roll my eyes when I heard stories about the Seelie Teams.

I didn't pause for a second. Two of the most well-trained beings in the Magical world had been killed in just a couple of seconds. My friends stood no chance. Running as fast as I could, I dropped to all fours, bounding through the night.

Ragnhild was already there, fully Were'd and one hundred per cent bear. Compared to DuCrow, her once-imposing bulk was reduced to that of a puppy.

'We need to leave. Now.' I said to a wide-eyed Dawn and Marcus. Both stank of fear, making my nostrils flare, calling to the predator in me.

If that's the effect it's having on me, God knows what it's doing to DuCrow, I thought.

'Too late,' whimpered Dawn, staring past my shoulder. Ragnhild roared a challenge and I started to spin only for what felt like a tank to slam into my head. There was pain, briefly but still mind-numbingly intense, filling my vision with bright red spots, and then nothing.