The Hunt is On

Reuniting

"Gage, I swear to the Lord Almighty, if you do not stop splashing that water on me, I will break your neck!"
Aileen laughed and put her arm around Ember's shoulder.
"Calm down Ember, Gage quit bugging her!" Gage frowned at now having nothing to do and moved to sit next to us. We were sitting by the small river by the cliffs, the long grass a bit shorter here. The sun was setting to our right, by the ocean off the cliffs. We had maybe another hour before we would be left in the darkness with the stars.

"Sole is everything okay?" Aileen asked me, noticing I hadn't said anything for a few minutes. Normally I was talking up a storm, laughing hysterically with Gage and Ember. But she was right, I had been oddly silent for an unusual amount of time for me.
"Yeah everything's good, I'm just thinking."
Ember scooted closer to me.
"What are you thinking about? Is it Titan?"
I smiled at her, not surprised that she could read me like a book. She had been able to since we were twelve years old.
"Yeah, a little. I'm just still trying to get over the fact that he's my mate."
"Well you love him, don't you? That's the best part."
"I don't think I can say love yet. I barely know him, we only spent a day together."
Gage sighed at our short conversation and leaned back on his hands. "I think you're overthinking the whole thing. Of course you have a mate, you're a damn werewolf. And of course you're going to love him in a while, you're mates!"
I sighed back at him. Of course things were much more simpler in his mind, he was a guy. He didn't have all the worries that girls did.

"Well it's easy for you to say that, you know your mate more then I know mine."
I motioned to Aileen sitting next to him, and he smiled and kissed her on the top of her head. Ember giggled and ran her hands through her blue hair. She moved into a laying down position, placing her head on my right leg. I patted her soft hair.
"Speaking of mates," Ember started. "Gage, when do you and Aileen have to leave for a day?"
Aileen groaned, not surprisingly upset. "We had only actually realized we were mates about fifteen minutes before you guys met up with us again."
Ember sat up and stared at her. "And you guys were still kissing?"
Gage laughed and Aileen turned a brilliant shade of red. I smacked her shoulder lightly. "Don't embarrass her like that. Go to sleep."

Ten minutes later she was comfortably asleep by my side, as was Gage and Aileen a few feet away.

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I was the first one to wake up the next morning, which was a little surprising. Ember and I had never been early risers, Gage was more of the one to drag everyone up at five thirty in the morning. But he looked quite content where he was, cradling Aileen with his arms as she slept too.
An uncomfortable dew had settled on the grass we were laying on and it had gotten my clothes slightly damp. I rolled my eyes in frustration and slowly stood up, looking for food as if it would magically appear.

"Hey, where are you going?"
It was Ember, squinting at me confusedly. I shrugged, I didn't actually know.
"I'm starving. Plus, I couldn't sleep. Do you want to come hunting with me?"
"Ugh, I'm exhausted. You do it, but bring us back some too. Like a deer or something. That would be great. Just be careful!"
I nodded. "Alright, I'll try. If I'm not back in an hour, send someone after me." She nodded and dropped her head back to the grass, her eyes closing after a few seconds.

I shifted into my wolf, shaking the rest of the dew drops off my fur. Willow never liked the wet. I trotted into the woods taking my time to find the scent of an animal worth hunting. I caught the scent of a few bunnies and a fox, but Ember said deer and I had time to kill, so I waited until I smelled a young fawn.
The deer was about half a mile away from me, upwind, so that was good. I started running towards it instantly, following my nose for a minute and a half. It got stronger as I went, and I slowed down my pace to be quieter so I didn't scare it. I saw it drinking from a small pond in front of me, and I managed a wolffish grin. This would be a piece of cake.