It's early afternoon, the sun is glistening down through the leafy canopy above. The thundering sound of our paws slamming on top the earthy ground vibrates throughout the forest. The trees densely compacted in the deepest part of the woods. My small pack moves nimbly through the thickly crowded trees.

The crisp leaves crack and crumble beneath our crushing weight. As we continue our route, I start to acknowledge familiar trees, ones with my claw marks scratched and etched into the bark.

We're close.

We've hit the point where we need to start being careful of where we step.

I let out a low-throaty warning bark, signaling the severity of the situation. I slow from a canter to a trot. I feel the pack follow my lead.

My eyes track the trees, being sure to steer clear of any unmarked areas.

A moment later, there is a large snapping sound: metal closing in on itself. A loud but familiar yelp echoes through the woods causing me to jump. My paws come to a halt and I quickly turn around on my toes. The rest of the pack follows suit.

A blondish-grey wolf stands far from the group, beside a silver trap. The trap is a typical hunting trap with pointed teeth that can pierce through flesh in an instant. It glistens in the sunlight and is snapped completely shut. Ruben stands beside it, panting nervously with wide eyes.

I jog closer to the scene.

I sigh in relief as I realize Ruben hasn't gotten caught in the trap.

After further examination, it appears that a large fallen branch triggered the trap. Ruben must have jostled the stick as he was jogging, causing the trap to go off.

After being reassured that Ruben is unharmed, I give him a small glare telling him to stay closer to the pack. I turn on my heels and continue my lead.

Our pace has slowed considerably.

We continue on our way.

After about another five minute or so of travel my wolf stirs uncomfortably in my head. I question her for a moment. Then I hear rustling.

My heart stutters out of control. I slow my steps to a stop. Raymond slows quickly by my side and the rest of the group comes to a halt. I turn my head around, searching for the sound again.

Silence.

I reach my snout up high and give a good sniff in the air, searching for any difference in the fragrance. I can't seem to find anything off.

Another light rustle is heard in the distance on my right.

Raymond gives me a small whimper. He wants to know what's going on. I turn my head to him and glare, telling him to shut up and listen.

My paws carry me forward a few steps, I'm careful to stay as quiet as possible.

Was I just hearing the wind rustling the trees? Maybe it was a squirrel, or a rabbit.

My wolf rolls her eyes at me. She's taking offense to my lack of trust in her instincts. I suppose she doesn't steer me wrong often.

I decide to trust her. I let out a low warning call, signaling the pack to stay on their toes.

The group acknowledges my call. They start to form a defensive position. They give each other their backs and watch the woods carefully. I give them my back as well. I stare off into the woods, looking for any sign of the Hunter or her lover. Could they have found us so easily?

A rustling comes from a collection of large bushes and shrubbery that's nearest to Rina. My instincts start to kick in and I grow protective. I'm about to step toward her to protect her, but luckily Leo hops on it. He steps up beside her, protecting her by placing himself between her and the bush. He lets out a low and threatening growl. All our eyes rest on the bush, waiting for the intruder to pop out.

I notice Damien grow annoyed next to me. He lets out a threatening growl himself. I notice his muscles twitching in agitation. He slightly lowers his front half and slowly creeps forward. His nails quietly digging into the dirt. My eyes widen as I realize his plan.

He's just going to ambush it.

And that's exactly what he does.

A moment later he growls and trudges forward. He springs into the bush, startling the rest of the pack with his actions. The bushes rustle as loud piercing squeals bounce around us. The sounds are desperate cries. Cries that pierce the air, cutting into my ears sharply.

I flinch from the despair in the cry.

The sound is too high pitched to be that of a wolf, but a human or Hunter is very possible. My heart drops a bit. He's just going to kill her, just like that.

A moment later the cries stop.

A black mass pops out of the bush. His face masked in blood. His eyes pitch black. He glances in my direction, then he glares. He growls at me, more annoyed than anything.

I'm confused with his actions at first, then he bends his head down. When he pops back up again, a large-lifeless hare is dangling from his mouth. It's tan body covered in its own blood. He steps out from the crowded bush and proceeds to drop the creature onto the floor. He glares at me directly, but I can feel the pack relax, relieved that the commotion was only a mere hare.

