Feral Bonds

Chapter 27

Natania was seventeen years old, it was the coldest winter the pack had ever experienced. The prey had all fled for their burrows. The snow piled up too quickly for the trucks to deliver supplies up the mountain and they were running low on rations. The pack was starving for the first time since Natania had been alive.

Two wolves trudged through the snow to meet her, one grey, one blue. "You need to eat something," the blue one said, dropping the hind leg of a skinny rabbit in the snow.

Hunger clawed at her stomach, but Natania shook her head. "You eat it, Leah, I'm okay." She knew Leah had been giving her rations to the lower ranked members of the pack, the ones who were barely given enough to survive during the plentiful seasons, same as her. Bran nudged Leah.

"You know she won't eat until you do," he said.

Leah glared at them both, took a single bite from the rabbit and growled at Natania, giving her a pointed look. Bran lowered his ears, flicking his gaze nervously between them. He knew they wouldn't fight under normal circumstances, but tempers were high at the moment.

Natania swallowed and glanced away. If she ate now she'd have a harder time pushing the hunger away, but Leah's anger came from her fear and Natania couldn't just dismiss that.

Natania sighed and took a small bite. It was cold and stale and not nearly enough. She snapped the leg into two parts and nudged the larger piece to Leah. One bite and it's gone. Her body protested loudly, but Leah ate the rest and Natania purred with content.

Leah nuzzled her neck. Natania breathed in her scent, letting herself forget all their troubles for a moment before gently nudging her away.

"I'm going to try to get the food from the truck," she said.

Brans tilted his head. "The mountain is impassable, how do you plan to get down? Let alone back up with a truckload of food?"

"I'm going to break a trail, so the runners can follow me."

"It's too dangerous," Leah argued. "You'll freeze."

"I'll be fine." Natania nuzzled her cheek. "I have to do something, I can't watch the pack starve."

Leah's gaze darkened with fear. Natania's heart clenched, she wanted to ask them to come with her, but looking at them, they were too weak. She wouldn't risk their safety. "I'll be okay," Natania reassured her. "The pack has to survive."

"Leah," Natania muttered, still unconscious. Gretchen noticed that one of the wolves, a grey one with fresh wounds in his throat, flinched at the name.

They were tied up in the back of a van. Gretchen's hands were tied behind her and her feet trapped together, she wasn't gagged though Natania had a basket muzzle attached to her face, looking quite ridiculous on her human skin. There was also a complicated looking chain harness around her neck and torso that was connected to the bottom of the van. They wanted the wolf trapped regardless of what form she took.

They'd been driving for almost an hour from her count and Natania hadn't woken up yet. No one had spoken to her, though they did seem confused on what to do with her. That told her Natania was the target, and they hadn't known Gretchen would be present. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Aside from the driver there were four other people, two of them in wolf form. She assumed the others were also beast bound, Natania had made it sound like the wolves didn't usually work with humans.

The second wolf, all black except for the white tip on his tail, snapped at the other and the grey one snarled back. Gretchen couldn't tell which one was actually in charge, even though Natania had mentioned before that it was always easy to tell. Maybe for people who lived with wolves their whole lives.