"Aura, wake up! We have to go." Jalen's voice sounded panicked as he shook Aura out of her sleeping stupor.

Aura slowly rose, blinking her eyes at Jalen waiting for an explanation. She noticed his appearance was muddy with leaves and a twig in his hair. He looked as if he had done somersaults on the forest floor. What had transpired as she slept in this cozy little chair.

"They have Ivy, Aura. We have to move, now." Jalen said, rushing Aura into the escape hatch beneath the floorboards of the cabin. Aura wished she could speak to protest, but at this moment, she needed to follow Jalen's directions.

Both of them headed into the tunnel with the hatch shut behind them. Jalen shifted into his brown wolf form and took off, leading Aura through the dark. The darkness was an asset for them because wolves can easily see in the dark. They traveled quickly, making random twists and turns through the tunnel system that the generation before them had dug.

By the time they reached an exit, night had fallen in the forest, giving Aura and Jalen an advantage. Aura decided to mindlink with Jalen in hopes of learning what had happened when she was asleep. "Jalen, can you tell me what happened now?"

Jalen's green eyes stared at Aura for a minute, and then he let out a whine. "We have to keep moving, but… I will tell you."

Jalen started walking again with his head low. Aura caught up to him and stayed at his side. "Your knight did come looking for you. You were out for about two days. The knight was close to finding the cabin, but behind him were the hunters. I think your knight didn't know they were there, but I can't be sure. Ivy went to throw them off our trail by running around her wolf form. That's when things got complicated. A bear shifter appeared and wasn't happy to see Ivy in his territory. The two of them fought, and the hunters grabbed them. Ivy mindlinked me to get away before they caught sight of me." Jalen whimpered.

Aura knew she had to help rescue Ivy. There was a chance that she was still alive, but the longer they waited the sooner Ivy would be dead. "Jalen, let's go get her." Aura said, nudging him with her muzzle. "If we go together, then we stand a chance."

Jalen stopped walking and turned to see Auras determined golden eyes staring at him. He tipped his snout down, exhaling. "I pity your future mate." Jalen knew there's no arguing with Aura. He had trained her to be decisive and ruthless in battle, which was now biting him in the ass. She had been his first student, and his long-time friend.

"Let's get the drop on them, and get whatever shifters they have free." Aura said, earnestly. In times like this, a simple plan was the best plan. If they could free the other shifters, then they could overpower the hunters.

Jalen's wolf sighed. "Okay, we can give it a try, but if I think for a second that we are in trouble, we are out of there. Can't lose my favorite student, can I?" He gave a toothy grin.

"I will pretend you mean that." Aura rolled her eyes. Jalen has always been a jokester. It was a part of his charm. Jalen got up, and the two wolves sniffed out the hunters' trail. Once Aura caught the scent, the wolves were on the hunt.

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Three hours later…

The moons shone overhead as the wolves stalked their prey. The hunter's camp was lit by a few fires. Among the hunters were ogres, humans, and a few dwarves. The sight of them made Aura's stomach flip flop and her heart quickened. Her anger was seething from within. Aura would normally respect every living thing, but hunters like slave owners made her vomit. Jalen just stewed in his anger next to her.

The camp had about twenty or so hunters feasting on their catches of the day. Aura noticed Ivy's light brown wolf form was beaten and chained to a tree. Next to Ivy, was a wounded, black bear beast shifter and a cage of scarred simian shifters in their white and brown monkey forms. All of them were to be slaughtered or worked into slavery if rich men wanted to buy them. The slave trade was small but alive all across Lunaris, especially in the dark elf kingdoms in Dryadalis, the land of elves in Lunaris. Aside from beast shifters, orcs were enslaved by the elves almost a century ago. There were many crimes across Lunaris that Aura wanted to correct, but for now, she would rescue the victims of these horrible crimes.

Aura opted to lead some of the hunters away by baiting them with a howl in the distance. She runs deeper in the forest calling the hunters to her with alluring howls. Jalen mindlinks her that she has successfully drawn about half the camp away. Aura ducts into the stream to hide her scent from the nearby hunters. Once she was soaked, Aura climbed into a tree, readying herself for an attack.

Aura sat quietly in the tree, watching the hunters approach. Three humans, five ogres, and a dwarf split up into two parties, looking for the howling wolf. Aura can feel her instinct to hunt and kill kick in because of the threat the hunters pose to her and those she loves. After seeing those shifters chained and caged with wounds on their skin, Aura givens into her instincts. Her bloody revenge begins.

Aura jumped from her branch, taking down an ogre that landed on the foul-smelling dwarf. She realized these sweaty brutes had to have covered themselves in some serious stench to weaken Aura's nose. Aura was not about to let that stop her. She clawed the ogre's eyes before the brute pushed her away. The smell of blood was in the air, causing Aura to go into kill mode. She climbed to her paws and chomped onto a human's leg, shattering the man's ankle. Blood dripped from Aura's muzzle as she threw the man into the blinded ogre. The hunters finally snapped out of their shock and began to fight back. The humans blasted fire magic at Aura, leaving her fur singed as she darted each attack. Speed was on her side while an ogre tried to hit her with a whip. The dwarf fired arrows, most likely laced with poison. Aura made the ogre with the whip smack the dwarf in the face, and the fire magic hit the three ogres that tried to hit her with chains.

Aura was hit with a whip, stinging her back leg, and pulled toward the ogre. She was in trouble now as the ogre began to laugh. Aura opted to run at the ogre and bite down on his hand, making him drop the whip. She was thrown to the ground and stomped on feeling her ribs crack under pressure. Her body forced itself to roll away and jump up to the tree branches. She wasn't sure whose blood was dripping from her muzzle anymore.

A barrage of arrows and flames assaulted her tree branch, so Aura leaped down onto another ogre blinding him with her claws. Two blinded ogres and one human unable to walk left six dangerous attackers and a forest slowly being set ablaze. The fire… Aura had an idea, but it was a terrible one.

Aura leaped back into the flaming tree. She heard the branches crack as the fire ate away at the wood. The hunters again barraged her with magic flame bolts and poisonous arrows, but Aura stayed firm on her flaming tree. The fire grew around her as she stayed just out of reach of the flame, but faced the growing heat. Then one of the humans shot a lightning bolt toward the tree, trying to knock Aura out of it. However, the tree weakened and fell on two of the ogres with chains. The ogres were trapped and set ablaze with the tree. The hunter retreated further into the tree line as the fire fed on the surrounding area. Aura shook herself as embers burned her skin. She survived the fall although the smoke made her vision hazy. Aura heard the cries of the trapped ogres and decided to give them a quick death by crushing their throats.

Aura was surrounded by tall flames after ending the ogres. She would not be able to travel far, so she headed for the stream. The water would keep the fire at bay as long as the smoke didn't suffocate her first. Aura stepped into the stream and laid down. She would be at the mercy of God and nature. Aura let a few tears escape as she thought of her friends, the beast shifters, and the forest that had gotten stuck in the crosshairs of her troubles. She thought of the nights she had fallen asleep in Dax's arms and wished she could rest in his arms again. Aura decided if she were to survive this fire, she would get a real kiss from Dax. The cold stream felt good against her burns and injuries. Her body started to go numb from the smoke inhalation. Jalen mindlinked her that he was able to free everyone and escape. Aura smiled and blacked out in the stream.