Arizium

Chapter 21

(A/N: header art is by yours truly. I'm sorry, it's bad, I know. Why do I subject myself to torment like this.)

Wolf woke up to something nudging his head softly but purposefully and opened his eyes to find none other than Resa sitting there with a look that portrayed how much she wanted to go back. Wolf groaned and attempted to sit up, but stopped when he noticed that Lynx was nuzzled into his side and still dreaming about genocide or something. 

He smiled to himself and laid back down to let her sleep in a little longer, even though it was already halfway between midday and evening. When Resa whimpered at him he scratched her behind the ears and whispered, "Shh, just a few more minutes won't hurt anyone. Once she wakes up we'll get going, and maybe grab something to eat while we're at it," Resa accepted his answer reluctantly and resorted to licking his face, much to Wolf's disgust.

After a few minutes of contemplating what he would say to Phoenix, Lynx stirred and stretched, nearly smacking him in the face in the process. "I was beginning to wonder if you were dead with how much you slept," Wolf teased.

Lynx blinked her eyes opened and hummed sleepily, "Good morning Wolfie."

"Morning? It's already almost dusk you big oaf."

Lynx grumbled and hugged him, "But I'm so tiiiiired."

Wolf smiled at that and stood up so that she slipped off of him, "Come on sleepy, we have to get back to camp now." When she shook her head stubbornly, Wolf held out his hand and said, "Here, I'll even give you a ride."

That got Lynx up straight away. She giggled as she climbed onto his back, wrapped her arms around his neck and urged him forward, "Onward, noble steed!"

Wolf glanced back at her and stated, "If you think I'm going to act like a horse, then I'll buck you off without a second thought," and Resa howled in agreement.

Lynx stuck out her bottom lip but gave in anyway and said, "Fine, but at least let me sleep a little," and laid her head on his shoulder.

Wolf rolled his eyes, but didn't object and instead trudged forward with Resa and Cutie padding along after him.

True to her word, Lynx did actually end up falling asleep shortly after, her soft breathing echoed in Wolf's ear loudly as he tried to remember the way back to camp. Cutie ended up leading in the end, as Resa was too immersed in chasing down a squirrel.

Maybe I can just drop Lynx off and run away again, Wolf pondered and chewed on his lip, but immediately dashed the idea, No, I need to man up and deal with this. I can't lose another friend because of my stupid disease.

His thoughts wondered into Resa's out of boredom and he smiled at how overjoyed she was when she finally managed to corner the mischievous squirrel. I wonder how much easier it would be to be a beast instead of a human. There's no drama when your only thoughts are of your next meal.

He couldn't help but notice Resa's loneliness though. She had always been sort of an outcast among other wolves, mostly because of the fact that she was about twice the size of them, when she stood up on all fours she was as tall as Lynx. But that wasn't the only factor that made her diffferent, being Albino was the main reason why most wolves shied away with their tail between their legs. Sure, she enjoyed having that sort of power, but she grew up without a pack since none of the alphas would accept her, and she was too shy to battle for dominance.

Until she felt Wolf's soul, she thought that she was destined to be alone forever without a pack, let alone a mate. The one time she thought she had met a friend, they ended up abandoning her when they found a pack that fit them perfectly. It made Resa so outraged and sad that sh-

Wolf was torn away from the memory when Resa caught scent of more prey and her mind focused on the hunt.

He sighed and continued to follow Cutie through the dense foliage until he finally caught a whiff of the smoke from the fire.

Cutie ran on ahead, probably to find a rabbit or two to munch on, and left Wolf alone with a sleeping Lynx and Resa.

His mind wandered and he started thinking about what it was like to be linked with a fish again, when he was suddenly intercepted by someone.

He ended up stumbling back a couple of paces, nearly losing hold of Lynx in the process, before attempting to go incorporeal, but instead gave up when he realized how much energy it would take to hide both him and Lynx.

Instead he studied the stranger and came to the conclusion that it was an odd looking girl who looked completely capable of snapping his spine in two.

She studied him back curiously before blurting, "Now who the fuck might you be?"

Wolf's danger sense ran wild as he thought of what to do. He couldn't just run, Lynx weighed down on him too much for that.

He called out to Resa and decided to stall while his companion finished her hunt, "Uh, people call me Wolf, I guess," he mumbled.

"Wolf? Wait, are you with those other nutjobs with animal names?"

Wolf's eyes widened and he immediately told Resa not to attack on sight, but to be alert for any danger. When he took too long to respond, the girl scoffed "And I suppose that little girl is one of you too. You can call me Arro, since we're probably going to be together for quite some time," she stated confidently and stuck out her hand.

Wolf stared at it and tried to form a comprehensive sentence, "B...But I-I...I don-" but was immediately interrupted when he heard Bear yell something and saw her appear behind the stranger.

"Arro who are you talk-" She cut herself off when she saw Wolf and ran up to him to hug him, but stopped when she saw Lynx on his back. "Gods where have you two been? I've been worried sick, you know!" She stated angrily, obviously frustrated that she couldn't squeeze the stupid right out of Wolf with a huge hug. Unfortunately she spoke too loudly, because Lynx stirred and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Bear... is that you?" She muttered and lifted her head. When she saw the stranger behind Bear, she immediately used her power to fling rocks at her mercilessly as an automatic defense mechanism.

"Wait Lynx stop!" Bear exclaimed as Arro inevitably turned into a hummingbird in order to dodge the projectiles easier.

Wolf and Lynx both stared at the exotic bird with bewildered expressions as Bear sighed wearily and said, "Alright, let's get you all back to camp. Then I'll explain."

(A/N: woo it only took me like a day to write this. To be fair though I haven't slept yet, and it's noon, so the sacrifice wasn't really worth it I suppose. I'm almost contemplating just saving this as a draft and waiting a couple of days to post it, but I'm just so proud of this achievement of writing a chapter in a day that I have to post it.

You're welcome by the way)