The Hunting

Loud snarling and branches breaking woke them up. It was late afternoon.

Tobias looked over to Kia, only to find her gone. He looked around for her, panic setting in, which quickly disappeared as he spot her sitting on a branch farther to his left.

"What are..."

"SHHH!" she whispered back. She pointed down and his eyes followed to where she was showing.

Down below them was two large grey wolves, they were trying to climb the tree in front of them.

"Why are they trying to climb up there?" he whispered as he moved closer to her.

"My jacket is up there." she shrugged at his raised eyebrow. "Gives us a head start to get away if they're trying to get up there."

"Smart." he remarked.

"They've been trying for about an hour." she said.

"Why don't they just shift?" he asked, looking at them closely.

"I don't know, maybe they're scared that the other will attack?" she said, pointing between the two wolves.

He nod his head in agreement, just then they heard the cracking sounds of bones shifting. First one, then both wolves shifted.

The men stood there, staring up the tree, fully naked and clearly frustrated.

"COME DOWN!" one yelled up as the other tried climbing up again.

"Not there..." Kia whispered as he placed his hand on a loose branch, which broke off and sent him hurling towards the ground. She muffled a laugh as he laid there gasping.

"You'll have to come down eventually, and we'll be here when you do." the other man said, sitting down against the tree trunk.

The two men sat there bickering for hours, while Kia and Tobias sat in the opposite tree, watching them.

"If we split up and attack from both sides we can get rid of them." Kia proposed as she moved to get a better view.

"You want to kill them?" he asked, shocked.

"Tobias, are you that oblivious?" she asked, annoyed. He gave her a blank look. "Two wolves, after one female?" she said, trying to make him understand, but still nothing.

"They aren't planning on walking out of here with a mate, all they want is a quick fuck." she burst out, shaking her head at his slowness.

"You mean they want to..." he asked and she just nod her head. The thought made his blood boil and his wolf snap.

"You go around left, I'll take the other side." she said as she started sliding down the tree silently.

Tobias shook his head, noticing that she was purposefully going after the one that wasn't injured.

Damn woman. He thought but climbed down after her anyway. They both snuck through the bushes in silence, creeping up on the males. At the last second Kia shifted, storming out on the man in front of her. Tobias froze, totally mesmerized by her beautiful golden wolf, untill he saw the other guy shifting and heading in her direction. He shifted into his own wolf and ran after him, catching him just before he could jump on Kia.

Killing him was easy, since he was still sore from his fall earlier. Other than that, it was also the fact that Timber was twice his size. Tobias was a large man and he had a huge wolf, that's why everyone called his wolf Timber.

He looked to the side to see Niri staring at him, blood dripped from her mouth. He saw that she had one blue and one green eye, he guessed her sister must of had blue eyes. Timber walked over to her slowly, making sure she'd allow him to get closer before he nuzzled her face with his nose. Even standing up straight he was still looking over her head, but he had to give her credit, she was much larger than he expected.

He shifted, standing naked in front of her. Niri licked his face and then she shifted as well.

"Sorry about that, I asked her not to, but she hardly ever listens to me." Kia apologized, blushing blood red.

"Don't worry about it, I thought it was cute." he said, giving her a smirk. She slapped his arm, rolling her eyes.

Tobias let out a growl, "Don't do that..." he warned and Kia smiled.

She walked closer to him, reaching up to touch his face. He grabbed her hand and held onto her.

"Don't, unless you plan to kiss me." he said, staring into her beautiful green eyes.

"Who says I wasn't about to?" she teased.

His eyes went black and he grabbed her waist, pulling her flat against him. His was highly aware of every inch of her naked skin touching his.

"Don't tease me..." he said in a low husky voice.

Kia glared at him, before pushing him away from her.

"Don't touch me..." she snapped.

Tobias let out a hearty laugh. "Nice try princess... I can smell your arousal." he said smugly.

Kia gave him a wink before she turned around and got her shirt from behind the tree. She put it on and folded her hand over her chest.

"Don't be too flattered, it's just the mate bond." she smirked.

Tobias felt a stabbing pain go through his chest, she might be joking but it hurt all the same. The reality that she didn't want him became more and more undeniable the closer they got to the end of the Hunting.

He wanted her, he already felt himself falling for her and it wasn't because of mate bond. He liked her for who she was, this fierce, tough, intelligent little girl, was perfect for him. He only wished he knew how to make her see that she wanted to be with him too.

As the sun started setting they both made their way to the stream again to wash off. The cold water felt heavenly on their sunburned skin.

