Declan let out a bark, and I stopped in my tracks, giving him a questioning look. His furry head jerked to the side, motioning towards the trees that bordered the path. Then he slipped into the shadows, his dark brown fur blending in with the equally dark background. I followed, watching as the white marks dotting his fur faded in and out as he zig-zagged through the trees.

Finally, he stopped at an open spot, shaking his backpack off of him. Then I heard his bones begin to break, and I turned away to give him some privacy. Just the thought of him shifting right behind me had my heart speeding up a little bit, and if I were in my human form, my entire face would have resembled a tomato. I tried to distract myself by surveying my surroundings, noting that we were probably at least two or three miles from the trail. I could faintly hear water rushing underneath the sound of Declan's shift.

"Alright, I'm done," he said, and I turned back around to see him pulling on a pair of sweatpants. "I figured that we should probably stop and rest - we've been travelling for about eight hours now, and it's around two in the morning," he informed me as he pulled out his phone from his bag. "We can probably sleep until about dawn, but then we have to get moving again. I have the feeling that the storm is close, but we might be able to get another few hours of travel in before it actually hits." He looked up at the pitch black sky, his view partially blocked by branches. "Since we're only going to be here for a couple hours, I don't think it's necessary to build a shelter, but I can get a fire started if you help collect some dry twigs."

I nodded, before trotting off into the forest. I didn't feel like shifting back yet - my wolf had been bottled up for at least a week now, and I wanted to give her as much time as she wanted to stretch her legs.

After I collected a few twigs, Declan got to building the fire. He did it almost methodically - builtding a smal stick-structure before he interwove pine needles and other dead vegetation. I figured now was as good of a time as any to go out and catch some food.

Leaving Declan where he sat, I disappeared back into the thicket of trees, ears and nose searching for any sign of small life.

It didn't take long for me to locate the fairly fresh scent of a rabbit, and I slowed my movements. Instinctively, I crouched low, stalking my prey for a few moments before pouncing.

My jaws enclosed over the rabbit's fragile neck, snapping it quickly. It lay limp in my jaws as I carried my prize back to camp. When I arrived, I found Declan sitting cross-legged next to the fire. His fingers were rapidly pressing against his phone as a half-eaten granola bar stuck out of his mouth.

I dropped my loot next to the fire, before grabbing my bag and seeking cover behind a fairly large bush. I allowed my body to shift, the heat singeing my fur as my bones cracked before re-aligning themselves. Once back in my human form, I pulled on some of the clothes from my bag, and walked back to fire.

I sat opposite of Declan, and pulled out the pocket knife I had packed. I quickly whittled a few sticks until they were razor sharp - enough that it drew a bead of blood when I pressed my finger against the tip. Setting them down, I grabbed my rabbit and walked to the nearby stream. It wasn't too hard to follow the steady gurgling of the water, and thankfully it wasn't too far from where we had camped. I quickly skinned the rabbit and gutted it - leaving the remains out for the other animals to scavenge. No need to waste food.

The rabbit was soon speared with the sharp sticks I had made, and poised over the fire. Now all I had to do was wait.

Sitting down beside the flickering flames, I stretched my legs out and leaned back on my hands. My head tilted back on my shoulders until I was staring up at the night sky, and I wondered for a brief moment if Aerytha was proud that I was fulfilling my duty.

"What is that?" My head snapped to the side to see Declan staring at me with wide eyes. A small pile of granola wrappers sat next to him, and his phone was dark in his hand.

"What is what?" I asked, confused. "That?" I said, pointing at my kill. "It's my dinner?"

"No! Not the rabbit, I mean, how you did it. You came back with a rabbit, and it seems like ten seconds later you have that!" he made a wild gesture to the slowly-cooking rabbit. "How are you so fast? And it looks like it was almost done professionally... where did you learn how to do this?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I never really thought about it," I admitted, and it was the truth. I learned what I had to in order to survive.

"You must've done this before," Declan commented, still observing my work. He scrunched up his nose. "Why? Do you have some sort of weird fetish for eating small animals?"

I looked at him in surprise. "No!" I immediately cried out. "I just do what I have to, okay? And besides, someone of your rank surely must've been taught to hunt - what did you do with the things you killed?"

He shrugged. "Left them there. We only killed animals for the practice, it's not like we need them for food."

I felt my heart drop at the prospect of all the food that they wasted, before I felt it ignite and burn with anger. "Are you kidding?!" I shouted at him, my jaw clenching. "You kill them and then just leave them there?! That's not only a waste, but it's incredibly disrespectful! You can't just kill an animal for nothing!" I fumed, my blood beginning to boil. This, once again, proved how Declan had a terrible soul.

