Azura lowered her belly to the ground in a low crouch as Nathan started his charge towards her. Her instincts were yelling at her that this was all wrong, that he was not acting anything like a true wild cat. She growled at him in warning but as he showed no signs of slowing, she braced herself for the inevitable. Whatever happened, she knew she couldn’t allow him to hit her; his gigantic size and obvious heavier weight would give him a big advantage if he managed to pin her, and that was something she would avoid at all costs.

A dangerous hiss escaped between her teeth as she bared them. It was a clear warning signal for him to stop which he blatantly ignored. Right as he was about to crash into her, Azura leapt out of the way and to the side. So close, he couldn’t fully react, he only managed to swipe one large paw at her before he crashed into the rock wall. Azura quickly darted out of the way, fur puffed up to make her look bigger, but Nathan recovered faster than she’d hoped and came at her again. Her instincts were confused by his reckless charging at her and she only reacted by jumping out of the way over and over.

She didn’t retaliate. Every time he came for her, she avoided him almost like a dance. She warned him over and over, growling and hissing at him while baring her teeth as a wolf would. She could see his frustration building the more she avoided attacking him. Being smaller made her more agile, one of the few advantages she held over him and one she exploited repeatedly.

A loud deep rumble filled the valley they were in as Nathan vented his frustrations. A shiver ran down her spine at the obvious display of dominance from the larger male snow leopard. Her deepest instincts told her to run, while her more human ones urged her to put him in his place. She was a blue-eyed snow leopard! Considered dangerous and feral, why not prove them right for a change?

Enough avoiding. He’s a tough one. The voice came into her head. A welcome flash of heat followed as the Phoenix showed her a sliver of its powers. Don’t let your guard down but attack.

Knowing the voice was right, Azura allowed it in. It was with her, it was her, it could make her fly. Its power flowed through her, heightening her senses, and seemingly slowed time down for just a moment. Azura eyed the big male as he spun around after his last futile charge at her. She could hear the snow crunch under his paws, watched his whiskers point forward towards her, saw the hatred that burned in his eyes.

Before he could launch another useless attack at her, she raised her head and did what she had picked up on while training with Nora and the rest of the werewolves. A sound so strange and unnatural left her throat it startled him. Close to a howl but laced with a cat’s growl; it was one of the strangest sounds Azura could produce.

He hesitated, taken back by her unnatural stance and howl and that was her chance. It was her turn to attack. Azura launched herself forward, leaping from rock to rock, never going in a straight line and avoided forming a pattern as she closed in on him at full speed. He tried to follow with his head, tried to figure out which way to go but knew he could not avoid her. His muscles tensed as he braced for impact as she was simply too fast for him to intercept.

At the last moment she feinted to the right, forcing him to turn that way, exposing his side to her as she leapt and buried her teeth and claws into the scruff of his neck. The thick fur made it difficult to get a good grip as he toppled on his side with her on top. Her canines dug even deeper as she tried to slash at his exposed stomach with her hind legs. The metallic taste of warm blood filled her maw as she sunk home; her instincts kicked into overdrive as the need to kill took over her mind. It tasted so good, she wanted more and Azura bit even harder as she felt herself being dragged up as Nathan got back to his feet. He had let out a small yelp of pain when she had bitten down but that changed to a ferocious grown as he shook his whole body trying to get her off. It worked as she lost her grip and fell.

Before she could dart out of his way, Nathan had spun around and with a powerful slash, razor claws hit home as his paw connected to her face. Azura was knocked off balance and he seized the opportunity to give her another blow to the side of her head. The force knocked her down as he put his full weight behind it. Azura landed on an uneven rock formation forcing all the air out of her lungs as her ribs took the biggest hit.

You're being careless! You let your bloodlust drive you. If you want to live, keep your head in the game, and don't become feral!

Nathan actually backed away after he had hit her. There was blood on his fur and he had a few scratches but it was nothing serious. Azura slowly got up, trying to steady herself as the gravity of her mistake hit her. He could have killed her, or at least seriously injured her right there and he hadn’t. He’d hit her good though and four claw marks now marked her face past her left eye, she was lucky he had not hit her eye and blinded her. Panting heavily, the two slowly started circling each other.

