Into the Unknown

~Hunter~ Lost in the snow

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. you must let it find you.

by David Wagoner

Hoped you liked the poem.
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"God..Where the hell did they go? When I find them I swear." I growled to myself as I trotted through the snow covered forest. Leaving a trail behind me that slowly started to disappear. It was starting to snow the white snowflakes dancing around in the wind.

I listened, and looked around my surroundings looking for the rest of the pack. We had just been chasing after a large buck; next thing I knew there was no one behind me. When I noticed there was no one there. I stopped the hunt, and started off toward the direction I last remembered seeing them. Retracing my steps as much as I could.

I was still learning how to communicate telepathically. So doing that was out of the question.

I was walking slowly taking in my surroundings not remembering much since I was invested in the hunt. I started to notice the forest starting to thin out. Clusters of trees slowly becoming more and more scarce.

"This isn't good." I groaned as I soon started to see the lights of houses. Which meant he had the chance of encountering humans.

I had traveled all the way from deep thick forest to the damn edge of the forest near one of the suburban neighborhoods in the area.

I knew that a lot of the wolves in the pack lived around here, but I didn't recognize any scents. At least nothing recent.

"Damn it." I growled to myself as I shifted back to my human form hoping that I could find, or use a phone. So I could contact my mom, or someone in the pack that was nearby who was still human.

When it comes to the shift it isn't as painful as many Syfy movies make it seem. Your body gets all tingly as some sort of magic starts to swirl around your body. Causing the human body, or wolf body to shift into one another. It is kind of weird watching your body change into something else though. Contouring bones, the stretching, and the tearing of your own skin. Watching your nails turn black has hands turned into paws. It still mystifies me at how this all happens, but first I needed to find clothes.

I knew that the pack had many hiding spots for supplies for the wolves in our area. I know there should be at least a couple places in the area. They hid extra clothes for wolves who changed back into humans in the area somewhere. I just had to find the hiding spots.

It was mostly for they could change into some clothes quickly to cover up what they were. Finding the hiding spots was a chore though because they had to be well hidden from mundane eyes. I tracked a old scent from a wolf in the pack.

Staying along the tree line hiding the best I could while tracking the scent. Hoping for one of the hiding spots to be close. I then saw a hollowed out tree. I followed the scent hoping this was one of the many hiding places.

Walking up to the tree I could now smell the countless others plus the wolf I had followed. I could tell who had come, and gone from the tree. I sighed in relief to find that some clothes were left but no phone. There was a pair of dark grey sweat pants and some t-shirts. I grabbed the sweat pants setting them on the edge of the hidden hole. Then I started to look at all of the shirts, but none would fit me they were all to small for me, and I cursed. "I guess I'll have to deal with no shirt." I said shrugging my shoudlers not really caring for a shirt anyways. Since I was a literal heat box 24/7. I was at least not ashamed of my body.

"But why do they have to be all smalls." I groaned as I tossed the shirts back into the hole in the tree with a agitated growl. You would think since there are more male wolves in the area they would have larger sizes of shirts in these hidden hollows, but no they all had to be too small.

"Hey!" I heard a girls voice yell, and she was close by.

Her voice had caught me off guard; I quickly turned, and looked around for the source of the female voice.

When I turned around to the house that was behind me. There she stood at the window on the houses' second level. She was looking down at me with a confused face, but her eyes were full of curiosity. If I wasn't a werewolf I would have thought she was one of us, but she smelled just like a ordinary human with a hint of the undead. Which was a small disappointment because she was human, and was a vampires food source.

Her eyes though oddly gave a soft glow that even I could see through the heavy snow fall. She was so different from other humans. Lucky for me werewolves had amazing sense of smell . I could see her standing there hanging somewhat out her window. Leaning out as she tried to see better. Unlike her I could very well despite heavy down pour of snow. Despite looking like she had just woken up from bed. She looks didn't matter to me want I wanted was to get closer, and leave the hidden shadows of the forest. Just to get closer to her, so I could touch her. I had to control myself, or I was going to blow my somewhat cover I had under the tree.

I knew better than to just stand there in plain view, but to my luck it was snowing pretty hard giving me some more coverage so I could hide easier from her view of sight. Stepping back a little so I could hide in the dark of the woods; allowing the snow to help hide me. I had forgotten the sweat pants, and now I was still there standing naked. I cursed at myself silently. Before I looked up to see when she would leave. It didn't take that long for her to disappear back inside the house.

I heard a woman yell; what I bet was her mother yelling. "Alise!" The woman yelled.

"So that's her name." I snickered as I quickly jogged over to the tree grabbing the sweat pants, and yanking them up quickly before I was caught naked. It felt better to covered up somewhat at least.

I turn around, and started to walk away when the taunting smell of good food entered my nose making me stop in my tracks. Which just made my stomach growl more.

"Why why why why.." I groaned the sound of my stomach growling for food didn't help me at all.

Off in the distance I heard the howls of the pack. They weren't to far off; sighing in relief I took off the sweatpants. Folding them up neatly before I balled them up and tossed back into the hole.

"Putting on those pants were so pointless." I said in a exhausted yet annoyed tone of voice.

Shifting back into my wolf took away a lot of my energy though. Since I had done multiple changes is such a short time. My energy was low my skin raw, and starving. Compared to being human. My wolf was a massive pitch black beast. Even to my kind my size was huge, but I was no ordinary wolf. With bright golden eyes that made seeing in the dark a piece of cake. I was built to kill there was nothing cute about my wolf. I was big, and man did I look badass. If I do say so for myself.

Shaking my fur as I did my best to rid my body of the after sensations of the shift. Before turning quickly so that I wouldn't get caught a second time. I ran back into the forest in the direction I had heard my packs howls.