A Dangerous Woman

"Alpha! Please forgive me! I never meant to betray you!"

Ace Hunter looked down at the man kneeling and begging for forgiveness and sighed! He hated, absolutely hated when he had to kill people when he was on vacation. But betrayal was something that he took seriously and whether he had meant to or not, this man should have known better than to have leaked his whereabouts to the rogues. Because of him, he had lost two of his warriors. And because they had died, this man had to die too.

"Stand up!" Ace commanded. This weak man was the Alpha of the Appleby pack where Ace was a 'guest'! It was no wonder the pack had been dying slowly at the hands of rogues and their own neighbours. Who would want to ally themselves with a weakling Alpha like him? All Ace had to do was growl for the grown man to start snivelling. And he hadn't even used his Alpha voice yet!

The man stood up at once, relieved that he had been forgiven. He was about to bow down and thank  Ace when the mighty Alpha spoke, " I will see you at the grounds after the moon rises! Alpha James of the Appleby pack, I hereby challenge you for the right to rule this pack."

***

"Kneel."

Ace Hunter did not even have to use his new authority to make the few hundred people kneel as they stared at the red wolf lying dead near his feet. This was the rule of the packs. The strongest won. And there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the strongest here was Alpha Ace who had killed James with a single swipe of his paw!

Nodding at the acceptance of the pack, he ordered his Beta, " Send for Healer Juan. He will help the pack get back on their feet and appoint someone to govern for us."

Beta Mateo nodded and was about to leave when a voice spoke through the pack link. It was no one other than Healer Juan, "Beta Mateo, bring Alpha Ace to the end of the forest. There is something he needs to see."

Of course, Ace had already heard the 'order' and nodded in acknowledgement. "Tonight, there will be no pack run. You will all go and rest. Tomorrow, I want every single member of the pack present here."

With that order, Ace turned back and walked towards the edge of the forest. If there was one person who could get him to do something without question, it was Healer Juan. But neither the Alpha nor the Beta expected to see the scene that met their eyes.

A woman... no a girl, held a dagger in one hand and a sword in the other and was fighting off three werewolves at once. And holding up quite well. Her movements were slow and she looked exhausted but there was a killing intent that seemed to be coming from her. She was no wolf but she seemed to have no hesitation in killing the rogues.

And then Ace noticed... two dead wolves near her feet. Their throats were slashed. This was a dangerous woman if she had killed two fully grown rogues... It was Mateo who broke the silence as he questioned incredulously, " Healer Juan? Why are you standing there and not helping the girl?"

Healer Juan shushed him, "She doesn't need help."

But, even as Healer Juan said this, Ace had already changed and jumped at the largest grey wolf who was now trying to attack the human girl from behind and jumped in his way with a snarl.

With an angry growl, the grey wolf stared at the black wolf that was now protecting the girl. Already he had been chasing the girl for a week and now this wolf was obstructing his way. Tonight nothing was going to stand in his way of getting the girl and bringing her back to his master.

Meanwhile, Ace studied the rogue wolf and could feel his determination. But why was a wolf after a human girl? Could this be the rogue's mate? But then, it wouldn't attack the girl so viciously.

Soon the wolf pounced, letting out a loud howl, but Ace could not be bothered in engaging in battle. Jumping out of the attack, he simply caught the wolf's neck between his jaws tearing out the wolf's throat.

Turning back to help the girl with the other two wolves, however, Ace was surprised to see that she had already killed the other two. That made a total of four rogues...And she was now staring at him with her wide hazel eyes.

Crystal stared at the black wolf who had appeared out of nowhere and saved her. She had been on the run for weeks and was just about to give up on her life. Her only remaining family was dead and the rogues that had been chasing her had exhausted her. But now finally, the moon Goddess had seen it fit to send someone to help her. But who was this wolf? And was he a friend or a foe? Because if he was a foe, then she knew that she was going to die at his hands. She had no strength left to fight.

Even as this thought occurred, the sword finally slipped out of her hands and she fell onto the ground, the blackness that threatened to engulf her, finally winning.

Ace padded closer to the girl as she lay on the ground and looked down worriedly. Without a second thought, he changed back into his human form and with no worry about his nudity, kneeled against the girl.

"Juan, why are you standing there? Help her."

But Juan simply shook his head and spoke, " No. Ace. It is better if you don't help her. We need to leave."

Ace ignore his healer who seemed to be suffering from temporary insanity and turned her over slowly. Even though she had let go of the sword, she still seemed to clutch the blade tightly.

The ancient-looking blade caught his attention and as he would have taken it out of her hands, Juan shouted," Dam* it! Don't touch that!"