They were again facing one another. He’d had the perfect chance to kill her as she was down, but for some reason, he hadn't. He started circling her, seemingly unaffected by his wounds. She tried to follow him, but some of the blood kept seeping into her eye, almost completely blinding her on one side. She shook her head trying to get rid of it.

A mistake.

She never saw him coming until she felt all his weight and muscle clash into her body. All the air was knocked out of her a second time within a few minutes and she was sure she could feel something snap in her ribs. They tumbled over, claws and teeth clashing together as each tried to get the upper hand. Whatever happened, he was not going to be allowed to pin her.

Azura rolled onto her side and managed to get her back legs underneath his body. With one powerful push, she got him off of her. She had no idea if she had even managed to get some damage done in the close scuffle but she knew he had done some serious damage to her. Her ribs were burning, her shoulder hurt and she was bleeding from several places. Nathan had retreated assessing his own wounds as well.

You fight like a wolf but you have forgotten their ground rule. They fight in packs. You are alone. They are always alert though. Keep one enemy in front, but keep your ears and nose on the other who is sneaking up behind you.

Anger was building inside her, gnawing on her self control. She had tried keeping it at bay as the true power still scared her but she could feel the Phoenix tugging at it, urging her to release her boundaries. As the pain from her wounds broke through her hazed mind, she knew she had no choice. Lowering her boundaries, she felt the waves of power wash over her.

Enough playing, we need to end this. Time we fly together.

When she looked up, Nathan was gone. Pushing the pain aside, Azura slowly turned her head to find nothing except for rocks, snow, and some shrubbery here and there. She let her annoyance show by growling softly. As she could no longer trust her eyesight, she had to find him another way. As she focused on smell and hearing, a strange and comfortable warmth spread through her limbs.

Her ears moved around in every direction as she felt the all too familiar heat rise up. But this time it was not scaring her. She welcomed it. She felt the snow underneath her paws melt away. She opened her maw slightly, panting heavily from the earlier exhaustion. Flames...

We have to fly!

Her mouth started dripping. Tiny flames fell to the ground like drool coming off her maw. She felt the burning sensation in her mouth, but it didn’t hurt. It started small, but soon she felt the flames dripping from within become bigger.

That's it.

She heard it. The crunching snow beneath the weight of a huge snow leopard. She waited, pretending to not hear him. There was a second similar sound. He was to her right, five meters away behind a big rock. She could almost envision him sitting there, waiting for the right moment to pounce. The only way to lure him out was to provoke him. Slowly she turned her head the other direction and pretended to stumble, appearing weak on purpose. Nathan moved onto the rock, no longer hiding, but she kept her back to him. She heard his claws rake past the rock, his tail swishing in the wind, and his breathing as if he stood beside her. As she let her senses tune into him, she could almost feel him starting to tense his muscles for the jump. He prepared to launch his attack, she prepared herself to embrace the Phoenix.

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Fly!

Nathan took the jump. Encouraged by the voice in her head, Azura dropped all her barriers in her body opposing it. As wounded as she had seemed to him, the more active and light on her feet she was now. She spun around and saw his eyes as they grew large as flames engulfed her body and huge flaming wings sprouted from her back. Her eyes were flaming red as the flames covered her whole body like a second layer of fur. It almost seemed translucent as you could still see her normal fur shine through. She jumped and they collided mid-air. He yelped loudly as her flaming paws connected with his face, scorching him and throwing him off balance in mid-air. He landed on his side and she was right on him, biting him in the back leg and burning him at the same time.

The power was insane. This was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She wanted to grin and laugh at the same time but still had to fight off her attacker. She wanted to sink her teeth into his body over and over, feel his muscles rip underneath her claws, his bones cracking every time she hit him. She wanted to make him burn and suffer like he had been trying to do to her. She wanted to end it, end him.