"Woah, calm down. I'm sure other animals ate them - think of it as us doing them a favor." He gave another nonchalant shrug, and my jaw dropped.

"No!" I shrieked. "That is worst justification I've ever heard! Did you ever think that you could have at least brought it back to the pack? Given it to all the pack members and omegas who starve day after day?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "Who in the right mind would --" he didn't finish that sentence as his eyes flicked back over to my cooking rabbit. "Oh."

"Yeah. What a shock - that one measly meal you give us per day isn't enough to keep us alive," I ground out. I was so angry. I never thought I could feel this much loathing towards all of the higher-ranked pack members. I forced myself to pause for a moment, inhaling a breath as I focused my thougths. Although Declan was certainly part of it, I couldn't place all the blame onto him. He was just born into a wealthy environment - one that could afford food they didn't have to catch themselves. He was raised to think this way, and think that it was okay to just kill for fun.

What I could be mad at him for, however, was the fact that he never thought twice about the situation the omegas and lower-ranked members were in. He never thought about how we were already skin-and-bones, and looking more like skeletons every day. This was going to be his pack, his members, his omegas... and it looked as if he could care less.

Though I suppose his father wasn't much better.

Declan remained lost in thought, a frown plastered on his face. I'm surprised he didn't have a witty comeback just waiting to be unleashed.

I let out a huff when it was clear he wasn't going to respond, and grabbed my rabbit. It had been close enough to the fire that it was slightly scorched, the skin on its back crispy and black.

I dug in, devouring it quickly. It wasn't much, but it was enough to hold me over for a night's sleep and a few more hours of travel.

Then I lay down on the ground, turning to my side so that my back was to the fire.

And I fell asleep.

* * * * *

"Hey, wake up. Get up, we have to go." Someone was shaking me, and I groggily blinked my eyes open. Declan hovered above me, his hand on my shoulder. Once he saw my eyes were open, he stood to his full height. "It's a little after seven. It's already starting to snow, and I want to try and get as far as we can before we get caught in the storm."

I sat up, looking around. A few snowflakes drifted lazily through the air, catching on the breeze and swirling to the ground. They didn't stay long, however, melting into the hard ground almost immediately.

Declan began to take off his clothes, and my cheeks started to feel hot despite the cold air around us.

I stood up, going back to the bushes where I had shifted last time. Stripping down, I quickly morphed into my wolf, giving myself a good shake once the transformation was complete.

Declan already had his bag fixed onto his back, and was looking at me expectantly. Picking up my bag, I nodded. His brown wolf trotted into the trees, steadily picking up speed. I followed close behind.

A few minutes later, we were back on the rocky path. We leapt and bound our way down, large jumps aided by the fact that we were still traveling downhill. As we continued on our journey, the snow began to fall harder and faster - big, fat snowflakes embedding themselves in our fur, causing it to clump.

Eventually, no matter how hard I shook out my body, the snow was layered so thickly on my fur that it was weighing me down. My ice-cold limbs could barely move, and the snow wedged in my paws made them ache. I should shift, I thought to myself, thinking that travel would be easier in my human form.

I dropped my bag, letting out a bark to Declan to tell him that I had stopped. He turned to look at me for a second, lumps of snow covering his face, as well as his body. I gave myself another shake, irritated that the snow wouldn't come off. I grabbed my bag and began to cross the treeline so I could shift in private, and Declan followed, unsure of what I was doing.

I gave him a warning growl to stop, and he halted, now understanding what I was going to do.

I let out a groan once I had shifted, my skin now fully exposed to the cold. I brushed off as much snow as I could, before pulling on my clothes. My feet were wet when I put them into my sneakers, and they squished slightly when I walked. I wrinkled my nose. I don't know what's worse - uncomfortable shoes or ice sticking to the fur between my paws.

Regardless, I pushed aside my thoughts of discomfort, and went back to the trail where Declan had also finished shifting. He was pulling on a sweatshirt when he noticed me.

"You're shaking like a leaf," he commented, raising a brow.

I shrugged, crossing my arms across my chest. "It's cold, and I only have this long-sleeved shirt and sweatpants. Let's hurry and make camp before I freeze to death," I muttered, beginning to walk back into the forest.

"Wait," he called. I turned to give him a questioning look. "I can't have the next Moon Goddess dying, now can I? Here," he said as he pulled off his sweatshirt. "Take this and put it on." He held out the gray fabric to me, but I shook my head, backing away.

