The Hunter

Just Keep Swimming

The cold water swirled around Mira, but she continued to doggy paddle up the river. Swimming in human form was always faster; however, to carry the bag in her mouth and her doggy backpack in human form was more difficult.

Hunters had tracked her for a few hours a little while back and she couldn't risk taking them to Collin or Claude. A part of her didn't know if she would be able to handle it if Collin turned on her. The bigger reason was that she simply didn't have time to deal with them-she needed to get Collin help and fast.

The current fought against her, while weariness threatened to take her. It'd been a long night and she had pushed herself harder than she had in the past. Granted in the past, she wasn't running for someone else's life. Someone she finally would admit she liked. A lot. She wasn't going to let something happen to him. If only she hadn't let him wander off by himself, he wouldn't be injured. She should have taken him to the town.

A splash of cold water in the face snapped her focus back to reality. Rocks loomed up ahead, providing an obstacle course of sorts. Mira swam over to the closest flat rock and hoisted herself onto it. Her nails scraped across the rough surface and a couple of them ripped. She let the cool water wash over her bleeding nails, while she waited for them to heal.

Once they healed, she jumped onto the frozen riverbank. She shook out her fur and ran off towards Collin and Claude. With each step, she felt her muscles relax some. All that was left was to clean Collin's wound, steal a car from the hunters along with other supplies and get Collin back to the rogue camp.

A list of items she'd need from the hunters formed in her head along with a bunch of other ideas. Her biggest concern was accidentally leading the hunters back to the camp via the vehicle. License plates and car make and color would all have something to do with how easily they could trace the car. She needed to swap the car out before going to the camp. A few shifters owed her and she could talk to them about plans for a new car. As a matter of a fact...

Her body stiffened right outside of the clearing with Collin and Claude. Something didn't smell right, at all. She dropped the bag from her mouth and pulled on the strap at the side of her backpack, which unfastened it. Her body shifted into her human form. After pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts-she had once been civilized after all-she snatched both bags up in her hands and rushed into the clearing.

A huge goofy smile broke out on Collin's face. "I've been waiting for you."

Claude walked out from behind the lean-to and frowned at Collin. "His arm is infected. Seems to be messing with his head a bit. Please tell me you have something in there." Claude nodded his head towards the bags before looking at her and cocking an eyebrow. "That will help."

With a nod of her head, Mira took long strides over to Collin and dropped the bags. Her soaking wet hair dripped onto Collin, who wrinkled his nose. "You're wet."

A sad smile flickered onto Mira's face-she never should have left him. "Yeah, had to swim a bit."

A shiver wracked Collin's body and Mira quickly sat behind him. She didn't want to block him from the fire. "Claude, can you give us a minute?"

No words could express how grateful Mira had been when Claude showed up at the camp. She needed help and she could trust him. It took her a while to convince Claude that Collin wasn't evil and didn't need to die, but Claude promised to care for him. And if there were one thing she knew about Claude, it was that if he made a promise he'd either keep it or die trying.

"Oui." Claude wandered off towards the woods. "I'll just go get some wood for the fire."

When Claude's back disappeared, Mira swooped down and pecked Collin on the lips. "Now you kiss me," Collin mumbled. "When I can't actually kiss you back. I'm pretty sure this is the definition of unfair."