‘...’ – speech in wolf form

“...” – speech in human form

Chapter 6

   We were sneaking along the ground and were finding our way among the grass up to the river. I had managed to teach her how to make her way around without being heard, sneaking and stealth were very much my forté after all my years.

   ‘Now keep your ears back and don’t tense up,’ I advised, whispering to her.

   ‘Yes, mama.’ She began to grumble, and rolled her shoulders and she took a few more shuffles forwards. As small as she was, I knew she could easily see where she was going and when she launched herself in the air, the next thing I heard was a harsh growling and a flurry of yapping from a few metres away.

   ‘Layla, is this your doing?’ Blake called out, knowing I’d be around.

   Popping my head above the top of the grass, I peered innocently at him with one flopped ear. ‘Sorry, dear. She wanted to go find you so I turned it into a bit of a hunt. Are you alright?’ I asked seeing that he was limping a bit.

   ‘Nothing that won’t go away soon. Next time don’t bite so hard,’ he added while turning his head to Sani.

   ‘Sorry, dad. I didn’t think it would hurt you that much,’ she explained innocently.

   ‘We should get back,’ I said.

   Blake turned to me again, shaking his paw and then tested it by putting his weight on it. ‘Why? There’s not much we’re going to miss while we’re not there. Unless it’s hunting or patrolling and there’s that many of us now that I’m sure they’ll be fine without us around for a few hours.’

   Sani started sniffing her way around the bank of the river as I walked over and stood beside Blake. ‘I am not worried about missing anything, other than maybe a couple of scraps and such. I just think they’ll be concerned that two of the Alphas’ heirs are off around without anyone knowing where we went.’

   He began chortling and then burst out laughing and started rolling around on the floor. Taking offence to this, I pointed my head in the air and walked off to take a drink from the river. ‘I’m sorry, Layla.’ He sidled up to me but I huffed and turned my head away. ‘You don’t have to worry about that. I told my dad where I was going and it only makes sense that you would follow me. But we aren’t that far away anyway. Layla?’ he asked when I remained silent and didn’t look at him. ‘I’m sorry for laughing; I didn’t think you were being serious. Are you mad at me?’

   I couldn’t keep from looking at him any longer. ‘I’m not mad, just upset that you don’t understand how hard this all is for me right now. I was hoping everything would be what I always wanted in life but it’s getting even more complicated and I don’t know how long I can keep going before I can’t take it anymore,’ I confessed.

   He beckoned me closer with his leg. ‘You need to stop thinking about the future. It will only get you thinking of stuff that might happen or won’t but you’ll still think of things that will make you panic more. Just relax and let it all go. That’s why I came out here, to clear my head.’

   Just then a falcon started squawking away and a familiar growling sounded along with it; looking over to the other side of the river, we noticed Sani was trying her best to take on a rather annoyed looking fish eagle; but there seemed to be no harm in letting her take it on.

   Blake chuckled beside me but when I turned to smile at him, he had already ducked down on all fours. Copying him, I whispered. ‘How do you think this will turn out?’ I asked trying not to laugh.

   ‘Hmm, we will see. Come on, follow me,’ he said and we crawled our way along the bank to a few rocks.

   When we had concealed ourselves, we continued watching. The eagle was still on the ground, wings spread out and eyes glistening with anger. Sani was rolling her shoulders and from my little lesson with her earlier, I knew what she’d try next.

   Launching herself into the air, she splayed her paws out and hoped she would pin the bird of prey down; but she missed. As soon as she was a foot away, the eagle flapped and climbed into the air. Instead of flying away though, it circled once and then began to dive down with its talons flared.

   Gasping with fear, I jumped into the river but feeling a gush of wind next to me, I saw Blake launch himself over and, with a menacing growl, scared the eagle. I had hoped the eagle would turn and fly away but instead it turned on Blake, who was half way through his jump, and its talons caught him on the side of his muzzle. On landing, Blake barked twice which was when the eagle knew he wasn’t giving in. It flapped away vigorously and flew off into the sky.

   Climbing out of the water, I walked straight to Sani but she was already up on her feet and swishing her tail with excitement but annoyance at the loss of her game. I then turned to Blake but he was pawing at his left cheek; when he dropped his leg, I saw three deep gashes along his muzzle and blood dripping out from them in dribbles.

   ‘Grrr, this will take at least a week to heal,’ he grumbled and then sunk his head deep into the cold water beside him to clean the wounds.

   ‘Let me see,’ I requested as I stepped over. Lifting his head out of the water, droplets now dripping off his chin, he let me have a look at the claw marks. ‘I can clean them later if you like,’ I offered, smiling softly.

