Sorry for the long wait, but it's time for some new characters to enter the fray and give this story new direction. Retribution is coming, but the plot will need a little time to build. No sex this time, but I hope you like meeting the new Weres just as much as I had creating them :)
Huge shout out to Andi for editing and revising this chapter for me until it was perfect :) You're a gem! I tinkered a teensy bit after I got it back, so any mistakes are my own.
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Katie and Connor gripped hands tightly. They had scented and recognised strangers of their own kind just in time. They were hidden neatly behind a fallen pine tree with debris from the branches scattered over, forming a shelter which hid them from view. Newly fallen snow over the branches helped shield them further. They were ready to change into their animals in a heartbeat, both calling their animals up to just beneath the surface, to lend them strength. Suddenly two Weres burst through into the clearing in front of them, fighting wildly.
The two Weres, a male and a female, were attacking each other in full force and by default too distracted by their fight to scent them. Connor watched them through a small gap, saw them striking and chasing - using trees not just as shelter to duck behind and deflect a blow, but also to catapult themselves off of and onto the other in breath-taking style. It was incredibly impressive as they blurred around the clearing, he'd never seen anything like it. He and his sister would not be able to outrun them and they would not survive, so he pushed down the feelings that were screaming at him to run. Their best chance was to wait and hope that their fight would draw them away again.
He squeezed Katie's hand again, feeling how icy cold her fingers were. They were ill-equipped to deal with this weather without shelter, despite being able to change into their shaggy beasts, and it had been folly of them to try. But, as elder sibling, he had determined that they should continue to travel while the snow fell. His need to put as many miles as he could under their belt could now end both their lives - not only from the fighting Weres, but also from the icy cold.
Connor gripped his sister's hand tighter and gave her a penetrating stare; her fear-filled blue eyes stared back at him glassily and she shivered against him. She looked tired, hungry and scared.
He turned his attention back to the two fighting. They were quite evenly matched, and now that his heart rate was coming back under his control, his curiosity was peaked enough to notice that while he most definitely scented them as Weres, they fought in human form. He couldn't see enough, but there was something odd about them - something animalistic though their human side remained in control. He wanted to move to get a better view, but he daren't make a sound. They had seen others of their kind rip each other apart - had nearly been killed themselves by them too. To rile two angry Weres...and yet...as he looked closer and let his senses drift out, he didn't feel any anger, no fury wafting off them, no waves of madness that he was used to as they athletically and gracefully danced around each other with determination. They made no sound, wasted no breath on such silliness and weighed each move before they made it.
Tense minutes passed and they still didn't leave. It was then he realised with a jolt that the fighting Weres were only sparring! The thought filled him with a modicum of relief. But still, he kept quiet, waited and watched as their breathing became heavier, neither being able to one-up the other, until finally they both rested with their back against trees opposite each other.
Now he could only see the girl's face, and he was overwhelmed by her beauty. Blonde hair, now damp with sweat and flyaway strands framed her face, the length obscured by the way she had knotted it at the top of her head. She was starting to smile as she panted and he noted that she no longer looked animalistic - she just looked like a soft, human girl and she was starting to laugh. He felt Katie twitch at his side as she heard the chuckle from the other girl, but he just squeezed her hand to stay quiet again as he strained to hear the other Were.
"You've gotten faster. I couldn't catch you this time," the girl said appreciatively to the man out of Connor's vision. He heard his rich laugh though.
"Or maybe you've just gotten slower," the male teased her and he came into view suddenly, leaning a hand either side of her head and leaning down to kiss the blonde. Connor found himself feeling a small spear of jealousy. Not necessarily for the blonde herself, but that these two Weres had found each other and had happiness - they appeared so care-free! How had they achieved it? Did they not know their kind were hunted by their own?
Were they part of the faction of rabid Weres that sought the need to wipe every Were from the planet that didn't obey them? He and Katie had barely escaped with their lives, and he knew it was sheer luck that they had made it out unscathed. The two months they'd spent with the pack was the worst of their lives. It had opened their eyes to horrors and a hell they should have never seen.
"Connor, I can feel your fear and anger, you're scaring me! We'll be found!"
his sister panicked and blasted her thoughts into his mind.
Shit!
, he thought. He'd taken his eyes off the Weres as his thoughts wandered and when he looked back they were gone. A feeling of dread came over him. He did not think that they had just disappeared off from whence they came. He knew they would have immediately felt his fear that he'd been masking up until that point. His skill in masking wasn't as great as his sister's, but his mental lapse had been his downfall.
"
Katie, shift but don't run just yet,"
he whispered mentally to his sister, already lapsing into the brown bobcat that had served them well. His sister had the same bobcat, and they had found using the same animal to be useful more than once when needed. They were each other's double in the bobcat's form. With their ability to mask their scents, they were both able to allow only the bobcat's scent to show through - not their own. This unique skill had confounded the rabid Were pack members and had allowed them their escape - not knowing who to chase, and who was who had been too much for the least intelligent pack-members.
The bobcat at his side was tense and prepared to run for her life at his word. He was mournful at the sight of their shredded clothes on the ground beneath them as he carefully wiggled out of the last scrap of his torn shirt. They would have to stay as animals until they found clothing, and that could be dangerous.
"We're going to have to split up,"
he was already shushing down Katie's panic and disagreement at his words in her mind. He felt the reluctant agreement settle over their sibling bond and he was reassured she knew what she had to do. Time seemed to stand still, their breath frosting in the air around them.
They were here!
