Hunting Midnight

Chapter Two: Truce

Ruhn meets my gaze head-on as if he was already expecting me to confirm that he was indeed inside my head. Whereas his presence in my subconscious had caught me off guard, he appeared unfazed like communicating to his enemies telepathically is an everyday occurrence for him.
    "Why do you care that I'm in danger?"
It was already strange enough to have his irritating voice roaming home-free inside my head. I didn't even want to imagine how any of it was possible, but I found myself doing it anyway.
    "That doesn't matter," Ruhn answers, his voice full of something I can't place. "What matters is that my team is targeting you, and you need to protect yourself."

    This mind link feels different than others. It's like I can feel Ruhn inside my whole body and that could never be a good thing. Nevertheless, my instincts tell me that he's being sincere about the threat.
   "Look," Ruhn says urgently, "I know you don't trust me, but it's important that you hear me out."
   "I don't need your advice," I say firmly, trying to push him out of my mind. "I can protect myself. I'll see you on the field."
    "No, Kenna–" he tried again, but I refused to let him finish. So using all my will, I force him out of my head, ending the mindlink.

The field sprawls on for acres, making the journey longer than it is supposed to be, and though the sun is just beginning to set, my wolf genes allow no room for cool temperature and my red hair just won't stop sticking to my sweaty skin. But still, casting a glance over at Ruhn, he seems totally unaffected by his personal thermostat.
    As both of our teams run out to the center of the field, the crowd of wolves watching buzzes with anticipation. Ruhn and three other members of his pack stand at the front of the half-field line, clearly playing offense, while three other pack members hang back near the goal, on the defensive.
    Caleb and I move to the front, taking offensive positions, allowing the rest of our pack to fall into the same layout as Ruhn's.
    "The first team to get ten points wins the game," Chief Gavriel announces. "Try not to kill each other. Again, my only rules are no silver and no shifting into your wolf forms."
    If a wolf is stabbed with silver, they will die immediately. Even touching silver can bring a wolf to their knees.
    "Chief," Elgon asks, "will there be a penalty for killing Kenna since she's Drakon's fiance?"
    "No," Drakon answers before his father can speak. "There will be no penalty for killing Kenna. Everyone is the same here."
    A chill runs up my spine–and not the delicious kind– causing my bones to chill and my entire body to go stagnant as Ruhn mindlinks with me. When I hear his voice, everything inside me surges with awareness.
    "Sounds like your fiancé doesn't care if you die."
    "Sounds like you should be more concerned with your safety," I shoot back.
    "Oh, don't tell me you're worried about me?"
    Even through our mind link, I can tell he's smirking.
    "You wish," I laugh, "that was just a nice way to tell you to mind your damn business."
    The Chief and Drakon walk to the other side of the field to watch the fame from a large tent, and then the whistle blows.

   
I take off running, faster than Caleb and my other pack members, going for the ball left unattended in the center field.
Ruhn is clearly the best player out of his pack. Beating me to the ball, he weaves easily through defending members of my pack and quickly scores a goal.
    "I've got him, Kenna," Caleb says quickly, appearing at my side as the ball is reset in the center before taking off in Ruhn's direction.
    Despite his attempts, Caleb doesn't come close to matching Ruhn's speed. However, I quickly fall into an easy run beside him, cornering him to the edge of the field to keep him from scoring. He looks down at me with a smirk.
    "You think you can stop me?"
    I meet his gaze with a smirk of my own. "Watch me."
    Running up to Ruhn's side, I make a fist and punch the round ball that he's holding close to his chest. The ball flies out of his hands, landing a few feet to his left.
    "Sneaky," Ruhn smirks, watching my movements as I position myself between him and the ball. "I shouldn't be surprised."
    I quickly turn and pick up the ball, immediately starting toward the other team's goal. Through the mindlink, I hear Ruhn growl with excitement.
    Picking up speed, I dodge left around one of his pack's defenders, but Ruhn is right on my tail.
    "There's no way I'm letting you score," he calls out.
    I don't even bother glancing back at him as I say, "There's no way I'm letting you stop me."
    I am near the goal, getting ready to shoot the ball when someone smacks into my side. Elgon's entire frame knocks me to the ground, and I land with a hard thud. Dizzy, I look up as Elgon grabs the ball and passes it back to Ruhn, who takes off back down the field and scores another goal. I wince, looking down at an open cut now beginning to bleed on my knee, a sharp rock a few inches away, and then up to see Elgon standing over me with a silver knife.
    "Silver!" I holler at the top of my lungs, scrambling backward as Elgon brandishes the blade above me, ready to strike.
"Shut up, bitch," he seethes, unfazed by the fact that he was caught red-handed. I don't have enough time to react as his hand comes rushing toward me, and I await the impact of the silver blade piercing my flesh.
    "Don't touch her!" Ruhn's voice rings out across the field, but Elgon ignores his order and brings the knife down to my throat.
    "No!" At one moment he is about fifteen feet away and in a split second, just before Elgon can make the deadly cut, Ruhn grabs him by the neck from behind and knocks him to the ground. 
    "I said not to touch her," he growls, his voice laced with venom. Members of both packs and onlookers gasp with shock, and Elgon looks up at his Alpha with wide, fearful eyes. Even I can't hide the shock from my face.
Elgon stares up at Ruhn in disbelief, and his jaw drops open in confusion. "Did you really just go against your pack to save our enemy?"

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