Off To NeverLand

Chapter Nine: Help ~7:30 am in the jungles of NeverLand~

I ran to camp, my legs burning but I still kept on running. I was a human, and I had to help Peter. I ran to the Alpha Cave, opened the secret door and ran in. Astro was cooking bacon and was whistling, I ran over to him with tears in my eyes. He looked over at me.
"What's wrong? Got stung by a bee?"
"No," I managed to say behind sobs "Peter is missing, and I'm afraid he's hurt"
"I thought you were mad at him. Why would you care if he's missing?" I looked at me, confused
"Because I forgave him, and...I care about him" I tugged on his T-shirt "Please, we have to save him!"
He stared at me for a while then sighed "Ok, we will get trackers and scouts. You stay here."
"No! I'm coming!"
"Fine"
We quickly ate the bacon and headed out. I was glad I didn't tell Astro the boyfriend part, he wouldn't be too happy about that part. He probably would want me to go out with a boy my kind, and with proper Alpha training. I heard rumours that a pack from the other side of NeverLand wanted to join forces by having the Alpha's boy and me to marry, or "Mate" how Spirit-walkers say it. We were going to meet in two days, but I wasn't sure what to think. I shifted into a wolf and walked out of the door and out of the cave. Everyone was out, and waiting to go.

I sniffed the necklace, and shoved my nose to the ground. Peter was west, and he wasn't alone. The people who took him smelled like...rum, and salt water... Hook. I growled, teeth bared and I followed the scent trail that lead me to Peter. I missed him so much, so I decided to run so I could see him sooner. I ran until I saw men, carrying something. I sniffed the air and smelled Pan. I turned into a lioness, and walked behind them, growling. The men turned around and almost screamed, drawing swords and sabres. I clawed and scratched, fighting them off. Then wolves came along, which scared the Pirates even more, we fought them until they retreated, leaving Pan behind. I shifted back into a human and untied his wrists and took out his gag.
He smiled and hugged me tight "I knew you would come"
I hugged him "I always will, I promise. Even when we are apart, I will always find you."
Peter pulled away and kissed me, his lips soft but firm. He pulled away when he saw Astro walking towards us, hopefully he didn't see us kiss.
I turned to Peter "Want a ride back home?"
He smiled "Sure! What animal are you going to be this time?"
I grinned "You'll see"
________________________________________
I galloped through the Jungle as a beautiful white mare, with Peter riding bare-back, holding on to my mane. It didn't take too long to get to the Hideout. We went inside after I shifted back to a human, and hanged out a little. We talked about how life was apart, and other things too. We kissed a little-ok, a bit more than little- but didn't full-out make out. I eventually had to go home, which made us both sad.
When I got home, I had more lessons. They were about how to sprout different animal parts, like wings and tails and all the fun stuff, I mastered them all. We made dinner, ate it then went to pack up for the trip to see the other pack. We didn't need much, just water canteens, sleeping rolls, and weapons for hunting. Not much because we were going to be animals most of the way. I soon got ready for bed, got my pjs on, brushed my teeth. Then went to bed, curling up in a ball under the soft sheets and went straight to sleep.

