Safety
In the cave.
Completely exhausted, she gently put flapjack down, who stumbled on his four feet as the three of them entered. It was a short, narrow passage that opened up to a large room—about the size of your average living room—with a few stalactites hanging from the ceiling and the floor covered with dead leaves.
The first thing she saw was Owen and Ava; she was gasping for air as she curled up against the back wall and on top of a thick pile of leaves. Owen was with her as she licked her aching paws—gently nudging her large stomach. Emira was then next thing she saw—and she saw her.
Her new friend got up and greeted them all while honey came forward to greet flapjack .
Luz sniffed her fur as Emira did the same with her and said, 'Are you ok?'
'I've been better,' luz gasped as she finally collapsed on a large pile of leaves, her limps feeling as if they were just shot with a few gallons of Redbull; too tired to move.
Hunter looked around at them all before he said, 'I'll be back in a second. Need to make sure that no one's watching us.'
Luz looked up, about to ask him what he was talking about—but he already left before she could say anything. Confused, she turned back to Emira and asked, 'Why would we be followed?'
'I keep forgetting you're not from around here,' edric said, causing her to jump. She hadn't even seen him there.
'But first things first,' he said as he came out from a shadowy corner and over to sit next to her. 'My name is edric … or as the humans call me… well a lot of unnecessary things.' He laughed at that as luz glanced over his dark-green fur before he became serious and said, 'And if you don't mind me asking, I was wondering if you would be willing to bear my pups?'
Luz let out a loud screech—causing Ava and Owen to look over at them with disapproval on their faces, amity immediately tackled her older brother and bit him on the ear, at the moment, no one didn't care. There was no freaking way that she would ever…
'It's alright, luz !' Emira called quickly over her racket. 'It doesn't mean anything! He goes around asking that of every female werewolf he sees. Which isn't that many.'
'Not very choosy are you?' Luz snapped at him, still embarrassed and angry, as he laughed again.
'It's hard to get a mate here,' he picked himself off the floor, before turning to viney. 'Of course, you know that I've always had very special feelings for you my dear…'
'Don't you dear me,' viney told him, her tail wagging wildly, making sure that it slapped his face. 'The only 'dear' I'll take is the kind you hunt and bring home.'
Viney then turned back to luz . 'Make it easy for yourself and just ignore him. That's what I do. Anyway, now that we can finally relax, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?'
Luz had been afraid of that. What was she supposed to say now? Before, they were more concerned about staying alive than questioning her. But now that they didn't have to worry about being killed, they were going to ask some questions that weren't going to be easy to explain. Well, she took a shot at it.
'Well, my name is luz … and I come from a pack that's… far away,' she began. 'I came here because I heard that there were some other werewolves here, and I—I guess that I wanted to find someone who could help me.'
'Why were you kicked out?' Owen finally said once he was sure that Ava was comfortable and has fallen asleep. 'Of your old pack I mean?'
'I… rather not say,' luz told them softly. 'Only just that me and my family… ah… didn't have… well, let's just say that we had some disagreements.'
That was the best she could do. Luckily, just at the moment, flapjack had crawled over to her had rested his head against her. 'Sorry,' he croaked. 'I didn't mean to run off like that. I just…' he trailed off.
Luz turned to look over at him and—not knowing why—she nudged her head against his in a loving way. (It was worse than she thought… the longer she was a werewolf , the more she started acting like one.)
Flapjack also looked surprised, but it was for a different reason, 'That's what my mom used to do,' he squeaked as he lied down next to her and curled up against her side. Luz looked at him startled, but before she could say anything, he already fell asleep.
'He must like you,' amity said, her voice gentle as she looked at the pair of them. 'He hasn't been that close to someone other than his parents. After his mother died… he wasn't the same.'
Luz felt her heart go out to the boy again and wrapped her tail around him, to help keep him warm before she turned back to amity and asked, 'Ok, why does Hunter think we're being watched? flapjack said something about… other packs…?'
'Oh, that's right, you don't know,' she answered as she stretched out. 'Yes, there are a few werewolf packs who live in these parts. But I'm not sure how much I'll be able to tell you.'
'Why's that?' she asked confused.
