Auror

I had just finished preparing my mate’s dinner when Black arrived, informing me that our territory had been breached. An exiled Férnus is extremely dangerous; he has nothing to lose, and we have everything, especially the babies from last winter. We protect them with our lives, as a Férnus couple can only have one offspring, yet another punishment imposed upon us by the Moon Goddess.
"Have Arow stay with Anira."
"Understood."
I reach the forest, and the strongest males of our clan are already waiting, transformed and ready for battle.
"How long ago was he located?"
"Half an hour to the north," Jacob reports. He was on night patrol.
"Two of ours are following him from a distance, but he’s getting very close to the city," Kynai adds.
"He doesn’t seem to care about warnings, even though he was informed he’d invaded the North Clan’s lands," Black says, and from what I know of my friend, he is furious. "I hate those damned exiles!"
"Let’s go!" I command. The sooner I go, the sooner I return to my mate.
We run silently into the woods. My paws dig into the earth, stretching my body, and all my muscles seem to relax. The tension among the males around me is palpable, and each one shares the same anxiety as I do—the Férnus babies, and the mated males are also concerned about their mates.
Warmth fills my chest as I think about my mate. Now I have a mate too, and feeling proud and complete, I sense her life flowing through me. I shake my head; the bond seems to be developing much faster than I expected.
"It’s normal, Auror," Black informs me.
"Confusing, but it makes me feel alive," I say. Even the bond with my kind doesn’t compare to what I feel.
"Control your emotions; if you feel it, she feels it too. This might scare her, depending on the intensity of your feelings." His warning both worries and fills me with pride.
"I will." As we continue running, I try to get accustomed to everything that’s starting to happen to me.
We hear a loud howl, alerting us to the exiled’s location, and we can feel he’s not far. The hunt begins. We are six furious male Férnus against one exiled, who emanates a dark and strange aura.
"From the South Clan?" Jacob asks, as we all sense the same thing.
"That can’t be. He was dead," Black informs us.
"Such an assassin shouldn’t be this close to us," I say.
Then the hatred begins to bubble in my veins. It's not just the Férnus babies we need to protect; all our females are in danger.
Furious growls start to be heard as we are directed to the edge of a ravine. We soon spot the large black Férnus running ahead of us. Black nearly reaches him, but his paw misses the exile’s hindquarters. Even while running, the exile looks back at us with his red eyes, knowing I am here and relishing the thrill of being hunted by the leader.
"GRRRRRRRRR!" My loud roar makes all the birds fly out of the trees and echoes through the valley.
"We will intercept him before the river," Kynai warns.
We continue the chase, seeing the river cutting through our territory below in the canyon. We do not stop, running always under his gaze. From afar, I see Lannur strike him, sending him flying backward into a tree, splitting it in half. He slides through the dirt and comes to a stop near my claws, which dig into his chest.
"GRRR!" His roar of pain echoes through the air.
"Orion, I thought you were dead," I growl, digging my claws in deeper.
"Well, if it isn’t the damned leader," he sneers, sniffing the air. "Wow! The news was correct. The great one protected by the Moon Goddess is mating."
He tries to rise, but I roar, forcing him back down.
"Do not speak of my mate!" I bellow, an order that sends my rage skyrocketing.
The Férnus around us snarl at the disrespect toward their leader, the chosen one sent to rule alongside me.
"The great Auror, you know you’re not any different from me, right?" His coarse, feral voice continues to echo.
"Take it up with the Moon Goddess." My open paw strikes his snout, sending blood flying and his pained grunt reaching our ears.
Even with me holding him down, he manages to slip out from under me, but he can't run when he throws me a few steps back, as he is surrounded.
"How about a bit of action? I’m eager to tear off your head."
Orion does not understand limits; he is a murderous male, consumed with envy for losing the female he loved to the leader of the Southern clan. She was not his mate, only a female with whom he passed the heat. One day, he decided to take her to spend the heat with him in his clan, and that was when she bonded with the leader.
He killed her, driving the leader almost to madness. Since then, he was thought to be dead, but it seems he is very much alive.
"Do you dare to challenge me on my own lands?" I position myself to attack.
"Both you and Sbor should be dead, damned leaders!" He roars as we prepare to fight.
All the males display their fangs and roar around us, waiting only for a command to attack. But I will personally tear off the exile’s head and send it as a gift to Sbor.
With a swift move, we begin to fight. His claws strike me at the same moment my own dig into his chest. The battle starts, and our blows open gashes in our bodies.
Orion is a strong male, but I am Auror Vont’in, and no one is a match for me.
Amidst roars and attacks, his body begins to show signs of exhaustion. The gashes on his chest are visible, his flesh is exposed, and part of his ribs has no skin left, revealing his bones.
The furious male does not retreat, pressing forward. When his claws hit my shoulder, I roar in pain.
"When I’ve killed all of you, I will run to the clan, slaughter the babies of the last winter, and tear off the head of your mate. Not even you, the mighty Auror Vont’in, will be able to stop me." His blood-red eyes, the color of an exile's eyes, shine menacingly.
"You will not live to fulfill your threats."
I leap at him, and amidst blows that tear his flesh and bites that rip pieces from his body, he does not give up. I pounce, sinking my hind claws into his abdomen, and bite his neck, tearing off half of it with my mouth. In a surge of strength, I rip off his head from his body.
I collapse to the ground, holding my trophy, roaring in intense rage. When I stand again, I see Orion’s massive body drop to its knees on the ground. With a kick to his chest, I send his body tumbling into the river far below.
The victory roar of all the Férnus echoes with mine through the darkness of the night. All the animals in the forest know who holds the power to keep them alive or dead.
We return home, running through the dark, illuminated only by the Moon Goddess’s light in parts where the dense forest permits. I carry the head of a slain exile on my back.
I begin to pant, feeling my movements slow. Then my body crashes to the ground beneath me. I can only remember hearing Black’s voice calling me before everything fades away.