‘...’ – speech in wolf form

“...” – speech in human form

Chapter 9

            We had managed to run about two miles away and had come across a small herd of oxen; Blake’s half seemed a bit perplexed with the challenge of taking on these huge beasts but my side was thrilled to take it up without a second thought. Deciding on tactics was a little difficult but we randomly split the group up and tried flanking up the herd.

            It wasn’t until the herd realised we were there that things got even tougher; however, with them running we could pick out any smaller or injured members. Kerin was not too far from me and picked out an injured male some hundred yards away.

            ‘Only if you can take it, Kerin!’ I shouted to her but the dark, calculating smile she gave back was a sign that she’d already made up her mind.

            ‘I’ll take the right if you help and take the left,’ she called over.

            I nodded back and sprang along with her until we were right on the heels of the ox she had picked out. It must have taken us at least another two miles to catch up enough but eventually we were close and could spring onto its back and clamp down a leg.

            Kerin jumped up and sunk her front claws into the right flank of the ox and it bolted wildly and bellowed loudly, she managed to hold on and clamber her way up its back towards its neck. Barking menacingly and trying to confuse the animal, I ran harder through the deep snow and tried getting a good angle so I could bite into a hind leg and force the animal down.

            It was more of a challenge due to the fact I had to keep running or I’d sink into the snow too deeply, it was possibly three feet deep and that wasn’t good when you were only about two feet tall yourself. I kept my feet moving and my head focused while I looked for an opening in the ox’s steps, one stumble and I could easily help my cousin pin him down and wait for a couple more companions.

            The ox suddenly reared up and snorted louder than before.

            ‘Woh! Grrr!’ Kerin growled as she dug her claws in deeper.

            ‘Hold on, Kerin!’ I shouted and jumped up to grab one of the wild ox’s front legs.

            ‘Grrrr!’ But it didn’t come from Kerin.

            Being swung from side to side as the ox still bolted on its hind legs, I looked around me without trying to feel dizzy, but it was no use. Through all that thinking I let my grip go and the ox threw me off; I rolled through the snow and landed on my back. Jumping onto my paws, I growled and began bearing down on the frantic animal again. Kerin was still holding on but this time she had her teeth sunk into the back of its neck.

            I had circled round the back of the ox, which was still snorting and jolting about and on reaching the other side of him something caught my eye from the other side. Changing my focus, I saw the flashing of a black wolf. At first sight, I thought it was Tyson but then I saw the flash of red in the fur. ‘Sani!’ I shouted. ‘What did I say?!’

            ‘Mama, I had to come. You can shout at me later, but right now this ox needs our attention first.’

            Agreeing, I leapt by her side and the ox saw me do it, which is what I intended. As any male would do, it dropped its head down and began to charge at us. When it was close enough, we each sprang to one side and then leapt onto its flanks.

            With another bellow, the ox ploughed through a small orchard but it was becoming weaker with every step. I looked up ahead and saw a sharp bank. From little but enough experience, I knew this wouldn’t be good; oxen weren’t the steadiest animals in the snow or on slopes and with us as extra weight, it wasn’t a good idea to stay on.

            ‘Kerin, hill,’ I conveyed to her quickly.

            ‘Huh?’ she raised her head above that of the ox and her jaw dropped. ‘Off, quick, off!’ she shouted and we both leapt off our hysterical ride.

            Turning around, we continued to follow but I had forgotten someone. ‘Sani! Jump off!’ I ordered to her.

            ‘Why, mama? It’s almost down,’ she called back while she tried clambering up the ox’s side.

            I gritted my teeth and sprinted after her without a second thought. ‘Sani, there’s a bank up ahead. Now, listen to me and jump off,’ I repeated.

            But as I gradually caught up once again, it was too late. The ox saw the sharp embankment and tried to swerve. Losing its footing, it slipped on the soft snow, hurtling down the slope with my daughter still attached by her claws.

*****

Blake’s PoV

            It was all so quick that I didn’t stop to think what I could have done. At first it seemed alright that Layla and her cousin were working together trying to bring down a male ox, but then it swiftly changed into a scene of disaster. Another wolf joined them and it took a minute of shocked observation that I realised it was my own daughter.

            Over the quickest minute or two I had ever seen, they clambered up its flanks and back and managed to get it back down onto its hooves but that only made it worse as it snorted and threw Layla and Kerin off its back while running through the deep snow with Sani still clinging onto its fur. Layla was barking but from this distance I couldn’t hear her over the pounding of the other oxen around me.