I sigh, but my wolf growls at me in my head. I roll my eyes at her, she made me look so stupid.

I back up a few steps.

Well, now I feel like an idiot-

A low throaty growl erupts from behind me, startling me.

I have no time to react before nails come from my left and dig into my side. I yelp loudly as my body is forcefully thrown to the floor. I hit the ground with a painful thud and skid a few feet. I groan starting to open my eyes and suddenly teeth clench onto the fur on the back of my neck. I feel my body easily lifted from the floor, I'm weightless for a mere moment. A second later I feel the teeth release my neck propelling me to the side, the wind whipping around me, then my back slamming against a hard tree, and I hit the floor with a loud thud.

I groan and my eyes snap open. A silver wolf stands across from me. His grey eyes piercing into my soul angrily. I growl and try to stand. The wolf, Harvey, springs forward to strike me again.

I stumble, accidentally missing my step. I watch as he goes to strike for my neck.

Suddenly a dark brown blob intercepts.

Ramming into Harvey's side. They tumble to the floor, mixing into a blend of brown and grey. A second later a flock of wolves goes rushing past me. Raymond, Ruben, and Leo charge; barking and growling as they go to join Greyson in the battle against Harvey.

I get to my feet. A second later, I'm confronted with a small black, gray, and white wolf. Her worried eyes skim over my body for any sign of damage. I stand up tall to show Rina I'm uninjured, even though my side is aching and my neck is extremely sore. Derek approaches in his red, grey and white wolf. He notices that I look fine, he lets out a small bark, indicating it's time to continue the mission.

I nod in agreement.

I glance over to my left, watching the scrambling of attacks on Harvey. The pack is working as a team. Harvey is clearly very skilled and extremely strong. He's doing a good job fending off the small pack. They take turns luring his attention to one wolf and attacking with another. I'm confident in their abilities, I know they can handle him. After all they are the strongest in our group, besides Damien but Damien has no skill just brute strength, which wouldn't help him very much against a very skilled fighter like Harvey.

I spin my white wolf one hundred and eighty degrees and trot off in the direction toward the house. Behind me, I hear Rina, Derek and Damien follow.

The trees whip past us as we pound our paws against the hard floor. The rubble of dirt and leaves starts to dissipate as more grass appears instead. It only takes another five minutes for us to reach the back of the house. We all slow to a stop as we reach the tree line that separates the backyard and the forest. We all hide behind separate trees.

In the distance, I hear a loud howl.

I can't distinguish just who's howl it is. It's not familiar and it doesn't sound like a howl of pain or despair, it's more of a warning cry.

I glance over at Derek and he returns the questioning stare. He obviously is just as confused as I am.

We shake off the mystery. I examine the back side of the house.

Everything seems quiet and just the way it was when I was here yesterday. My eyes flick up to the balcony. An image of the happy family and the little baby flows through my mind. My heart clenches uncomfortably at the thought. I quickly push it away as I continue to search the premise.

From what I can see, everything looks clear. There haven't been any movements near the windows. It doesn't look like anyone is expecting us.

I step my paw out into the open.

Cautiously I slink into the backyard. I creep slowly, keeping my eyes locked on every window. I can't risk being caught before going into the house. Since no movement pops into my vision or my peripherals, I trot forward silently toward the back door. My small group follows quickly. We step onto the stone patio. I follow it all the was up to the sliding door in the back.

I glance over at the group.

We are here now. There is only one thing left to do. Infiltrate the house and kill the huntress.

I'm about to nudge the door open with my snout, but Damien decides he's not patient enough for that.

With brute strength, he charges forward and slams his whole body into the glass door. At contact, the glass shatters into thousands of pieces and Damien lands inside the house. He shakes his fur of all the glass debris. I roll my eyes.

I lead Derek, Rina, and myself into the house behind Damien. We are quick to examine our surroundings.

The inside of the house is large and cabin like. Much of the furniture is made from wood. Even the kitchen itself is mostly wooden. We are careful as we step around in the house. An odd chill spreads through my body like wild fire. Something is eery about this place. Maybe it's because I'm on enemy territory, but I just have a sinking gut feeling that something can and will go wrong...