'We live by our rules,' edric explained. 'We make no acceptations. That's how we've stayed alive since now. So… if you wish to stay with us… then you must become one of us.'
'I don't get it,' luz said slowly, but having a bad feeling of what he meant.
'To stay here,' edric said seriously as he laid his head down on his front paws. 'You must become one of us. In other words, join our pack and help us take care of each other. Any lone wolf in these parts doesn't stand a chance on their own. These are the rules of our territory.'
'And our territory is no different from the other two that are here,' Emira finished for him sadly as she rolled over onto her back, her eyes never leaving luz.
'So there are more of them?' Luz asked, taking in everything they were saying.
'Humans think we're dumb,' edric said with a roll of his eyes. 'That we're savage monsters; that we're just wild that will turn on each other in a heartbeat. This is far from true. We are wild, yes, but the chaos reigned here has helped put everything into its natural place. But things have changed drastically in the last few years.'
'What's happened?' Luz asked worriedly, looking from edric, amity to Emira. 'Is it the humans or…?'
'Oh, they're part of the problem,' edric informed her. 'But we've learned to deal with them every year. At the moment we have bigger problems than them.'
'You see, for awhile now,' Emira continued, 'There has been a struggle between werewolves that have been shaking our world to its foundation.'
'Just those packs?' Luz asked in surprise. 'That should've ended already. I mean, if you guys are fighting over territory then…'
'You're right,' Edric agreed sullenly. 'It should've ended long ago. Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that. The problem is that these battling werewolves are the three main pack leaders, fighting over things like food and dens.
Their hatred for each other runs very deep for several reasons. But the one issue that is bringing out all this trouble is the same one that we're so cautious here… fighting over control of the woods and cliffs.'
'It has always been this way,' Emira sighed. 'Three boss werewolves in constant disagreement with each other. And since the strength that all three of these wolves have is somewhat equal… the balance among them is barely stable.
The problem is that if two of them fought and only one emerged alive, the third would be waiting in the wings and ready to strike. So the three of them have continued to push in a stand-off that, at this point, has lasted for over 30 years.'
'You think that they would get tired of this and go crazy… or at least try to make peace,' luz muttered.
'Because these three are too stubborn for that,' Emira laughed. 'But that's not the point. There are three packs. We have the second largest. The first wolf pack belongs to a strong lupus wolf. Even though there are only few other werewolves with him, he's more than strong enough to fight with the others.'
Edric said seriously, 'he's very protective of the remaining werewolves with him.
'But there's only a few of them?' Luz repeated.
'Their group is small, but the lupus wolf is super strong and dangerous,' Emira explained. ‘But no one has seen him in years to confirm his whereabouts.”
'Pretty soon,' edric went on, 'Their small pack may not be so small for much longer, he left to find a mate and they been secretly gathering more members to fight against belos.
'Belos?' Luz gasped. 'Who is he…and what’s his story?”
'He’s our biggest problem and It's the third wolf pack that's also the problem.'
'Why?' Luz inquired. 'What's wrong with them?'
'Everything that's why,' he snarled. 'He’s the greedy leader of the pack who made a deal with the devil. He's definitely got the largest pack. Including him, there's got to be at least… ten werewolves there.'
'Ten?' Luz gasped again.
'Yeah,' Emira growled as honey curled up into a ball next to them and instantly went to sleep. 'And they're the main reason why there's hardly any food up here. In one hunt, they kill enough meat that could feed our little pack for a long time. But now that food up here is growing scarcer, they started coming after us and our food.
We rule the forest below us, they rule the cliffs, and the lupus boss rules a valley on the other side of the mountain. We usually try to ignore each other… but with the humans swarming, the cold coming, and the shortage of food—things are getting violent.'
Luz shook her head. 'I had no idea that things were this bad.'
'And they keep getting worse,' edric explained. 'But maybe with you here, we might be able to gang a bit of an edge over them.'
'What me?' Luz demanded. 'I can't fight! I can't even hunt or…!'
'You can't hunt?' Emira demanded in astonishment. 'You're full-grown! Yet you don't know how to hunt with a pack?'