"We should head back and get some sleep." Kia said, pulling her shirt on again. "We need to make our way to the main entrance tomorrow and I have a feeling we'll be encountering a lot of unmated and desperate males."

Tobias gave her a tight nod, he didn't even want to think about it.

Back up in the tree, Tobias couldn't sleep. He just sat there looking at Kia, she looked so peaceful sleeping. She whimpered and scrunched up her nose, her hand reaching out into the empty space in front of her. He moved closer and took her hand in his, she grabbed onto him as if her life depended on it. He smiled, looking down at her small hand that was basically drowning inside his.

"Shhh..." he whispered, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "I've got you."

-----

The sun has been up for quite a while, Kia was still fast asleep.

"She's tired..." Tobias said to his wolf.

"Wake her up." he persisted.

Eventually Tobias woke her up, she sat up rubbing her eyes in the most adorable way and he couldn't help but smile at her.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked, her voice husky with sleep.

Tobias internally groaned, she was incredibly sexy.

"You look cute when you rub your eyes like that." he said, taking his mind off of his dirty thoughts.

She gave him a scowl, before getting up.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" she asked, the irritability evident in her voice.

"You needed the sleep." he said, giving her a hard stare. Surprisingly she didn't back off, but just stared right back. "Let's just go."

She smiled at her victory and jumped out of the tree.

"No..." Tobias tried to stop her but she was too quick. He nearly stopped breathing.

"Come on, slow poke." she yelled.

He climbed down and glared at her.

"Don't ever do that again!" he snapped.

"Luckily, you won't be there if ever I do." she mocked.

There she goes again, breaking my heart. He thought.

"Let's go." she said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

They made it more than half way without any problems, the woods were quiet, which only made Tobias feel more uneasy.

As they neared the main entrance, they heard more and more growling and sounds of fighting. Girls screamed and wolves yelped in pain. Tobias saw goosebumps break out all over Kia's arms.

"You ready for a fight?" she asked him.

Tobias shook his head. "Stay here please."

"No, why?" she asked.

"I just... Don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt, Tobias. I know how to defend myself." she sighed.

He searched her eyes, for what he wasn't sure but gave her a nod instead. They continued walking on, right in front of them was a clearing, a few feet further was a large steel door,which was going to open soon to let them out into civilization again.

Before either of them had a chance to register anything a group of wolves jumped on them, Kia was pinned down under four wolves as Tobias struggled against two.

"You need to get to mate!" Timber growled in his head.

Tobias snapped one of the wolves' necks and ripped the others throat out. They slumped down at his feet, his bare chest covered in blood spatter.

"GET OFF MY MATE!" he yelled as he walked closer to where Kia was struggling to free herself. He yanked one wolf after the other off of her, desperately trying to get to her before it was too late.

Just as he went for the last wolf, he felt something sharp in his leg. He tuned to see a wolf clamping down his jaws around his ankle. He yanked him off just as another one jumped him from behind, clawing open his chest and back. He growled out in frustration, pulling the wolf down over his head, snapping his neck on the way down. Another wolf bit into his side and he lost his balance and fell backwards, the wolf was hovering over him, aiming for his neck. He closed his eyes as he waited for his fate, but it never came. He heard a loud growl and opened his eyes, only to see a blur of gold jump over him. The wolf that was about to attack fell limp next to him, blood covering his belly.

Niri was standing there, hair raised, growling. Once again covered in blood.

"You saved my life..." he whispered to her before his eyes closed and his world went black.

"Come on Tobias. Don't give up." he heard her soft voice as the sparks danced along his face where she was touching him.

That's new... He thought as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

"Kia!" he heard a gruff voice yell.

"Daddy!" she whimpered. "Help him, please."

Tobias heard footsteps approaching him and then he was lifted off the ground.

-----

There was a soft humming in the room, everything smelled like bleach. Tobias opened his eyes only to shut them against the bright light.

"Lights.." he whispered.

He heard a shuffling and then saw the light dim out behind his eyelids, he opened his eyes again slowly.

"You're awake." the man in front of him said.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"Riverdale. You were brought here by our Beta." the doctor answered. "How do you feel?"

"Like I got ripped apart." he said with a chuckle.

"Well your wounds are healing nicely, you'll be up and out of here by tonight." the doctor said as he closed his clipboard.

"Where's Kia?" he asked.

"She's at home with her family. She'll be by later today. Rest." the man said and then he left.

"Mate" Timber grumbled.

"We'll see her soon buddy." Tobias said out loud, trying more to reassure himself than his wolf.