Autumn Leaves

3 // Crossing territory

I stopped immediately when I smelt a strong wolf scent, why hadn't I noticed it before? I was a little frightened and looked around to catch a glimpse of the wolf approaching me. But it seemed as if no one was near. It was awfully silent even Kiera had stopped howling, I tilted my ears to all directions but didn't hear anything except the birds tweeting in the background.

Listen more carefully.

I closed my eyes and concentrated just on my hearing sense. As soon as I heard it, I ran. It was the loud pounding heart of a werewolf, probably male. My stalker ran after me but I could hear from the way his paws hitting the ground that he was heavy and large, my wolf was small and slim which gave me the advantage of speed. But still, the stalker kept up with my speed and slowly started to remove the distance between us.

Kiera what do we do?

I asked her in panic.

I don't know, just run as fast as you can. We can't fight him, he's too strong.

But before I could reply another wolf attacked me from the side and pushed me over, I dropped to the ground and rolled over a few times. I tried to scramble up but a heavy weight pushed me down. The wolf that was following me also arrived and I was completely frozen in fear. There was no way I could handle two adult male wolves.

The stalker walked over to a tree and shifted behind it. A muscular guy in his late twenties with nothing but swimshorts on walked from behind the tree towards me. "Shift!" He demanded as he shared eyecontact with the large grey wolf holding me down. His eyes were a dark, almost black colour and his hair was the same.

I hesitated, I was a young teenage girl in front of two adult men, and if I'd shift I'd be naked. The guy could see my hesitation and laughed. "You think we're going to assault you? Please, we're just protecting our pack's territory. "

Territory? Had I missed their marks?

He took a blanket out of the backpack he had hidden behind the tree and threw it at me. "Here, now shift!" He barked viciously and I realized I had no choice.

I shifted and immediately wrapped the blanket around my body. Luckily I wasn't very tall so it covered most of me. The wolf holding me down shifted too and I looked away while he put on his swimshorts as well. "What are you doing here?" The stalker asked loudly. I trembled in fear, knowing there was only a small chance I'd survive this.

"No reason really, I just thought this place was neutral since I didn't notice any marks." I stammered quietly, and I looked down, completely humiliated. He snorted and slowly started walking around me. "How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen, tomorrow I'll turn sixteen." I replied hesitantly. I shifted my gaze from one guy to the other, wondering what they were going at. They shared another gaze, probably talking through mind-link. "Do you hear that Seth, she's still a puppy." The stalker laughed and his buddy, Seth, laughed with him. I was extremely scared and tears were welling up in my eyes, did I really have to end like this?

"Then, pup, why are you a rogue, did your mate reject you, or I bet your Alpha banned you because you were too tiny and weak." His words were mean and sadistic, but they didn't touch me because they were untrue. "No," I said, surprising myself and the two men. "I just wanted to be free."

They shared another weird look and I narrowed my eyes as I scanned my options for escape. "Now, what are you going to do to me?"I asked them bluntly. Seth growled at me, and I shut up. "We're waiting for the Alpha's orders, so be patient kid." The stalker told me with a snarl. I flinched and looked at the ground, losing the courage as sudden as I got it.