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Emalise arched her back as she moved towards her prey, Her nails dug into the grass burying her fingers into the damp dirt, She could feel the moon's beam warm her skin. It was a pleasant feeling against the frosty air. It was beginning she could feel it. Her breathe hitched leaving a frosty smoke in the air. First, the burn began where her skin turned from snow white growing patches of thick auburn fur until her whole skin was covered in three inches of fur warming her from the outside in. Her bones began breaking and reforming themselves, Her delicate hands and feet grew into large hefty paws. Soon her five foot five slender figure disappeared and she loomed at an astounding nine foot in her wolf form. And so the hunt began, Her prey ran flicking dew drops into the air, The smell of wet grass filled the air. She chased her eyes locked onto the small shadowy figure. As she panted her heart rang in her ears, the adrenaline kicked in and it was thrilling. She pounced. Pinning the belly of the small pup under her paws.

" No fair Ema " cried the pup in dismay.

Emalise looked down at the pup his snow-white fur had been dirtied by the damp grass and mud, His heartbeat so quick she thought it would explode she could feel it through her paw

"How'd I do Ema ?" asked the pup curiously as emalise removed her paw allowing the pup to roll back onto his paws

"You are improving Pip! I'm proud of you" Emalise replied. His speed has improved it took her thirty seconds to catch instead of five like last week.

"come on it's time to go back to the packhouse Your parents will be waiting don't forget it's hunting practice tomorrow with the other pups" Emalise insisted as she looked up at the moon nestled in the cusp of the leaves and smiled she loved the beauty of a full moon.

Emalise let pip lead the way through the forests towards the lights of the ancient victorian looking manor. The manor was built in the sixteenth century as a sanctuary for species like the wolves but an alliance was created between the serpent shifters, the centaurs and the werecats. They'd agreed to build safe places away from the humans so that they could live in peace raising their children, This manor was built by the wolf royalty and has since been passed down to the western pack.

Pip reached the mighty oak door and began to shift back into his human form, He is a short kid in human form with scruffy brown hair with blue eyes. Emalise ran behind the porch and changed into her soft grey top and leggings which she'd neatly folded before going into the forest to shift. She stepped out and found pip by the doorway waiting for her. He shivered in the cold air.

"Come on little one let's go find your mother," Emalise said ushering pip inside.

Pip nodded walking into the great hall. Emalise spotted angela and Kaden sat by the fireplace which roared orange flames, They were the perfect couple. Angela married Kaden because she fell in love with him. Looking at them you could tell they were mate bonded most wolves disliked their relationship as they met when angela was twenty and was a beta female, she's smart, kind and beautiful. They'd met when Kaden was a rogue, Born in the forest with no pack to call home and he'd met angela in the forest and there he met her there was an instant spark. She saved his life. Giving him a family and a pack. Angela saw pip as she put her book down as he ran into her arms

"Mama!" cried pip "Guess what, It took thirty seconds for Ema to catch me" beamed pip smiling from ear to ear at his mother.

"That's wonderful you'll be as fast as your father soon enough" Emalise smiled at them and began to walk up the centre stairway into her room.

Heading towards her bathroom Emalise pulled her top over her head letting it fall to the floor and bent over pulling her grey skin-tight leggings that hugged her ass off and stood in her matching grey underwear that hugged her curves. She lent over the marbled sink looking in the mirror. She stared at her features she had green eyes and a small pinched nose her long auburn fell over her face and nestled in between her breasts she had a curvy figure. She unclipped the lacey flower cut out bralet with a ping and slid the matching grey underwear over her legs leaving them on the floor and added them to the growing pile of damp mud-covered clothing. She tied up her hair and turned the shower tap. She watched the water shower down pitter-pattering on the black tiles the warm filling the room as steam covered the mirror and the shower door like a fog, Stepping under the water it felt brilliant on her skin after being in the cold wetness of the forest surrounding the packhouse. She grabbed the rose-scented body wash and squirted the pink gel onto an open hand and rubbed it onto her skin creating small lathered soap bubbles. she rinsed off the suds under the warm water and saw them escape down the drain. Grabbing the soft black towel hung on the back of the shower door she wrapped herself up. A few stray droplets of water soaked into the towel as she bent over the countertop reaching for her necklace and lip balm. The necklace felt cold against her warm pink skin it was her mothers, it was a family crest of some sort it had a full moon with a raven symbol encased in a silver locket. Her uncle Alpha Leo had said the omega's daughter had been caught shifting in front of a human and unluckily they had broken the treaty which was signed saying that humans will no longer hunt any "monsters" as long as we stayed hidden it was a small price to pay to stop the endless slaughter. Her mother's pack had all been murdered and their packhouse destroyed. Her uncle came to visit three days later and found the house left destroyed he went looking for his sister and found emalise in a place basket in the corner of the cellar with the necklace he had told her that she was only a few days old when the humans had raided the pack. Letting her hair fall around her shoulders she held her breath, closed her eyes and let her chest fall as she breathed out.

She put on her headphones and plugged them into her phone and scrolled through her phone till she found her playlist.

She fell back on to the bed and sighed.

Tomorrow is hunt day. A tradition each pack sends their unmated females in the hopes other packs males will claim a female from their pack, There's no love or affection just diplomacy it's like being lined up to be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

Emalise looked up at the ceiling and huffed she knew this year she'd have to go and be hunted not because she wanted or felt like she needed a mate but so she can look after her pack. She remembered her uncle calling her into his office, Gesturing to sit down this was strange. He was never this serious. He began to explain to her that when he married his wife sari, Who was a serpent shifter she was gorgeous, tall, tanned skin with green eyes and blonde hair. She's always been so kind and a mother figure to Emalise all her life. Her uncle said that before their wedding night that sari wouldn't be able to have children and warned Leo that he would never have an heir.

Which left his niece Emalise as his heir to become luna alpha, no one within the pack had a problem with her she was kind and sweet and would teach the pups how to shift and train them but she was also calculated and smart. Leo had raised her from birth to be his perfect heir but the elder's of the pack had a problem with the fact she was unmated and nearly twenty. It was a sign of bad luck to become a leader without a mate, Bonded or not. Leo looked at emalise with a grim look on his face she could tell he hated sending her to the hunt.

But he had no choice he bluntly told her, That if she did not try to find a mate or attend the hunt it would go to the beta's son who Emalise could not stand. he is cruel deceitful lies and uses status to trample all over smaller wolves with no authority or power. His actions would make both her and her wolf yuno's blood boil.

she huffed coming back to reality she had talked to her uncle months ago about this and it's hit her like a brick wall that it's tomorrow. The idea of the mate bond was something that both terrified and excited her it was not like she didn't believe in the mate bonds it happens it's rare but it happens most people fake it nowadays.

Emalise rolled over onto the soft black sheets starting at the moonlight peering through her window, She could feel fear and excitement swirling around in her stomach she knew she was faster than many of the alphas and the betas so she could likely outrun them maybe she wouldn't be mated? But something told her it was not going to end the way she wanted.

And she despised that.