Realizing her mistake luz went on, 'I never had to before. My parents always brought home the food… and up till now I—foraged. I found dead… , birds , squirrels… and mice…'
She knew that it was a lame excuse, but what else could she say?
'That's a pathetic meal,' edric said suspiciously.
Luz put her head low and said, 'I'm sorry. I guess I lead a sheltered lifestyle. I can't help it. But I do promise to help you all any way that I can.'
They both gave her long looks. Emira looked at edric then amity who was staring at Luz’s eyes. He then shrugged and said, 'Ok, by me.'
Luz let out a sigh of relief that she didn't know that she had been holding.
'I'll show you how to hunt later,' Emira said as she lowered her head onto her paws and her eyes glazed over.
Amity yawns. 'In the meantime, we can take it easy. We should be safe here.'
'But Hunter hasn't come back,' luz said worriedly. She glanced over at the cave entrance, as if hoping that he would appear.
'I wouldn't worry too much about it,' Emira reassured her. 'He can take care of himself. He often runs around at night to make sure that we're safe. He may not act like it, but he's got a kind side to him… not that he ever admits it.'
'If there was any kind of trouble around, he'd let us know,' edric yawned widely. 'I'm sure that he'll be the first thing we see when we wake up. Not sure if that's a good thing.'
Luz laughed lightly as flapjack sniffled in his sleep and cuddled closer to her side. Luz glanced around at them all. Ava looking peaceful, with Owen still sleeping right next to her—snoring loudly…
Luz then shook her head, 'Lucky,' she said to herself. To be so deeply in love like that… she hoped to be that lucky someday. She then looked over amity and honey —sleeping peacefully—glancing wearily at Edric , who had a perverted grin in his sleep, before finally looking back at flapjack.
She promised everyone that she would look after him. But how was she supposed to do that? How could she take care of a wolf cub when she wasn't a wolf? Or at least, she wasn't one till this morning. Was it really just this morning? It felt like a lifetime.
She had never felt this scared and lonely. She didn't want to die… she was lost and wondering with no place left to go, in a world that she wasn't a part of.
Just at that moment, she felt a thrill of panic as the shadows of something large wash over her. She looked up scared, before seeing that it was only hunter returning.
Hunter’s golden coat was shining in the fading light as he calmly came in.
'Are you ok?' she asked softly as he entered the cave, panting heavily.
'I'm fine,' he told her as he walked a few feet away and laid down on a patch of rock without leaves and curled up. 'I looked around… I didn't see anyone else. I think we're safe for now. We should be here for the rest of the cold.'
Luz nodded as she looked away.
'What's with you?' Hunter asked.
'I dunno,' she told him. 'I guess that I'm just missing my mom and dad… even my friends.' She looked back at hunter and stared at him long and hard.
'Get some sleep,' he ordered as he laid his head down. 'It's gonna be a long day tomorrow.'
Luz nodded as she looked back to the sleeping pup, next to her.
She suddenly felt more nervous, she didn't even know these wolves, and with supposedly two other packs just outside the cave, freaked her out the most. But looking at the little cub she couldn't help but feel a bit of motherly instincts kicking in… wanting to protect this little one from that fighting. She then noticed that he whimpered slightly in his sleep and croaked out the word, 'Mother…?'
Luz felt like someone kicked her heard in the chest—after all her family had helped to make this innocent pup an orphan. She lowered her snout and bumped his gently. 'Not by a long shot, cub… I'm sorry.'
She bit back her own feelings of pain, when she remembered a lullaby that eda used to sing to her that seemed pretty appropriate to the current situation. Sighing, luz gently began to sing to the little pup:
Come little children
I'll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment
Come little children
The time's come to play
Here in my garden of shadows
Follow sweet children
I'll show thee the way
Through all the pain
And the sorrows
Weep not poor children
For life is this way
Murdering beauty and passions
Hush now dear children
It must be this way
Too weary of life
And deceptions
Rest now my children
For soon we'll away
Into the calm and the quiet
Come little children
I'll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment
Come little children
The time's come to play
Here in my garden of shadows
She felt herself starting to nod off as well and closed her eyes, hoping that tomorrow would be better. Little did she know, a pair of golden eyes had been watching her very carefully for most of the night had finally gone off to sleep.