Ariella
I go to the main house and find the others talking about the new plan of action. Dad’s already sent the wares on their way. Twenty have been sent, and thirteen of them have been marked by their mates.
I just hope they find something out, cuz even I feel stressed.
Mom looks at me and I smile weakly. Everyone’s at a loss at what’s happening. I think they thought that after Samson, there wouldn’t be anythin’ like this again.
“Let’s go hunt, Ariella,” Mom says. “It's a good way to relax and let off steam.”
“Let’s all hunt,” Dad says, after hearing Mom’s suggestion. “We'll do teams so that you and Ariella can be together.”
“Good idea,” Mom agrees. Amarey’s asleep on Aunt Asha’s chest, and he’s not long been fed, so this is the ideal time to go.
“So you go with your Mom, Baby. I’ll go—”
“How the hell is that fair?” Uncle Dee complains. “They’re like a dream team.”
Dad punches his brother in the arm and Uncle Dee groans. “Whyyyyy?”
“Cuz you deserved it. You and Quis can go together. Mom and dad as usual, and Junia and Victorio. I’ll go solo.”
“What do we get if we win?”
“Losers cook,” Grandad Gamba says. He loves food, so I ain’t surprised he’s got his mind on that already.
We all agree and then we shift. Everyone growls with playful competitiveness, but this shit ain’t no game to me. Now I’m in my ware form, I wanna win this shit.
This is gonna be so fun...
Dad barks orders at us, ordering us all ten miles in opposite directions before running off into the woods.
Mom and I run south east as fast as we can. Mom is fast as fuck, but I stay pretty close behind her. I have Ariya to thank for that, and Kietcha; her wolf.
We run fast through the woods, dodging the snow-covered branches of the Maple and Cedar trees. I take note of any Moose I sense on the way. You can estimate how big the prey is when in this form, and I’m sure I sniff out a few potential targets.
Mom slows and then shifts as we reach our fifth mile, so I do the same and dress us both.
“Thanks,” she says, smiling and shaking her head. “I sensed a big one not too far from here.”
I point. “A mile, that way?”
Her face lights up and I know she’s impressed that I’d been paying attention on our way here. “Yep.”
I agree.
I've seen the memory of her first time hunting, and dad's. Although, dad miscalculated his Coyote on his first attempt... I don't think he's ever told anyone that, though.
“So, we'll get to it first, then I'll tell you what to do. We picked a good time of year to do this because otherwise you’d have the antlers to contend with, too.” She widens her eyes and I laugh.
“You picked a good time of year to have me, then, didn’t you?”
“Anytime would have been a good time to have you, Sweetheart.”
We shift again and then make our way to the moose. We’re right, it's a big one, and much bigger than the deer she caught on her first try.
We stand about a quarter mile away from it. It’s a male; I can smell it. It’s just under three metres long, so it definitely has winning potential.
“You want to snap its neck really,” she whispers. “Or bite its throat out. It’s up to you.”
“I’ll snap it's neck,” I whisper back, covering my mouth, too.
“Alright. Good luck. Dad says so, too.”
“Thanks.” I run, cautiously, trying to stay low on all fours, and hidden from sight as I make my way through the snow-dusted trees. My tail catches a branch and I still in my tracks as the Moose snaps his head up from the ground to see what that sound was. I hear him sniffing, his glassy brown eyes scanning around me.
He suddenly runs, being startled by another sound, so I make chase after it. I catch it quick, I’m much faster that this Moose, but the trick is to anticipate his movements so that I don’t miss when I pounce to catch it.
I suddenly wonder how quickly Davonyé will pick these things up, and if he’ll enjoy this as much as I am. As a dominant, he’ll be more vicious when it comes to hunting and really should be a natural.
But if he needs practice, he can hunt me out in the woods. I wonder if he’ll be able to catch me?
I refocus my full attention on the hunt I’m currently involved in now and slow to run just behind the moose; I can smell the fear reeking from it as it becomes slightly breathless as it runs. I quickly begin to anticipate its movements; he's scared and panicking, so he's making mistakes.
We reach an area not so condensed with trees, so I run beside it for three strides before tackling him to the ground and pulling and twisting his head away from its body slightly at the same time. I hear the snap of its neck and it falls limp in my arms as we skid across the rough, icy ground.
“A natural. Not that I’m surprised.” I hear Mom chucking as she approaches.
I push the moose off me to get to my feet and take a bow towards Mom.
“Well done, Sweetheart. Very nicely done. Dad says so, too.”
I shift back to myself and smile at her. “Thank you, both.”
