I popped my head out of the door and looked down the corridor casually, I’d memorised the plan of the pack house for when the time came, and that time is now.

From what I’d been told about these files, they were located in a separate notebook which should be locked away in a secure safe—not secure enough though, since I could break into it.

I had been here for two days and so far I hadn’t done much to complete my assignment; kill Rosy Sterling and her family, steal a copy of the folders on the pack wolves and rogues.

I was about to break into the alpha’s office and take the files before heading back to the safe house to make multiple copies. I may need them in the future and I don’t want Rieker to have the only copy.

There was no one in the hallway and I could hear them all breathing downstairs, awaiting the arrival of the werewolf king, Andrew Nightingale, and his guards who would be arriving in the next half hour to discuss how they were going to track down the hunters, specifically me.

I could hear their hushed voices as I silently crept towards the closed door and smiled. They thought I was out cold because the stress had finally caught up to me. Oh, how wrong they were. You should never trust anyone, let alone a stranger.

I reached the end of the hallway, with still no one in sight I tested the door handle; locked, as expected.

Careful extracting my Kunai, a dagger with many uses, a valuable tool and weapon if need be.I strained my senses as I popped the lock and slipped into the office. You’d think they might be slightly suspicious when hearing the pop of a lock and creak of an upstairs door when no one was meant to be up here.

It took me twenty- five seconds exactly to crack the safe and as I slid my hand inside I heard multiple cars pull up outside the pack house and there were shared greetings, words and handshakes.

I noticed that the air changed and became heavily saturated with power, alpha power, the king was here.

The click of a door handle sounded behind me and I turned to see Matthias.

“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you Hunter!” He lunged at me and I was knocked backwards into the wall, creating a loud crash and knocking the wind out of me. I know that there would be an imprint of my body as the sound of cracking wood echoed around the room.

“Did anyone else hear that?”

I stood and wiped the blood trickling out of my mouth, pulling out the shard of wood in my shoulder and charged Matthias. I had to focus on killing this stupid wolf and getting out without anyone else seeing me otherwise they will be able to identify me in the future; looks like I wouldn’t get the files today if I didn’t kill him quick enough.

I grabbed his wrist and snapped it in half, the bone sticking out. He snarled in pain and picked me up by the throat in a choke hold, growling like a rabid dog. I lifted my knee and kicked him right in the crotch while punching him in the face and breaking his nose.

I stood over him and picked him up by the throat as he was withering in pain on the ground and holding his dick. Using all my strength I whirled around and threw him out the window, making him fall three stories to the ground; it wouldn’t kill him and I still need to finish him off, but it would break a few bones. Glass shards were scattered everywhere and I had only a few seconds before the floor was swamped with guards.

I walked to the broken window and jumped out after him, landing with supernatural grace beside his trembling form as he tried to push himself up.

As footsteps sounded in the room I had just vacated I grabbed Matthias’ neck and punched him in a pressure point below the ear near the spine. If I’d hit it hard he would be dead; which is my prerogative.

I grabbed the left side of his neck and the right side of his, intending to twist and snap his neck. There was a growl and five men charged at me, forcing me to let go of his head and face them.

Five came at me and I round kicked one under the chin and he ended up on the ground, neck broken. The next idiot came at me from the side and tried to pin me to the ground. I swung around and cupped his ears, stunning him before I kicked him hard in the liver which resulted in him lying on the floor convulsing in pain. A punch to the nose to another making him fall back holding his now broken nasal cavity. The other two fell as I punched them in the Adam’s apple and larynx.

I stood and growled at the group in front of me, one enforcer holding a gun. I registered the stinging pain as a dart sunk into my stomach, the paralytic spreading through my system. I shifted and lunged at him, his body hit the ground with a thump and the gun flew away from the group. I tore into his neck and severed his head in a bloody bite and turned to retreat; I wouldn’t win this if I stuck around since they had drugged me and hundreds of enforcers were running out of the pack house. I wasn’t invisible and I knew it.

As I passed the gun I smashed it with my paw and sprinted into the forest. Tonight I will have to come back and exterminate them all; Rieker would be pleased at the death of the werewolf king and he might leave my sister and parents alone for a few months, his death would make up for the lost files.

Their heavy footsteps reverberated around the canopy as they clumsily crunched dried leaves, broke sticks and growled as they tried to follow my scent.

Doubling back I shifted so I was human and jumped up into a large fir tree. I was faster than any other wolf around since they were all male and I was smaller than them, but they had drugged me with some pretty powerful shit and I knew that it would put me at a disadvantage.

