Ava stood for a moment stunned into silence. Cynthia Hale stood in front of her wearing a loose top and free pants, her blond hair looking unkempt and wrapped up in a messy ponytail looking nothing like the girl she remembered.
“Let’s get out of here.” Cynthia grabbed her hand and pulled her. Ava’s sense of preservation kicked in and they began to run through the forest.
The outraged cries of their pursuers finding their slaughtered colleagues reached their ears and they increased their pace.
“We are running towards a destination, yes?” Cynthia panted.
“The Blue Moon pack house is some meters away. If we are running in the right direction.”
“If?”
Ava would have laughed if her life hadn’t just taken the most bizarre turn. Werewolf hunters were hunting down non-rogue wolves and Cynthia freaking Hale, who hated her guts, who was supposed to be thousands of leagues away on the south pole, had just saved her life. She had so many questions that could come when they weren’t about to be slaughtered.
They reached a part of the forest that was too clustered for them to continue through except in their partial shifts, it was perfect. The humans would be unable to follow them. Ava shifted her claws and kicked off her shoes and shifted her legs and was about to start running when she noticed Cynthia hesitating.
“Come on Cynthia. We need to leave now.”
Was she failing to comprehend the precariousness of the situation?
“I can’t shift.”
“What?”
Cynthia lifted her loose shirt to show a slightly distended belly. Fuck. She had either had a hell of a month of junk food or she was pregnant.
Considering the werewolf metabolism, it was the latter.
“Don’t worry. Go ahead, I’ll find the road from here and take it from there.” Cynthia said not giving her a chance to respond before she began to run.
Ava had a split second to make a decision. She could save herself and hope that Cynthia got out safe or she could put her life at risk and go after a woman who had tried to permanently scar her over a man.
She ran after Cynthia. She was pregnant, unable to shift, to defend herself, yet she had come to save Ava. Ava caught up with her easily.
Cynthia looked at her in askance but didn’t speak obviously needing to conserve her breath for her run.
They made it to the highway and began to run on the asphalt. Ava could already see the gates of the pack house around the corner when she heard the gunfire. It missed them. They were almost out of range and the hunters were too smart to attack them when they were so close to the pack house.
They reached the gates, they opened automatically and they were in.
“Thank the goddess, we made it.” Ava exhaled in relief, turning to face Cynthia.
Cynthia held her side. One of the bullets had hit her, it would seem. “I think I need to sit down.”
Then she fell or would have if Adrian hadn’t caught her.
“Adrian!” Ava was surprised to feel tears in her eyes at the sight of Adrian.
Adrian lifted an unconscious Cynthia bridal style. His gaze was angry as he caught her gaze. However, Ava could still see a thread of relief in them. “You, Ava have a lot to account for.”
********
The Blue Moon pack doctors took care of Cynthia while Ava explained what happened to Adrian at the hospital’s lobby.
“I know I shouldn’t have done what I did. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have ditched you. I’m sorry Adrian.”
Adrian embraced her, cradling her head and patting her back. “Just don’t do it again. I was so scared. If something had happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”
Ava was humbled by his admission. She pulled away slightly and looked up at him and she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him and he was already leaning down when Arthur and Janine entered the lobby nearly bumping into them.
The moment passed and they began to fill them in on the fact that they now had hunters in their territory hunting down pack wolves.
Janine looked worried. “We have had some disappearances, mostly of teenage pups. It’s the time of the year where pups run away for a short while to find themselves but now I wonder if those men have…”
“Calm down Janine. Let’s hope for the best. We will need to boost our security measures.” Arthur pacified her and then looked at Adrian and Ava contritely. “I apologise for this, for those men attacking you on our lands, we will question those on border patrol. I don’t know how to emphasize how sorry we are about this incident.”
Adrian waved away his apology. “It is nothing. We know you would not allow something like this to go unchecked unless you were unaware. What will you do about this now? Do you have enough force to stand against these hunters? We can always petition the werewolf council to send you reinforcement to help keep your pack safe.”
Arthur shook his head. “I’m very sure this is just an offshoot of disgruntled hunters. We are on very friendly cordial terms with the head of hunters in Washington. We will have a chat with him to catch those delinquents and adequately punish them for their crimes. There is no need to involve the council and risk escalating the situation.”
Adrian nodded mortified by the argument but Ava was still worried. She had seen those people. They didn’t look like ‘delinquents’ they had been well-trained and equipped. Except the hunters just handed out guns willy-nilly.
It was far more complicated than Arthur was making it sound but she couldn’t say anything without making Arthur seem like a liar so she kept quiet watching his and Janine’s facial expressions.
Was it just her or did they not seem surprised enough?