(Rose’s PoV)

     I get out of the theater when I immediately throw up all of my mental blocks and run headed for the forest. As I get to the treeline, my mind goes blank and I let my body do what it knows best. I use the tree trunks to propel me forward, faster, and I feel like I’m flying in my human form, but it’s not fast enough for me. I push myself harder and go faster than I had ever run before. I didn’t need to think, I just needed to kill and I could achieve that easily in the forest. Within minutes, I clear the boundaries we had set up earlier.  Within a few hundred feet I find my first victim.

     A human spy hidden in the trees, he doesn’t even have a chance to react and I doubt he even saw me coming. My claws slice through his throat muscles like butter.  I don’t stop. I don’t need to because I already know my target is dead. I move from tree to tree running, my movements a blur. I kill at least a dozen humans in the span of a few minutes. When I finally land on a tree branch, two heads fall to the ground followed by the bodies.  I land cat-like on the branch. I breath heavily and look around, waiting. I fall from the branch as a rifle fires to my left.

    I launch myself back up with the next branch and embed a curved dagger into the forehead of a human soldier. “Foolish of them to not have worn their helmet”, I think to myself as I land next to the soldier's falling body. I shoot my hand out and grab his rifle, stopping his fall due to the rifle's sling. I remove my dagger from his forehead. I wipe the blade off on his uniform before resheathing it along my forearm and then I let him drop. I start to climb higher into the tree so I can see how far I have gotten myself.

     I get up to the last branch that is able to hold my weight and look over the surrounding trees. Finding the tallest, I begin leaping from tree to tree until I get to it. I am able to climb up a handful of branches until I reach the last branch that will be able to support my weight and study my surroundings. To my right, I see the palace lights but not much else.  Everything else is a sea of dark green. I take a deep breath and let the breeze wash over me for a moment.  I close my eyes and listen to the quiet world around me.

     I can hear the distinct hum that the humans’ radios make to my left, the leaves rustling with the breeze, the pitter patter of shifters feet as they run and all the other night time noises that the forest holds. I open my eyes as I make my decision.  I drop down a few branches as I go back to the tree where I had killed the three human soldiers. I get to the tree and jump the rest of the way down and I pick up one of their radios. “I know you’re listening, you've been waiting for me to lose my cool. Shall I keep killing your dogs or are you going to just keep sending soldiers so you don’t have to die?” I ask.

     A cold but amused laugh rings over the radio “Tell me, do you really think you have a chance to fight me? You’re never going to win and may I say, I am extremely disappointed in you. I didn’t create you to be soft, I created you to be my mutt. You think you’re so smart, let’s make a wager shall we? I bet you won’t find your son in the next six months. In that time, I will withdraw my men from your forest and leave you to whatever schemes you may have. But when I win at the end of these six months, I’ll be coming! After you watch me remove that useless king's head from his shoulders, I will drag you back and you will be nothing more than my pet.” The voice bemuses.

     “I’ll see you in six months then and when you show up I’ll kill you. I’ll kill everyone that threatens my family.” I say between my clenched teeth. Another laugh comes through the radio “I’ve really outdone myself with you child! See you soon.” I drop the radio and smash it under the heel of my boot. Oh, yes, we would see each other soon enough and when we did I was going to come out on top. I hear the static from the other two radios as an order to retreat is given. Oh, I had no doubt I wouldn’t win this bet. I gave up on the long lost son thing a long time ago. No, what I needed now was more shifter soldiers.

     I begin running to my left, killing any stragglers in my wake. I knew someone, probably my Garden, knew what needed to be done. They were the only ones I trusted to get what needed to be done, done. Those entitled, egocentric, hypocritical, assholes would be nothing more than meat shields when this came to a head. I stop, finally, when I come to the banks of a river. If I remember the map of Tupinambis, this was the same river we had stopped at days ago. I was just a lot farther upstream, I hear the cry of a bird and know that Poppy has spotted me.

