Whitehart

II - Thorn

Thorn blinked awake, and saw that he was the first one up. Giving a good but virtually silent yawn, he stretched and drowsily padded away from the group, in need of water. He stopped at the creek, and bent his head down to lap up the freezing water, before sliding in. The cold instantly snapped him awake, and he swam forward until he was shoulder - deep in the brook. The water cleared the thoughts of the fire in his mind, and the other thing he always had on his mind was her. Her soft chestnut and scarlet fur, petite but muscular frame, and fiery amber eyes were what kept him from thinking of his deceased friends and family. It was Red.

"Enjoying your swim?" Umbra's form appeared next to a tree, his peculiar purple eyes narrowed and trained on Thorn.

Thorn emerged from the water, shaking his fur obnoxiously hard as to spray Umbra, but the dark - furred brute had stepped back before the freezing water could touch him.

"Shut up, pretty boy," Thorn growled, embarrassed and angry that Umbra showed up during the time he most wanted to alone.

Umbra chuckled at the male's remark. "I came here to tell you that everyone else is up, eating a doe that Switch caught for us. We'd appreciate it if you joined us, especially Fair." With a final flick of his tail, the larger wolf disappeared from Thorn's presence.

Thorn rolled his eyes when Umbra left, and began padding back to their campsite, standing away from the others. Fair gave him a few quick glances every so often, before continuing to eat. Thorn didn't catch them, he was too busy looking at Red, who was chatting with Switch, Umbra, and Gale. The russet she - wolf looked up from her conversation and spotted Thorn alone at the edge of the clearing. Thorn quickly looked away, shaking his head. Why can't I ever gather enough courage to look at her for more than two seconds? We've grown up together, he wondered, stealing another glance at the female. But can I really love her? With Umbra hovering over them like a steathly, furry storm of bees, it was practically impossible to express any other emotion to her that wasn't disgust or anger, without Umbra stepping in and turning it into a competition. Red and Umbra were much closer to each other than Thorn and Red, and with their combined strength and intelligence, they would both make excellent leaders. But Thorn wasn't ready to give up quite yet. He was a strategizer, and incredibly charismatic. If he couldn't win her over directly, he could simply persuade her to find Umbra undesirable.

Thorn joined the others, quite literally wolfing down the remains of the deer, keeping an eye on Umbra as he finished his meal. The battle had begun.