Chapter author: YouAreNowIncognito

Early in the morning Delmar sneaked off. The cave he left behind was filled of ice crystals slowly melting in the morning sun. Angi was still in there sleeping. They had a great night together and he couldn't remind himself that he ever had this much fun with another being before. They had been hunting together and talking a lot. Still, he didn't want to be there when she woke up. He wasn't pleased with himself and his actions. He didn't like the person Angi made him, she made him soft and hesitating. In any other circumstance, he would have killed the person stepping in between him and his pray. The more he thought of it, the angrier he became. He should give her a lesson about what happens when she messes with him. He sighed, it was no use, he knew he couldn't hurt her as long as she gave him that smile. She seemed like she understood him perfectly and she seemed to know exactly what to say to change his mind. Hopefully he could get far enough before she woke up. In that case she would have a hard time finding him again. He played with the thought of tracking down and attacking her pack again as punishment for yesterday. That would be a fine revenge and he didn't have to look her in her eyes.

Even though he had these thoughts of revenge and of running away from Angi he didn't hurry. He didn’t even search for the scent of Angi’s pack. He just trotted through the woods and hoped to hear her voice calling for him to wait for her. But no one called for him, after two hours his hope had been exchanged for hate and anger again. The next time he sees that irritating white wolf again he should kill her. What was he thinking inviting her to stay for the night? Now she probably got the completely wrong idea!

Delmar’s feelings and thoughts were completely mixed up. He didn't know whether he should hate her or like her. He was also very unsure what her goal was. Was it to protect her pack, to act as his psychologist or did she want to be his lover or friend?

Suddenly he heard voices. He instantly hid himself in the nearest bush. Of course it had to be a squad of element shifters from the town. They seemed to come from the thermal/mechanical faction by the looks of it. They were five individuals, two of them were in their human form. The other ones were a fox, a mustelid of some sort and a deer. One of the humans was partly blue and had a pair of wings made out of water coming out from his back. He was obviously a water shifter. The other one was harder to tell but she had a purple tint to her skin and her eyes were emitting a clear violet light. Then Delmar saw the sixth individual. The purple lady carried the same white rabbit he had fought yesterday. It seemed badly hurt and its silver colored blood ran down over the purple lady's arms and clothes. The water shifter were looking through his bag and found a first aid kit. They started to patch up the rabbit with the things they got.

“Hey there, easy with the cold, you don't want to freeze his legs of" the fox said to the woman.

“Don't worry I know what I'm doing, I just thought I could cool down his swellings.” She answered.

“Yeah but don't you think liquid nitrogen is a bit overkill for this?”

“It's what I got. Don't worry I got it under control.” The lady seemed to be a nitrogen shifter.

“Are you alright, little one?” she asked.

“I don't know, it feels kind of bad. But its better thanks to you. Who are you?” the rabbit mumbled.

“Don't worry we’re the same as you, we're shifters.” She petted the rabbit slowly “Look at you, all this liquid silver, are you a quicksilver shifter perhaps?”

“It sure looks like it" the deer said.

“I don't know, he who attacked me said something about quicksilver too. I don't know what he meant.”

“He who attacked you?” the blue human asked very concerned. “Who attacked you?”

“I don't know… He was a blue wolf with a long dragon tail at first, then he was some kind of ice crystal monster"

“It must have been Delmar by that description.” the deer said. The blue human nodded with a concerned look.

“You should avoid him, especially a young shifter as yourself. He's not sane, he keeps attacking folks without a reason" the blue human said.

“He seemed to know everything about me! It was like he could read my mind! Can you do that too?” the rabbit said with paranoia on his voice.

“No, I have never heard about anyone having mind reading abilities.” the purple lady said surprised. The others agreed.

“We're going to take you into the city, little one. You're going to learn about your abilities so you can defend yourself next time.” The purple lady rose, still carrying the rabbit while the others gathered their things. They packed everything and left. Delmar came out of his hiding place after a while.

“No I’m not sane... You should be glad they found you first! …Darn scouting groups!” In his anger he sent a bunch of ice crystals straight through a tree splintering it in the middle. This was his second failure in a short time. He must step up his game! He walked around in circles barking ugly words. After a while he stopped, maybe he should just lie down and wait for Angi to find him and make him feel better?

No! Stop it! What is she doing to me?! he thought. He should rather clean up his mistakes and kill the fire shifter back at her pack now when she wasn't looking.