     “I need to swim and clear my head. Thank you for keeping watch and I’m sorry I took off like that.” I send the message through the mind link. Then slamming my walls back into place I run into the icy cold water and I feel alive again. When I’m deep enough into the water, I begin swimming. I get to the deepest part of the river and begin swimming against the stream. Occasionally, I let myself be washed back down stream before I begin fighting the stream again. I don’t stop until my muscles ache from the cold and exertion. I make my way to the bank, my teeth chattering slightly from the cold.

     I see Snappy waiting for me with a towel and I graciously accept it wrapping it tightly around my frozen body. “Feel better?” he asks me. I nod and let part of my walls down, allowing only my Garden to enter my thoughts. I look between Anti and Poppy then sigh “Six months is all we have, I have made it seem like I was looking for my child. The bet is we can’t find him in the next six months, when we don’t he’ll be coming for us.” I say. Anti lets out a long sigh and runs a hand through his hair. “I mean it’s longer than we thought we had. If we play this correctly, we may be able to buy some more time. If the five of us spend our time hitting facilities and leave training to the unleashed, we will have a better chance.” He says.

     Poppy shakes her head “That’s not logical Anti. What we need is Rose, Orchid, and yourself to keep hitting the facilities. Dahlia and I will stay back running comms and oversee the training, we will let the more experienced shifters train. While we make sure that everything is staying on track here. Dahlia needs to start working on making medications and ointments so we are prepared in six months.” She says. I rock back and forth on my feet while I think “I agree with Poppy, in a few weeks Sevrin, Alice, James and Rory will be ready to start hitting facilities with us. If the three of us hit smaller facilities and wait for them to be ready, then we can start hitting bigger targets. More shifters is more help for us, we just need to find a way to weed out any of them that may be working with Gen.” I say and start heading back for the palace.

     As we walk, the three of us talk strategies. Halfway back Dahlia and Orchid catch up to us, as much as I’d rather stay out in the forest right now, my body's too cold to let that happen. As I reach the treeline, I remove the towel from my shoulders and hand it over to Anti.  After he takes it, I square my shoulders and hold my head up high. I wasn’t going to let anyone see me other than a force to be reckoned with. “Well team, it’s showtime, let’s razzle and dazzle them.” I say and lead my group toward the front gates, I come to a stop next to a pile of bodies and heads. “Already picked them clean and smashed their tech.” Dahlia enforms me and I nod.

     I let my walls down and issue a command for the whole pack to meet out on the field, when I hear Anubis I throw my walls up again. No, he was a weakness and I am not weak, he made it clear what he thought with his eyes and his silence. I stand as tall and proud as I can and my Garden follows suit. Soon, Anubis and the whole back are standing in front of the mound of bodies and I step forward. “These are humans I killed within a few hundred feet of our game's boundaries, there was more but I gave the man in charge what he wanted. You have six months before they make a move, nothing more. As it stands, you will all find yourselves collared.” I paused and motioned to the bodies.

     “Either you learn or we move on and let them have their way with you, because I am okay with letting them attack you as a distraction for us. This is war and you are ignorant.” I pause again as Anti hands me a lighter. I flick open the lighter and spark it before dropping it on the bodies, I watch as the remains go up in flames. The warmth from the fire giving me goosebumps. “This is what they will do to those of you that try to fight and then you will be forgotten.” I say. Then in unison the five of us say “The only good mutt is a dead mutt, and we don’t waste time or money on dead mutts.” With that we head back towards the castle not looking back.

     As soon as I make it inside the walls, I move quickly, doing what I can to avoid Anubis. I didn’t quite feel like talking to him. I didn’t want to have to reject him yet. I can’t be weakened by a stupid rejection, I know it’ll have to happen soon. I won’t stay with someone he is scared of me, I get to the palace doors when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Soon, I feel myself getting picked up in a tight bear hug “Damnit, Anti, cut it out.” I growl. “Now,  all agreed you’re being a little harsh with Stepdad. So we decided you aren’t getting to run like a coward.” Dahlia says. He comes to stop in front of me and smiles, before giving me the biggest doe eyes. That cheeky little shit always knew how to get me.