I scampered to the top of the tree, silently, and stealthy they wouldn’t find my scent due to the overwhelming smell of pine and the fact that I can make my scent less potent so it’s easier to hide; it had taken years of practise, but I had finally mastered it.

I hid in the needles, totally concealed as they passed the tree I was in, half had shifted and were large male wolves of assorted colours and the rest were wearing denim cut-offs, a few were holding tranquiliser guns and I nearly laughed at their stupidity. Tranquiliser, really? Like that pathetic shit’s gonna stop me.

I saw that Matthias was up; lucky bastard should be glad that he can even walk right now, that he was even alive.

I slowed my breathing and heart beat down so I took a breath every thirty seconds; he’s not stupid and would be listening for me to the best of his ability.

They passed me, with Matthias at the back, sniffing every single fucking tree and looking in every crevice and hiding place. He had scanned the tree I was hiding in, but I guess that he underestimated me and hadn’t thought that I’m a very good climber. One of the first things I was made to master when I was sent to Japan to train with the Shinobi, was climbing; climbing is essential in the life of a ninja and in many situations it’s the difference between getting caught and escaping. If a ninja ever got caught, it was expected that they would commit suicide, rather than spilling the secrets of our society. If the captured man or women didn’t kill themselves, then another shinobi would.

He circled around the tree I was in again, since I my scent was more concentrated in this area; he was being smart.

I was tempted to jump down from the tree and kill him, and I was about to since he was probably the only one out of the whole group who could take me on and not die immediately. I would have done just that if I hadn’t heard the group of a hundred or so enforcers with King Andrew and Alpha Miller leading the group.

“We lost her scent; we’ll have to go into lock down.” I could smell the humiliation, embarrassment and anger coming from Alpha Miller; honestly I don’t blame him, alphas are meant to protect their packs and here he let a threat through, one that killed his wolves and nearly snapped a beta’s neck.

I saw him pause and then he tried to hide a smile as I pushed my way into their minds, though it proves so much more difficult when they have a barrier up; which they all did.

I could only catch a few stray words, since these men had obviously had practise at blocking their enemies.

‘Hunter…’

‘Kill…’

‘Scent…’

‘Tracker…’

I shook my head slightly; if they got their hands on me, they would torture me for information, not they would get any and then lock me up for the rest of my life or better yet, kill me.

If I died my family would too; but they would be tortured first and kept alive for a few months before they got slaughtered like pigs.

I couldn’t let that happen.

-

It had been hours, ten to be exact. No one of the men had left, save for a select few whom later returned with mass amounts of food.

What were they waiting for? I could stay up here for days if need be.

Were they trying to starve me to see when I would emerge from my hiding place? Newsflash! Not going to happen; I’ve been starved for weeks, so a few hours doesn’t affect me.

These men are stupid if they think I’m just going to give up. I didn’t quit when things got tough. I would have died long ago if that were the case.

My ears perked up at the sound of paws hitting the ground. They were loud and I could tell that whatever was coming was huge.

An overlarge grizzly bear burst through the trees, surrounded by male wolves; a bear shifter. He shifted and I wasn’t surprised at how big this dude was; nearly 7 feet tall. His body was packed with muscle and he looked like someone that’d squish you with his pinkie finger. He had a broad and well- muscled chest that tapered down to a narrower waist, washboard abs and thick muscular legs, while his arms matched the rest of him- muscular. He had gorgeous sun- kissed caramel skin that was smooth and blemish free, tousled shiny, thick, ebony hair that gave him a ‘just got out of bed’ look, near black eyes, pink, full and plump lips that were set in a line with a distinct cupid’s brow, a chiselled strong jaw covered in black stubble and a straight nose.

“What is so important that you sent a private jet to Australia just to pick me up?” He growled, sliding on a pair of jeans.

“We need your nose.”

Now I understood. If I didn’t move now I would be fucked. Bears have the best sense of smell on Earth and once he smells my scent for the first time he’ll be on me in milliseconds.

I shifted around the tree so slowly that none of them would notice, as they handed him a shred of fabric I had been wearing.

It was now or never.

I jumped out of the giant fir tree. The moment my feet hit the ground I shifted and took off running away from them.

I heard yells, growls and the popping and cracking of bones. The chase was on.

I weaved through trees, splashed through a creek to dislodge some of my scent and took off in another direction to confuse them, though with the bear they’ll find me; it’s guaranteed.

