It was time for the fourth game, and as we all gathered at the stadium, I got a feeling of familiarity. We had done this before, and we had done well. We sat in our usual seats and waited for the clock to turn nine. On the dot, the speaker switched on.

“Welcome to the fourth game. Today’s game will be played by all the packs at the same time. It will focus on strength, agility, and tactical planning. Everyone will have a flag tied to your waist with a symbol for your pack on it. Your objective is to keep your own flags and steal as many from the other packs as possible. Once you lose your flag, you can no longer participate and have to join the onlookers. All the flags you have gathered will be given over if your flag is lost. Using teeth or claws is forbidden. It is allowed to shift, but if you lose your flag while doing so, you will be out. The game will be ongoing for two hours. We will now take you to the area in which it will take place. If you stray outside the designated area, you will be disqualified. You have the time while we transport you to work out your tactics, and ten minutes when you get there to secure the flags. When the ten minutes are up, the game will begin.” We looked at each other.

‘This will be chaos,’ Sam mind-linked us as we made our way to the waiting bus.

‘Any idea how we will handle it?’ Finlay asked.

‘We can go on the offensive and try to catch a lot of flags, or we can go defensive and make sure no one gets ours,’ Jake said.

‘I don’t think we can stay defensive; we won’t collect too many flags that way,’ I mused. ‘Ramses and I are quick and stealthy. What if the three of you find a good place to stay defensive, keep an eye out for easy targets, and make sure we at least have your flags? Ramses and I will go on the offensive and collect flags. We can then pass them on to you so we don’t risk losing them,’ I suggested.

‘I don’t know,’ Finlay linked.

‘It’s a brilliant plan,’ Jake said, oblivious to why Finlay was hesitant.

‘I agree with Jake,’ Sam said with a grin.

‘If we do, you can’t shift with the color of your wolf,’ Ramses said.

‘That’s a good idea!’ I told him.

‘I know, red stands out like a sore thumb. They will spot you straight away,’ he agreed.

‘And that is what we want,’ I told him.

‘What?’ all the others linked as one.

‘I will shift and use my color to put the focus on me. Ramses will sneak up and get their flags. Easy-peasy,’ I explained.

‘It sounds too easy,’ Ramses said.

‘Agreed,’ Finlay said.

‘They said we can’t use our teeth or claws, which means changing would be fairly useless. But for me, it will be very useful,’ I told them.

‘I think it’s worth a try,’ Sam decided. Everyone but Finlay nodded.

‘No unnecessary risks?’ he asked me in a private mind link.

‘Promise,’ I told him.

‘Sounds like we have a plan,’ he told all of us. When we arrived in the area, once again marked out by scent, we received our flags. We had a deep blue flag with a silhouette of a mountain in white printed on it. I stripped and shifted. Finlay knelt by my side and tied the flag around my waist. As I was planning to stay shifted through the game, I didn’t need to worry about the rope fitting my human shape as well. We made sure it was a good fit for my wolf. I got quite a few stares from the packs closest to us. My unusual fur drew attention.

‘This will work,’ Jake told us with confidence.

‘Remember, keep your eyes open, look out for your teammates, and go for the easy targets first. Once we have a good amount of flags, we will see if we will adapt to a more defensive play,’ Sam mind-linked us all. We nodded. I was excited; this would be fun. The signal sounded, and Ramses and I took off in one direction, the other three in another direction.

‘Five men pack to our left,’ Ramses said. I looked in the direction, and my human part grinned. There was a pack of huge wolves, looking smug in their human form.

‘Let’s do it,’ I agreed.

‘Bring them to the patch of trees over there,’ Ramses said, looking to the right. I looked in the same direction.

‘I’ll meet you there,’ I told him. We split, and I headed for the five men standing in a tight clump. I made sure I got their attention by running in close to them, circling around them, and then giving them some space.

“Hey!” one of them exclaimed.

“Get it!” their Alpha called out. They all set off for me. I happily ran off. They weren’t fast or agile. Their huge size and all their muscles slowed them down. I made sure to run at a speed that just kept me out of their reach, not too fast so they would lose interest. I ran in between the trees. There was a soft thump. I would have missed it if I wasn’t listening for it. I looked over my shoulder and saw Ramses. He had already snatched two flags and was doing quick work of the remaining three. The five men hadn’t even realized their flags were gone when I stopped running. Ramses cleared his throat, and as they spun around, he showed them the flags in his hand.

