Belonging To The Alpha King

Chapter Four

Tilting his head to the side, he peeked up at Rosà who just kept staring at him as if she wanted him to nod his head and agree to the name she had picked for him, then just went right back to lapping at the contents of the bowl.

 "Hmm." She hummed as she looked around the room for something.

Dust flew everywhere as she searched around the cramped room, irritating little corners of the room that had laid untouched until now. Both let out a number of sneezes as the dust kept getting stirred about the small space. She mumbled something about not being able to clean as much as she wanted to because of work as she continued her search.

Rosà let out a triumphant "ha!" as she found what she'd been searching for. She brought out a moth-eaten blanket that lost its original colour to dirt. She laid it onto the floor beside the shabby bed and patted it as clean as it could get from the dust that it collected over time.

"This is where you'll be sleeping." Leaving the watery broth to the side, he went to test how much-or little- comfort the worn out blanket could give.

"Well you're awfully obedient." She pointed out, but then just shrugged and offered him the bowl again, which he gladly accepted. "I guess it's better than you going wild and ransacking everything." She chuckled as he wined at her as if he understood what she was saying.

She was aware that he was far too intelligent and obedient to be just a wounded stray.

'He was probably just an abnormlly huge house wolf who got separated from his owner', is what she had concluded, though she saw no sign of a collar around his thick neck.

Running her frail hand through his magically soft fur, she climbed onto the makeshift bed; which was just a stack of worn down hay, stuffed into a folded bedsheet, held off the ground by a surprisingly sturdy but very low bed frame.

"I better get to bed, I have a long day tomorrow." She sighed as her stomach rumbled from hunger. He wined softly and tried to offer her his bowl but she just shook her head with a smile, after a moment of surprise.

 "You're too kind." She chuckled but he just huffed and went back to eating seeing as she wasn't going to accept his offer to share.

'Ash' didn't fall asleep as fast as her. Instead, he stayed up until late, going through his thoughts. Like he does every time he gets a moment away from Rosá's constant rambling about every and anything; though he does not dislike hearing her sweet voice- he thought about his current predicament, he thought about how he got into said predicament. He cringed when he thought about the long lectures he would receive from the elders, his stand-in and his head guard if he ever got home.

He could almost hear them now. The elders would grumble about how he needed more training and allow his former master to drag him by the ear, onto the training grounds after they finished yelling it off .

His stand-in would scowl and ask "Do you have any idea what i went through because of you??!!", his pale face going bright red from anger and frustration, while the man himself would not truly be angry; but instead, sick with worry

His head guard would give him the silent treatment for days on end. And when he decided that he punished him enough through silence, he would holler "I was so worried!! You scared the living daylights outta me!!", and then subject him to more torturous training along side his master.

They would all get mad and lecture him but they would all be worried for his safety as well, more than they would care to say. The thought made a wolfish grin appear on his snout and a hyena-like laugh to leave his throat.

When he heard Rosa' shift, he remembered it was night time. He started shuffling around to try to get as comfy as possible on this worn out blanket of his. Finally, he closed his brightly coloured eyes and drifted off to sleep. He dreamed of trees as tall as any mountain, the smell of due water leaves and freshly cut wood.

Back in the forest of wolves, the people still prayed. The elders, karl, hunters and trackers still worked endlessly to keep the people calm and find their king. The pack doctors got a little rest seeing as there were not that much injured wolves to treat anymore.

The support they received from neighbouring packs was a huge help. They offered up medicine and their own doctors for a faster process.

Most of the general public managed to calm down and offered their help in searching for the missing king. Though they call it a kingdom, they were no more than an overly huge extended family that was just big enough to build a small village with one brach of family members chosen to lead them all, so the leaders gladly accepted but did their best to keep them out of the more dangerous parts of the woods.

They searched and searched, and searched some more, they each took on different shifts to make the search more effective. The more capable wolves; the trackers/deltas, would go into the deeper parts of the woods to search. Half of the gammas would stand watch closer to were the common folk were searching, while the other half double checked after the trackers.

They kept up this way of searching till early in the morning. They returned to the village only when the sun was at it's peek in the morning sky. They were almost to the village when one of the common folk walked up to the gamma assigned as leader of their group with a tired expression.

"We-we'll go looking again later...won't we?" The thin man asked worriedly.

"Of course!!" The guard answered with certainty. The man's eyes light up and he smiled so brightly and wide the gamma thought his face would split in two. He rushed off as if he hadn't just stayed u all night without rest or food. Shaking his head with a small smile on his lips, he headed after the man. He was feeling as hungry as everyone , maybe even more.