Our game of cat and mouse continued for hours and I could tell that they were tired of chasing me and I just wanted to get back to the safe house and leave for a few days. I still have a week and a half to kill the alpha family, and I plan on taking Nightingale down with them. It was nothing personal but would further my family’s safety; for that, I would do anything.

I had been leading them in the other direction of the safe house to mislead them so I veered off to the left to backtrack around the group to the safe house, from there I would get my poisons and taint their water source.

I could hear them in the spot I had just vacated so I soldiered forward, sprinting through the trees like an elusive shadow.

Up head I could hear the scraping of metal, humans and silver. It was a hunting party.

I was headed right for them and I had a decision to make; take on fifteen fully armed hunters or just over a hundred trained warriors, the king, a beta and an alpha. I know which one I was choosing.

I pounced on the first hunter and tore his head from his neck, it bounced off the ground with a thud and within a second I was onto the next hunter.

He screamed as I clawed his eyes out and cocked his gun. It was no use; he was dead before his body hit the ground.

Now that the element of surprise had disappeared and they all had their guns trained on me I had to take them down as quick as I could.

A gun went off and the silver bullet narrowly missed me as I lunged for the guy holding a silver trap. I tore out his stomach and intestines. They lay spread around his body, trap and gun in a puddle of gore, his eyes wide open and belly ripped out.

I dodged a knife and killed another two hunters who had been clutching each other in fear. They died screaming.

With eleven hunters left I knew I wouldn’t make it out without a few scratches so I jumped into another three of them, shredding their bodies with my deadly sharp teeth and vicious claws.

Surrounded by seven dead bodies and eight shaking hunters I could hear the other wolves and bear shifter approaching. It was time to finish this.

The others died in a chaotic mess of claws, teeth, blood and screams. I was left facing one remaining hunter, the weakest, most fearful teenage boy I have ever met; he looked around fourteen and his pissed himself. I smiled cruelly just as the wolves burst into the clearing and stopped dead in their tracks.

The youth swallowed loudly and aimed his gun at me. I lunged and it went off with a reverberating bang and I felt the silver bullet piece my stomach. I landed on him and with one swipe of my paw his head was rolling on the ground.

I stood on shaky legs and looked up to see myself surrounded. Fuck.

My stomach was bleeding profusely and if I didn’t get the bullet out soon it would heal over and the silver would be stuck in my system. Typically silver won’t allow a werewolf to heal. It would hurt like hell, burn like the sun and rot your insides until you dropped to the ground dead. But I’m immune to silver, purely down to the fact that I’ve become so accustomed to it. I’m not immune to bullets though.

I shifted, naked as the day I was born and covered in blood with a tear in above my belly button. I stuck my fingers into the hole and fished around, wincing as the sound of sucking and slurping bounced off the canopy. My fingers brushed the metal slug and I pulled it out, dumped it on the ground and stood up as my muscle and skin fibres sticked back together in front of my eyes. It was a sensation I had gotten used to; though it still felt itchy.

I turned and eyed up Nightingale and held back a grin at his chalky, slightly green complexion. Poor pup looked like he was about to lose his lunch.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see one of the enforcers raising a gun, trying to be discreet. They were going to shoot me again. I charged him and expecting him to duck I ran straight up the tree behind him and flipped over their heads, landing a few metres behind the king.

He whirled around and I made my first mistake; I took my eyes off the gun. A stinging pain erupted in my side and I looked down at the dart sticking out of me. Another shot off and caught me in my shoulder, and another in my thigh. I staggered back as they kept firing and soon I could feel the effects of whatever was in the darts.

I took a step back and snarled at the group of men, grabbing the darts and pulling them out. The longer they stayed in, the more toxins they got in.

I went to shift and run, but I couldn’t feel my wolf and my vision wavered.

“Why isn’t she going down? We’ve shot her with enough tranquillisers to take down two elephants!”

I felt five more stinging sensations; my neck, left breast, left ankle, cheek and arm.

I growled and lunged at the guy holding the gun, knocking it out of his hand and ripping his head off. My knees buckled and I hit the ground, holding his head. Rolling over three men stood over me, holding silver chains.

“Just knock her over the head; the drugs aren't working and we still need to clean up this mess.”

I blocked a blow to my temple as they tried to follow their alpha’s orders. One grabbed my and pulled my up by my hair as another bound my hands and feet. I struggled and successfully kneed him in the face. “Oi watch it bitch!” He spat.

I was helpless to black the next punch that sent me into oblivion.

That really didn’t go to plan.