Chapter 5 : Playing Around

Scarlett held her breath, waiting for some type of reaction from her mate as he stared at her bright red fur and golden eyes.

But all he did was give a wolfish grin before taking off.

That definitely wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. Shock, maybe horror; the more scared part of her thought he might reject her — but, no, none of that happened.

Was her mate the exception, or—or did people just not care about her red fur?

Wait…

That b*st*rd got a head start! Oh hell no!

Scarlett immediately took off after him. She was slightly surprised at how quickly she caught up — only to realize the real race had just begun.

Weaving through trees, jumping over roots and boulders, was exhilarating. It had been a long time since Scarlett had gone up against anyone other than her father, and her mate was proving to be quite the challenge.

He obviously had his own training but as a guard, or something else — she couldn’t tell. His movements were smooth enough for it, but Scarlett had a feeling it was more than that. Argh—and she couldn’t even get an answer about his life.

D*mn her mate, making her more curious about him! He really knew how to make someone interested.

Scarlett had to push herself to go faster, harder. She absolutely loved how her blood pounded in her ears, the wind rushing through her fur, and her mate looking just as happy as she was.

She hadn’t had this much fun in ages!

It was a competition, though, and Scarlett wasn’t just going to make it easy for him. No, she was going to have some fun.

She sped up to run alongside him and more or less hip-checked him, making him stumble and almost crash into a tree.

A bark of laughter left her, while he growled, jumping at her. She dodged, running around him.

The race was starting to turn more into a game of chase or tag, but neither of them were complaining or in a hurry to get anywhere.

It was nice, with none of the responsibilities or worries that usually plagued them — just each other. It was… sort of intoxicating.

After a moment of just playing, Scarlett darted off, her mate following.

She didn’t head to the flower field, though; she went to the lake in the forest. The weather was warm, and she would greatly appreciate water after all that exercise.

Her mate trotted up next to her—she really needed to choose a nickname for him. The warm fuzzy feeling she got when she referred to him as her mate was nice, but, overall, horribly distracting—just like him.

While he was taking the time to rest and drink, Scarlett couldn’t help but stare.

He was so…blasé about seeing her bright red fur. Did he really think nothing about it?

If he was from a lesser noble family, then maybe he didn’t. The history of the red wolves wasn’t a big deal outside of the kingdom’s capital, where her mother used to work—well, before she had her. Her parents had then settled down way out in the country for her safety.

She couldn’t ask about his name, or his past, but there were plenty of other things she could ask—though wolf forms weren’t very good for conversations, and she was not about to turn back without her clothes.

Cold water smacked her in the face. She yelped, glaring at her mate as he laughed at her.

Two could play at that game.

She tackled him into the water — only to get kicked back to the shore, huffing as her coat got covered in mud, making her look brown instead of red.

She was SO going to get him back for that.

If things were to go her way, they would’ve played like this all night. Scarlett didn’t have the best of luck, though.

Right in the middle of him attempting to tackle her, they heard a growl — a low, rumbling threat that could easily turn into a snarl.

Everyone knew that sound. How could they not?

Other shifters.

They slowly crept out of the shadows, three of them — all with a black stripe on their side as they blocked every exit, unless Scarlett and her mate fancied a swim.

Those stripes were stark against their dark brown fur, and, as if Scarlett wasn’t already wound tight enough, she felt herself tense further.

They weren't surrounded by just any regular run-of-the-mill shifters. No, it couldn’t be easy for them.

The shifters before them were none other than the Shadow Stalker Wolves. Rogues.

Rogues usually had a calling card to separate allies from enemies when fights got out of control, which they often did. The Shadow Stalker Wolves’ mark was a heavy black stripe they painted on their fur.

The Shadow Stalker Wolves were the group her father and the other Omega soldiers were trying to keep out of the town, God d*mnit! They raided so many villages that there was a bounty on them in the kingdom. And the fact that they were going after a whole town suggested they had bigger plans now.

The rogues were deliberately cutting off their only exits, cutting them off from getting help or warning the town. They didn’t plan on letting them leave this confrontation alive—though Scarlett didn’t expect anything else.

Three big wolves against the two of them, too — presumably with more on the way. They were probably thinking it was great odds, and, unfortunately, they were probably right.

They weren’t just big, they were built, yet their steps were light to the point Scarlett felt that if she took her eyes off of them for a moment, then she might just miss them lunging for her throat.

Her mate stepped in front of her, lowering himself down and growling.

A sweet gesture, she thought—but now wasn’t exactly the time for that! If this was gonna be a fight, and she knew it would be, then neither of them could sit out. Scarlett didn’t think they’d be doing trust exercises this early into their relationship but well, you gotta do what you gotta do to not get torn apart by rogues.

Scarlett wasn’t nervous—despite how she should be. This was the first time she’d ever be fighting rogues—the first time fighting anyone besides her father.

She was going to find out VERY quickly if she had any skills at all or else… well, the Moon Goddess was going to get another wolf in her pack in the stars.

They were in a stalemate, but the longer they waited the more time they gave the rest of the Shadow Stalker Wolves to converge on them with the rest of their pack.

Maybe her next move was stupid, and her father would probably get upset—but she would never let him know about this.

Scarlett coiled her muscles, almost flush against the ground before she lunged and leapt straight over her mate, right towards the Shadow Stalker Wolves and attacked them first.

No one was expecting it, it seemed, because her full weight slammed into the biggest wolf there.

NOW the fight was on.

There were two things to know when fighting your fellow and un-fellow shifters. Scarlett’s father practically pounded them into her when she was younger.

The first was that if someone made it a battle of wolf forms, then you shifted down and started to bite and claw the other b*st*rd till they were down or dead.

The second was if you were dealing with rogues, you had to be twice as vicious, but three times as careful, because they didn’t play by the rules. There was no honor in them.

She was doing a good job at p*ssing off her opponent, repeatedly taking pot shots at him — clawing gashes into his fur and trying to snap her jaws around the joints. He’d barely managed to get a hit on her.

Meanwhile her mate was dealing with the other two, and being outnumbered was never fun, even if these two rogues were weaker.

Scarlett had been right about him having some training. Despite it being two against one he was holding his own against them, even managing to get some good hits in. They were getting in hits as well though, and she could smell the blood oozing from a jagged cut on his paw.

Things weren’t bad, yet, but they weren’t exactly looking good. The rogues were starting to wise up, treating them more like threats. Not to mention both she and her mate were flagging. If it went on for too much longer then forget taking the rogues down, it would be their lives in jeopardy…

Scarlett yelped as she dodged the vicious swipe of claws, managing to pull her tail out of the jaws of the way of a pair of snapping jaws just in time, only for her paws to slip in the mud.

NO!