"No way, you're going to be the one to freeze to death if I take that, and your father will kill me. Come on, let's just go set up camp," I urged, but Declan didn't move.

"I'm used to being out in weather like this. My father started training me when I was young to handle weather like this."

I bit my lip as I rubbed my arm, hand skimming over the small goosebumps that had sprouted there. "I don't know," I said, still unsure.

"Please, take it," he said, and my eyes flickered to his face. Something in his voice told me that this wasn't just him being nice, that he wasn't just being a gentleman. It meant something more to him, but I couldn't figure out what. I looked into his eyes, and I could see an emotion swirling within them.

"Okay," I said, gripping the material in my hand. "Thank you," I told him quietly as I pulled it on.

He nodded, starting off into the woods. I followed behind, my small frame engulfed by his sweatshirt. But it was still warmer than the thin shirt I had on under it, and my wolf reveled in his scent.

Soon we came across a cavern, and I was glad to finally get out of the blinding snow. The storm had gotten continuously worse, howling winds biting at my face as my fingers began to grow numb. Declan was pallid. The only color on his face was his bright red nose.

"We'll just stay here and wait out the storm," he said as he sat against the wall of rock, opening his bag.

I nodded, beginning to pull off the sweatshirt. "Here, you can have this back. Thanks for letting me borrow it." I held it out to him.

He gave me a wave of his hand. "No, you keep it. You're already starting to shiver, and you haven't had it off for more than ten seconds. I'm fine, I swear."

"You sure?" He nodded, and I slipped the sweatshirt back over my head. Then I sat against the wall opposing him, bringing my knees up to my chest and hugging them tightly. I willed my body to stop trembling but to no avail.

"What are you doing all the way over there? Come over here so we can try and conserve warmth." Declan gestured me towards him, and I stared at him in surprise. I didn't move, and Declan spoke again, his hand still outstretched. "It only makes sense," he murmured, and suddenly his nose wasn't the only thing that was red. A rosy color began to appear on his cheeks, and his green eyes broke away from mine for a moment to look down at the floor.

It made him look... innocent. Cute, even.

Standing up, I walked over to where he sat, sitting next to him. I then resumed the position I had before - clutching my knees to my chest. From my peripheral vision I saw Declan raise his arm, and I tensed. He paused for a moment, before tentatively draping it over my shoulders, and gently leaning me against him.

Feeling the warmth radiating from his side helped to calm my suddenly racing heart, and I soon found myself relaxing against him. His head rested atop mine, and it was then that I felt my body stop trembling.

I didn't feel cold anymore - instead, I felt warm, and safe.

We sat like this for who knows how long, while the wind wailed its sad song and a layer of frozen clouds seemed to blanket the Earth. I had just begun to nod off, when Declan's voice startled me awake.

"So is it really that bad?" he asked quietly, breath fogging slightly as it hit the cool air.

"Is what really that bad?" I murmured, eyelids still heavy. A yawn overtook me, drawing the frigid air into my lungs before releasing it back into the atmosphere.

"Being an omega."

I looked up at him in surprise, only to notice that his eyes were watching the snowflakes wrestle and chase each other to the ground.

"It's not great," I admitted, "but we have a place to live, and we have each other. We're like a family, bound together by our social status." A smile worked its way onto my face. "I honestly can't imagine my life without them. They are the most hardworking, kind people I've ever met, and I'd do anything for them. I'm sure most of them would do the same for me." My eyes had drifted downwards as I spoke, focusing on my hand. My pointer finger traced an infinity sign into the gravelly sand that made up the cavern's floor.

"What you said yesterday," Declan began. I didn't let my eyes leave the floor. "... it's been bothering me. I never knew you that you guys had to hunt for your own food. I mean, I've never really heard omegas complain - nobody has mentioned it to my father either."

I shrugged. "It's not our place to complain. We all learned that it's in our best interest not to whine when we're among regular pack members - it just seems to motivate them to bully us more. It makes us look weaker, and Moon Goddess knows that people will use that to boost their own ego."

Declan went silent once more, eyebrows furrowed. His irises were shadowed, a lush forest green as opposed to his typical emerald-green. I took this as a cue that he didn't want to talk anymore, so I snuggled back up to his side. Flicking the sand particles off my fingertips, I wrapped my arm back around my knees, clasping my other wrist in my hand.

Sleep once more began to tug at me, the edges of my mind growing darker. Yet just before the light completely ebbed away, I heard him whisper something into my hair.

"I'm sorry." 

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awwe, aren't they cute c: