Silent Walk, Book 1 of the Vigilance Series

Chapter 5

        I awoke on the floor to Kinteera's face in front of me. I heard a woman shout "Shake her harder, Lonus!" I felt him shake me furiously and a splash of cold water in my face. "Are you ok?" Kinteera asserted. I nodded, and looked to see Piun holding an empty bucket. "You slept through two school days, Enai. Piun wanted to wake you up the minute we saw you, but we left you there so you could sleep." Kinteera explained. I tried to jump up, but everything felt slow and groggy. Kinteera helped me walk to the kitchen table, and I immediately reached for another wine bottle on the table. Kinteera snatched it away before I took it to get rid of the hangover. A sharp glare from him kept me quiet while he put it away. He poured a cup of coffee and sat it in front of me while Piun stood at attention at the edge of the dining room. To be honest, I felt terrible. I probably looked terrible as well. I took a shower not too soon after when I re-learned how to stand and walk. Apparently alcohol has very... odd effects on me. I decided to go hunting solo to clear my head. I scented a rabbit not far off and decided to head for it.

        After I came back to the cabin with a rabbit in my jaws, i asked about Lonus and Silleca's training. Apparently Kinteera was overseeing their skills as a wolf and Jacobin had decided to teach Silleca at home the basic human classes. Two days didn't seem like a long time until you look back on it. The weekend went by in a blur-Kinteera kept me away from alcohol, and I spent most of my time training the new Irids. Luckily, they didn't have as much bad luck as Irithea did, but I was unsatisfied with them. It was like they didn't care. Hunting was disastrous and fighting ended up with my ear getting clipped.

        On Sunday afternoon, I took Kinteera, Piun, and Osiris hunting. I left Jacobin with the other two so he could look after them. We stalked the forest like a pack-experienced and deadly. We all stopped when we recognized the familiar scent of deer. A small deer limped out into the open. We didn't hesitate to kill it, but yet we heard-and scented-a bobcat not too far from us. Soon a shadowy feline came from the underbrush and snarled at us. Piun lunged at it, but was swatted away by it's large paws. I signaled with my head to surround it, and we bared our teeth, snarling at it. I snapped my jaws at it's maw, while Osiris head-butted it's side with Kinteera. Piun lunged at it's tail. Soon, a large paw came through the air, slashing my muzzle before I could move out of the way. In return, I sank my teeth at it's neck, letting my teeth cut easily through it's short fur. Out of nowhere, 5 more wolves came from the bushes, all of different colors, and they added to the assault on the bobcat. It was enough, the bobcat growled and leaped back into the forest, dripping blood all the way. I recognized the scent of the alpha almost immediately after the smell of bobcat drifted off. Kyr. I looked his way What do you want!? We had that bobcat! He let out a grin, but said nothing. We escorted them into the cabin and shifted when we entered. I went into the bathroom to clean up my face, while one of them-Soneer-was bouncing up and down with excitement. He seemed new, because he looked... fresh compared to the other wolves in the room. Jacobin looked confused when he saw the large scratch across my face. He wouldn't stop staring at it "Oh, it's nothing Jacobin." I assured him. He shook his head and walked away with Silleca. Kyr was lounging on a chair wihile his pack wandered the place. "Why did you intrude, Kyr? And why did you bring your whole pack with you?" He sighed "At first, we were hunting, and then we scented bobcat on your territory, and we took a vote to help you so your pack didn't end up injured like you are." I cringed when he sad the last part. It made sense, either way he put it. "We need to hunt, Kyr. That's what we came to do in the first place." I asserted. "Then lets hunt together. You aren't in any condition to hunt alone. The least I can do is help you." he argued. I nodded cautiously. We scoured the forest for large prey, mainly because we had more mouths than usual to feed this time. I heard a flutter of wings and looked up to see a Great Grey Owl flying from tree to tree, eyeing us warily. Kyr looked up to, and the whole pack stopped. I hate how my pack saw him as a better Alpha then me, it was if they mocked my injury right in front of me. I lifted my muzzle to the air and caught a whiff of ox. It seemed like a herd of them had passed through here not too long ago. Kyr looked his head at me and cocked it to the side. Oxen, not too far from here. He nodded and we set of in the east where the scent came from. Soon, we saw the brown, grazing ungulates, who hadn't seemed to see us yet. Kyr directed both of our packs to move in, and when I stepped forward, the dark brown wolf cast a glare at me. No, not this time I returned his glare with a sweep of my tail I am an Alpha too, I can do this, and you're not going to stop me. and before he could say anything else, I darted in, as did the other packs in formation. We were hunting for two packs tonight, so I made sure to kill the ox quickly before moving on to another one. Oxen were medium-sized creatures, so it took more then two for both of the packs to have their fill. Once the herd had scattered too far to try and kill, we took the kills we earned. There were three in total, the one I had killed and the two the rest of the pack had killed. Kyr dipped his head when he saw my kill. Not bad for an injured wolf I snorted at him and said nothing more. I carried my kill to the cabin for about three minutes before Osiris took it from me and helped me. I'm not as injured as everyone makes it out to be, Osiris. She cast me a look in return You may want to look at your scratch when we get inside, it's broken open and bleeding. Kyr was right about you not needing to hunt. I cast her a warning glare Kyr is overreacting because he wants me to be his mate. Osiris looked overjoyed and surprised at the same time. Really? That's great Enai, not many find mates this early! I kept up my glare He only wants to merge packs, it's not like he cares about me. He was only there in time with the bobcat because he was exploring his "future territory". Nothing more. Osiris just shrugged, and I didn't see any communication from her after that while we carried the ox the rest of the way to the cabin.