One

I scampered through the forest, my ears pinned back against head and I panted heavily, blood rushed through my ears and I focused on getting the fuck out of here. Loud footsteps thundered behind me, reminding me of my fate if I as much as slowed a tiny bit. My right leg burned in pain, but I ignored it.

"Get back here, bastard fox!" The tallest one behind me shouted. I was currently running from some werewolves. I hadn't eaten in a good three days and in my stupid desperation I tried to slip my way into a house in wolfen territory and take some food. Except, I made two huge mistakes in the process. Firstly, I had entered Amana territory, not Lavore territory, a much friendlier sister pack to them. My second mistake was entering the alpha's home. I had been very careless and now I was facing the consequences.

The shift in the air told me I was out of Amana territory, they had no right to kill me on rogue grounds. On my grounds.

"You think we care if you're on rogue territory?" The man sneered, sensing the tiny bit of confidence I had now. I growled, may the moon goddess have mercy on you, bitch. Shaking off my bitter thoughts I turned the corner of a tree in attempts to throw them off. Which didn't work as well as I'd like to admit, but now they were a more comfortable distance from me. In my heart I knew I would survive this, the idiots didn't even shift, they would've caught me immediately if they did.

As I rounded another corner, one of the three yelped, I didn't dare look back as leaves crunched under my feet. I spotted a giant thorn bush up ahead, but what I did not spot was the small cliff it was on and the river down below.

I tumbled through the thorns and flew off the cliff, right onto the river bank. I almost slipped in multiple times. Instead of basking in my victory I pressed my body against the cold stone.

"Is he dead? What do we do?" The third wolf asked, I heard a slight whimper in his voice. He must've stepped on a sharp object.

"Well of course he dead, imbecile! No one could survive a fall like that and that river, he's probably already dead because his head smashed against a rock or some shit. Let's go back. Tell Alpha Marraa he's dead," the first one barked back.

"What about the body? What if Marraa asks for it?" The second one is the only one I caught a glimpse of, his voice was raspy and he had dark brown hair.

"Find a squirrel and cut its tail off. Dip it in its blood for the color." I shuddered at the thought and sent a quick prayer for and thanks to the poor animal that would come back to their home in place of me.

"Yes, sir!" They shouted and scattered off to find some unlucky squirrel's tail. The first wolf spat off the cliff, it landed into the river with a plop. Soft footsteps slowly faded away, they were gone. I was alive. And hungry, so so hungry. I limped along the river, the rushing water soothed my racing heart, careful not to fall in I took a cautious sip of water.

It was fresh, I drank more, I drank until I was bursting and then I spit it up. I didn't bother shifting back to my human form, that would take too much time, I didn't really care to either. Maybe I could find some old human and pretend I'm a street cat, get some scraps. I continued next to the rushing water, careful not to put too much weight on my right leg, it was most likely fractured and I wouldn't be able to do much hunting after this.

I walked along the bank for maybe a mile or so until I came across a small clearing in the forest. A tent sat there quietly, a clothesline was strung from a nearby tree to the tent, but instead of clothes that hung from the line it was skinned, uncooked rabbit. My mouth watered at the sight, I glanced around. Nobody was there.

I crept towards the meat.

Still, nobody.

Using what little energy I had left I shifted into my human form and ripped the meat off the string. My legs gave out beneath me as I feasted on the delicious rabbit. Despite it being raw the meat was the best thing I'd ever tasted, a trail of blood dripped from my mouth. With a now full belly and a hurt leg I wiped my face and licked the spilled blood off of my fingers. All was well. For now.

A growl ripped through the air.

My blood ran cold.

Slowly I turned around, a giant wolf at least five feet tall stood before me. I crouched low to the ground and shifted, orange, white and black fur sprouted from my skin, ears and a tail grew as I shrunk down into a small fox. Soft grass grazed my stomach, it could've have been a beautiful summer day. The wolf was not threatened by me, nor did he look annoyed, nor did he look like he was feeling any negative emotion at all. In fact, he looked... happy?

In my confused state I didn't register the wolf getting ready to pounce until he was literally on top of me. The wolf shifted, leaving behind a brunette stranger. I snarled at him, trying to squirm out of his hands, which were wrapped around my stomach. His mouth opened, then closed, his eyes were wide in surprise.

Was this guy on drugs or something? I tried to bite at his hands but couldn't bend far enough without bothering my hurt leg. Fortunately for me, the man did not look or act like he wanted to hurt me. Yet. I was still wary of the wolf stranger. Granted, I stole his food, but seeing as he looked well fed and healthy he could probably go a day without some measly rabbit.

"Y- you're..." his voice trailed off, the silence didn't help my aching leg. "Mate." He sounded as shocked as he looked, I scoffed, but it sounded more like a sneeze, it's hard to scoff as a fox. He raised a curious eyebrow.

"Transform, please, my mate." Yeah... no. I would rather leave, we stared at each other for a few seconds. Then he realized something, his grip on me loosened, but the man's hands were still there, as if he was afraid I would disappear into thin air. I shifted back, and then regretted it when pain shot through my leg, pretending the pain didn't bother me I squirmed out of the man's arms.