She looks down at the moose. “So you know you gotta carry this, right? You killed it, you carry it.”
“I will gladly carry it, Mom.” I smirk. “With magic.”
I lift it into the air and hover it in front of us as we make our way home.
“Cheater,” she jokes.
I redress us again. “I call it practice.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Thanks for this, Mom. It was exactly what I needed.” This has been so relaxing, as strange as that sounds. I feel much less stressed and forgot about all my worries during the whole thing.
“Hunting is the second-best thing a ware can do to relax. You wouldn't think it, but it is.” She falls quite for a moment. “I know you're an Elder, but you’re still a werewolf, too.”
“You're right, Mom. I think sometimes I forget with all that's going on.”
“I'm sure it's easy done. Just give it time. You'll adjust to both.”
“Yeah.”
I feel her eyes on me. “So, talking of magic, when did you learn how to port?”
“It was one of the first things I learned…” Ugh… rip the band-aid off. “I visited the kratius.”
“WHAT??”
Mom stops and I feel her eyes boring holes in my back, so I stop and turn around, keeping the moose where it is. “This is why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you having this reaction while you were pregnant.”
“You went to the kratius, Ariella! How could you not tell us something like that? Pires live there! They feed on our kind!”
Ugh…
I’m suddenly overwhelmed with her mixed emotions. Anger, concern, hurt from me not telling her… It’s enough to unsettle my magic, but I control it.
“They couldn’t suck me dry even if they wanted to because they’d fall unconscious, and if you think about it, of course I was gonna go there. It’s part of my job, Mom. Vallessa is gonna need me, so Aura made sure I knew her. Same as how I saw the memories of those traitors at the holds. I have to see things, and those things are triggered by other things.”
Her gold eyes darken. “But, Ariella, those things are dangerous.”
“They aren’t the same as they were, and Vallessa is not her father, Mom. You can’t hate her for something she had no control over. That’s like blaming Grandma for what Samson did.”
Her eyes narrow. “It’s not the same and you know it.”
I quickly shuffle through Princess Vallessa’s memories. Aura was right, she is a lot like Mom. “It is. Pires haven’t hunted wares for millennia.”
“Yeah, only because they don’t have access to us anymore.”
“Maybe, but that is not their goal now…” I sigh. “…I know you ain’t happy about it, and I knew you and dad would be mad, but I am an Elder. Not a part time one or a backup. I wasn’t naïve, thinkin’ there wasn’t gonna be some things you didn’t approve of, but I can’t change it, and I don’t want to, because if it means helping our kind in any way, then I’m good with that.”
She shakes her head and I don’t even wanna know what dad’s thinkin’. Mom looks devastated as it is. “Ariella…”
“I know, Mom. But there’s nothing you can do about it, so please don’t worry. I can’t die, so your worry is unnecessary.”
I turn around to continue walking. It takes a little while for mom to catch me up, and when she does, she grabs my arm so I have to look at her. “I am your mother, and no matter what, I will always, always, worry about you. You might be an Elder, but you are my baby, so don’t ever expect me to stop being concerned for you, because I never will.”
“I know, Mom. I really do know.”
She pulls me into her arms and hugs me harder than she ever has. “I love you, so much… Just… be careful.”
“I will, Mom.”
***
Mom and I get back to the house before everyone else, but we hear them coming soon after we arrive.
“Who do you think’s won?”
She smiles excitedly. “Hopefully us. We'll never live it down if we don't.”
“That’s true.”
We wait impatiently as the rest of the family near, one by one. I dress them all as they reappear, before I have to close my eyes to stop myself being blinded by their nakedness. I eye everyone’s kills and feel like we’ve won. Dad’s is close, but my mind is telling me that we’ve got this.
I magic a weighing scales beside the moose so that Uncle Dee can weigh them one by one. He weighs ours last, but then it is visibly bigger.
I watch his face as he sees the weight, and then he eyes us like he was expecting it. “Six seven five.”
I smirk. Damn, a whole fifty kilograms heavier than dad’s.
“Yasss!” Mom says excitedly, laughing at the reaction to the others.
I hi-five her and feel like I've just competed in a kickboxing championship and come first place.
“We kicked all your asses,” Mom gloats.
“Your team was heavy,” Uncle Dee says, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, here we go,” I chime.
Dad rolls his eyes but he’s smiling. “Well done, ladies.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I look back at my uncle. “See, that's a good loser right there.”
“Hey, less of the loser, Princess.”
I laugh. “I didn’t mean it like that, Dad.”