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            I let my feet leave my wooded porch, my feet dropping into the wet soil

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            I let my feet leave my wooded porch, my feet dropping into the wet soil. My bare feet sunk into the squishy ground as I ventured into the woods. I was not going to take the chance of bringing Soren home until this matter was resolved. I had been living here for years if anything they were coming onto my land.

And the beast in me didn't like it at all.

This was her land, her home, her pack.

I picked my way through the foliage, the sticks and thorns barely fazing me as I used my senses to bring me to the wolf that was attempting to hide 400 feet to the left. The closer I got the shallower their breaths got; they didn't realize that they had already been found.

I played their ignorance to my advantage, pretending to not know they were there as I lazily picked me way around their hiding spot in a large patch of long grass. Had I not had my wolf; I never would have realized that a beast was lurking in the growth.

They were brave to be so close to my house, my territory lines in my beasts' mind. She would not have hesitated to attack if she felt like there was a threat in her den, where her pup slept. She would easily become feral at any sign of a threat to her pup, Alexi had done this to her, to me.

My feet brought me further into the woods, my hearing picking up on the creatures under the earth burrowing. The younglings would soon be old enough to venture from their own dens. It would be Soren's favorite time of year in the coming weeks. We would camp out in the forest, taking great care to stay silent as we watched the rabbits leave their den for the first time.

I wasn't letting this pack stop the one tradition that Soren looked forward to every Spring.

Rustling from the long grass behind me caught my attention, my ears twitching as the wolf tried to leave its hiding spot without getting caught. I had no doubt that it had already alerted those from its home that I was on the move, it would be their job to follow me know and keep tabs on where I was going.

It didn't take me long to find their pack, an hour or so of walking brought me to the edge of the clearing they were staying in. And the sight before me told me that they were a rogue pack, most likely lead astray or their home pack had been obliterated. They were looking for somewhere to place a claim on, and they thought my home was where they would be able to succeed.

The anger in my heart burned bright, a trail blazing through my veins with every beat of my erratic heartbeat. I stayed crouched in the brushed surrounding the edge of the clearing, the young wolf still combing the forest looking for me after I had deposited my scent on a tree heading in the other direction. The youngling was easy to trick and leave and had me questioning why they would post the young wolf to watch us.

They had a large truck parked by the edge of the clearing, pointing outward to block the path that they must have drove in on. Multiple tents were sprouted up around the area, a deer was being roasted above a fire that they had going in the middle of the clearing. My nose was twitching from the smell of the meat, my stomach threatening to give away my position.

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