            I gave up on my pursuit of a calf and darted my way through the herd without getting trampled on by the fleeing beasts. Coming out of the other side of the stampede, I continued to watch but I was too far away to even be of the slightest help. Layla and Kerin were still chasing but immediately stopped as the ox tripped from a swerve and went hurtling down a concealed bank.

            Looking on, I halted my running and looked on helplessly as the ox tumbled down with Sani still clinging on with her claws and teeth; but as soon as it was out of sight, the temporary numbness I was feeling suddenly vanished and I pelted over the last hundred or so yards to rush down with Layla ahead of me. She was barking and yapping like crazy but the only thing we could see when we rushed over the brow was a plume of snow as the ox rolled down. There was the high pitched yelping of Sani somewhere among the deep-throated bellows but I couldn’t spot her among its winter coat.

            ‘Sani! Where are you?!’ I barked out as loud as I could but there was no reply from the wriggling mass below.

            I leapt down and landed behind the ox, it was still struggling as it tried to get back onto its feet so instead I leapt over to its head and swiftly ripped into its neck to kill it. There was hardly any time to waste and as soon as the beast ceased to move, I padded over its forelegs and started digging away at the snow that lay under its belly.

            There was no sign of Layla, only the sobbing and frantic pouncing she did further up the bank. With gritted teeth and sheer determination, I dug as quickly as I could with my paws but to me it wasn’t fast enough. After a hasty minute, there was still no sign of my daughter under the ox; stopping, I looked around me and tried to spot anything nearby.

            It almost missed my notice but there was a patch of snow and it looked freshly trampled or disturbed; rushing over, I pushed aside a clump of the frozen rain and saw a paw twitching.

            ‘Sani,’ I whispered, but hopefully not as much to myself as I began to think. Biting into the snow and feeling the softness of fur and skin, I pulled her out of the freezing snow and slipped my head under her shoulders before shuffling more underneath her. ‘Come on, baby, talk to me,’ I called up to her and then the reassuring sign of her mumbling in her fazed state made me breathe myself.

            I began carefully ascending up the slope, trying to keep her firmly on top of me, though I almost stumbled a few times. Layla was still stomping around frantically and I could only assume she didn’t know what to do as her eyes were wide with shock and yet I knew she would be so relieved and comforted when she knew that our daughter was still alive, though not knowingly unharmed as yet.

            I reached the top of the bank and she trotted over very warily. ‘Blake,’ she mouthed as she took one last step but not being near enough to touch either of us.

            Before talking to her, I let Sani slip down off my shoulders as I slunk down myself before standing up again. ‘She’s alive, Lay, though I don’t know if she’s hurt.’ Deciding that she needed a well needed hug, I shifted and then knelt down in front of her with a softened, understanding expression.

            With tears in her eyes, she shifted too and dropped straight into my arms then sobbed onto my shoulder while I held her as close as I could. Not knowing what to say or if I should at all, I remained silent until she seemed to have gotten control of her crying.

            “Layla, come on, calm down. We can let the others sort this out here. We’ll take Sani home, I’ll carry her,” I offered.

            “What are we going to do?” she asked, though something told me that she didn’t really know what else to say.

            In response and still trying to keep myself calm so as not to upset her anymore, I whispered softly into her ear. “We can figure that out when we get back. Come on,” I repeated just as calmly as before. “Let’s go home.” I stood up and then bent down to pick Sani up. She remained curled up as though she was asleep, but the normalness of her breathing told me that she was just dazed or maybe even concussed. I caressed her as close as I could to my chest to try and warm her up a bit, she was as freezing as the snow beneath my feet.

            “Blake, I’m going to change and run ahead a bit. I’ve got to calm myself down more,” Layla explained next to me as she softly petted Sani’s head. “You don’t mind, do you?”

            Watching her closely, I smiled and replied. “No, I don’t mind. Go ahead.”

            She swiftly leant up and kissed my lips shortly but affectionately before changing and running ahead with her head swinging wildly with her steps.

            Even though it was freezing, I bravely trudged on through the snow with Sani still in my arms. She was breathing very shallowly by now and was shivering in my hold; it took twice as long to get back to camp than it did on finding the ox herd but we eventually got there and I immediately sunk to the floor and laid Sani out in my lap.

            Deciding I could warm her up even more, I stripped my shirt off and wrapped it around her, not missing her paws. Feeling my shoulders shiver, I wrapped my own arms around my chest to try and keep as much body heat in as I could. Although I was now shaking, it was more important that Sani remained the warmer out of us two.

