Dull, drab, boring. That's college for you.
Aka thought as she trudged alongside her sister Calypso back to the series of dens that they lived in with their mother and two younger brothers.
Eli still had nowhere to go, so the two sisters were taking him back. Aka refused any eye contact with the werewolf as they entered the hidden wooded trail that led back to where the family of bear shifters lived.
"We're here." Aka flatly grumbled, "we should introduce you to our mother."
The trio strode up to the entrance of the largest cave when two young boys rushed out of seemingly nowhere and began bombarding Eli with questions and some comments.
They must be no older than five. Eli thought as one of them began to tug at his jacket.
"Who are you?"
"Are you really a werewolf? We've only seen glimpses of rouges when mum has to scare them off."
Eli cringed a bit at the mention of rouges
"Are you the boy that mum was talking about?"
"Why don't you go down to the stream and play with the crayfish." Aka said while redirecting the two boys in the direction of a gurgling stream.
Eli watched as they shifted effortlessly into a pair of fuzzy brown grizzly cubs and galloped off.
"Hello Aka and Calypso dear." A kind singsong voice rang out from the large den, "oh my, who are you deary?"
"Hi mum." Aka kindly replied, "this is Eli."
"Oh hello Eli! I recognize your scent from this morning." Aka's mother said, pulling Aka, Calypso, and Eli into a warm hug. "Please come in."
Eli was immediately greeted by a wonderful smell that wafted through the air. His wolf licked its lips and drooled at the meaty scent that met his nose.
Both Aka and Calypso's bears did the same when a loud yelp came from the direction of the river that the two younger cubs were frolicking in.
Aka's mother rushed outside to see that a crayfish had clamped a claw onto one of the boy's paws. Normally they wouldn't have had any trouble with dealing with crayfish, but the brown crustacean's claw was digging into the pad of his foot.
Aka's mother gently removed the crayfish from the young cub's paw and ushered the twins inside.
"What's that smell mum?" The young brown haired boys asked while putting on his shirt, "it smells delicious!"
"Venison stew, dearies," the bear shifters' mother called while ladling the stew into six bowls, "now eat up."
Eli's face pointed downward at his bowl of stew, eagerly spooning chunks of venison and carrots and guzzling down the leftover broth. "Thank you ma'am." He said wiping his mouth on a faded orange napkin after he had finished wolfing down his stew.
"Great Ursa!" Calypso exclaimed, "one would think that you haven't eaten in a month, Eli!"
Eli flushed a light pink and gazed around the dining room. It was down the hall from Aka and Calypso's mother's den, and he saw that it had five tunnels branching off it. Those must lead to their dens. Eli thought to himself.
He thought right because over each hallway was a name embroidered in dark green thread on framed rectangles of coarse creme colored cloth
He saw the names 'Aka' 'Calypso' 'Arios' 'Duncan' and 'Novara' hung above arched wooden doors.
Eli didn't have much time to marvel at his surroundings because the twins Arios and Duncan had gotten up and taken their bowls in, and they were now tugging at his sleeves to get him up so that they could show him around the river that they played in so often as well as every inch of forest within a 40 foot radius of their dens.
Eli obliged and bounded after the two boys who had already standing in front of him as identical grizzly cubs.
The trio romped around the forest until the sun started to set.
"Arios! Duncan! Eli! Come in!" Novara called, "it's a full moon tonight Eli, so if you want to stay outside for tonight, you are welcome to."
"That's fine ma'am, but can I please sleep inside? I haven't for the past night."
"Alright dear." She said, "but I suggest you sleep in Aka's room. She has singlehandedly taken down rouges in her bear form, so she can handle you."
Eli tentatively knocked on Aka's door and waited for an answer
Aka came to the door and stared blankly at Eli
"Your mother told me to sleep in your room tonight." He said softly
Without a word, Aka guided Eli down the hallway to her room.
"Stay in the hallway while I change." She told him
As Aka changed her shirt, Eli's attention was caught by a long jagged white scar that ran up Aka's back to her shoulder blades.
Eli's mind created an image of Aka, pale and bloodstained, dragging herself weakly to her den after a particularly bad skirmish with rouges.
For whatever reason he couldn't bear seeing Aka in that much pain, so as soon as she was done changing into her pajamas, he ran up to her and hugged her.
She roared in surprise and Eli tensed in preparation for her to turn into her bear, but she never did.
Eli was hugging her so tightly that he could feel the faint outline of her scar. He buried his face into her stomach (which was quite muscular from fending off rouge attacks, along with the rest of her body)
Aka looked down sympathetically at Eli and hesitantly wrapped her own arms around his shoulders. He tensed a bit at first, but soon relaxed and hugged her tighter while still allowing breathing room.
Just as Aka and Eli broke the hug, they heard a low pitched faraway howl and Eli keeled over in pain.
•••••••••••••••
YOU ARE READING
Ursa's Cub
Werewolf"Get out! Get out! Never show your muzzle around here again, wolf!" Samantha Brooks is the last person you would expect to be a bear shifter. Sure, she was taller than most of her friends and a few of her teachers at her school, but at first glance...
