Chapter 1

Nina's P.O.V

I crouched low, until my beige, light brown tipped fur touched the marshy, gently sloping ground. My eyes narrowed, focusing on the threat in front of me. A puma, who had strayed onto pack grounds and had no intention of leaving, it seemed. A growl rumbled in my throat, and my hackles rose. The puma took a swipe at me, but I doged it nimbly, twisting my body around so I could sink my teeth into it's flank. I bit hard enough to draw blood, then quickly leaped away. The red-furred wolf beside me aimed a precise, harsh blow at the puma's broad muzzle, and hissing in pain, it turned to my beta, my second in command. Patricia's hackles rose and her blue eyes narrowed into slits as she snarled a challenge. Seeing the puma had it's back to me, and was focusing intently on Patricia, I made a grab for it's tail, managing to catch it in my teeth. It was ready for me, and aimed another blow, this time succeeding in hitting my flank. I yelped in pain and surprise, but didn't dare to stop facing it. I glanced at Patricia, and she gave me a small nod. We lowered ourselves to the ground, tightening the circle around our enemy. I snarled, and Patricia bared her teeth at it, and we managed to intimidate it enough for it to dash off. I shifted back to human form, Patricia following my lead. In human form, I had slightly bushy and wavy dirty-blonde hair that could sometimes look light brown, but I still had the wolve's light green eyes. Patricia's dark red fur was the color of her hair, and her blue eyes were the same in both forms. I turned to her, smiling, and we high-fived. I opened my mouth to suggest we go home, -since we were done with patrol-, and warn the others about the puma. Before I could say anything, I tensed, catching a strange scent in the air. Patricia bristled, noticing something was up with her Alpha. "Hello? Anyone here?" I called out, looking around me warily. A low growl rumbled in Patricia's chest. A rustle in the bushes alerted me, and I flashed sharp canines at my beta, warning her to be on her guard. She gave me a tense nod, eyes narrowing. We carefully made our way to the rustling bushes. Two pairs of wide eyes met us when we discovered two humans, a boy and a girl, maybe a few years older than us. They didn't seem to be scared of us at all, and looked on in wonder at us. The other alarming thing was that they were both bleeding. Badly. I flinched at the sight of blood, and turned to my beta once again. "Patricia, get the others." I told her, showing sharp canines to tell her it was an order, not a request. She snorted, scuffing her shoe against the ground, but couldn't ignore an order from her alpha, so she turned, unwillingly, and ran downhill.