I woke up, stretched, then changed into some clothes. I still had Peter's necklace, but I decided it looked better on me. I threw on a pair of shorts, and a white T-shirt with green sleeves. I took out my braid, brushed it and put it up into a ponytail. I walked out the door, smelling ham. Mmmmmmmmm. I greeted Astro and we ate, talking about how I must behave, and how I shouldn't be rude. And to act like an Alpha's daughter. Ugh. We headed out, with a few warriors guarding us on our travels. We were wolves traveling, mainly because we were stronger and faster as wolves. We were wearing harnesses with small bags attached to carry our things.Night fell, and we made camp for the night. We sang songs (as humans) ate deer, and finally went to bed.
In the morning, we packed up our stuff and headed out. We hit a clearing in the jungle which was divided by a large river which was flowing from a beautiful waterfall. I took a drink, my long tongue lapping up the water into my mouth. I sniffed the air, and smelt other wolves, but not from our pack. I raised my head, and softly growled, Astro could smell them too, I could sense it. Four wolves came from the other side of the river, bigger than us. Except for a single wolf, which I'm guessing is the Alpha's son, but he was still bigger than me. There was a red one, a grey one with small patched of black, a red wolf with grey on his underbelly, chest, lower jaw, and under his tail. The fourth was a deep brown, almost black. The two largest stepped up, the son with his head held high, to show dominance. Astro stepped up beside me, his ears shoved forward, also showing dominance, so I did the same.
'Greetings' said the Alpha Male, by his voice.
'Hello, glad you could make it' Astro replied
'Yes, I don't know about you, but the trails are pretty rocky on our side. My name is Timber' the Alpha Male said
'I am Astro, and this is my daughter, Stardust.' My dad, nodded towards me.
'Nice to meet you. You have a fine daughter there. May I ask, do all of your pack members have space names?' Timber tilted his head.
Astro laughed a wolfish laugh 'No, only the Alphas' get the honour'
'Oh, anyway. You do know why we are meeting right.' Timber tilted his head back so it was straight.
'Yes, because you wanted the whole island to be one big territory. Your side hardly has any food.'
'And because we need the ultimate wolves to fight the Evil in this island. Your pack has the speed, and ours have the strength.'
Astro furred his furry eyebrows 'you never told me about that part. But yes, there has been some disturbances'
'May I ask who your son and mate is?' I injected, feeling the tension in the air.
'Right, this is Cedar my mate, and my son, Blue.' Timber nodded towards the young male, who stepped up.
'Nice to meet you' he nodded a greeting.
The alphas let us play around and talk, and do whatever pups our age do. We played ruff, like dogs would, and talked a bit. The adults watched us as we slowly became friends, and talked how we would be great future Alphas and how the kids would be like, the ultimate Spirit-walkers, being strong and fast. I pretended not to hear, I just didn't think that I was ready. But then again, that was when I was older and when Astro would pass on the responsibility to me. They all finally agreed that when we were both older, we would "mate" and take on being the Alphas of a huge pack. We all finally left, I was glad I met Blue, he seemed really nice. We actually had a lot in common, except for the fact that Astro wasn't my real dad, and Hook was my actual dad. And being from another world. But other than that, almost exactly the same. We got along really well, like we were siblings.

When I got home, I met up with Peter as soon as I could. I shifted into a sparrow, wandering how long it would take until he would recognize me as an animal. I flew up behind him, shifting back as I did. He turned around, his face twisted into a scowl, that wasn't good. He walked up to me, and grabbed my arms and held them tightly and put his face close to mine.
"Who was that other wolf you met? Was it a boy? Answer me!" He shook me hard
"His name was Blue, and yes he was a boy. Why do you care? How do you know who I was with? We're you SPYING on me again?"
He let go and rubbed the back of his head, stepping back "Yes, I was worried when you didn't show up for a couple of days. I don't want to lose you to someone else."
'Awwwwwwwww' I thought, he cares about me. "It's ok, he's just like me. We were meeting the other pack in NeverLand, maybe unite the two packs. Nothing personal"
"Ok, I'm glad. So how do you unite packs?"
I HATED lying to him, but I had to. I didn't want to tell him that we had to "mate" to unite a pack. Instead, I told him that Astro was going to "mate" with Timber's oldest pup, Sugar. Timber would then become an Elder, giving Sugar the role as Alpha. But everyone in both packs knew it was going to be me and Blue who was going to "mate".

I walked into my room, pjs on, teeth brushed and face washed, curled up under the covers and closed my eyes. Why can't I tell Peter the truth? Is it because it'll hurt our relationship? Why couldn't Peter be a Spirit-walker? Can Spirit-walkers be made, or is it just born? I finally got tired of all the questions flying through my head like cars in a highway, and I drifted off to sleep.