SHATTER

Chapter One.

Five years later

Target eliminated.

The shifter quickly fell Limp on the grass right on my feet. I used my leather boot to kick target number four off. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention sending my senses on over drive, another enemy was approaching. I heard target number five before I saw him. I waited till he was at the right distance, taking a deep breath and clearing my thoughts, I quickly side stepped the armature shifter. The shifter skidded to a stop, it turned around and his brown fur swayed in the rough wind and his eyes glazed over in pure fury once he realized I had avoided his attack. My sword ready and stabilized in my hand with my feet side by side already in striking position. The shifter charged straight at me, as I waited for the perfect time to strike against him. When the shifter leaned back on his hunches and leaped, I ran forward and slid on my knees, I held my sword in both hands above my head and plunged into his stomach from underneath slicing him as he leapt over my head. He fell to the ground with a howl of pain, I watched as the life drained from his eyes, I needed to make sure he was dead. I made the mistake of walking away from one of my targets without checking to see if they were dead; Never again.

Dusting myself off and wiping my sword on the grass to semi clean it I put it back in the harness and proceeded to check on the progress of my team. Edos, in his midnight black shifter form, easily took down the small gray shifter and I see now all his targets had been eliminated.

Glancing at the rest of my team I saw the rest of my team over powering their opponents snapping their targets neck in their mouth and ending their life. Our targets weren't innocent victims, they were murders, kidnappers, and pure evil. The rogues my team and I just killed had run away before there death sentence and had ganged up with a clan of other rogues. They assumed that they were strong and fast enough to battle the high court, and overthrow the kingdom but as head general for the high court and everyone in the kingdom I couldn't let that happen. I didn't give them a chance to get off the no mans land and through a packs colony boarder before we cut off their path. My team trotted over to me in shifter form and stood in single file then waited for further instruction like they had been trained to do.

"Good job, head back to base, then go into the meeting room we will discuss the events taken place today." I ordered in my monotone voice and they took off into the forest back to our home base the west wing of the Wenser castle of the high court. I stare after their retreating figures and think about how much they have grown over the years, we all have become a family to one another and we love each other just the same. That's something I can't say I ever had, was love from a family. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts I glance around at the battle ground to see all the damage.

There is blood covering the meadow grass and there are brown, black, and gray shifter bodies plastered all over the ground. The sun beats down on my pale skin burning it, telling me that I have been out here too long. "When I get back to base I need to call a clean up party" my inner shifter muses. With a sigh I pull my cloak further over my eyes shielding it from the blinding sun and take off into the forest on foot because I don't shift or more like refuse to.

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Approaching the castle of Wenser only took me 20 minutes. The souls of my feet ached from the long journey on foot, but I won't let the tiredness show in my body language, I will not show an once of weakness. How long had we been gone? Two, maybe three weeks? Whatever the case may be, it felt like an eternity. This had been one very long mission.

The gravel crunched under my protective combat boots as I dragged my feet along it lost in my thoughts about my the past, but non the less my senses where very much aware of the world around me. I could see the gate to the soldiers quarters up ahaead. Just a little longer until I could soak in a nice long clover bath and just relax. However, it seemed that fate was not on my side today. Fairy, in all her bubbily glory came bounding out the gate towards me. Her perfectly round face had a sour shadow to it. This isn't going to be good.