Don't kill him!

The voice snapped her back to reality. She had Nathan pinned down, blood covering his body, his throat between her jaws. It was just one bite that would end him. She stared down at him, every second feeling like a lifetime. She could see the utter terror in his eyes as she now held his life in between her canines. The urge to bite, to see the light fade out of his eyes was tempting her. To feel his pulse slowing down and come to a complete stop. It was all just one bite away.

She let go.

The flames died down, the wings were gone. There was a deafening silence as she backed away and looked at the maimed body. He was still breathing. She had no idea how bad she had hurt him, but he was still alive. She stared in shock at what she had done and only then noticed a burst of loud laughter roared through the valley. Azura looked up as she had completely forgotten about the audience. She saw Ben, standing with his hands in his side laughing.

He was actually laughing.

Confused, her gaze shifted back to the mauled body of Nathan and suddenly a blanket of fear covered her, clouding her mind. She had attacked and almost killed one of them and they would now come after her. The panic overruled the pain that had come to her tenfold after her attack and before she could rationally think, she turned around and sprinted away.

*

She was holding back. Lucas watched in horror as Nathan kept attacking and Azura kept evading. She was not giving it her all and was obviously holding back. He could tell she was struggling with finding a balance between fighting and going on a full-on rampage. As she finally attacked Nathan and drew the first blood Lucas felt a wave of relief crash over him but that soon ended as he saw her losing control and staying on too long. Long enough for Nathan to retaliate which he did in a brute manner.

Lucas backed away from the edge, the urge to just head down there was rising. Rose tried to pull him back but he shook her hand away from him and turned around to where Dr. Jensen was standing.

"Calm down Lucas. You won't help her by freaking out up here." He placed his hands on Lucas's shoulders.

"How can I calm down if this madness is still going on! This is her death sentence don't you see?! Nathan is just playing with her now but he will try to kill her! If he doesn't succeed she will most likely kill him. Have you seen it?! She's losing control as soon as she attacks. If she kills him, Ben will order the rest to kill her because she is dangerous. She's not ready, Nicolai, far from it!"

"I think she might just surprise you." Nicolai closed his eyes and tapped into Lucas's emotions to take away the worst of it. Lucas calmed down straight away. “We can't afford you to do something stupid right now. Try to remain calm."

Lucas just nodded and slowly made his way back to the edge where Rose was waiting. As he peered over the edge he clenched his teeth at the sight below. Azura was visibly hurt with diverse wounds and a slight limp, but Nathan was nowhere to be seen. His eyes scanned the surroundings until a slow movement caught his eyes. Azura had lowered her head and seemed oblivious to the threat that was just a few meters away from her.

"Something's off." Rose pointed at Azura and the way she was standing. "She got a good blow to her ribs, but it looks like she has just given up."

Lucas noticed Nathan softly treading a little closer to the rock and then focused back on Azura. She was standing still, only her ears twitching back and forth.

"No... She hasn't." He stared at her body and his eyes rested on her paws and the lack of snow around them. He then noticed her face, and mostly her mouth. "Oh shit." Lucas quickly turned around, grabbed Nicolai and practically dragged him to the edge.

"Tell me you see it too! She's breathing fire. Look at her paws!" Nicolai edged closer and glanced at the female snow leopard beneath them. "She knows exactly where he is,” Lucas continued, “She knows what he is going to do and she is waiting for him. She's going to kill him." Rose looked up in shock at Lucas as he noticed exactly what Azura was doing.

"It's the Phoenix... She's letting it out." Nicolai's voice had become a soft whisper, not wanting to alert any others around them. Rose just stared at them in confusion before turning her attention back to Azura and Nathan.

She was not a moment too soon as Nathan had perched himself on top of the rock, ready to attack. He did so a moment later, but at the same instant Azura spun around with newfound energy and she burst into a wide array of flames which formed around her body including a pair of gigantic wings. It happened so fast, Nathan had no chance. She attacked him mid-air, knocking him down and clawing at his body. Soon she jumped off and ran around, attacking from another side. She crashed into him, dug her claws into his skin, and would leave again but before he could recover and get up, she was on him again giving him no chance to retaliate.

