Well, it certainly has been a while. : Sorry for not updating for so long. That's was happens when my attention span runs out. And when I get writers block at the same time. This chapter was a pain to write, so I guess that's why I didn't finish it for so long.

Gifted Curse

Chapter Five

Life as you want it

The more she ran, the more nervous she grew. She followed Jake's scent like a bloodhound would, yet she was still having difficutly finding the young boy. She stopped briefly, she was beginning to run out of breath. She sat down and panted lightly, she needed to catch her breath. For some reason, she could smell Jake's scent becoming stronger.

Could that mean...?

She spun round and saw Jake running towards her. She sighed in relief, but her job was not done yet. Now she needed to focus on the three men that endangered her pack.

"AuroraFire!" He beamed, clearly happy to see her safe. "Did AxlFyn-" Before he coud finish, AuroraFire interrupted.

"Yes, yes, he did." She said calmly, "Now, we need to focus on these humans, Jake, they are a danger to my pack,"

"Yeah! That's what I'm worried about," Jake exclaimed quite worriedly, "But, I don't know what to about it, that's why I wanted to find you,"

She understood that. From what she knew, young humans like Jake were practically defenseless without help from others, not to mention that Jake himself wasn't that strongly built. She thought for a moment, then came up with a solution she was sure would work.

"We should lure them away from here, " She began, she started to pace around Jake, "Scaring them off would be the best, but if that doesn't work then we'd need them to follow us,"

Jake looked at her anxiously, then leaned against a nearby tree. "F-follow us?" These were the same men who nearly killed him, so the idea of getting them to chase him sounded like a bad idea to him.

AuroraFire stopped pacing and looked up to Jake, "I can't think of anything else, unless you have an idea," The expression Jake shot at her told her that he had none of his own. "But, for this to work, we'd need to actually find them,"

Jake began to look uneasy and started to fiddle with his fingers. "I had their scent a few minutes ago, but I lost it.." AuroraFire sweatdropped, that wasn't helpful.

Or was it?

"..How about we retrace your steps?" She suggested, "Perhaps we might find them that way,"

"Really?" Jake didn't sound to enthusiastic, it wasn't surprising. Nevertheless, the two began to retrace Jake's steps, and before long AuroraFire had caught the scent. The two raced through trees and bushes, following a trail that seemed to go on forever. Their non-stop searching soon paid off, as they had managed to find the three men. The look on their faces when Jake and AuroraFire suddenly appeared before them was priceless.

The shortest man was the first to speak up, "What the? Didn't we kill you?!" He exclaimed with a look of horror and astonishment. Of course, when they left Jake, he was covered in cuts and bruises and was bloodied all over, while now he practically healthy, as if nothing had happened to him. For some reason, Jake felt a rush of confidence, possible from seeing the men's extremely astonished stares.

AuroraFire has almost immedeately started to bark and viciously growl, trying her best to look as fiersome as possible. Jake, wanting to use this moment to frighten the men, exclaimed, "Y'know, she's ready to kill you if you don't leave the forest," To his surprise, however, the men simply stood there, and started to flash some extremely nerving smiles that evaporated all the confidence Jake has only just gained.

"We're not cowards, boy," One of the taller men stated, "Just cause your Ninetails friends is trying to be threatening, doesn't mean that we'd become scared," At this point AuroraFire stopped growling, and began to raise her head. The man chuckled, "Given up, have you?" As he, and the other two men, started to laugh, AuroraFire let loose a powerfull Flamethrower at them, which more than definately shut them up.

"Jake, run!" She exclaimed. Jake didn't hesitate, and began to sprint away from the men, followed closely by AuroraFire. Behind him he could hear the men shout in anger, and could then hear them running after him. His heart raced wildly, just like when he had saved AxlFyn. This time he made sure to jump over any tree roots. After a while, Jake could no longer hear the men, and stopped running. He looked back, and saw nothing, he sighed with relief.

AuroraFire stopped beside him and started to pant heavily. "With any luck, they may try to track us down," She gasped, "That should keep them away from Ryder forest," She lay down on the ground, and looked to the sky. The men worried her a lot. They were a lot more aggressive than the other humans to came into the forest, and she wanted to know why they were like that. She had this plan for a while, in fact, she thought of it since last speaking of AxlFyn. The only thing she needed now was further cooperation from Jake. He was a human himself, his knowledge on the human world she never been to would be helpfull to her.

"Jake," She started, looking across to him. He himself was sitting on the floor, leaning back against a tree. He looked at her, "Yeah?" He asked.

"I'm going to investigate these men," She started, "Their behaviour worries me,"

"How are you going to do that?" Jake asked, breathing a lot more slowly than he was before.

"I'm not sure, that's why I'll need your help again," She explained, Jake gave her a questioning look, "You know a lot more about Human life than I do, that's why"

Jake was still not quite sure why she needed his help for, but for him at that time, it was better than doing nothing. "Alright then," He replied, getting up," I'll help you,"

AuroraFire flashed a smile, and got up herself. All of a sudden, Jake started to gasp in pain.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Bit my tounge," Jake replied, sticking his finger into his mouth. When he pulled it out, it was covered in blood. "...And I'm bleeding,"