   He winked at me, along with his more childish, mischievous grin. ‘Yes, but later. Sani...’ he added.

   ‘Yes?’ came her quiet, innocent voice from behind me.

   ‘Don’t take on something that you’re unsure of. Eagles don’t understand our ways, and they’re not predictable either.’

   ‘Yes, dad,’ she said with a huff. ‘I was only playing with it.’

   Turning my head around, I looked at her and she stepped out from behind my legs. ‘Your dad is just giving you advice. And it didn’t see it as a game; it saw you trying to kill it, so naturally it was going to defend itself.’

   She rolled her eyes up at me and her ears twitched; but after a few seconds of realising she wasn’t in trouble, she perked up again and ran off into the grass.

   ‘What is that all about?’ Blake asked.

   ‘She’s just exploring, leave her be. We can walk,’ I said to him and then shouted in Sani’s direction. ‘Don’t go running too far ahead!’ The only reply I got was a few high pitched barks from a large tuft of wavering grass.

   ‘The only problem I have with that is her being out of my sight,’ he confessed with a short grumble.

   ‘Oh, you’re so weird. What happened to the Blake I met? Where you just chased puppies around and play with them?’

   ‘Still here, the only difference is that none of them were mine,’ he explained while we walked, following Sani’s scent. ‘Why do you ask?’

   ‘Because we’ve both changed, though neither of us have really noticed it. I know I’m still young, but I feel a lot older.’

   He flicked his tail over mine and nudged my shoulder with his. ‘I know that feeling. A lot has changed but I don’t think you have that much, but then again I haven’t known you that long.’

   We spent the next few hours of the day wandering around with Sani running among the grass and reeds. There wasn’t much talking over those hours, Blake and I remained silent with our thoughts. I tried so hard not to think of the future, like he had advised me to do but it was rather difficult.

   Eventually it started to grow colder and after making our way back to camp, I convinced Sani that she should go with her dad and meet some of his side of her family. I, meanwhile, went to have a long chat with my brother and, after him, my dad. After about two hours, I had only learnt when the packs joined together and what had happened. There had been a small shuffle in ranks for some of the wolves, which wasn’t very welcomed but all in all, after a few months, they had all settled down and just got on with day to day life as they always had done.

   The hardest bit of keeping things normal was that my pack was not used to seeing human-formed wolves among them as often as they had been doing; as well as trying to keep track of what was happening around the newly extended border when the packs joined up. However, things seemed to have become, what everyone now called normal and there wasn’t as many arguments or fights as there had been, so my father had told me.

*****

   “Ow!”

   “Well hold still and it won’t hurt.”

   “It stings.” Blake was whining as he had jumped and my fingertip had stabbed into his cheek. “Are you always this persistent?” he asked.

   I giggled but didn’t reply. I continued with wiping around the scratches and checking for any dirt that might be in the wounds. “There, done. Just don’t start rolling around in the dirt for a while or you’ll infect it,” I explained and pulled my hand away. But before I could pull my hand completely away, he reached up swiftly and grabbed my wrist.

   “It was relaxing, when it didn’t hurt,” he hinted while starring into my eyes. “It’s been a long time since I looked in those eyes of yours.” He was whispering and I could tell no one was paying us any attention.

   Finding myself blushing almost instantly, I dropped my head and so removed my eyes from his sight. “Stop it, Blake, you’re making me blush.”

   He chuckled deeply and released my hand but not without placing his on my cheek. “Yes, I can tell. Are you not going to look at me again?” he rhetorically asked and I lifted my head up immediately and looked up with my eyes gazing softly back into his. He started leaning closer but his expression remained blank of any emotion that might give away his intentions.

   Biting the corner of my lip, I tilted my head sideways slightly and let him lean in even closer. As his lips touched mine, I pushed my head forward a little to plant mine on his harder; my hands rose up and lay on his shoulders. Our kiss grew stronger and I no longer cared who was around to watch. My hands rose up his neck and stroked softly along his cheeks; but it was the wrong thing to do. As soon as my fingers brushed along his left cheek, he yelped and pulled away.

   “Ahh! You had to ruin it,” he said accusingly but there was no anger in his voice.

   My hands were now covering my mouth as I tried not to giggle too loudly, or even noticeably. “Oops, I forgot. Did it really hurt that much?”

   He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Hmm, yes it did.” I began leaning my body away. “Come here. Maybe we can’t kiss but we can still cuddle.” Seeing me smiling again was comfort enough for him and he rested his cheek on my shoulder (his right cheek as he was on my left).