As soon as the second shot rang out, Seth, Nate, and Logan took off after the raven-haired shifter who had taunted them not more than 10 minutes before. Logan was cursing under his breath the entire time. What he thought was going to be a quick catch was turning into quite the chase. His deflated dick was none too happy about the change of events in his hunt.
The hunters were naturally separating into three groups, much like the prey. The front group took off quickly, they knew exactly what they wanted. They had found their mate in the days leading up to this hunt and were determined to bring back their mates today. If luck held out, they would be ready to mark their prize and carry them back to the castle before nightfall. What followed would be the inevitable days of sex and closing feasts before they took their mates home for their tribes to welcome.
The second group of hunters was searching more slowly for a scent that would knock them over. They needed to find t
Susanna was running faster than she ever had in her entire life. The look on Izzy's face when she heard her mate talking with Cliff would be etched in Susanna's mind for decades. It drove Susanna to sprint longer and harder than she ever had before. She weaved in the forest, following the path Amelia recommended. The path led out of the forest and along a rocky cliff. It descended slowly toward the easternmost part of the river before the river flowed out of sight into the neighboring territory. It was easier to run along this trail because the ground sloped downhill, gravity pulled her along. Susanna mentally checked the map she had seen, remembering the spot where Amelia had suggested leaving a fake trail. It would buy several hours at the very least while Susanna made better progress into the canyons to the secret tunnel across the canyon. That's what they needed most, more time. With a jolt, she heard the second shot, the men were off. She didn't have much time,
Izzy and Kate were still crouching behind the vines against the stone ledge several hours later. Unbeknownst to them, Susanna was running along the canyon and the men were hiking down into the canyon below, following the scent Susanna had placed as a decoy. Kate was assessing their situation on the ledge, wondering if they would see any other wolves coming their way. The time in the sky said they had evaded capture for over two hours. Every second that passed was one less second they had to hide, and Kate gratefully watched as the numbers counted down. 117:48:41 Kate heard a rustling in the leaves along the river and saw two men walking along the path, taking their time to sniff the area around the river. One of the men crouched down to look at the ground before standing up to look at the river. "She jumped in the river here. Damn it. I'm never going to pick up her scent again," he said, his frustration evident. He shook his head and rubbed his face. He look
Susanna ran hard all day, stopping when she needed to take a quick break. She would gulp water and chew some jerky, swallowing it all down quickly. It was enough to energize her and keep her moving. She was determined to make camp on the other side of the canyon with a view of where she hoped Seth, Logan, and Nate had descended. Their descent would take a few hours, the rocks were sharp. With any luck, they would stop to investigate the smells as they went. Susanna was hopeful they would still be there by the time she made it to the other side of the canyon. She willed the plan to work. The canyon ran several miles from northwest to southeast on the land used for the Hunt. The river joined with the canyon at the upper northwest corner and flowed through to the adjoining kingdom. Susanna was running northwest along the southern border of the canyon, trying to find the bridge that Amelia had told her about. There was a rope bridge that crossed the canyon about two miles uprive
Three Kreil warriors set off from the castle at 5 am the following morning. They had gotten a short, restful sleep and were prepared for a long day of tracking. The prize at the end was enough to drive them to an early start. They set off at a jog, unable to keep the quick pace they had set yesterday in their enthusiasm to catch their prey early. Since they knew today was likely to be a long day traveling, their pace was appropriate for a long-distance tracker. Because of their slow progress, they took longer to reach the canyon trail where they had been diverted the day before. The trail had taken up the better part of their day yesterday as they were exploring the path, having followed the strong scent of their mates’ urine. The urine scent was still overpowering, and the trail leading away was faint. It took several minutes for them to find the trail leading away from the canyon and as they started to move away they clued into the fact they couldn’t find any footp
Susanna made it to the spring by mid-day, she looked at the sky and noted with relief that she had officially lasted over 24 hours. The Hunt had started at noon the day prior, and it was just past noon according to the clock in the sky. She held out hope that Kate and Izzy were also still in the game, hidden safely in the cave. 95:53:13 Susanna quickly shed her clothes and piled them neatly next to the river. She pulled out her soap and took a quick bath in the spring. She watched the bubbles float downstream as she dried off with her tiny tea towel. There was just enough cloth to soak up the water left on her skin. The cloth was damp when she was done, but she was dry, and her clothes slid over her skin quickly. She wrapped the towel around her neck to keep her cool as she walked in the afternoon sun and filled her water bottles. She still had a few hours of trekking to go before she would find the cave. She mentally went over the path Amelia had shown her between t
Seth, Nate, and Logan had followed Susanna's trail across the desert and past the spring. The scent had been faint by the water but there was enough of a trail that they were able to pick their way along the stream until they reached the forest. Through the forest they found an obvious path with broken branches and trampled brush. They walked through the trees, following the scent until they came upon the brook and crossed over to the other side. Her scent was still fresh enough they could pick it up without much difficulty. There was a faint scent of Izzy and Kate as well. There they found the giant tree where Susanna had left her scent earlier. They inspected the tree closely. “Is there a way inside?” Logan asked. “It looks like there’s a spot near the roots here where you can climb under the trunk,” Seth said, gesturing toward the far side of the tree. “There’s no way we would fit inside there,” Nate said, squinting at the small hole. “But, someone
It was past four in the afternoon by the time the girls made it to the waterslides. The trek was hard and they were surprised they hadn't seen the men behind them yet. Izzy crouched behind one of the rocks to rest as Kate and Susanna searched for the entrance to the slide that could be their escape if they needed it. After a half-hour search, they finally found it. "Kate, it's here!" Susanna called out softly, not yelling too loudly in case the Kreil were close by. "Let's move closer, Iz, so we can jump down if we need to," Kate said reasonably, holding Izzy's hand as they navigated the rocks to the small crack where they would be able to slide out of view if they needed. The hole was big enough for a Kreil to fall through and the rocks were so smooth, having been worn down by water over the centuries that once you fell through, there was no getting back out. You had to finish the ride, no matter who was behind you. This was concerning to Kate but she decided
Nate, Logan, and Seth did almost exactly what Kate had projected. As they slid down the natural waterslide and descended mile after mile their curses were swallowed up in frustration. The slide seemed never-ending. They had the girls in their grasp. They had their hands around them and had been taken off guard and pushed down a hole. A hole in the rocks that sent them on a slide far away from their prey. It took a while for them to slide to the end, but eventually, they were all deposited with a loud splash into a pond at the end of the rockslide. They were miles away from where they had started, and they were sure their mates were long gone. "FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Logan exclaimed as he pulled himself up onto the ground next to the pond. The pond flowed into the river and the water slowly trickled out of the pond downstream. "What the hell was that?" Nate asked Logan, "Your mate literally kicked me into the hole." "They obviously knew it was