Heart's Desire

Chapter 41

~ Kit 

I run.

With my heart on fire with fear, I fly down the ridge's steep slope. Gravity helps, and in long leaps from the tops of rocks and fallen logs and several slides on soft soil, I reach the bottom in less than two minutes. Then I race out across the open meadow-plain towards the line of trees on the other side.

I've just reached it when a spine-tingling howl rises from the ridge behind and above me. It's Ferrualt, and a moment later the rest of his Wolves join in a discordant clamor. As each Wolf exhausts his breath, the howls cease.

Then it's Dane's turn, and his Pack join him, one by one.

The last voice to join is low and sonorous, and seems to reverberate in my chest, and I stop to listen. It's the voice of my Mate, and as the others fall silent, leaving him to sing alone, I hear his whole heart in the sound.

I shouldn't be wasting precious seconds standing still, but I want to hear every note.

He draws it out as long as he can with his powerful lungs, because when silence falls again, the Hunt begins.

As the note fades, I look down at my shadow, cast by the nearly risen moon. My nine tails swish like a fan, and a thought strikes me. Nine against nine, Ferrault had said — and I've got one tail for each pair. Noah had told me kitsune are masters of illusion and tricks of the mind, and I'd changed my appearance before, but I'd never tried anything like this.

Holding the image clear in my mind, I act on instinct and leap in the air, snapping at the moon as if I could catch and sever its beams in my jaws. Landing with splayed legs, I study my shadow, and wave my tail. Eight other shadow-foxes wave theirs, too.

Then the last note of Monty's wolfsong fades, the moon slips free of the horizon, and three sharp yips signal that the Hunt has begun. I turn and sprint for the trees. The shadow-foxes turn and sprint, too, in eight other directions, like arrows shot from the tips of a nine-pointed star.

~ ☾ ~

~ Monty 

In a chaos of snarls and snapping teeth, the Wolves descend the ridge. Gaining the advantage at the start of a Hunt can be the difference between victory and defeat, and both Packs know it as each looks for opportunities to take a rival out.

With my size, nobody gets in my way as I half-fall, half-run down the steep slope; on the other hand, my size slows me down, too, and before long only Ambrose is behind me.

Being the only one of us with no more than human strength and speed, he takes the descent careful and slow. That was the plan, though, as we'd discussed on the way here: Ambrose, with his healing ability and fiery defenses, would bring up the rear, and help any casualties he came across.

We hoped there wouldn't be any, but we knew better than to expect such luck.

At the bottom, I reach the level meadow and pick up speed, gaining ground quickly now that it's obstacle-free. Up ahead, I hear yips and barks of excitement and confusion, see Freya, Martin, Sasha, and Ophelia split off in various directions, each chasing one of Ferrault's wolves. A darting shadow among the pines tells me Darius has spotted something, too, and I stumble to a halt, unsure which path to follow.

A human voice startles me, the sound utterly unexpected in the middle of a Hunt.

"It's a kitsune trick," Noah gasps, the last of his fur melting back into skin as he Shifts, stumbling towards me from the brush. Shifting mid-run is disorienting, as the brain struggles to keep up with a drastic change, and he holds himself up with handfuls of my fur, grasping either side of my head. "Dane's gone straight for the stones, and Ferrault went after him. The rest of us are playing along to buy time."