(SkyWolf's POV)

Trees are blurring past. Voices have been left behind in the distance. I'm not sure why I'm running anymore. I don't understand human emotion. But I know that I have to get away. Away from my team. It leaves an empty feeling in my chest. But I can't go back, for some reason. I'm spurred on by my own heart. It feels good to be running again. The wind whips my fur and the exercise diverts my mind. The forest floor is firm underneath my paws. But even as I run, my mind battles between my now split life.

I would of baffled right into danger if I had been running as a wolf. With my keen ears, I was able to hear the voices in time to stop and scramble into the underbrush. My years of hunting rabbit and avoiding predators puts my body into autopilot. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. My knees are kept slightly bent as I start slinking through the brush. My footsteps are now silent on the leaf mulch. Wolves are designed for stealth. This new distraction completely tears me away from my inner turmoil. I quietly stalk closer to the voices, and notice the smell of smoke in the air. Fire. Fire's dangerous.

I stop when I get a view of the camp from behind a tangle of tree roots and thorns. My eyes are keen enough to easily see down into the camp without revealing my presence. I listen closely to their words, but I still don't understand completely. "-and I ____ sensed one in their human ____. I could've sworn there was ___ ___ this area", a male voice pouts. I just see him standing next to another human and a pair of horses. The other human is holding a torch in preparation of the incoming nightfall. "We brought the ____. I'd there are and Shape-shifter out here, they'll ____ looking for this ___", he dismisses the first. Are they talking about me? Have they been tracking while I'm not a wolf?

As I'm in the brush, I suddenly pick up another smell in the air. Along with it is some sort of aura. The fist human down there is a sorcerer with a dark aura. But then there's something else underneath. It take me a moment to find where it's coming from. On the side of one of the horses, there's a small cage. Some sort of gray furred animal is inside. At the same time that my eyes land on the cage, the animal lifts up its head to look at me.

You're like me.

The small squirrel recognizes what I am. And I can tell what he is. The humans were using him as bait to lure me in, except that I found him before they could set any sort of trap. They don't detect my own aura when I'm in wolf form. A rage like nothing I have ever known seems to boil up in my blood. Kin-killers! I won't let them trap myself or continue to hold my kind. I silently stalk around the humans and positions myself downwind from the horses. And then start creeping up behind the horses back. The small squirrel has panic in its eyes, warning me to stay away. But I won't leave him here.

I explode out of the bushes and onto the hoses back. The horse reads up and panics, trying to throw me off. The humans yells and dive out of the way. My claws rip into flesh, and my back legs kick the squirrel's cage free of its bindings. I jump off and go after it. The horse charges away at my leave, further distracting the Hayden's as they try to deal with both frantic horse. That thing metal bars of the cage are no match for my powerful jaws. I bend the bars back with my bite. The small squirrel was dazed when the cage crashed to the ground, but still shivers in fright when I gently pick him up I my mouth.

The hair on my neck suddenly stand up, and I lunge away from where I was just standing. A bolt of dark blue lightning strikes just where I was standing. "I told you", the young sorcerer yells. The other man grunts and launches an arrow at me. I scramble away, turning tail and running. Soon, horse hooves are pounding after me. The squirrel in my moth is clinging to me in fear. He's shaking in my grip. Suddenly, another horse bursts from the right. I nearly collide with it, bu I manage to skid to stop and turn to run in another direction. This rider launches a lasso at my legs. It thankfully only scratches my side before falling away.

There's more than two humans now. I can hear more horses running out from their cover to chase me. I thought I had outsmarted the trap, but I fell right into it. Another horse appears right in front of me, and I stumble over my feet while trying to change direction. Later I would learn that Seto had disabled his traps when I ran off. If I stop running, I'm caught. I realize too late that they are herding me. It's just my instinct to turn away when they jump out at me. Maybe I would I realized if I wasn't a wolf.

