The Lone Wolf

Chapter 4: Peeta

Katniss and I run through the snow around my territory. She's fast. It's actually kinda hard to keep up. She leaps up onto a boulder and laughs at me.

"What?" I ask her.

"The big bad Alpha can't keep up with little ol' me?" she asks.

"You're fast," I say. "Maybe even faster than me."

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah, which is surprising considering you shifted for the first time, what two hours ago?" I say. She shakes herself, causing snow to sprinkle down on me. "Nice, Thats real mature." She gives me a wolfy smirk and I jump up and push her off of the boulder into a heap in the snow. She shakes her head and scowls up at me.

"Yeah, and you are," she says. She gets up, ready to jump back up when her ears perk up. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I ask her. Suddenly she gets stiff and crouches down.

"It's the Careers," she said. "They're coming for me."

"Who?" I ask her.

"The rouges that chased me here, they're close," she says.

"There's no way they'd be able to get this close to us," I say. "We're too deep into the territory. The boarder patrol would have found them by now."

"I'm serious Peeta, they're really close," she says. And that's when I hear it. Four sets of paws running through the forest. And they're getting closer.

"Katniss, go home," I say.

"And leave you here," she says. "No, I won't do it." Suddenly, four ragged shapes run up to us. The leader, a large golden wolf with eyes the color of winter ice, is someone I know well.

"Cato, you and your friends are not welcome here," I say.

"We are here for the rouge that we chased onto your territory," he says. "I see she finally shifted. Good, I like a fight."

"I'm not going anywhere with you Cato," Katniss growls. "I'm tired of Snow's rules and I'm not going back."

"Too bad," Cato says. "We were told to bring you back, dead or alive." He signals to the two she-wolves behind him and they start stalking towards Katniss. They start circling her, snapping their jaws. The muddy yellow one jumps at her and Katniss jumps onto her back. She uses her claws to tear at the wolf beneath her, her grey eyes burning with rage. These four have been tormenting her for a while now and this is finally the chance she's been waiting for. But the small brown wolf jumps on Katniss' back, pinning her to the ground. I try to help her but am caught off guard when Cato and his friend jump at me at the same time.

"Sorry Mellark," Cato says. "I'm afraid that Clove and Glimmer have earned their fun. And besides, I think we have a little score to settle. Suddenly Marvel pins me to the ground, and I feel Cato start tearing at my hind leg. I look over to see Katniss pinned to the ground, Clove's jaws inches from her throat. Then I see flashes of tan, grey, red, and brown. Gale knocks Clove off of Katniss and quickly tears out her throat while Darius finishes off the other she-wolf.

Katniss gets to her feet and flings herself at Marvel, knocking him off. The rage in her eyes is unlike anything I've ever seen.

"You killed my sister!" she growls. "And you helped the other three kill my father. I watched you pin him to the ground while Cato tore his throat out. Its time for you to pay!" She latches onto his throat, but does not end his life quickly. Instead, she holds on tightly as he thrashes around and the light dies from his eyes. But even then, she doesn't let go. I watch as the other Gale and the others start after the retreating Cato.

"Katniss," I say. "He's dead. Let him go." She drops him and howls up at the sky in triumph. It's scary. She's not the same anymore. She's been consumed by rage. She look s over at me and walks over.

"Peeta," she says. "There's almost nothing left to your leg. I try to lift my head but Katniss stops me, using her body to block me from getting any view of it. "Stop, I don't want you to go into shock."

"That bad huh," I say and she laughs.

"Well, you've still got your sense of humor," she says. "That's good." She starts licking at my wound and it stings. Gale and the others run up and he hangs his head low.

"I'm sorry Alpha,"he says. "The last rouge escaped."

"It's okay," I say. "We got the other three."

"Beta," Katniss says. "We need to get him to the clinic right now." Gale nods and helps me up, supporting the side that was torn into by the rouges. I can't see my leg, but I see a pool of blood and fur where I was laying.

"You three," Gale says to the others, "Go take these three over the border before they start to stink up our territory worse than they already are now."

"I'm gonna run ahead and help Delly get ready," Katniss says before she starts running towards the house.

"So that's why she seemed so special when I found her," Gale says. "She's our Luna."

"She doesn't like to be called that," I say. "She doesn't even completely trust me yet."

"Then I won't bring it up," he says. We continue in silence until we get to the house. Gale helps me inside and Delly and Katniss lift me onto a table.

"You're gonna need to shift back Alpha," Delly says. "And I have to warn you, it will be extremely painful." Katniss lays a blanket over me.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"You are going to be naked after you shift back," she says.

"I don't care if you see me," I say.

"I care okay," she says. "Now shift back and if you start to black out, don't fight it, you'll continue to shift without being conscious."

"How do you know that?" I ask her.

"My mother and sister were healers," she says. I feel myself start to shift back and my leg feels like its on fire and I scream before everything goes black.