Two chapters in one
At the brink of dawn.
Luz eyes snapped open and her head looked up around her. She was back in the cold and hard cave—and everyone else was still sleeping… it took her a few minutes for her to realize what had just happened. She sighed unhappily and tried to get up… but a terrible pain refused to allow her to.
'Don't move,' said a rough voice. She jumped and looked to her side to see amity was lying next to her; so close that their sides were almost touching… it was then that Luz realized that flapjack was sleeping—all curled up on her other side—but she didn't pay too much attention to that at the moment.
'Amity?' she asked almost startled. She looked into her face and, for a moment, It was a very good thing she had such thick brown fur to hide her blushing.
Hunter on the other side didn't answer as he slowly got to his feet and was limping slightly on his hurt paw as he walked to the cave entry.
Luz stared at it, confused, until she remembered what happened yesterday.
“So that really did happen… we were attacked,' she said to him. She tried to get back up, but her side was hurting so badly that she let out a whimper.
Hunter turned and walked back over until he touched his snout to her side and she hissed in pain. While she had stopped bleeding, she felt as if she was full of broken shards of glass.
'Serves you right,' he told her in a pompous voice. 'After an injury like that, you won't be able to move until you recover. You stay here. I'll go and check around.'
'Hey! You can barely move too!' she said loudly, but regretted it almost at once when she noticed flapjack rolled over in his sleep. Luz’s attention was distracted long enough so that when she looked back, he was gone. She felt the need to scream. That… that… wolf!
She sat like that for a little while, trying to figure out what her heart was trying to tell her, until the others awoke and began stretching and groaning. 'Good morning,' she told them all.
'For who?' Amity asked grumpily as she shook out her knotted fur. 'I can't stand it! I can't believe that we nearly got killed yesterday.'
'Do you have to bring that up?' Luz asked wearily as flapjack opened his sleepy eyes. 'I'm still aching from that.'
Amity’s expression softens slightly as she got up and butted noses with her. 'Sorry,' she said. 'I just hate the fact that damn wolf beat us.'
'Sad thing is he does have a point,' edric said as he stretched out his stiff limbs. 'We are in his territory after all.'
'That doesn't mean that he has a right to try and kill us,' she told him coldly. 'I know that we made a deal with him but we don't have anywhere else to go. I'm sure I speak for all of us that we rather be back in our forest than sitting here hiding in a cave. But we can't risk it with the hunters there.'
'It's too bad that there's not enough food up here for everyone,' edric sighed. 'Maybe if there were, we wouldn't be stuck in this situation.'
Luz felt sick every time that the word humans were mentioned and asked, 'How long do you think we have to stay here?'
Emira sighed as she walked over to honey and tried to rouse her from sleep. 'Until the humans go away. And that usually doesn't happen until the end of this cold weather. So we all better become comfortable.'
Flapjack rolled over and the first thing he saw was luz. 'Luz?' he cried and ran around to face her. 'Are you feeling better now?'
Luz smiled and gently nudged her nose against his. 'Yes, I'm feeling a lot better today. But…' she glanced at her side, to see that it was now matted with dried blood. 'It still really hurts. I don't think that I'll be going anywhere today.'
'No need to push yourself, luz,' edric cut in as he limped over to the entrance. 'You need to focus on recovering. I don't think it's safe for any of us to be hunting today. We still have a little bit of the goat from yesterday and I think we can make that last until it's safe to go out again.'
'I can't stand this,' honey sighed. 'I want to go home.'
'We all do, honey,' Emira said sadly. 'But with humans swarming the woods we have no choice but to hide up here until they leave.'
'Hey,' Owen suddenly said as he walked over from checking on Ava, 'Where's the mutt?'
They all looked around to see that hunter was indeed gone.
'Oh, great!' Flapjack called out sarcastically. 'Where did that idiot go now!'
'He said that he wanted to go check something out,' Luz told them. 'I woke up just before he left. I tried to stop him but…' she trailed off, but they understood.
'Don't worry, it's not your fault Luz ,' edric answered. 'You can hardly move at all… and hunter … well…' he laughed. 'He's always running off somewhere he'll be back soon though. At least I hope he does.'
And so they spent the day talking—the pups playing—wondering what they were going to do now. How were they supposed to survive the rest of winter like this?
*few hours Later*
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Hunter finally returned at almost midday, panting hard—suggesting that he did a lot of running.
'Where were you?' Flapjack demanded and walked up to face him. 'If you were hunting you better at least brought back something good.'
'I wasn't hunting you little runt,' Hunter snapped at him and walked right over him as if he wasn't there.
'Then, hunter ,' edric asked politely, 'Pray tell, where were you all this time? If you were thinking about going after your uncle…'
'I went to go and see what those humans are planning, yet it looks like a slaughter field with human corpses laying everywhere,' he said as he lay down on his usual patch of dead leaves not far from luz and amity. They all stared at him, unable to find anything to say.
Flapjack had been the first one to break the silence.
'Are you nuts?' the pup cried as he jumped up and landed on hunter’s head. 'You could've been killed!'
