Feral Bonds

Chapter 54

Natania chased after Bran through the newly harvested fields, paws sinking into the soft tilled soil. He turned around suddenly and lunged at her, Natania let him bowl her over with a mock growl and they wrestled, rolling through the dirt.

Natania tempered her strength to match his and snickered as he pinned her to the ground. Bran pawed at her muzzle, sending dirt into her face and Natania heaved them up so she could shake it off. Another weight landed on her back and Natania gasped dramatically, pretending to sag under their weight.

Brady growled as his paws pressed on her shoulders and Natania fell to her knees. The two wolves piled on top of her, rumbling with laughter and Natania exclaimed, "Ah, you got me!" She rolled onto her side, batting weakly with her paws. "Have mercy, I surrender."

Brady howled with victory, then stepped off her. Bran threw more dirt at her. "Hey!" Natania protested. "I already surrendered." She got back to her feet and shook out her pelt, then tossed a pawful of dirt at her brother and took off again.

Black fur streaked at Natania and she rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging Hayley's strike and put on a new burst of speed as the rest of the pack converged on her.

Sara leaped into her path and she skidded to a halt, turning on her paws and almost crashed into Grace, who had taken a position behind her. Natania ducked into a playful crouch, her chest rumbling with a growl.

"Attack!" Grace shouted. Keiran and Avery launched at her opposite flanks and Natania ducked, shot forward and laughed as they collided with each other.

"Get her!" Brady shot out of the darkness and crashed into her flank. Natania wheezed out a breath as Grace and Hayley joined him in pinning her down. Natania flailed dramatically, careful not to whack them too hard with her paws.

She sputtered as Bran leaped into the dirt beside her, throwing massive piles over her. She felt the pack mutually agree to bury her in the soil and upped her struggles. "Do not," she gasped out between laughs, but her pack ignored her and threw huge pawfuls of the dirt over her, then packed it down.

Their amusement was a contagious thing, so Natania lay obediently as they covered her in soil, thankfully avoiding her face. "I hate all of you," she said, laughing as they backed away after covering her entire pelt. Joy rippled through the bonds to her pack and Natania grinned at them.

"You love us and you know it," Brady teased.

"Do you know how long it will take to get this out of my fur?" She snorted.

The pack danced around her, howling with triumph. Natania shifted around slowly, loosening little bits of the pile at a time, then exploded forward, sending the soil shooting at them all and dashed away before anyone could retaliate.

After getting a safe distance away, she paused to shake out her fur, little bits of soil fell from her like rain droplets and she laughed, though she was groaning internally at the thought of cleaning up later. She could feel bits of dirt clinging to her skin and secretly plotted her revenge.

Hayley was the first to catch up to her, laughing as she saw Natania still struggling to shake the soil from her fur.

"Still a clean freak, I see," Hayley purred. "Glad to see some things never change."

Natania huffed. "Have you seen how thick my pelt is?"

"Shave it," Hayley suggested and Natania grimaced at her.

"It already took a year to sit properly after most of it was burned off, I'm not doing that again." It had taken months for her fur to fully come back, and even after that it had been uneven for a long time.