She shivered as the cold wind blew her hair into a wild disarray while she surveyed the land before her. The cold and bleak landscape filled her vision as far as she could see; with tall snow-capped mountains clawing the grey clouded skies above. She sniffed the air for both pursuers and her prey. She couldn’t let him escape, not again... Not for the fifth time. She clenched her fists at her sides as she remembered him taunting her beyond the river.

“You’ll never capture me Kynthia. Tracker or not, I will still out run you.” He then blew her a kiss and seemingly vanished into the dark forest behind him. Leaping over the river to follow him, she only saw red but now she can’t turn back to her pack. Not without him caught... dead or alive.

She had been trailing him for a year now, slipping in and out of pack territories trying to avoid disturbing the fragile peace between the strongest packs. Crescent Guardians, Lightning Shadow, and Nightshade packs were the top three of the current strongest and all now have a handful of warriors tailing her just for trespassing through their territory without warning or reason. She knew she had to give them a reason or explanation but her first priority was catching him and slowing down for a three day formal notification to just pass through was out of the question.

Kynthia tilted her head and listened hard for any kind of movement; but silence hung heavy around her and as she sniffed the air, she caught no scent, not even a lingering hint of her prey.

She sighed in defeat as she knew she had lost him once again. Wearily she looked around for some shelter to await her pursuers and attempt to smooth over their anger. They had been following her for three months and she was sure that they would want her put on trial or executed for evading them for so long.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Biting her lip, she scanned the small valley she was above to find a suitable resting place but the sound of snow crunching under a set of six feet made her pause warily. They had found her; one of the packs had caught up and now she was sure to be neck deep in trouble.

“Kynthia,” A deep rumbling voice called to her and she stiffened her spine; her pride keeping her in place. Kynthia winced inwardly at the venom the voice had stressed on her name but couldn’t work up any anger over it. Slowly she turned to face the speaker and her eyes widened; betraying her feelings of surprise but she quickly hid behind a mask of calm before speaking.

“I apologize for any harm I caused because I had failed to stop to have a formal meeting with your Alpha.” She shivered again as the wind blew harder; fat snowflakes drifting slowly down on their heads. The male looked to the sky and frowned.

“Perhaps we should seek shelter from this northern storm and chat. Explain to all of us...” He gestured to the other males standing behind him as six more people came out of the forest in two different directions; surrounding her. She sighed once more and bowed her head slightly in agreement.

The male looked pleased with her submission and turned on his heel to swiftly walk away; expecting the rest to follow him. Of course they would follow; He was the beta of Lightning Shadow, the current number one strongest pack. She glanced at the new arrivals and saw the betas from both Nightshade and Crescent Guardians. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

‘Am I such a problem that the Alphas of the strongest packs had to send their second in commands?’ She thought with concern. ’I am only a simple pack member from Darkmoon pack; no one in significant power standings, anymore. Especially not high enough to send the Betas after me.’ The warriors that the betas brought with them, flanked her on every side as if to watch her so she doesn’t run. She wasn’t stupid; she knew they would kill her if she so much as moved in the wrong direction. Licking her lips nervously, she hurried to catch up to the retreating betas all while trying to come up with a suitable explanation to satisfy the three males.