Krish howls laughter as Cungr bristles with rage. “What does she think is humorous about this situation?”

Peeling her jacket off “Davin, get that stench out of my vehicle, even your nose blind pups should be able to find the corpses by now.” Krish snips. Unlacing and kicking off her boots. “Keys are under the driver’s door, have someone scrub it out with vinegar.” She takes a small handgun out of her belt and sets it next to the coat and boots. “I’ll be back for everything later. As for you, Arch Alpha, don’t mistake me for some compliant bitch ready to roll over and submit.” At that, she unabashedly sheds her pants and sprints off into the fridged winter night air.

Cungr lets loose a howl, the surrounding werewolves become distressed and uneasy. Cungr growls at Davin, “Where does she live?”

“High in the mountains somewhere North of here, we think. No one who has gone looking comes back.” Davin cautiously replies.

Moving after her, Cungr catches a flash of golden fire that blinds his night vision before she is swallowed by the darkness. The low light must be playing tricks as he thought he saw a banded tail in the momentary burst of flame. Removing his clothes the bracing feeling of icy air on bare skin hits, then he takes off into a dead run shifting as he leaps forward.

Speaking through the mind link his Arch Beta Alexander asks “Arch, what do you want us to do? Should we follow with you?”

“No, stay where you are and make preparations to return home. Make sure to include accommodations for my mate.” At that Cungr slams the mind link closed so he can focus on the pursuit.

Alex rocks back at the last comment. “His mate?” Alex tries to reconnect but only gets stony silence from his Arch.

The pull is too strong and the panic of losing her takes over. Cungr runs headlong into the pitch-black his eyes adjusting to a monochrome palette. His blood is up, nothing excites like a good chase. He feels the distance of his mate rapidly increasing as she travels with blinding speed. Her scent tells him where she has gone, if he delays her trail could be lost in the winter weather and wind. Cungr presses forward, running harder than he ever has in an attempt to match her swift pace. Air pressure is changing and he’s sure a storm will come through soon. He could lose her and have to navigate off a vague feeling seriously hampering his pursuit. If he had been able to bond with her, mark her, he’d know innately where she was without having to track her like prey.

A few hours before daybreak Krish is feeling the wear of her breakneck speed. Coming up on a deep ravine Krish bunches and easily springs across it. That should put him off for a bit. She is a sprinter, a stealth creature with wicked ambush skills, not a long-distance runner. Her initial burst of energy died out hours ago, a sheer force of will drove her forward over the last hour. She felt the air pressure change earlier and was hoping snow or rain would afford some reprieve, the sky is making promises it has yet to deliver. She just needs a chance to rest as he loses her trail to the elements. She could outfight or think a wolf, but outrunning them was not easily done. The pull of the bond increases as he closes in on her. She knows he will feel it as well and is sure it will push him to continue, knowing his objective is near.

What a wicked sense of humor the universe had to mate her not only to a Wolf, but an Arch Alpha. The goddess must have Kitsune blood in her to contrive such a concept. Maybe it was simply Karma catching up. The only thing keeping the Arch at bay now is his unfamiliarity with the terrain. Even that advantage wouldn’t last long, the sun had already been up a few hours, he'd catch her soon. Just as those thoughts sped through her weary mind a rice-sized piece of ice strikes her muzzle, then the skies open up pouring sleet down. “Finally”, she sighs mentally as ice crusts onto her thick coarse pelt. Padding along the edge of foothills Krish continues until she finds a familiar rocky outcropping to rest under. She squeezes her muscular frame into place just as lightning cracks overhead and the sleet turns to golf ball-sized hail. “Hope that wolf doesn’t get too pummeled by this.” She lays her head down and relaxes into a light sleep.

Cungr could feel the pull of his mating bond grow and her tart scent increase as he gained ground. He had run steadily through the past hours and realized her burning pace was winding down. The initial blazing speed with which she bolted had worried him, there was no way he could have matched that over all these miles. It was short-lived much to his relief. Now that he was closing he was sure he would catch her in the next hour. She had taken some winding paths, run up a stream to mask her scent, and used the terrain to slow his pursuit. He skidded to a halt avoiding the fall into a deep a ravine. Initially, he was convinced she had tricked him and doubled back like so many other times. But an hour of backtracking for a new scent trail was fruitless and he felt the pull weakening with each moment as she put distance between them. Approaching the ravine where her scent ended, morning light revealed broken earth from claw marks on the other side of the ravine. He was shocked, she had leaped across, that jump shouldn’t be possible for a female. Of course, she should not have been able to outrun him at first either.

Knowing time was precious he backed up then ran at the ravine hurling himself to the other side. His front legs barely touched, he clawed and scrapped almost falling to a rocky death. He lay panting hard, heart thrumming in his chest. She really was amazing. Amazing might kill him though. At that moment the sleet began to pour out of the sky, panic struck him. "NO! I’ll lose her." He rushed headlong searching for her as the scent became buried in ice. "NO!" Hail began to pummel his back and shoulders. Cracking across his skull making him wince in pain. Sightless, he drug himself along in the torrent by sheer force of will refusing to be beaten.