Hunter snorted. 'Like I'd let a human kill me. Maybe I'll die at the hands of someone stronger than me someday, but they sure won't be humans or my damn uncle.'
'That doesn't mean that you can run off without having some kind of backup,' edric chastised. 'You may be fast, But those humans have been hunting 'The golden guard' for a long time now. They aren't going to stop without getting you.'
'Oh?' Hunter asked sarcastically. 'What about You They've been after you for almost as long.'
Luz nodded. 'And what about you both?' she called to amity and Emira.
‘Amity is called Rebel,' Hunter said rolling his eyes. 'Something about not being able to follow orders or something? Describes her perfectly.'
'Only cause I'm the better leader,' amity retorted.
'Yeah?' Hunter barked back. 'You wanna bet?'
Emira leaned in to her and whispered, 'They fight like this all the time. Amity swears that she would be a better leader and they are always fighting over becoming Alpha.'
'Is she?' Luz asked.
She shrugged. 'Hard to say. They both are so alike it's almost scary. The two of them could fight forever, but they would never go as far as to actually kill each other.'
'That's good to hear,' she replied. But when the others continued arguing, she turned to Emira and asked, 'Do you have a cool nickname too?
Emira nodded her head. “Well apparently I'm called peaches because one of the hunters said my fur smelled of peaches.'
'Awwww,' luz cooed and they all started laughing again. She stopped long enough to look at Hunter and asked, 'Are you sure that you're ok?
'I'm fine.
'I want to go back out,' honey sighed as she stared out at the setting sun. 'Like how we used to.'
'We can't,' Emira said sadly as she curled up. 'We all miss howling at night. But we can't right now. We can't let belos know where we are.'
And so, they had nothing else to do but to close their eyes and try to sleep. Though it was only until after the moon had risen high in the sky and the stars had been out for a long time.
As she curled up with flapjack , Luz wondered about who she was. Was she still herself? The more she lived with her new friends, the more she began to enjoy herself.
She glanced up at the shining moon.
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Few days later. ( double chapter)
Owen and hunter had already left the cave as soon as the sun started to rise—obviously out hunting for some more food. This time it was edric who was outside of the cave guarding the entrance and viney was sitting up keeping an eye on the others—waiting for them to wake up.
Honey was sleeping on her side, legs were twitching slightly as if she was dreaming that she was running; Emira smiled and had to fight back a laugh. And then there was flapjack on his back and snoring with his tongue hanging out… he looked so cute. And finally, Luz was lying on her uninjured side. Her brown fur was still coated in dried blood, but her wound had stopped bleeding.
Luz whimpered slightly and woke up; she looked around to see Amity right in front of her smiling kindly—and a little worried. She yawned and realized she was in the cave, she soon remembered why. 'Morning Luz, How are you feeling today?' Amity asked and got up to check on her.
'Um morning. A little better although it still hurts a lot,' luz answered glancing at her healing wound. 'Thank you,' she added softly.
Luz stretched painfully before she looked around. 'Where is everyone?' she asked her.
Amity looked to the cave entry. 'Edric is keeping guard. Everyone else except viney went off to find some more food—and to make sure that belos’s pack isn't around.'
Luz shivered at the thought of belos but she painstakingly got back to her feet, letting flapjack roll around underneath her. She didn't want to show amity that she was still afraid of him. 'They aren't anywhere near here are they?' she asked, hoping she didn't sound too worried.
'That's hard to say,' amity admitted as she led the way out of the cave. 'I mean, it wouldn't have been difficult for them to have watched us come back here. Normally we would keep moving from cave to cave to keep them guessing. But…' she glanced back at the sleeping Ava and Luz nodded.
'Yeah,' luz finished. ‘Ava is close to having pups now.'
'Any day now,' amity shook her head. 'Why couldn't see think about having them after the snow?'
'We'll manage,' luz said as they both exited the cave and came face-to-face with edric who was looking around as if bored. But he brightened up as soon as he saw viney.
'My dear…' he began but viney took a little nip of his ears before he was able to finish.
'Shut it,' she warned threateningly. 'I'm not in the mood.'
But this didn't seem to put a stop to edric. He just looked disappointed for a moment, before he looked up and said, 'No need to explain viney . I mean… we still have the rest of our lives for you to…'
She slammed him into the ground and walked away annoyed. Luz only shook her head and asked him, 'You just don't learn do you?'
'I can't help it,' he sighed as he rolled over onto his back and looked up at the sky with a dreamy look in his face. 'She's so…'
'Urgh,' luz said as she walked after amity. 'I don't want to know what's going on in that head of yours.'
Luz followed after amity in a weary sort of way, still wincing in pain as she moved. She asked amity where they were going, and she answered that they needed to get cleaned up. After all, with all this blood on them, it didn't help hide their smell from belos.
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Soon enough, the two females were at the tiny stream where they could wash the matted blood off them. To say that it wasn't painful would be a downright lie. The icy-cold water mixed with the frigid weather only served to make it sting and burn Luz’s side.