I tip toe around, being quiet on my paws. I'm surprised by the silence. I figured we would have been confronted by the huntress at this point. Yet, I haven't seen any trace of her being here. So this could be one of two things. One, she's not home. Two, she's was expecting us and somehow is managing to mask her presence in this house and cause a reverse ambush on us.

I hear a small creak coming from a room above. I glance around to see if Damien, Rina, or Derek had heard the noise as well. None of them look as if they did hear it. Derek is examining a table with photographs, Damien is off sniffing inside one of the closets trying to gain her scent, and Rina is stepping toward the dinning room.

Rina is about to step through the doorway. Suddenly my wolf growls, gains control of my eyes for a moment, and focuses on a thin string that runs along the bottom of the open doorway leading into the dinning room. My heart races as I gain control of myself again and let out a quick whimper, trying to get her attention.

Rina turns her head my direction, I'm about to sigh in relief, but her motion doesn't stop.

Her grayish-black paw passes through the string, triggering some form of a trap. Suddenly a bucket falls from above the doorway, landing on the ground next to Rina. As it hits the ground, a puff of powdery ash-looking substance floats and disperses all around Rina, consuming her in a mini cloud. I hear her coughing. I go to run toward her, but Derek cuts in front of me. He sends me warning looks with his eyes, signaling he knows what the substance is.

She continues her wolfish cough in the dusty cloud, until the coughs turn to quiet howls of agony. My heart clenches in pain as I hear her cries. Then her howls of pain turn to human cries of pain. And her wolfish coughs are now human coughs. The cloud dissipates after a moment or two, revealing Rina, in human form. She coughs a few times and turns to look at me.

"What... What just happened to me?" She asks, her voice shaking as she covers herself with her arms.

She coughs again and quickly stands, running away from the dusty mess and over to me. I meet her halfway and shift.

"Shit, she must have known we were coming..." I hiss as Rina reaches my side. I grab her arm, "you can't shift, can you?"

Rina focuses her energy on shifting back. Yet nothing seems to be happening. So she shakes her head in disappointment. "No, nothing seems to be working."

"Shit... Okay, it must have been wolf's bain. Right now, you're merely a human until that stuff wears out of your system."

Her eyes widen in fear, "human?"

I nod, "yes, so I need you to get out of here." I turn to Derek, "Take her home. Damien and I can handle the rest."

Derek hesitates but nods in agreement. He trots over to our side. I turn to Rina. "Get home safe."

"I'm sorry I can't help you anymore," she tells me, her voice shaking with fear and a bit of pain from her unwanted shift.

"Don't worry about it, I want you safe. Now go."

She nods, she hops onto Derek's back and they take off through the back door. I watch until they get deep enough into the forest where I can't see them any longer. I sigh in relief. She's safe now.

My attention focuses back onto the house.

It's still eerily silent. I walk over toward the dinning room, where Rina went. I bend down and examine the trap. It's makeshift and a pretty easy trap to put together. This looks like it was made in a short period of time. It's likely that she is still in the house and set this up right before we got here. The real question is, why hasn't she popped out yet?

I shift into my white wolf. My paws touching the wooden floor. I turn and see Damien. He is sniffing around furiously. He obviously was either oblivious to the scene that just happened with Rina or he just simply didn't care. I don't know which option I hate more. I make my way over to him. He seems to have caught on to some scent.

He trails up the wooden stair case. He isn't careful to be quiet. His nails clack and tick against the hard surface beneath his paws. I almost roll my eyes at him, but instead I let out a warning grunt. He hears my opinion, but decides to blatantly ignore it. He makes it to the top of the stairs, still smelling the area. We are now in a long hallway that contains several doors.

Damien continues his tedious sniffing.

He traces a path all the way down to the door on the far left hand side of the hallway. I continue behind him. He sniffs the door ferociously. Then he growls angrily. He takes a few steps back. It appears he is getting ready to ram the door down. I want to growl at him for being such a loud and untamed idiot, but something beats me to the punch line.

"Well, well, well." The voice is loud as it echoes around us. "I'm over here little wolves."

A door unlocks from behind us. I jump a bit in shock and turn around. Out steps Lauraine. Her blue eyes dark with anger. In her hand is a gun. She glares directly at us. She aims the gun in our direction, but more so at Damien, who is behind me but still in front of the door.

"Would you look at what the cat dragged in."