Chapter 8

"Where to start?" Kiera prowled the ground of the forest. Picking up small game scents, but the heavy scent of predator was overwhelming. The forest screamed to her and when she let lose her humanity. Everything came to life, the trees, the scraping of the dirt. The wolf's eyes had become a deep purple. Jay not being the cleverest with trying to hide his pawprints, it was easy to find him but to win she had to catch him like actual prey.

With the forest being dim, her black coat played in her favor. With the pawprints clear as day in the dirt arriving in the clearing didn't take very long. Jay was messing with a butterfly completely unaware of the wolf settling in behind him. Keira's muscles ripped beneath her coat and pulling her body closer together she was on top of him. The young pup squeaked in surprise when he had a large paw pinning him to the ground.

"Guess who's pinned." Kiera smirked down at Jay who was simply a giggling mess.

"That was fun! Can we do it again?" His eyes were sparkling a bright green.

"No I've got to get the others. Go wait by the house." With that Kiera disappeared into the forest.

Little later she had managed to catch Emma her fur giving away her hiding spot. While Maroon didn't exactly try, she had been sitting in the same potion and when Kiera had found her and she had simply got up and walked toward the house. Leaving the Alpha in confusion but simply moved on. She still had to find the others. There was Jazz and Katie both seemed to be well hidden. Well, Jazz was but Katie wasn't the scent Kiera was looking for, at the moment.

Each paw step was set carefully on the ground. If there was anyone who could get the best of Kiera it was defiantly Jazz. He was like her apprentice he knew how she stalked and how to be patient like her when going after a target. That also made him the most dangerous of them out here. The flip side of this game was that prey was also predator meaning that if Kiera didn't have her wits about her she could be taken out just as easily.

Minutes of the game had passed the sound of the forest became darker and creepier. By now Keira was waiting in the middle of a clearing waiting for Jazz to make his move. The wind had picked up a little, mixing scents together. Jazz was attempting to mess with her senses and sadly it was not working the way he had planned. Considering it was his favorite element and his signature move. Kiera just pulled her hind legs in to lie down making herself seem venerable.

Leaves started to shuffle and a sudden stop in scent. Jazz was planning his pounce but what he didn't know was that he had made himself a bigger target. If he was smart he could take it one of two ways. The first being that he stays put and continue with his current plan and fail to catch Kiera off guard or the second he could do was make sure that his prey knew that his prey was there and attack her directly.

A moment passed and out came Jazz his grey pelt was now shimmering in the sunlight. Except instead of jumping on top of Kiera he had opted to jump over her and take her head on. His body was tense and ridged while Kiera's was relaxed and loose giving her the advantage.

"Kiera you're not going to win if you just lie there on the ground." Jazz's voice dripped with annoyance.

"At the moment, I'm not trying to win just to enjoy the warm sunlight on my fur." Jazz was pawing the ground and his eyes hard and focused trying to figure out what was going on in Kiera's head.

"Gah! Why must you do this? This isn't part of the game!" Jazz was whining now and this was what Kiera had been waiting for. An opening when his defenses would be lowered. Fast as she was Jazz was a tad too slow to block her attack. But she couldn't pin him to the ground like she had hoped. He had learned fast and well from the pack which would come in handy if the pack was ever to be attacked.

He managed to put space between him and Kiera causing them to circle one another around and around. The other waiting for the first strike, the tension was building as the time passed slowly. Every paw step more calculating than the last. Until Kiera got fed up and stopped completely.

"Take a damn risk! An enemy won't toy with you for as long as I have. You must be prepared for everything and anything. Rouges do not show mercy and when it comes down to it you have to think and predict." Kiera snarled as her body flew through the air.

"I know! But your next to impossible to beat!" The grey wolf snapped at Kiera's legs. "Then make it possible and never give up hope. Pretend that I'm not me but someone going after your mate and pups." This caused Jazz's body to forcibly relax and his eyes change to the same deep violet color.

With a new focus in mind Jazz's attacks got better. He was still a little off step when it came to Kiera though but then again she had toned down her reaction time so he had a chance. After a few hits back and forth, Jazz slid on the grass and had no time to get up before Kiera was on top of him. She had won the match this time but by a thin margin. Jazz laid on the ground for a bit longer attempting to catch his breath.

"Good work but just watch your footing next time." Kiera smiled down at the young male beneath her.

"I'm supposed to go to the house now, right?" He said getting up on all paws. His eyes came back to the bright grey blue oceans.

"Yup the game is almost over I just have to find her." Jazz gave her a look. "What?"

"Nothing you just do you okay?" He turned and just broke into a run.

"Whatever. Okay if I was a jaguar I would for the trees."

Katie's POV

With Kiera's words ringing in her ears she took advantage of her spots and her climbing abilities. Where was she now? In a tree, right above where Kiera had taken out Jay. She had an idea of how Kiera stalked prey now, she had moved quickly and silently then afterwards would wait a few seconds to make sure she had the perfect attack strategy.

Katie liked to think she was lucky considering wolves can't climb trees unless she had other plans to get her down. Yikes she could probably do it too. Looking back down at the ground, she watched as the black wolf pulled out of the underbrush her fur in sticking in different directions. Apparently, this was important enough to stop and fix before moving on. This was slightly out of character for her though she never really cared about how she looked, she would walk into school as if she had just crawled out of bed.

A twig snapped and that had caught Kiera's attention and she went to investigate. Giving Katie a chance to breathe a little before she had to take up a new hiding place, well that was the plan until there was a human playing with her tail.

"I thought you were going after the twig?" Katie glanced over her shoulder, Kiera's eyes were focused on her spotted pelt than what she was saying. "Kiera?"

"Sorry what?" Kiera looked up and was slightly still dazed. "You were going after the twig?"

"Oh right! Yeah that was more of a distraction for you. It caused you to let your guard down. I knew that you were sitting above me and Jay earlier but I wanted you to believe that you had the upper hand in your situation." Kiera smirked as the jaguar just flicked the end of her tail.

"How'd you get up here anyway? Wolves can't climb trees" Kiera just nodded. "Your right they can't but humans can and even more so when there are ropes leading up to higher branches." Katie's mouth just fell open as she took in the info.

"We should probably get down huh?" Kiera looked down sending a wave of panic through the jaguar.

"Damn to high up to jump down without breaking anything. Oh, well." Kiera jumped down to the next branch and continued to do so until she shifted back into the wolf form and just jumped out of the tree the smuggest grin on her face. You idiot. Katie started her own way down was in a much more fluid motion then what Kiera's was.

"So you should shift back to human form." Katie shot her a questioning look. Kiera switched back to hers but her eyes were burning for something. Letting out a soft sigh she obeyed. Her body relaxing and shifting into her human form. It didn't hurt like it did when she first started to shift that was just painful.

When she had opened her eyes, Kiera was in front of her with her lips against her own. She was caught off guard a little when it had happened considering that they had only kissed once and even that was short. This one was much more passionate and lust full. Afraid of the kiss ending she kissed back and brought her hands up to wrap around the wolf's neck. But soon her wolf pulled back and had a light dusting of pink on her cheeks.

"How was that for you?" Kiera smirked and her eyes danced.

"I think I want more of it but I don't want the pack to worry about us. So, let's head back?" Katie rubbed Kiera's shoulders before turning and started walking before lifting an arm out to the wolf so she could take it.

"Fine. But you are so mine when we get back." Katie giggled and lead the wolf out.

"Okay."