But the thought of feeling clean again was what kept her going. To just feel a tiny piece of her old self would be a welcomed relief… and if this helped protect her from belos finding her then all the more reason. So she gritted her teeth and allowed the bitter cold water to wash the blood downstream. Once the redness had left her fur, leaving it brown and shinny again, did she come out and shook herself.
Amity had also come out by that time. 'That's better,' she said and the two of them headed back to the cave to properly dry off. 'I can't tell you how glad I'll be when this cold weather is over and we can go home. I'll have to show you some of the best places to go once we return to the woods. And our den…'
Luz looked up at her. She hadn't given it much thought but now she was suddenly struck with the idea of being stuck with four legs till then. ……Was she stuck with this curse for good? Was there a time limit? Did this last for another few hours, days… and then she would suddenly turn back again? Would it wear off at all? Was there a trick behind it? She had run all these possibilities over and over in her head countless times whenever she was given some time alone to think.
She had been gone for over three weeks now. Her friends must think that she was probably… she shivered at that thought.
'You cold?' Amity’s worried voice interrupted her thoughts.
'What?' Luz asked in surprise and looked at her.
'You're shivering,' amity pointed out, mistaking Luz’s shiver for cold instead of fear. 'Even with fur we can easily get sick. Come on, let's go back to the den and warm up. If only we were still in the woods. Our den there is so much warmer than the ones up here.'
Luz could only nod dully as she went back to trying to think of a way to turn back or speak to humans. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to hold onto herself. The longer she remained as a wolf, the more she began to feel—wild.
More wolf than human.
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As you just saw, Adrian Graye , there’s a chance that lupus wolf is the offspring of Oswald ” kikimora said from her spot next to ,Adrian Graye overlooking the outcrop. “Without a doubt, I thought the boss was…crazy”
“Crap.” Adrian Graye spat. “How typical of those rebels to bring someone like that here…”
“At this rate, if we stay quiet about this, the boss will kidnap her give his position someday, won’t he? Then, all of the loyalty you and I feigned will have been for nothing, right? What are we going to do?”
“I’ll never allow things to come to that.” Kikimora growled. “I will be the next boss, and there will be some major changes around here.”
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The two of them made it back to the den and by that time, everyone else was awake. The two pups were running around the entrance and wrestling each other while edric watched. Flapjack was the first one to notice that they were back. He looked up and went bounding over to luz.
'Luz!' he called happily. 'There you are! Where have you been? Why are you wet? Aren't you cold?' he went on with asking the questions until she started laughing and ducked down into the den.
'I'm fine, flapjack,' she told him consolingly. 'We just went to go and wash off all the blood. I'm feeling a lot better. I just need a little more rest.'
She told flapjack to go back out and play and she would keep an eye on Ava who was still sleeping.
Luz rested on her bed of dead leaves and became lost in her gloomy thoughts about her family and how they were doing.
She was so lost in thoughts that she didn't hear Amity step back inside until she came up to her.
Luz looked at her feet to see what it was she had dropped. Two fat rabbits.
'You and me have to share one,' she told her. 'But when Ava wakes up she gets one to herself. The others are all fighting over the food outside.'
'Oh,' she said in surprise turning her head to hide that she was blushing.
'Oh thank you I’m Starving,' luz answered. She smiled at him, then she bent her head down and starting eating, Amity followed her lead and started also. After it was picked clean of all the meat Amity licked her lips as did luz.
one piece of bloody meat stuck to amity’s muzzle, which she hadn't noticed but Luz had. So she lifted her muzzled up to her and licked the meat off, it startled Amity , since she didn't know what she was doing, causing her to turn her head towards her causing his nose to meet hers.
It was almost as if they were sharing a kiss.
She turned away from him and for a moment wondered if it would've been worth it to turn and run away. Amity stayed in that same position frozen from shock,
'I'm… um… sorry,' she muttered embarrassed. Luz just shook wildly, she was afraid to look at amity , she wanted to say something but she didn't know what to say. Amity then turned and backed out of the den and almost bolted for the outside world.
Leaving luz in there thinking about what happened until she fell asleep.
Next morning.
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Luz woke with a start. She gasped for air and looked around at the miserable cave… her heart aching in her chest.
'Luz?' Flapjack’s voice called from the outside and she jumped slightly. 'Are you coming? I want to show you a new hunting trick!'
Luz sighed… half happy/half sad as she got up and went out to see what flapjack wanted to show her.
*Two Days later*
Luz was now able to walk and almost run again after a couple more days. Her wound was healing nicely thanks to her new friends. Early one more, Luz was outside lying in the sun with amity and Emira —enjoying a rare and warm sun; a little ways away was Hunter and edric watching for danger.
Hours later.
They laughed together for a moment before they trekked back to their den—all of them feeling better than they had in a long time.
'Thanks that means a lot coming from you,' said luz smiling at him after walking for a while. They talked and laughed with each other—enjoying the quiet peace of the mountain… at least until…
They heard Owen’s panicking howl coming from the den. They all froze for a moment before they sprinted back. This cry could only mean two things: Intruders or Ava was finally having her pups.