“How the fuck did you do that?” their Alpha asked.

“Beta Amie is an excellent distraction, and I move quietly,” Ramses said with a grin. “Thank you for the flags. Better luck in the next game.” I joined him, and we ran away together. He made a detour to hand the flags over to Finlay for safekeeping while I scouted our next prey.

Ramses and I worked well together. We started with easy picks and could hand over several flags to Finlay in a short time. After the first half hour, most of the easy picks had been picked off, and things got harder. The participants who were left weren’t as easy to get to chase me. But I could be annoying when I wanted to, and as we progressed, I increased my efforts. I had spotted our next target, and when I headed towards them, I ran past my brother in his human form. He looked surprised for a second, and then he laughed.

“You won’t fool me, little sister,” he shouted after me. My human part grinned. I knew my brother wouldn’t fall for our trap; he wasn’t my target. Elder must have mind-linked the rest of his pack. James swirled around and looked in my direction; I could see his jaw drop as he saw my wolf run past them. Wolfless and weak my ass, I thought as I focused on my target.

The game was almost at its end. Finlay, Sam, and Jake had done a good job at being the defensive unit. They had got some flags as well, but more importantly, they had guarded the flags Ramses and I had gathered.

‘One last target, and then we meet up with the others and hold our stance for the rest of the time,’ I told Ramses. He nodded, and we selected a mark. I set off towards the group of three who stood together, backs against each other. I ran up to them and ran in a circle around them. They annoyingly stood steadfast. I started doing small attacks, not intended to do anything but to make them annoyed and unsure. It took me a while before I got the result I wanted. One of them broke away from the others to lunge at me. I let him almost grab my flag before I ran away. I could hear him following me. He was fast and by far the target I had the most problems keeping at a distance. My wolf enjoyed the challenge and used her agility to weave around obstacles. I was almost at the spot where I knew Ramses was hidden when I felt my pursuer’s hand on my flank. He tried grabbing my hip but missed. I would have no issue shaking his hand off as he could only grip my fur. I maneuvered right and felt a sharp pain in my hip as his claws sank into me. I yelped in pain and felt his claws shred through my skin. The moment after, everything happened at once. I heard him curse and withdraw both his claws and hand. Ramses materialized between us as I spun around. Somewhere on the other end of the area, Finlay roared. The speaker announced a disqualification due to use of claws. The offender had to turn his, and all the flags he had collected, over to the Blue Mountain pack. The man looked defeated as he untied his flag and handed it to Ramses together with a handful of others.

“I’m sorry. I did not mean to hurt you,” he told me, looking around Ramses. I nodded.

“She accepts the apology. She knows she can be annoying,” Ramses told him. I nodded again.

“Yeah, I lost my temper; I haven’t done that in years,” the man said, then nodded to me and strolled off.

‘Time to end this and join up with the others,’ Ramses said. I was about to agree, as there was no way I could move fast enough with my injury, even if it was superficial. The horn sounded, signaling the end of the game.

‘I have your clothes,’ Matilda linked me.

‘You get the flags to Finlay, I will meet up with Matilda and shift back,’ I told Ramses. He nodded. Matilda stood ready with my clothes in one hand and scissors in the other. She cut the rope with my flag off, and I shifted back and got dressed. Finlay came striding towards us.

“Oh my,” Matilda told me when we saw the look on his face. He looked furious. I took a deep breath and put a smile on my face.

“Great job,” I cheerfully said as he got closer.

“Let me see,” he demanded. I was on the verge of asking what he wanted to see, but changed my mind.

“No.”

“No?” he asked.

“I’m not going to strip down and show you my ass in the middle of everyone,” I insisted.

“She’s right. We don’t want others to know the extent of the injuries,” Jake told Finlay. He looked worried.

“I’m fine,” I told them.

“You are injured; that is not fine,” Finlay told me.

“Fair. But it’s a minor injury. Nothing to fuss about. The healer will look at me when we get back,” I told him.

“I can scent your blood.” I sighed.

“Let’s just go back home, and it will straighten itself out. How many flags?” I asked. Finlay was just staring at me, so I turned to look at Sam. He was frowning.

“Ninety-seven, plus our five,” Sam told me.

“Nice. Good work, everyone,” I said. No one said anything.

“Good try,” Matilda told me as we all walked back towards the buses.