I was afraid I would be far behind the group, but I quickly caught up with everyone a few miles into the run. They were all standing still, Nate and Alex obviously having a conversation while Jason, William, Sienna, Sophie and Brett observed. I tuned in but only caught Alex saying "Take off" to Nate. He deftly nodded and continued running south. Instead of staying next to Nate, Alex slowed down and ran next to me.

"What's wrong?" he asked with fake concern. Frustrating man. How can he ask me what is wrong? He just caused a huge scene with Brett and now I feel awkward.

"I-Nothing" I started to tell him off but changed my mind. I would deal with it later.

"Don't lie to me" He pushed, sounding bossy and arrogant as usual.

"I said nothing!" I snapped and my anger actually came out as a verbal growl.

"Fine. Suffer alone" he said angrily, but I could hear the hurt in his tone.
I actually felt guilty as I watched him speed up to run with Nate. I didn't mean to take my frustration out on him. It was just so easy to, old habits dying hard and what not.

If I was being honest with myself, I had to admit that he had shown great self control by not killing Brett. All he did was rough him up and warn him, hardly even a punishment. It was expected for a territorial Alpha to be protective of his mate. I actually felt rather flattered.

On some level.

Deep down.

I mentally a sighed and came out of my reverie, actually taking notice of my surroundings. I was on the edge of a thick wall of forest that was being over shadowed by a tall cliff. Nate and Alex had already disappeared within it and Jason, Sophie, William, Brett, and Sienna were right behind them. I sped up so that I came into the clearing a second after the group.

The first thing I saw was Alex getting hit from the side by some sort of dog looking thing. I turned to see Nate being surrounded by three of the dogs while he hovered over a dead one. I was a split second from running to help him when two of the ugly creatures came between Nate and I, pinning me against the thick wall of trees and their nasty mugs. Upon close inspection, I saw that they were hyenas.

"Why are hyenas-" I began to think to myself but Memerat interrupted my thought process.

"What is this?! Shifters from my home land attacking? This is wrong, Terri, defend yourself. Fight!" she yelled at me mentally.

The first hyena charged me and I easily pinned him and crushed his throat with my large paw. The second hyena was much tougher. He jumped on my back and locked his powerful jaws on my shoulder I swept my front leg across my body to claw the hyena in the face with my razor sharp claws. He immediately released me and I jumped on him. We tussled for a few seconds but I finally got my mouth over his jugular and ripped it out cleanly. He died almost instantly and I stepped back, looking at my handiwork.

"See? I can take care of my-" but my snide thought was cut short by a loud roar from behind me. I turned swiftly to my right and saw a massive, golden lion a second before he rammed in my side. I let out a violent roar but it was cut off when his huge jaw bit straight into the flesh in my side. I felt his teeth scraping against the underside of my last rib. It hurt like nothing I've ever felt before but my adrenaline was pushing me to fight for survival. I craned my neck to the side and bit directly in the space between his shoulder and his neck. Blood filled my mouth instantly. Unfortunately, instead of unhinging his jaw to release me, he bit through me and pulled away, leaving a gaping hole in my side. I instantaneously shifted back to a human, pain washing over me like massive wave in the ocean. The lion recovered from my bite quickly but before he could make another move toward me, Alex's black wolf jumped over me and tackled the lion on his broad side. I saw Alex go for the lions throat but I turned away because my side was emitting pain in massive doses. My adrenaline was waning and I was really starting to feel the excruciating pain. I sat up slightly and looked at my side and almost threw up. I looked mangled and disgusting, a mailed image of my usually healthy body. Nate suddenly appeared at my side with wide eyes and a panicked expression.

"Oh- Terri, what did you do?" he said with a tone to his voice that sounded like he was the one who was in pain.

"I-I-I-" I kept trying to speak but instead convulsions wracked my body and I could taste blood coming into my mouth from my throat.

"Sh sh sh don't speak" Nate said as he gently pushed me to the ground. He moved my right hand from my wound and placed both of his massive hands over it. I turned my head and spat out the blood that had pooled in my mouth.

The fiery pain I had been feeling was slowly going away and now I was just beginning to get cold. My vision was trying to blacken but I wanted to stay awake. I needed to see Alex.

"My dear child, you will be ok. If I thought you were going to die, I would have said so by now. Try to relax and breathe" Memerat said in my head.

I was so weak I couldn't even retort how dumb it was for her to tell me to relax with a hole the size of china in my side. Instead, I turned my head to the side shakily to look for Alex. He had just turned to look at me, the lions dead body lie still behind him. I tried to use my left hand to tell him to come over to me but my motor functions were on the fritz. My shaky arm lifted off my body then fell into the dirt by Nate's feet. I felt tears of frustration spring from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. I'm not weak, it shouldn't take so much effort to move my arm.

"Why is this happening to me? I'm so confused" I thought deliriously.

"Child, sleep so you don't have to suffer this unnecessary pain. All will be well when you awaken" Memerat said in a calming voice.

"No, I need to talk to Alex. Tell him I'm ok" I thought.

Alex, it seemed, had recovered from his shock and was now next to me, in human form, whispering "sh*t, no, not again. No, no, no, no". As if they were talking in a far off place, I heard Nate and the group yelling, but I couldn't focus on what they were saying. I wanted all my attention focused on Alex.

"No no no" he continued to murmur as he quickly scanned my body with panicked eyes. His face was well composed, but I could tell he was suffocating on the inside. Suddenly, he took a deep breath and composed his face into a calm facade. He stopped repeating no and grabbed my face softly with trembling hands.

"Stop looking at me like that, I'm ok. Memerat says I'm ok. I'm not going to die" I thought desperately, but when I tried to tell him, "N-n-n- de-de-d-g" was all I could muster. I used every ounce of strength I had to bring my right hand to his face softly, trying to convey that I was ok to him. His mask slipped for a second and I thought he was going to cry, but he didn't. The blackness on the edge of my visioning was getting harder to fight off, but I was determined.

Suddenly, Alex whipped his head toward Nate.

"No", I thought sadly, "look at me."
They talked for a few seconds and then Alex turned his attention back to me.

"Don't fight it. Go to sleep. Please" he whispered. I tried to focus on him and tell him I was going to stay awake but my eyelids felt like lead and they shut, taking my pain away instantly.

"Good girl"