Frosted Bonds

Prologue: The hunters

A deep ache filled me as I lowered my body further to the ground. The trees seemed to close in on me as time passed on. I had been thankful for them, but now I wish for it to be somewhere else. The attacks had been relentless and the result surly showed in the form of jagged cuts that went bone deep, a few bullets and arrows lodged in various places, a few cracked ribs, and multiple places missing fur.

I snorted softly as I rested a little. It wasn't long until I heard them and rose slowly. They came through the trees until a total of eight men and nine women surrounded me. I growled at them and scratched lightly at the ground as the leader stepped forward. She had dull brown eyes filled to the brim with malice even if none showed upon her gaunt face, pale brown hair, and thin lips. Her voice was filled with confidence, "Come now, Snow, give up and save yourself the pain of running. It won't be long now until you can't move. The sea stone will make sure of that."

My lips drew back as I growled at her. My ears pinned back against my head as my tail lashed out lightly. The group around me chuckled nervously as they eyed me warily. I snarled at her as I snapped my teeth, "Go to hell Hag! I won't let it end like this!"

She sighed in mock disappointment as I waited for a good moment to take off again. While she was right about the sea stone, I had grown used to having small amounts so close to me. It came with wielding sea stone daggers. My moment came when she turned slightly and began to speak. I lept at her for the first time and managed to claw her face as I sailed past her when she shouted, "What the hel-

She screamed as I landed with grace and took off without looking back. Hopefully she died from that since I knew my claws had bitten deeply into the soft skin of her face. A grin graced my face at the thought. It served the bitch right.

My paws easily ate up the ground as I ran. I wasn't really watching where I was going as I focused on getting outta there. Feeling nothing but air below me after a few moments caused me to yelp out a curse, "Fuck!

I looked below me and saw the deck of a ship. A curse left me at the sight of the people manning it. I could see the shock on many faces as I fell towards the open deck and felt amused. The landing was going to hurt and most likely knock me out, but at least they're better than that bitc-

Thud!

All I knew was darkness.