HUNTED

The rain cascaded down from the darkened sky of grey clouds leaving the water droplets to pound against the pavements in the streets of Silver Thorn. A pair of footsteps ran in haste across the wet ground, jumping over the deep puddles formed by the sky that barely begun its downpour. Aila was almost dragging Hollie at the pace she was going; she forgot that one of her strongest powers was that she was incredibly fast, even faster than the Alpha King. It was no surprise to her when she heard Hollie gasping for air behind her.

"We are nearly there," Aila bit out, her eyes were searching the large busy car park. 

Why did they park so far away again? Where were Ajax and Finn?

Her thoughts were disrupted when she was pulled into a mind-link, slowing her pace down to run by Hollie's side and still having the ability to swerve in and out of people and moving cars. 

"Aila, the guards set up on the perimeter are holding off some rogues. And so far, I haven't seen the hunters," Finn's voice whipped through her mind.

"I'm scouting from the sky. I will keep an eye out for them, but it's hard unless I see them carrying an AK47 or military attire.. They seem to be hiding.." Ajax said, his voice for once sounding serious.

"Thanks for the update, guys. Finn, where are you? I'm running towards the car now," Aila queried as she stopped and sidestepped a couple who she nearly crashed into.

The sound of gunfire rang across the street, causing the locals to jump and cover their heads, looking frantically before all at once, chaos erupted around them. People scattered and ran desperately for cover and to their cars. Aila yanked on Hollie's hand again and dodged in and out of pedestrians who also had their hearts set in different directions.

"What's the update?" She asked Finn through the mind-link, but there was no answer. Her brows drew together while her eyes scanned their surroundings. She couldn't see Finn, and her mind began to race, forming ideas of something happening to him. She glanced to the sky, ready to mind-link Ajax on Finn's whereabouts, looking for his black eagle-

"Aila!" 

She whipped her head back to the side and realised it was Hollie's cry. She followed her gaze, and they came to an abrupt stop.

In front of them stood eight rogue werewolves, each growling viciously towards them, almost foaming at the mouth, and their red eyes were dead set on the Luna. Aila glanced to the side and was relieved to see people turn around immediately on sighting the wolves. The car park now had almost cleared.

Another round of gunshots fired into the early afternoon, causing Aila to shift slightly to the sound, but her eyes did not move from the wolves before them. She pulled Hollie behind her, almost shielding her from their view.

"Hide behind a car. Out of sight. Go!" Aila commanded quietly, her gaze still locked with the wolf in the middle that began walking towards her. She felt Hollie's presence leave her side, hearing her scurried footsteps and splashes through puddles off to the side. One of the rogues watched her, she could see its head moving and its first step going forwards. The rogue's instinct was kicking in to hunt and kill. 

"Hey!" Aila shouted; its attention went back to her, immediately snarling at her.

She unwrapped one of the straps to her backpack and pulled it forwards; she kept glancing between the wolf now bounding towards her and shakily undoing the bag to grab her gun.

"Aila! Shift!" Malia roared and immediately took the reins. She ran forwards, and just before the rogue slammed into her, she shifted. White fur ripped through her skin, her snout formed before her, and the moment she was entirely a wolf, she jumped on the rogue. Aila took it down swiftly, snapping its neck before instantly colliding with another that made the pair tumble to the side.

Malia merged back into the shadows of her mind, pacing and waiting. She was ready in case Aila couldn't handle anything. In fact, Malia was quite proud of Aila.

Aila was quick on her four legs to evade the rogue's snapping jaws, but she could see out of the corner of her eye that the other wolves were closing in around her. Then a blurring figure flashed by her side, and one of the wolves were gone, immediately followed by the other being tackled down by a dusty brown wolf. Finn?

Aila snapped her eyes back to the red-haired wolf before her, dodging its jaws again and made a final lunge forwards, sinking her teeth into it. The wolf went limp in her mouth, and she released it, letting it drop to the ground dead. 

There were four left and another scruffy looking one that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Finn was still fighting the other rogue, and Aila could hear fighting in the surrounding area, meaning it was five to one. 

Another blurring figure appeared and removed another wolf. What the hell?  Four to one.

"We can take them," Malia snarled, and Aila's eyes shone against her white fur. Aila eyed her backpack and the knife that had fallen out onto the cemented ground closest to her. 

"Maybe with a little help!" Aila turned and sprinted towards it, the rogues immediately chased her, but she was quick. Her paws pounded against the wet ground, splashing dirty water against her white fur. She looked as wild as the rogues, her fur covered in mud and blood. Just as she neared the knife, she was tackled to the side.

I just need to take this wolf out before the others catch up!

However, the grey wolf that tackled her seemed to sense her urgency to take it out before the others arrived. It growled, and they ended up circling each other after a few attempts from each opponent to take the other down; Aila found it was more tactical than the others. Then, she saw her opening while glancing at the knife again. 

She leapt forwards and bit into her opponent's ear, jumping over it as she did so and shifted mid-air, landing on her two bare feet. Aila lunged for the blade, scraping her body against the grit on the ground and rolled onto her back, instantly stabbing the leaping wolf in the back of its throat. Her hand was still in its mouth as its jaws clamped down around her arm before it went slack, and the light faded from its crimson red eyes.

Aila pushed it aside and flipped up onto her feet; without thinking twice, she jumped over the next wolf pounding towards her and crash-landed on its back, stabbing the knife into its spine. The poor creature yelped before collapsing.

"Poor creature," Malia scoffed, "they're trying to take you down. LUNA!"

Her wolf's growl made Aila's eyes glow as she went into the depths of her mind and pulled on a part of her that was wild, violent, and thirsty for blood. The next moves were completely animalistic and came to her like second nature. 

Aila jumped on the wolf to her right, tackling it to the ground. She snapped her canines into its neck, so much so that the head was nearly decapitated from its body. She pulled her head back, her hair flicking out of her face and growled at the oncoming wolves. Running forwards, Aila shifted mid-stride into her beautiful but dirty, white fur coat. 

Without wasting a second, she instantly jumped on the wolf, watching out of the corner of her eye as Finn started attacking the scruffy-looking rogue. Aila snapped her jaws down into the brown coat of the rogue, it whined, and she sank her teeth in further while watching Finn struggle even more so with this other wolf. 

Dropping the brown wolf to the ground, Aila took a few steps forwards; her attention was now on this scruffy black wolf. A wolf with startling blue eyes. 

"Blue… eyes…" Malia whispered. The pair were stunned at this wolf that seemed to be much bigger than Finn.