Kiana

I look over to an area of thick brush and see a flash of gold. 'What's the hurry, Cade?' I teasingly reply back to my companion. 'Trying to scare away all the game?' I hear a snarl in reply and then, 'NO! I just really want to find the others.We should have found them by now.' I sigh and reach out to brush against his mind through the mindlink, trying to comfort him.

'I know. We will find them, don't worry. When? I don't know but we will find them. They are smart and for now we must wait.' He steps out finally with a rabbit in his mouth and walks towards me. More than once I had thought about changing into my human form to try to go looking for them but knew that it was too risky. He nods his head in response and settles down to eat, motioning me over to join him.

Suddenly we hear a branch crack not far away, 'Hunters!' we say and quickly climb up the nearest tree. We settle into the highest branches and watch as the hunter passes by underneath of us. Once he is a safe distance away I start to head away from him, still in the trees, Cade not far behind me. 'We can't take the chance of being discovered. Where there is one, there will be more. If they find us, they will kill us in a heartbeat.' My words made an impact, I can see his fur is ruffled. As we continue in the trees, we come to a stream and find a doe.

Cade and I split up on either side of her, I can feel the adrenaline pumping through every vein in my body. I see a flash of gold in the brush on the other side of her, stay hidden cade, I silently say to myself. 'I'm ready,' I hear him say. 'well then lets go!' I see him suddenly jump out of the bush on her other side, I cover the flank. She manages to bolt and get away, the chase begins.

We both chase after her, leaping over rocks and fallen trees. We start to gain ground on her, Cade and I look over at each other and he gives me a slight nod telling me to take it. I see a small incline up ahead and stretch my legs a little further to go just that little bit faster. I reach the hill and jump just as she passes by it. I land on her back and deal the killing blow and wait as she struggles back, weakly.

Cade slowly stalks towards me and our kill. I let him eat first, knowing that he needs it to keep his strength up and needs more to eat. After he has his fill, I eat what I can and then turn to him, 'So what did you think of that?' He turns away from looking at the forest at the other side of him and says, 'best run I have ever had.' I give a small chuckle, then start to head into the forest with Cade following. We leave the rest for the other wild animals, especially knowing there is a pack of wolves in this territory.

---

We run for days, through the woods and marshes, dodging hunters all the way. Finally we come to a creek, and stop for another rest. While drinking from the creek, I keep an eye on the creek in front of us. My ears constantly on alert. Suddenly I hear a slight rustling noise and am facing the trees behind me, Crouching and ready to attack whatever may come our way. Cade looks up from the creek and looks at me, then the forest. As he starts to get into position, I remember Forest, another cub I had trained, and I look up. Sure enough I see her muddy brown body and black stripes flash directly above me. After she passed, I remember her mate, Timber.

Cade suddenly calls out, I turn to face him and realize that Timber didn't know who Cade was. 'TIMBER! ENOUGH!' He immediately turns to me, shock on his face. 'Kiana! I am so sorry! I'm guessing the cub is with you?' he says. I calmly walk up to stand between him and Cade, making my response obvious.

Suddenly Forest drops down beside Timber. I hear Cade silently grumble next to me, ' I'm not a cub. Whose the female?' I turn to him and reply,'Cade, this is Timber and his mate, Forest. I trained both of them myself. If you had been with us when we were all a part of a clan, then you would have been considered a cub until your training had been completed.' He nods his head, letting me know that he understands.

Timber and Forest decide to travel with us as we are all headed to the same location, and we continue on our journey. Timber stays on the ground with us, Forest ends up back in the trees roaming above us. 'Why is she in the trees? Does she have a thing about dirt or something?' Cade suddenly asks. Timber replies over his shoulder, 'She likes it up there. It gives her an advantage over anything following us, and over any prey. It really comes in handy to have her on our side. Trust me. She practically grew up in the trees.' After that, it was like Cade had always been a part of the clan. Timber started answering all of Cade's questions. Looks like training has officially picked back up and he had a new teacher.

After watching them for a little bit, and making sure they really are comfortable together down here on the ground I decide to join Forest in the trees. ' Hey you, how's the weather up here?' She laughs at the joke and asks about Cade. 'He was a late shifter. Luckily I found him, otherwise he wouldn't have survived. He also would have been feared more than he already is. I remember a certain young cub who was just like him in many ways.' She nods her understanding. Cade hears this and looks up and immediately asks,'Really? Who?'

I jump back down out of the tree and say,'I had almost not gotten to her in time.'