Mated to the Cold-hearted King.

Chapter 33: The Scent of Blood

We start heading back to the packs, bags filled with enough food for feed them all. Some wolves buzzed with excitement of the exhilarating hunt as we slowly travel back in the direction of camp, but my every muscle was on edge. Now that we got our prey it would be horrible if Selena and her goons found us. I was so hyperaware that it felt like the forest itself was watching us. Cole took the lead while I held back and waited for the injured black she wolf. She limped from the kick she had taken in the hunt. It didn't seem that bad at the moment from the adrenaline of the chase but now it seems to be taking its toll on her. Her hazel eyes shone with pain as she lagged behind.

"You alright?"

"Y-yeah....I think" Her voice rang with uncertainty. "I'm just taking it easy. Don't let me-" She cuts herself off, her eyes wide and her fur on her back raised.

I feel my own muscles tense beneath my fur. I turn and see a a lumbering mass of muscle and thick brown fur emerge from the bushes and brambles, excited by the scent of blood in the air. "B-B-Bear!" The black wolf howled in horror. I dropped into a defensive posture with back fur bristled and white fangs gleaming as I stare at the bear. A growl rumbles from my throat in warning, telling it to back off. But it ignored my warning, coming closer and closer. The bear was listening more to it's stomach then my warnings.

Cole sees the bear approaching me, it's lumbering frame blotting out the trees behind it. "Skylar, drop your bag and run! Do not engage!" He ordered.

"But the packs need it." I protest.

"It's not worth your life." Cole growled. "Don't poke the sleeping bear."

Reluctantly, I do as he says. Dropping my bag of meat to the ground then backing away to let the bear claim it. But my mind flashed to the packs, to Devon and Felicia and to the stories my mother and grandmother told me about their struggles and those of my own pack. That one bag could still be the difference between survival or starvation.

"Goddess lend me your strength...." I whisper a small prayer to myself and lunge at the beast while it was distracted. My jaws clamp into the bear's thick scruff.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cole yelled, anger and shock radiating from his voice.

The bear thrashed and growled, desperately trying to dislodge me from its pelt but like a tick I held on, my jaws clamped like a vise. I used my claws to scratch and tear at its flesh. However, the bear was smart. It slammed its body against a tree, ripping me from it's pelt. I crouched, growling and snarling above the bag of meat. The bear took a swipe at me but I ducked and its thorn-sharp claws sliced through the air. I spot an opening and clamp my jaws on its arm as it swung past my head.

I see a flash of gray as Cole joins in, biting and tearing at it's scruff. "I told you to give it the meat and leave it be! Why didn't you listen?" Cole snarled through the link.

"We need it more than the damn bear!" I snap back. Suddenly I'm airborne, my back slamming hard into a tree. A yelp escapes my lips as everything around me turns a blinding white, my ears ringing like bells. I try to move but my body feels numb.

"Skylar!" Cole's voice buzzed in my ears, sounding distant like my head was underwater.

When my world came back into focus, the shock of the impact wearing off, I look around. The bear was gone thanks to the others, for now. I tenderly get back to my paws and take a step, my shoulder giving out. "Are you alright? What in the Goddess's name were you thinking?" Cole snaps.

"I told you, we needed it more!"

"It was only one bag! You should have just given it to the bear, instead of doing something so stupid! You're my Luna, act like it and use your brain..."

"One bag is still more than we can spare... You are lucky, you never had to go hungry!" I snap back mustering all the frost of winter into my words, hurt by his. I pad away, ignoring the pain in my shoulder and grabbing my bag in my jaws.

Cole and I don't say anything the whole travel back. It all felt like a gut punch and my heart felt more bruised than my shoulder. My wolf seemed equally hurt, pacing back and forth in the back of my mind.

That night everyone gathered around a fire, cooking the elk meat and telling the story. Our hunt and the encounter with bear, thankfully leaving out the fight I had with Cole. I sat away from him, not wanting anything to do with him. I picked at my food, still bitter about what he said. "Did something happen between you and Cole?" Chris interrogates.

"What makes you say that?"

"You're sitting over here with us instead of with him and you both seem to be in a mood and not eating." Chris points out and I glance over at Cole. He hasn't really touched his food and he's looking.... irritable. Infact, everyone around him seems to be walking on eggshells, scared that one wrong move or sneeze might send him over the edge.

"It's nothing. I'm just not hungery." I pout, slicing my meat in half and then slicing one half into bite-sized chunks and sliding them onto Devon and Felicia's plates. I then leave the fire and up an old path behind the ruins. The path was long overgrown and filled with briars and thick brush that would catch on my clothes. But it eventually brought me to a clearing and I sat down, in the distance I heard laughter and cheers but out here I was alone, the night air feeling cool against my skin and soothing on the massive purple bruise that claimed my shoulder. I replay the argument in my mind. What he said truly hurt. If it wasn't for me we'd have no idea where to go, how to throw off the trackers, and we'd all have hungry stomachs. Hardly what I'd call stupid. I growl inwardly, looking up at the stars that danced over head.

I could feel myself begin to nod off, my emotions and exhaustion from the hunt and bear encounter finally taking their toll on me.