I suddenly clear the trees and burst open into a clearing. My relief is short-lived. I almost slam straight into a cliff wall. My legs stumble over themselves while I skid in the dirt. The small squirrel squeals in alarm at the sudden stop. I can't run anymore. Spinning around, I growl out a challenge as three horses appear from the trees. I recognize the sorcerer and the other one from earlier. The third is a stranger. But even as I watch, four other humans ride out from the trees. What do they want with me? Why are they here on the Sorcerer's territory? They..... want my fur. That's what they want, my skin that changes shape. They want this skin, not who the other part of who I am.

(Sky's POV)

I lose my balance and fall back on my but after transforming. I'm being chased!? They're going to kill me! With a jolt, I look down to see the squirrel that I'm still carrying. He's looking at me with wonder and fear. "S-Stay away!", I yell at the hunters. They seem a little annoyed about me shifting out of my wolf form. It's not like I'm gonna let them kill me! "Oh, come on. It would have happened eventually, even if some others got to you first. Should've gotten it over when we had you at the containment facility", one fo the strangers speaks up, jeering at me. I can tell that he's the leader from how he's dressed. Have they really tracked me all this way? They've known what I was even before I did.

I bear my teeth and growl again, even as a human. The sorcerer actually laughs and motions for two of the other people to come at me. I was cornered. They would've killed me if they got the chance. But a low humming suddenly fills the air. I flinch back when a figure suddenly falls from the sky, smoke coming off their feet. Jason's suddenly in front of me with his laser gun pointed at the group of hunters. Rocks are knocked off the top of the small cliff when Ssunndee drops down. He uses a knife stabbed into the rock face to slow his decent. I can't help but watch this all happen. Mitch comes up from the side with his bad string pulled back, Jerome on the other side with a large axe. Quinten and Ty run up from behind and out of the trees with even more weapons.

If the hunters weren't unnerved by their sudden appearance, then Seto probably made them crap themselves. He teleports into the middle of the group, grabbing the young sorcerer off his horse and then disappearing again. Seto comes back into sight a few feet away from me, holding the other sorcerer by his shirt collar. "You should know better than to come here!", Seto yells at him,"You should be ashamed of yourself, hunting down the people who share your magic!". The young sorcerer looks terrified, obviously feeling the strength of Seto's magic aura.

"Now get out of here", Seto mutters, dropping the quivering sorcerer to the ground. He immediately scrambles away in a mad haste to get away. The rest of the strangers don't stay too long as their speed caster flees for his life. Ty and Quinten move to the side to let them pass on their horses. It gives me satisfaction to watch them flee from my team.

"Sky! Are you alright?", Jerome asks, rushing over to me. "Y-Yeah", I stutter, finally standing up. The squirrel suddenly starts squirming in my arms, poking me with his little claws. I let me go and watch him jump down to the ground. The squirrel turns back around to face me before transforming. When I look back at him, a young boy is standing in front of me. He can't be older than 14. He's skinny, with tattered clothes and empty knife sheaths. "R-Ross", he smiles as he points to himself, his voice rough from disuse. Before I can say anything else, Ross transforms back into a squirrel and bounds away. He runs right up a tree and is soon gone from sight. "Who was that?", Jason asks in confusion. "Another shape-shifter that they were holding captive. I'm not sure where he's going", I explain. "So there are other shap-shifters?", Ty asks. "Very few. Theyre's going extinct", Ssunndee chimes in.

"Will more hunters come for Sky?", Mitch wonders out loud. "Every second that Sky's in human form, its drawing more people like them onto his trail. Shape-shifter were once safe, but not anymore", Seto sighs, "I can't always protect you, no matter how much I want to. If...... if I sealed you in your human form, and took away your shape-shifter magic, it would keep you safe". Seto seems uncomfortable with the suggestion, but I can understand that he's trying to keep me safe. "That's terrible! Is that really the only way to get rid of his aura?", Jerome protests. "It's ok. I don't want to hide anymore. I think I'd rather be with all of you.

"Are you sure Sky? I can reverse this", Seto asks one more time. I've been trapped as a wolf for almost my entire life. I love being so free in my fur, but being human comes with all these stronger emotions. I'm too attached to the people around me to go back t my old pack as a wolf.

"Yeah.... I'm sure"