The Shadow Moon Pack

The next eight weeks went by quickly, and the pups were officially done weaning last night! They’re beginning to grow their adult pelt and all of their senses are matured. I’m glad I was there to watch them grow.

Of course, with the ups come the downs. I had to do most of the hunting for our small pack and it was beginning to show. I was much stronger, but also much more tired than normal.

It had been relatively calm lately, until Lily came back from patrolling one afternoon. I caught the faint trace of another wolf on her, but I couldn’t tell who it was. When I asked how it went, she just said that she caught the scent of a bear in our territory.

“A bear?” I questioned, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it was pretty close to the den too, I’m a bit worried for the pups,” she replied.

I abandoned the thought I had before about the other wolf and immediately started planning what to do about the new threat. We couldn’t leave the pups here, the bear could attack them while we tried to find it.

“Let’s move them, just to be sure,” Lily suggested.

“To where?” I have to admit, it was a good idea.

Once we determined where to move them to, we padded over to the wrestling pair of pups. Picking them up by the scruffs of their necks, we headed northwest. A couple miles from the cave, we deposited our loads in a thick bush. I made sure the leaves covered them enough to not be seen, before leaning my head down and licking them both in between their ears.

“Stay quiet and be careful, we’ll be back,” I whispered to them.

“Protect your sister Sky,” Lily said from behind me.

With that said, Lily led me to where she last scented the bear. It took us a while to track it, and when we did the sun was setting. The bear’s scent was all over the area, and it wasn’t pleasant.

The giant grizzly was marking some trees in front of us, clawing them while on its hind legs. Apparently it caught wind of us, because it turned toward us and brought its front paws to the ground. Tiny vibrations could be felt through the soil.

We both crouched down while baring our teeth and pinning our ears against our heads. A few seconds of calculating passed before I made up my mind. That creature was a threat to our pups.

I began circling around the bear, it followed. Smart bear, it knows I’m the bigger threat, I thought with a wolfish smirk.

With the bear preoccupied, Lily sprang. Her teeth locked on to the bear’s left hind leg. A roar of panic was heard before a thump.

The next thing I know, Lily is shaking herself off at the base of a tree, and I’m on the bear. My teeth were caught in its shoulder muscle, blood dripping past them.

I was about to rake my claws across its side when I was pulled off from behind. I lashed out, like any battle-hungry wolf would.

It was too late to stop myself as my claws struck Lily’s cheek. Drops of blood splattered on the grassy floor and she growled.

“Get the pups as far from here as you can, I’ll hold off the bear and meet you,” she growled.

“Like hell you will! You aren’t nearly strong enough to fight a bear alone!” I argued.

“The pups need to be kept safe, I don’t want them anywhere near here, I didn’t think the bear would be this close!”

“The pups are fine, but they won’t be if you die because of your idiocy!”

“They’ll have you, now go!” she finalized, going back to stall the bear.

I growled at her stupidity, but went to the pups anyway. How could I possibly expect her to know what it’s like to grow up without a mother?!

The pups were sleeping when I got there, they were so cute I almost wish I didn’t have to wake them. But I did, I reached my muzzle through the leaves and shook them awake. They blinked their small blue eyes and yawned.

“Where’s mamma?” Eve asked.

She was always the favored pup, and the closest to her mother. Personally, she was a tad too talkative for me. Sky was the quieter of the two, we got along perfectly. I wondered if Sky ever wished that his mother loved him more.

“She said she’d meet us later, but for now we have to go, c’mon get up now,” I replied.

The pups got to their paws and stretched. I led them further northwest at a quick pace, Eve complained not even ten minutes into it! This is going to be a long trip, I sighed.

We eventually made it to a mound of rocks, after passing two scent markers of other packs. The pups couldn’t go on any longer, and it was already midnight.

In need of a place to sleep, I searched around the rocks and found an opening. It was completely empty inside and, upon further investigation, I found that it smelled faintly of snake.

Finding it safe enough, I told the pups to come in. the area was large enough for twelve wolves, possibly more, so space wasn’t an issue.

We all got comfortable in a spot along the back wall. I curled my body around the pups to keep them warm in the still winter weather.

I thought of Lily before I went to sleep, and prayed that she’d be okay so the pups didn’t know the pain of not having a mother around. My eyelids began to droop, I eventually gave in and let sleep take me.