Lucas just stared, mouth open at the fight going on below. Azura had become something else. The wings moved in unison with her body, providing her with additional speed, balance, and another dangerous weapon; fire. Translucent flames surrounded her, cloaking her in a soft reddish and yellow glow. Everytime her paws would hit the ground, she would leave a scorched spot behind and the flames erupting from her mouth made her look like she was spewing fire. There was no longer any hint of pain or fatigue in her body, just her running around attacking and backing up again and again and again.

Nathan stood no chance as she was basically beating him in all the ways possible. He was burned, beaten, clawed, and bitten until the end where she attacked one last time; pinned him down on his back, and grabbed him by the throat. All the flames slowly disappeared, leaving only the wings protruding from her back. It had gone completely quiet as she showed her dominance over him.

Nathan was still alive but it was just barely. From what Lucas could tell, Azura had completely shattered his left hind leg. A chunk of meat was missing, baring the bone and the position it was in was anything but natural. He could see the blood welling up on Nathan’s stomach but it was hard to see any more injuries due to the thick fur. He was broken though, in many ways. Azura now held the power to end his life any second and Lucas prayed she wouldn’t do it. He closed his eyes and turned away not wanting to know what would happen.

Ben's laughter roared through the valley. He had come back up to the top and grabbed Lucas by the collar and yanked him to the edge. For an old man, he was surprisingly strong. Right then Azura bolted. Within moments she was gone. Aside from Ben, nobody had made a sound, all still too shocked from what they’d seen. Ben slapped Lucas on the shoulder and motioned to a few others to fetch and tend to Nathan.

"She's something else alright. Go and fetch your girlfriend, I would like to have a word with her. And before you ask, yes, she can stay." Ben's threatening and dominant attitude was gone, now he didn’t need to keep Lucas under control.

It was a trait that came with leadership, a way to control the group and keep them submissive and obedient. Lucas had never caught Ben using it before and he hoped he wouldn’t experience it again anytime soon. It was suffocating and even though Lucas could’ve gone against him, it would’ve been a struggle and not worth the trouble. Ben didn’t use it often as normally, life was pretty simple and bland around town.

Lucas heaved a sigh of relief and it hit him that he’d been holding his breath from the moment he had turned away from the edge till now. She had made it, alive and with nobody dead. With his relief, his practical side set in and he turned to Rose and tossed her his house keys.

"Can you hurry and grab a set of warm clothes for Azura and bring them here?" He turned to the rest and the mayor. "I need everyone gone from here as soon as I return. I don't know what state I will find her in and I don't want anyone else provoking her right now."

Oliver just nodded and headed down to see what state Nathan was in while Rose ran off right away without saying a single word. A rarity for her as she usually would have something to say. Ben nodded to Lucas and made his way down as well, leaving only Nicolai at the top. He approached Lucas and flashed him a comforting smile.

"I told you she was ready. She did a mighty fine job and it looks like she has accepted the Phoenix."

"It was quite a sight alright..." Lucas stared at the place where all the snow was gone and only black earth was left. "Let's just hope she doesn't hold a grudge because I, for one, would not like to face her." He took a deep breath, still overwhelmed by what he had just witnessed. "Thank you for being here Nicolai. Thank you for helping her this past year and for giving her your trust. Just... For how long have you known she was a blue-eyed snow leopard?"

Dr. Jensen let out a small chuckle before answering. "I knew from the second time I met her. I was the one who advised her to keep it a secret until she was ready. Did you really not suspect anything?" Lucas shook his head.

"No... Well, I suspected something, but I... It wasn’t up to me to ask and I just figured thinking about it was a waste of time. Though it does explain some things."

Nicolai gave him a short nod indicating it was time for him to start following Azura. Lucas managed a wry smile and walked to the tree line where he quickly undressed and shifted for the first time in years. He would be able to track her much faster this way.