As soon as I was out of his grip I turned and ran, screw being mates, screw him and whatever drugs he was on, screw my leg.

"Wait!" The wolf growled, chasing after me, I'd rather not... he must not live in the area, most likely a scout for some pack nearby, judging by how slow he was in the forest.

I easily jumped over branches, shimmied through logs, ran through dips and hills. I must used up all my luck with the Amana bastards because the stranger had half a mind to shift, even though this was foreign terrain he quickly caught up with me, and pinned me to the ground.

Once he caught me the man took place of his wolf. (How he had such energy to do so was beyond me.) I bit at him, although it must've not been as menacing as I wished it was because he chuckled. I glared at him, he let go of my shoulders but grabbed my wrists.

"Don't run from me." He snarled, it took all I had not to flinch. Instead, I met his gaze with faux confidence. A finger brushed my cheek, I flinched back this time, but his thumb didn't leave my face. I could handle violence, I was prepared for him to rip my throat open, but this? I was not expecting. I assumed he was on a drug of some sort that obscured reality. But was he serious about the mate thing? Was that even possible between a fox and a wolf? I thought wolves didn't like to intermix with other shifters. I had heard stories growing up of wolf mates getting killed for not being another wolf.

After hearing them I vowed to myself to never be a wolf's mate. How ironic this whole thing was.

"—Mate?" The man called, I was taken from my thoughts. Instead of answering him I just tilted my head in acknowledgment.

"Am I really your mate?" It felt weird to speak. Since I had been alone for so long I hadn't done so in quite a while. An odd rumbling sound resonated from his chest.

"Y- yes, you are."

"Well now I'm not." Maybe I should've chosen a better wording, but how do you make "I'm rejecting you so I can go back to living as a rogue" sound nice? It was practically impossible.

"What?! Yes you are!" He snapped, I felt a odd sense of comfort at the anger. It was much better than the affection. He then paused, his angry look morphed into an apologetic one.

"Mate, you and I are destined to be together, the mate bond is not something to be messed with." I rolled my eyes at the hypocrisy.

"And what about all those shifters you wolves have killed over simply not being a wolf?" My eyes narrowed at him, he looked taken aback.

"Mate, we would never do such a thing to our pack! Mates are mates regardless of whether they are the same shifter!" He exclaimed, both Amana and Lavore were rumored to have done it, although with the Amana pack I had a suspicion it was not just a rumor.

"Could you let go?!" I didn't bother fighting over the obvious lie, "also, stop calling me that!"

"Stop calling you what?" The wolf had an innocent look on his face and didn't let me go. I frustratingly tried to slip out of his hands but to no avail. He growled, tightening his grip on my wrists.

"Don't run from me, my mate." That only made me more anxious to get out of here, I struggled violently.

"Don't call me mate! You're not going to waltz around and uproot my life like it's nothing!" I cried, my wrists burned from his grip, his hands loosened but didn't let go.

"Mate, I don't mean to upset you, but you must listen to me, if you promise to not run I will take you back to the campsite and talk with you, okay?" I nodded, as soon as he let me go I decided I would take off. Nervously, he let go of me and stood up, I followed suit and brushed myself off. My right leg burned.

"Are you okay, my mate?" He asked, most likely sensing my pain. I hesitated, telling others about your injuries could either be a horrible idea, or the best one of your life.

"My leg, I think it's fractured." The wolf looked horrified.

"You're hurt?! Why would you run then?!" He whined and stepped closer to me, "May I pick you up, my mate? I don't want 'cha to get hurt worse." I shook my head.

"I can walk." The man looked worried and sighed, but motioned for me to follow him.

"You'll heal faster with your mate," he reached out and and traced my arm with his fingers, "once you come back to the pack the doctor can help." Too bad I wasn't going to go to his pack with him. I trailed behind him, my stomach growled despite the fact I just ate.

"Are you hungry, my mate?" He asked, well, duh. I nodded, "I have food at the campsite, you can have whatever you want, mate." My eye twitched at the name but I would forgive him since I would be taking all his food. Soon enough we entered the clearing, the forest green tent came into sight and I noticed more than just the clothesline.

There was a ring of sand around the tent, behind that a campfire was still recently smoking after being put out. We stood in front of the tent.

"Wait here." He said and then crawled into the tent, soon after the wolf reappeared with cooked meat. I took it gratefully and ate it as fast as possible.

"So, we're mates, huh?" I asked between bites, trying to make some conversation. We sat around the smoking fire pit, it was still warm.

"Yep!" He brightened at the question. "I'm Vincent, what's your name, mate?"

"If I tell you will you stop calling me 'mate'?"

"Possibly" I sighed, he chuckled.

"My name is Benji." I murmured, he had a lopsided grinned on. It made me want to roll my eyes so far into my head, I would see my brain.

"That's a beautiful name, Benji." I gritted my teeth, this was gonna be a long night.