Ursa's Cub

8: Snow

"Wake up, sis!" Arios was jumping on Aka's bed, effectively waking both her and Eli, "it's snowing!"

Aka shot a tired, crooked grin at her brother. "He still has his cub's spirit. May that never vanish." Aka's bear murmured at the overexcited boy.

Eli sat up with a groggy groan. His hair was standing up messily at odd intervals. He ran a hand through it and sighed.

"Where's Duncan?" Aka asked her younger brother.

"He's outside." Arios said, "he already woke up Calypso and they're playing in the snow right now."

Eli's eyes bolted open in realization. The snow would cover his father's scent that he left behind. "Come on!" He rushed, pulling Aka's sleeve after Arios had left to join his brother and sister in the snow.

"Woah, what's with the rush?" Aka chuckled, "the snow's not going anywhere."

"Yes, but my father's scent will be." He stated seriously.

Aka's face turned white as Eli said this. "Let's go." She said, shoving a spare winter hat and jacket at him and pulling on her own.

They finished putting on their snow gear and rushed outside to be greeted by the sight of Calypso, Arios, and Duncan tossing snowballs at each other from behind trees.

A solid blanket of thick white sparkling snow covered the forest floor. It was only disturbed by the occasional animal trail and of course, Aka's siblings' snowball fight commotion.

Eli let out a heavy sigh and leaned against a tree. "I-I guess I'll be staying with you a while more." He stammered, his voice cracking a bit. He slid down the broad trunk and sat in the snow.

Aka crouched in front of Eli. "Hey, don't give up! We'll find your pack eventually!" She reassured, clapping a gloved hand onto Eli's shoulder and gently pulling his chin up to look at her. She took off her scarf and wrapped it up to Eli's nose that had turned pink from the cold.

A snowball suddenly whizzed by, nearly missing Aka's back and splattering against the trunk of a tree, where the majority of it stuck to the bark.

"Oh, now you're in for it!" Aka laughed as she gathered a handful of snow and compressed it into a firm ball.

Arios, Duncan, and Calypso scattered away, laughing over their shoulders as they ducked behind trees, only to peek out to hurl a snowball at Aka or Eli.

Everyone was hurling snowballs at each other and howling with laughter in the snow.

By the time the snowball fight had subsided, everyone had quite a bit of snow on them and they were rolling on the ground, pinning and tickling each other at every given opportunity.

Eli somehow managed to pin Aka to the ground and he was tickling her sides as she roared with laughter. He had to keep almost all of his weight on her just to keep her on the ground.

Aka pushed Eli easily off her and to the ground and pinned him by the shoulders. She gave him a sly smirk and tickled the sides of his neck relentlessly.

Eli howled with laughter until Novara's voice called them in for hot cocoa.

Still chuckling, they all walked inside, pulled off their boots and outer layers of snow gear, and settled around the long dining room table as Novara placed mugs of steaming hot cocoa with puffy white marshmallows floating in them in front of each person seated at the table.

Once the mugs stopped steaming, everyone started to drink the warm cocoa.

Duncan giggled as he somehow managed to get a partially melted marshmallow stuck to the end of his nose. The main den was filled with merry laughter that spilled out into the surrounding woods.

~~

Back at the Yellow Moon Pack, Marcus began to worry. The search parties were having no success in finding Eli and with the snow covering the trails, it would be nearly impossible to locate his missing son.

His mate shared his worry, but tried to comfort him the best they could.

Even Marcus's elderly parents came to console their son.

The whole of the Yellow Moon Pack was worried. Usually when a wolf (especially one as small and inexperienced as Eli) wandered into bear territory, they didn't return.

The Alpha and Luna were putting all they had into the search, fearing the worst.

Marcus knew that his son wasn't dead, but he couldn't help but worry.

At least no one had found any blood in the snow.

Yet.

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A/N:

Sorry to interrupt my own story, but I have an important announcement.

Unfortunately, this story is coming to a close. I do not know the precise number of chapters that there are left to add. But I do know that it will be wrapping it up.

I may or may not write a sequel to Ursa's Cub later, so keep your eyes peeled if you enjoyed this!

Until next time!
~Jas