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“Ashleigh!” Granger shouted, trying to warn her.

Ashleigh hissed in pain as she moved just in time, only grazed by the arrow.

She grabbed her arm and cursed as she hit the ground hard. Granger was beside her in an instant.

“Are you alright?” he asked quickly.

“I’m fine, it stings, but it’s fine,” she answered, looking around them into the trees. “Where are they?”

Granger looked around, he tried to listen, but the wind around them was picking up.

“I can’t tell. There’s too much wind.”

“We can’t stay here,” she replied quietly, still keeping her eyes on the trees. “There!” she shouted, springing from her place on the ground when she saw just the slightest hint of movement.

As she got to her feet and started running, she began to shift. Something she had practiced many times. It was challenging and painful, but it was the best way to quickly and ruthlessly down an enemy. Which was precisely her style.

Her friends and family never understood why she trained herself so hard and often. She was strong, she was skilled, and she was determined.

But her body lacked the stamina to hold out in a long fight. She trained herself in quick bursts.

Her attacks were fast and lethal, not hesitating to go for vital organs in the first hit. Instead, she found her target and ripped through the flesh and tendons of his throat in one hard snap of her jaws._.

She shook the man’s body loose and let it drop to the ground. Another came down at her from above, she moved out of the way. Spinning her body around in time to catch his arm between her teeth. She bit down until she felt the cracking of his bones and then clenched her jaw shut like a bear trap severing the limb.

In the distance, she saw that Granger had found one of the archers and taken his bow, staying in human form as he fought at range. She counted at least four more assailants hiding among the trees. Two of them were trapped by Granger’s inescapable reach, but the other two tried to make their way around the trees to sneak up behind him.

Ashleigh ran as fast as she could to the one closest to her. She tackled him to the ground, biting at him, but he managed to hold her away from his body, though it was a struggle. Then, finally, she saw a dagger at his waist and took a gamble.

She shifted on top of him, her wolf form quickly turning back to her human form. He was distracted enough that she could reach down and grab the dagger. Immediately she plunged it into the side of his neck and twisted it before pulling it back out.

Ashleigh looked back up at Granger, just in time to see him thrust an arrow upwards into the bottom of the second man’s jaw. An arrow landed in the snow beside her. The two men, previously trapped by Granger, were now trying to take back control.

As Granger returned fire, Ashleigh snarled and charged toward the man who tried to shoot her at high speed. She reached him, and with the full force of her speed, she gripped him by the throat and pinned him straight to the ground.

He let out a sickening gurgle as she crushed his windpipe. Ashleigh felt an arrow glide past her, and she followed its trajectory with her eyes to find the man whose arm she had torn off. The arrow found purchase in his left eye socket. He stumbled and then tumbled forward, pushing it the rest of the way through his skull.

She looked back in the direction the arrow had come from. There stood Granger still holding his bow in the ready position. Then, finally, he put it down and looked at her.

“We need to find you some clothes,” he said, turning away from her.

Ashleigh was confused until she looked down and suddenly felt tense. She was used to wearing her armor in actual combat, armor with a skin mesh laid into it. But her running clothes, which were now shreds of fabric strewn about the bodies, did not have any kind of skin mesh. So there she stood over a dead body, naked and covered in blood.

Quickly she took the coat of the dead man’s body. Then, covering herself up, she hurried past Granger.

“You need something more than that!” he called after.

“I know!” she shouted back. “Just look around and make sure there aren’t any others!”

Ashleigh was suddenly very glad she had so many hidden duffels around the Winter territory.

***

When Granger and Ashleigh made it back to the Northern Base, they were shocked to find people in a frenzy. On their way into the main building where Alpha Wyatt was stationed, they overheard that there had been several attacks. Different sections of the border across the entire

Winter territory had similar experiences.

“Well, it seems you two found yourselves a bit of fun,” called a deep voice from behind them.

They turned to find a large man, the same height as Granger, but shoulders a bit wider, neck thicker. Again, those same pale blue eyes and dark hair, though styled properly in Viking fashion with five twisted braids tied in a knot, led to one loose braid in the back.

“Beta Richard,” Ashleigh greeted her almost father-in-law with a warm smile.

“Always a pleasure, Ashleigh.”

“What are you doing here, Father?” Granger asked with concern.

“These skirmishes are everywhere, Son. Not just the northern territories are being attacked. As the Alpha’s representative in the southern territory, I am here to report and receive orders.”

Granger’s father was the Beta of Winter, the second to Alpha Wyatt. While they would work closely together in most packs with a constant united front, that was not the case in Winter. The territory and her people were too large to be housed in one area.

Winter was divided between the Northern and Southern territories. Alpha Wyatt still ruled overall, but Beta Richard oversaw the day-to-day in the South and reported any concerns to Wyatt.

“How bad is it?” Granger asked.

“Not very,” Richard replied smiling, “I am mostly here because of the number of attacks, and clearly, it is not an isolated event.”

“Let’s go see my father,” Ashleigh offered.

Richard looked her over and chuckled.

“Ashleigh, while I appreciate your enthusiasm. Perhaps Granger and I should report to Alpha Wyatt, I don’t mean to be rude, but you stink of the rogue wolves.”

Ashleigh looked down; she wore a tracksuit, but she was still covered in the blood of the men that had attacked.

“Right,” she laughed, “I will get washed up and then join you.”

Ashleigh turned and headed in the direction of the showers. Granger and his father continued down the hall until they were stopped once more by another familiar voice.

“Granger! Granger!” Bell shouted as she ran towards him.

“Whoa, whoa, Bell.” Granger stopped her as she ran straight into him. His father gave the nod and then continued on his way.

“Sorry,” she gasped out as she tried to catch her breath. “Someone… saw you… and Ash… covered in blood.”

She coughed as she gasped to catch her breath.

“Breathe. We are fine,” Granger said, patting her back. “I need to go and report to Alpha Wyatt. We’ll find you after, ok?”

“No, wait!” Bell called, grabbing his arm. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“What about Ashleigh? Where is she? They said she was covered in blood.”

“We’re both fine, seriously. Scratches at most,” Granger answered, trying to leave once more.

Bell grabbed his arm.

“Where!” she shouted, pulling at him.

He ripped his arm back, irritated now.

“Bell! Seriously, I am fine. I need to go report to the Alpha!” he shouted.

“You don’t understand!” Bell shouted, pulling him. “Our people have serious injuries, they seem like nothing at first, but the invaders coated their weapons in wolfsbane!”

Granger was stunned. Wolfsbane was deadly to all the wolves. So much so that even if a pack went to war against another, they would not use it. The risk of accidental deaths on their own side was too high.

“Granger!” Bell shouted, getting his attention once more. “You said scratches, show me.”

“No, I didn’t get them from a weapon. I was out of range most of the time.”

“What about Ashleigh?” Bell asked.

“No, she was fine, she—” Granger started to answer when a flash of memory came to him, an arrow whizzing past him at the start of the fight. Ashleigh had grabbed her arm then. “Oh, Goddess…”

“Granger, where is she?” Bell demanded.

“She went to get cleaned up, the showers!” he shouted after Bell, who was already running, before finishing his sentence.

Bell raced down the hallways pushing past anyone in her way. She shoved open the doors to the showers. She could hear the water running from several stalls.

“Ashleigh!” she called out as she walked down the row of individual showers.

No answer.

“Ashleigh, are you—” Bell stopped as she rounded the corner to see an arm sticking out from underneath a shower curtain.

Bell ran forward, pulling the curtain aside to find Ashleigh unconscious with the water spilling over her.