            Gazing up, I spotted Layla frantically hopping from side to side as she relayed to our fathers what had happened about an hour or so ago; treading through the freezing snow had seriously muddled my time awareness. My dad must have whispered something to her just then, as he pointed a forepaw in my direction, as she suddenly lifted her head up and her ears perked atop her head.

            Bouncing over, she took in the scene before her eyes of Sani curled up in my shirt on my lap and me shivering in the chilling air.

            “You couldn’t do me a favour and grab us a blanket, could you?” I softly asked aloud with chattering teeth and my breath swirling up in the air before my face.

            Snorting, she paced her way around me and walked into the cave to which I sat in front of. Shortly after, she came out walking backwards with a thick oxen hide clamped securely in her jaws. Once she had reached me again, she kept her head low but looked up with delicate eyes and raised eyebrows. Knowing it only meant how sorry she was for what happened, I tilted my head and drew a thin smile on my lips.

            Taking the oxen hide from her mouth, I continued to talk to her knowing she could understand. “It’s not your fault, dear. We both knew how eager she was to join us on a big hunt, and you did tell her to stay put. We can’t blame ourselves for what happened but we can take solace from it that Sani is alright, though probably shocked and stunned about what happened.” As I spoke, I swung the hide around me and pulled it tight around my shoulders. Meanwhile Layla had now transformed and was now snuggled into my side with one hand on my thigh and the other softly stroking her daughter’s back.

            “You must be freezing from walking all that way,” she stated openly.

            I leant my head down and touched my cheek to the top of her head. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t get frostbite...” I mockingly stated back but she didn’t like that.

            “Don’t joke, Blake! Can’t you see how serious this is without you going and trying to make a funny side?” she shouted with a sharp flick of her head and knocking it into my cheek.

            I quickly eyed her father from the side of my vision. “Yes I do know how serious this is, and excuse me for being myself but I was only trying to soothe you but since that isn’t working, I’ll just shut up.” As I ranted back at her, knowingly in a guilt-trip manner, I gently placed Sani in her mother’s lap, shifted and trotted off to sit with my sister.

            I knew how childish I had just acted but I was trying so hard not to break down and sprint around like a tornado through the woods that it was hard not to try so hard to be my normal self. I was putting so much effort in that it was too much focus for my head and so was backfiring on me.

            Huffing to myself as I curled my legs under my body, I rustled around and spotted Samson watching me purely shocked with my behaviour.

            ‘Don’t look at me like that, Samson. I have had a bad day and all I want is for my baby to get better.’

            He swung his head with his nose pointed upwards. ‘Uncle Blake, this isn’t a time where you should be leaving her alone like that.’ We both slowly looked over to where Layla was, she had now wrapped the hide around herself and seemed to be curled up almost completely. ‘She’s finding it as hard as you are with the pack thing and maybe you should try to show her you’re trying to connect them.’

            It was strange to me to hear Samson speak of this matter, yet at the same time connecting what seemed to be two separate cases through effects on emotions. Standing up heavily, I padded my forepaws under my chest and reached my head forward.

            ‘Maybe, you’re right.’ He eyed me sharply. ‘Ok, you are right. But in any case, it isn’t easy for me to do that on my own. I need my pack to be entirely up for joining with her’s that it is very difficult with the matter that we still have one Alpha.’

            Samson being young, I wasn’t exactly sure whether he knew what effects this might have on the two packs wholly becoming one.

            ‘But dad and Jared seem to be making all the effort, so why doesn’t everyone else just listen to whatever either of them orders us to do?’ Samson was one of the few from my side who actually did what they were told by the opposing Alpha; those who didn’t usually only did when affirmed by their own Alpha, Kai.

            I shuffled over and sat beside him, both of us now staring in the same direction. ‘Because, Samson, it is an instinctive obedience that every wolf holds to their Alpha and having two is very difficult. Yes, one might want to obey Jared in every way as he is an Alpha but for us, Kai is our dominant Alpha and if he tells us different then we are at clashes as to what to do; though swaying to one side more than the other.’

            He sniffed harshly and shook his head then padded in front of me. ‘Well I don’t understand. Why can’t we just make one Alpha now and then we won’t have all this trouble?’

            I raised an eyebrow. ‘And who would you chose, Samson? Hmm, and think about it in both views; your own as a member of my pack or as Jasper, say,’ I suggested, trying to slip in what my mate’s pack would chose to do.

            But Samson’s response was not at all what I was expecting. ‘I’ve already thought about that, Blake... I’d choose you.’ He said it with such conviction that I had nothing readily to say back. All I was hoping for was that no one was close enough to overhear what he had just said.