Fool's Pride

Chapter One

Ava looked around the mossy forest floor, she'd shifted in a hurry and had accidently dropped her prized possession, her mother's necklace. Cursing her useless shifter eyes, she dropped down on her hands and knees, brushing aside damp leaves and twigs.

"Okay, seriously, I know you're around here somewhere," she mumbled under her breath. She glanced up at the tree canopies, and wished for a minute that they weren't so thick, so that maybe a ray of sunshine would poke through and glint off of the metal.

Ava heard a crunch of twigs off to her right, but brushing it off as a rabbit or something equally unintimidating, she continued her search, growing more and more desperate with each passing second. What would happen if she lost it for good? This was her last reminder of her mother, and if she lost the small picture within the locket, she might just forget what her mother had looked like.

Breath becoming quick with her panic, Ava began frantically searching through the mushy forest floor, crawling forward until she was looking upon a pair of brown work boots covered in mud. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but at this moment someone was occupying those boots. Ava's gaze went up and up and up, until she finally met the hard eyes of the behemoth standing above her. Her neck was craned at an awkward angle because he was so tall. She gave a timid smile and a little wave, sensing the beast that lay within him. Some form of big prey shifter, for sure. Perhaps a lion or a bear of some kind.

"What are you doing here? This is my territory." A growl accompanied his words. Definitely a bear shifter, probably one of those really big ones, like a Kodiak or something. Ava stood slowly, torn between defending herself and asserting her dominant nature, or taking the smart route and backing down.

The lioness within her body gave a warning snarl that reverberated through her chest, showing that the latter wasn't really an option after all. Ava had been kicked out of her pride because she had been too dominant. Being dominant in and of itself isn't a bad thing, it's required that there are some dominant and some submissive shifters for a peaceful coexistence. The problem with Ava specifically is that she was a dominant lioness... lionesses are supposed to be submissive. It makes it easier on the alpha lion that way. Ava thought of Scar with disdain and a little amusement. She had gotten kicked out because she had challenged 'Scar' for the role of alpha, which is unheard of within prides. His name, Scar, had been a testament to that day. Ava had dragged her long claws along his face during their battle, and instead of accepting defeat when he had obviously lost, he had jerked his head and several other lionesses had come forward to take Ava down. Then, she was banished, even shunned by the surrounding prides. He probably claimed that he got the scars fighting another male lion in order to try and protect his ego. His name was Brian before he started going by Scar. Not very intimidating. 

"I'm here to challenge the alpha of the Greystone pack." Ava announced, feeling pretty confident in her ability to intimidate this male. Random challenges for alpha were commonplace among shifters, it was how they assured that the strongest were in power. A female challenging for alpha? Not so commonplace. Shifters hold on to some very old customs and traditions, like the idea that women should stay back in dens caring for children, ensuring that the shifter progeny make it to their adulthood. Ava didn't respect this outdated tradition.

She tilted her chin slightly at the man standing before her, an obvious slight within the shifter community, and stood with her feet about shoulder length apart, making her small stature appear more intimidating, hopefully. While her human body may be small and unintimidating, her lioness was a force to be reckoned with. The man only scoffed and crossed his arms.

"You?" Was his incredulous reply. Ava narrowed her eyes and nodded. "What are you, like a buck ten sopping wet?"

"What I weigh has nothing to do with this," Ava bit out, a rumble starting in her chest, her lioness not happy about being talked down to. She felt her lioness within her, itching to break out and show this jerk just how long her claws are. A heavy presence settled in the air around Ava, her dominant side coming out in an attempt to make him submit to her. The aura fell around them like a wet blanket, a force that would have smothered out the fight of less impressive shifters. Of course, this man also held a beast within, so he wasn't so easily deterred. 

"That's a feisty little kitty you got in you, ain't it?" He didn't sound intimidated whatsoever. Ava let a snarl escape, she could feel her teeth elongating. It wouldn't be a good idea to shift and fight this man, though, because it would be the same as declaring war on whichever pack this man belonged to. There were rules and customs that needed to be followed during a challenge. Just charging up to a strange pack's territory and mindlessly slaughtering pack members is how humans find out about shifters- something no one wants. 

"If you'll excuse me, I was looking for something before you showed up." Ava said tightly, realizing that she wasn't going to get information from this man. She promptly began to ignore him, dropping to her hands and knees once more, shuffling around and looking for the glint of silver. Fortunately, the same customs that dictated that she couldn't just attack this man are the same ones that state that he cannot just blindly attack her without reason. Luckily, a civilly stated alpha challenge is not one of those reasons.

Suddenly, the object which she was searching for was dangled in front of her face, held by the tan hand of the stupid man who wouldn't leave her alone.

"Looking for this?" The man asked, a smug grin on his face. Ava went to snatch it out of his hand, but he pulled it back and dropped it into the front pocket of his blue jeans before she could do anything. That's when Ava lost it and launched herself onto the man.