Mutatio

Chapter 3 NightSky

I went to the nursery early the next morning. I wanted to be there when the pups woke up. I didn't know exactly why Alpha told me to hang out at the nursery, but it was taking my mind off of FrostDapple, which was good. As I approached the nursery, I noticed that FlamePup was sleeping just outside the entrance. I smirked and walked up to him. Today was one of those days where it was incredibly hot and no one wanted fur on their backs, so almost all of us were in human form. I had my black hair tied up in a ponytail, and I had taken off the jacket I usually wore, so I just had on a black tank-top and jean shorts. Most of the older boys went without shirts in human form, but the younger ones, like OakBite, wore tank-tops as well. None of us wore shoes, but that was to be expected. I sat down on the ground next to FlamePup and rubbed behind his ears. His tail started thumping and I laughed. His eyes opened and he jumped to his paws. He glared at me.

"You scared me, NightSky!" He exclaimed. I laughed again and he sat back down.

"My bad. Why are you outside the den?" I asked. He looked at his paws.

"It's too crowded in there, so I decided to sleep out here." He admitted. It was strange how different he looked when I was in human form. He seemed smaller. More vulnerable. I shrugged.

"Okay." I replied. FlamePup seemed surprised at my nonchalance.

"You...you're not mad that I broke the rules?" He asked, baffled. I ruffled the fur on top of his head.

"The way I see it, you were still technically in the nursery. And besides, it's not like anyone got hurt. All you did was sleep outside. When I was your age, I'd sneak out of the nursery and climb the tree over Alpha's den and sleep on one of the branches." I told him. He gaped at me.

"That's awful!" He exclaimed. Then he smirked. "I bet you looked like a cat up there." I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, probably." I agreed. FlamePup jumped to his paws to look at the tree in question.

"How far up did you go?" He wondered. I shrugged.

"I dunno. Halfway, maybe?" FlamePup stared at me, a look of awe on his face.

"You could've fallen and snapped your neck! How'd you learn to climb?" He asked. I looked at my hands in my lap.

"My dad taught me." I replied quietly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. FlamePup fell silent. The moment of awkward silence was broken by JunePup and WinterPup running out of the nursery and pouncing on me. I laughed and fell over backwards as they crawled all over me.

"Oh, you're so lucky!" JunePup cried, licking my face. I laughed and pushed her off.

"I wish I could turn into a human!" WinterPup complained. I sat up, holding each of them in one hand.

"You'll learn." I assured them as HollyScratch came out of the nursery carrying SkyPup in her jaws. She carefully set the pup down then changed into a human. Her short hair was grey not because of age, but because that was the color of her pelt. That's how human form worked. Your eyes stayed the same and the color of your fur or hair remained. I glanced over at FlamePup and his black and golden red fur, his eyes an icy blue. That would be an interesting hair color. FlamePup caught me staring and immediately turned defensive. He narrowed his eyes and turned his back to me. I sighed and smiled at WinterPup and JunePup before setting them down on the ground again to play. HollyScratch sat beside me with a huff.

"FlamePup sure is a handful." I noted. She shrugged.

"He's well behaved, he's just got quite the temper." She admitted. We watched as the pups wrestled on the ground, SkyPup pawing at one of them whenever they were down, but never actually engaging in the roughhousing.

"Do you ever think maybe we should wait longer before giving the pups a Socius?" I wondered. HollyScratch looked over at me.

"I think that we should leave tradition the way it is." She replied shortly. I didn't say anything and she sighed. "Yeah, I guess. I don't have a Socius, so I wouldn't know." I had forgotten that Omegas didn't get a Nuptias. The thought made me sad.

"Does that mean you can never marry?" I asked, curious. HollyScratch shrugged.

"No, it just means that I'll need to find someone else without a Socius." I frowned.

"But every Mutatio gets a Socius, and a pack only has one Omega." I pointed out. HollyScratch shrugged again.

"I don't think about it much. I guess I'm just glad I'm not tied to one person my whole life." She admitted. I looked at the pups again, feeling slightly cold despite the warm temperature. I suddenly felt the need to change the subject.

"So FlamePup's almost old enough to be an apprentice?" I questioned. HollyScratch nodded.

"Yeah. Eight moons. It's weird to think that it was only a moon ago that KindlePaw was getting assigned a mentor." She sighed. FlamePup glanced over at us, suspicion in his eyes. I smirked. He must have only heard his name. WinterPup leapt at him, thinking he was distracted. FlamePup spun around and flipped WinterPup over, pinning her to the ground.

"Nice move, FlamePup!" A familiar voice called. I looked behind me and saw ShadowChirp, his dark hair falling into his eyes. He tossed his head to move the hair as he sat down next to me. He smiled and gave me a quick hug, his tan skin hot from the sun. "Good morning, NightSky, HollyScratch." He greeted us. HollyScratch opened her mouth to reply when one of the pups squealed, causing her to look over. SkyPup had gotten herself tangled in the briars of a rose bush behind the nursery. HollyScratch quickly ran over and helped her out, carrying her in her arms to the Theta's den. WaterStone, the pack's healer, was laying in wolf form outside of her den. When she saw HollyScratch and SkyPup coming, she lead the way into her den to help. I sighed and laughed slightly, glancing up at ShadowChirp.

"Remind me to never have pups." I joked. ShadowChirp smirked at me.

"What, you don't want to see your very own child grow up to be Alpha of the pack?" He chuckled. I pushed him playfully.

"With you as the dad, they'd be to dumb to lead!" I teased.

"Hey!" ShadowChirp laughed indignantly, pushing me back. Suddenly, CherryLeaf ran into camp, howling happily.

"She's back!" BurntLeaf and I both looked to the entrance, our hearts almost hesitant to be jovial. "Delta's back!" CherryLeaf shouted as she ran into the middle of the camp. I sprung to my feet. Even if it wasn't FrostDapple, the news that MistTail was back made my heart soar. FlamePup pawed at my leg and I looked down at him.

"Who's Delta?" He asked. At first, I was shocked that he didn't know who that was, until I remembered that MistTail hadn't been in camp since FlamePup was really young. He had just turned one moon old, to be exact.

"You'll find out soon enough." I replied. I looked to the Alpha's den in time to see MistTail's black-tipped tail disappear into the tree roots. I turned into a wolf and padded over to the den. I sat at a respectful distance, and wrapped my tail around my paws. I waited excitedly as MistTail reported everything to Alpha. The few minutes it took seemed like centuries as I waited to see my best friend again for the first time in seven months.