The Dark Ages of Wolves

Rushing Danger

Jade:

I rushed to Hunter's side. He sat up, back making a loud popping noise as he was finally able to shift back again. We were at a temporary camp were the woudned were being treated. He lay on a cotton-made cot. 

"Hunter, your okay!" I said, and I hugged him. My arms wrapped around his neck, and he sat up in the bed to hug me back. 

"Stop it" it murmmered.

"What?" I whispered. I felt his thumb under my cheek to whipe away tears falling down my cheeks that I hadn't even noticed.

"Stop crying, I don't want to see my beautiful mate crying" he whispered. I couldn't help but smile and I hugged him tighter. He rubbed my back comfortingly, and I sighed. I loved the feeling of his arms around me. I felt like nothing could hurt me. The feeling of being loved so deeply, so safe, and so cared for. It was a great feeling especially when I felt Hunter bring his sweet lips to mine. We stayed like that for a few minutes until he broke the kiss.

"Hey Jade?" I heard Hunter whisper in my ear.

"Hmm?" I replied.

"You know the only thing seperating us is the sheet that's covering me" Hunter pointed out. I felt my face heat up with embarrasment, I let go of him, and punched his arm. 

"Ow, jeez you have a strong arm" he said rubbing his arm. He grinned,

"You still love me though" he said. I couldn't help but laugh,

"Yeah, I do" I told him. Thy guy I loved loved me, and I loved him, yet I felt like something was missing... Something was definetely missing. I brought my brown eyes up to Hunter's green eyes,

"Hunter... where's Morgan?" I asked.

"He frowned, she was with me on the way back, but.... I haven't seen her... I-" Hunter started to say. I stood up to look for her, but when I turned around I ran into Henry Lakefall. He wore a grim expression,

"Hunter our scouts have scented the Barbarian troops nearby. They were moving away quickly though" Henry told Hunter. I clenched my fists tightly.

"They took Morgan" I whispered.

"Jade-" Hunter said my name, but I continued,

"I'm going to go find her" I told him.

"Jade don't, wait till we can send someone out there" Hunter told me.

"Your mate is right, you should wait" Henry advised. 

"And then if they don't make it in time then what? Then what?!?!" I snapped. The corners of my lips twitched. I quickly sprinted off away from the camp into the snowy forest.

"Jade wait!" I heard Henry call after me. I could hear his footsteps behind me, but I was too fast. I was going to save Morgan, and I wouldn't let Barbarians kill her. 'But I don't even know where I'm going' I thought starting to doubt myself. I stopped to a sliding halt in the snow. 'Follow your gut, follow your gut' I todl myself. I continued moving throught hte snow until I came to a high point above  the ground below. I started down, and moving towards the barbarians. They carried someone, and no doubt it was Morgan. I ran towards them, but they obviously knew I was following them.

"Hurry up!" one of them ordered. It was a tall blonde, Jina Helsey, her friend Adrianna, along with Roano Kahen. The moved faster and I could hear Morgan crying. 'Hurry up, move!' I thought, and willed my legs to move faster. No matter how fast I forced myself to move I couldn't catch up. I tumbled down, exhausted, into the snow. Some where behind me I heard voices belonging to Hunter and Henry. Rolling in the snow I finally came to a halt. The barbarians, still a good distance away, turned around. One of them held Morgan in the air.

"Stay back, or she will be harmed" the tallest, Rico, threatened. He held a long, jagged, rusty, old knife to Morgan's neck. They slowly turned and continued running. 'If I chased them they'd hurt her, but if I didn't save her they'd kill her' I thought. I stood up shakily on my feet to sprint off again to them when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Jade" Hunter said my name. I recoiled away from his hand, but he kept me close.

"Jade please don't. I know you want to save her, you think of her like your own, but you'll end up... Jade you know what will happen if you run off" he said, concern filled his eyes. For a moment I felt bad, but I couldn't be controled.

"Enough, just let me go" I snapped. I backed away. Just as I started to run Hunter put a hand on my shoulder again to stop me. There was a loud pop and a crackle of a bone. I felt a burning sensation from my shoulders down my back, and through my toes. Hunter let go immediately, afraid that he'd hurt me. I ran through the snow clumsily, and my breath turned into heavy pants. From my back came another snapping sound and it brought a fiery sensation through my body. The fabric of my clothes tore, busting at the seems. I stumbled forward, landing on my hands as I ran. My clothes were left behind, and all I wore not was a coat of dark brown fur. I heard a snarling from my mouth, or muzzle, as I quickly caught up to the barbarians. I felt something stirring within my mind, a sort of instince that knew what to do in order to fight the enemy and I followed those instincts.

Morgan cried as she was dropped by Rico because he had to defend himself. He pulled out the jagged sword. The end of the sword curved downward and it twisted into a fine blade. He swung it at me, but I ducked. A few strands of dark brown and black fur fell from my head and onto the snow. 'Be carefull, look for a week spot' my instincts told me. I carefully walked in a circular path around Rico. He made sure his back was never to me, and held the sword with both hands. I lept to the left, and he quickly prepared to defend his left side, but I then attacked to the right. My teeth sank into his leg and I tore a deep gash in his leg. The fabric of his clothes had torn, and blood gushed through the new wound and stained his clothes. He cried out in furry and pain. I felt him bring his fist down on my head. I let go, yelping, and retreated a short distance. I shook the dizzyness from my head to see him charging with the sword. I dodged, but not in time to avoid the jagged swords blow to my shoulder. I cried out a sort of wolfish yelp. The metal sank in deep, and once removed blood poured out heavily into the snow. I fell to one knee, strugging to stand. Pain coursed through my body. A loud barking reached my ears. It sounded like barking, but gradually it somewhat made sence.

"Jade, hang on!" I heard Hunter calling to me. He jumped in front of my snarling. Rico lunged, lashing out with the sword. Hunter lunged at the same time. The sword cut a shallow wound on Hunter's side, but Hunter knocked him down. His head cracking into the hard frozzen ground with a sickening sound. I'll never forget that sound either, the sound of a watermellon being broken open. I was panting hard, the wound in my shoulder stung. I looked at myself, just not realizing the animal I'd become, a wolf. A familiar sensation filled me, like my skeleton was on fire. There was a loud pop, and my body slowly shifted painfully slow. Bones popping and cracking, shifting to recreate a new form. I shivered in the cold air.

"Hunter! Finally.... caught up...." Henry Lakefall panted. His eyes flickered from me, to the foot steps, and then to the paw steps that led up to me. He nodded his head,

"You are quite an interesting one" he said. He carried a few supplies, gauze for woudns, a couple pairs of jeans, and a blanket. I quickly put on one of the pairs of jeans and drapped the blanket around my bare upper body.

"So what now?" I asked Hunter. He looked at me and smiled.

"This is finished, time to go home" he said. I began to walk, but before I could trudge through the snow very far I felt Hunter scoop me up. Morgan was happily walking through the snow, unharmed. The small child picked up a handfull of snow and through it up into the air. I smiled at the fact that I had been able to protect her. She was so inocent and sweet, she didn't deserve the trauma of being kidnapped, and nearly killed, but everything was going to be okay. This hectic war was finished.