The Final Battle (Living in a Pack Book Three)

Chapter One: Mountain Climbing

Snow swirled around my feet as I stood at the bottom of the mountain, staring up at the peak above.

"Are you sure we have to go all the way up there?" I moaned. "It's so far up."

"Unfortunately." Theo muttered behind me.

"It's either this or we all get slaughtered." Cameron chipped in.

"Man how I've missed your cheerful comments Cam." I grinned at him. "Well we might as well get this done, but I'm sure as hell not walking up this damn hill on two legs." I growled.

"That's a pretty big hill." Dylas complained. I ignored him leapt forward, shifting as I went and landing with a thump in the snow as a polar bear. I dashed forward up the hill. Plowing through the snow with my strong muscular legs. It didn't take long for the rest of my friends to follow suit in their animal forms as well. I bolted up the slope, pushing hard against the deep snow. We had no idea how or where exactly the gryphons were located. We had managed to track it to this mountain but that's all we knew. Hell, I couldn't even figure out how gryphons had been hiding up here for so long without anyone seeing them. Gryphons didn't have a human form, they couldn't hide in plain site, which, I suppose is why they spent their lives hiding in the mountains. I let my mind wander in thought the drop in front of me until I felt the ground drop away from underneath my paws. I roared in shock as I hit the ice below with a large thump. I my jaw hit the ice with a crack sending pain reverberating through my skull.

"Iris!" I heard Dylas' panicked voice coming from somewhere behind me. He must have shifted back when I fell. Before I even had the chance to move he was there in front of me. He gently lifted my head in his hands and stared at me. I'm sure that was a sight. Some random dude holding the huge head of a polar bear in his hands while he stares into its eyes. I shook him off and snorted at him. He huffed and me in return and folded his arms dramatically. "Well excuse me for showing a little concern." I rolled my eyes at him and sat up before shifting back.

"Why is this hole even here anyway?" I growled looking around.

"It appears to be some sort of frozen over cave entrance." Cameron observed staring down at the ice beneath his feet. He was right. You could see the dark rocky cave walls through the ice.

"Um, don't you think maybe we should get off of it then?" Dan asked rather nervously.

"Nah." Theo shook his head. "It's pretty thick it should hold." He said examining the ice closely. "Look see?" He began jumping up and down to prove his point.

"I can just see his ending badly." Amber muttered, watching her mate from a few feet away.

"You wish." Theo snorted. He jumped again. "I know ice. Believe - meeeeeeeeee....." his voice trailed off as the ice beneath his feet cracked and he was swallowed up by the darkness of the cave below us.

"Shit." I groaned as I watched the cracks in the ice began to spread.

"SCATTER" Dylas roared. His alpha blood rang clearly in his voice. Everyone obeyed without a second thought but we weren't fast enough. I felt the ice give way under my feet and I plummeted into darkness. I braced myself for the impact of my body against the hard stone but it never came. I felt a small thump and when I opened my eyes I was sliding on my back through the darkness. I realized with a jolt that there wasn't as much of a drop as we had anticipated. Instead the cave slopped downwards into the darkness.

I felt the slope begin to taper off into flat ground, my body slowly sliding to a stop. It wasn't long before my friends were lying next to me.

"Took you long enough." A voice muttered from the darkness. I blinked and looked in it's direction, my shifter eyes kicking in making it easier for me to see. It was Theo, he was kneeling on the ground a couple feet away watching us. Amber got up and punched Theo hard in the arm.

"Don't ever scare me like that again." She growled through gritted teeth. Her voice was angry but the relief in her eyes betrayed her true feelings.

"I love you too." Theo grinned at Amber. "Oh and keep your voice down."

"Why?" I whispered.

"Because," Theo grinned again, "I think we've found us some gryphons." He pointed behind to something behind us. I wipped my head around and looked behind me. Huge creatures patrolled the cave around us. They were gryphons alright, huge with the back half of a lion and the front half of an eagle. Some strolled the cave floor, others were flying around, and others were going in and out of holes in the cave walls that must lead to other caves or rooms. Light filtered from the top of the cave through what looked like sky lights with ice as the glass. That must have been what we had fallen through.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath. "We finally find the gryphons and the first thing we do is shattered their windows."

"It would appear things haven't started out well for you have they." A voice i didn't recognize startled me from the shadows. I whipped around so fast my neck hurt. I gulped loudly as I came face with the impossibly large face of a bald eagle.

"Shit." Sasha swore under her breath from somewhere to my right. "How are we ever going to convince them to join us now?"

~~~~~~~~~~

And that's the first chapter of book three. I mean like besides the prologue anyway. Enjoy.

-Polar