A Drizzle of Home

32 | A Drizzle of Pride

We arrived back at the clearing to a boom of growling. My forepaws had been set aflame from the run home, my chest burning with each heaving breath. The smell in the air was as bitter as smoke. Caustic as rotten flesh. More foul than death itself.

Fear.

Shore's tan hide heaved alongside me, our eyes running over the crowd that had gathered. Our mother's pale form sat among the pack, front and center for the ring they formed with their bodies. In the middle, Alpha stood across from a dark, snarling wolf. Dad's dark brown fur shone like silky feathers in the full sun. The fur of his foe didn't shine at all. It was like the color had been caked on, rolled in soot and smoldering from coals somewhere within. Both were rigid, tails high and hackles raised.

He was an intruder. He didn't belong here.

"Dad," I called, but he didn't tear his eyes away from his enemy. His voice was reserved solely for growling.

He wasn't the only one. I rushed to Mom's side, where she propped herself against my sister's gray fur. Worry glowed deep in her eyes, and each breath was forced beneath her sunken ribs, slow and shaky. A frustrated bark filled River's muzzle, watching the scene unfold. I helped mother lay down, settling herself against the ground while Shore took my sister's place at her side.

River paid us no mind. Her jaws were locked together, and she hardly breathed at all. I could see the thoughts racing inside. The bristling anger on her spine. No one came into her home uninvited. No one hurt a soul here, raised a single fur on anyone's neck. No one would take this away, her family. Not again.

She started to step forward into the ring, but Aven's muzzle slipped out a weary woof. River jerked her head around to meet her eyes. She shook her muzzle softly, regret plastered on her face. There was nothing she could do. Again.

This wolf had challenged our leader. They had the right to a fair fight without interference. It was stupid, but the way things worked. Even in her sunken eyes, Mom had faith that her mate would come out victorious. My sister only wanted to be in there with him, to help her father run off a wolf who had no right to be here.

Dad easily rivaled the stranger in size and strength. But what happened if his enemy did win? Would he be chased out? Would we all have to leave? My mind began to spiral into the depths of doom, but I held on to the sight of my father's flicking tail.

Then the battle began. The two ran at each other with thundering paws. They collided in the center, Alpha pushing the dark wolf over with the sheer force of his weight. Landing in a tussle, their jaws snapped together and the stranger flailed to get free while making empty threats with his teeth. Alpha wasn't able to seize his throat through his sharp-toothed fury, and after a moment of fruitless brawling, the black wolf was free.

Alpha gave him a moment to regain his bearings, a play of fairness and mercy, and this time the dark wolf initiated the charge. He lunged at Dad with bared teeth, but he met his foe with a forceful headbutt to the jaw. The black wolf fell back, and Alpha seized the chance to run forward and go for the throat. From the side, he latched on, pushing the other wolf with his weight to get him down. To Dad's surprise, his foe melted to dead weight, collapsing on the ground faster than his neck and jaws could follow. His black-furred enemy slipped from his grip, rolling over with another snarl.

Before Alpha could keep up with the sudden movement, the wolf pushed off his feet towards his muzzle. His jaws closed around the corner of Dad's face, and my body shuddered as his shining fangs pierced Alpha's eye.

Dad wailed and stumbled back. He held his bloody, shredded eye closed in pain, tears and blood dripping thickly from his wound.

River growled again from the sidelines, edging ever close to the scene of battle. I knew she yearned to leap in there herself, to take down the dark wolf on her own. What his enemy had done was not fighting fairly. You never aimed to maim a wolf beyond healing. It was a total lack of respect for the balance of nature. You didn't doom one of your own kind to a life of disability. It wasn't right.