We left nothing, but our paw prints in the snow

Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Mate's wet tongue against my cheek reminded me of what we still had to do. I still had to be careful with the pups in my belly and we still had to make sure that the pack were behaving and that they were teaching Pup how to hunt. I got up groggily and we went to where there was most noise. We had to move the pack somewhere safer. Somewhere where less humans roam about, a constant threat lingering at the peripheral of our territory. We hadn't even marked this place as ours yet. Not officially. Officially it still belonged to the old alphas, but that had to change. Soon in the near future, for now, I had more pressing matters.

I couldn't help, but smile internally as I saw how half the pack were sleeping, and how some were trying to wake up that some, and how others were playing with Pup who seemed to have endless amount of energy. But as a pack we needed to hunt soon. I had barely survived without food and I'm sure others are hungry as well. I ran this by Mate and he growled lowly, deep in his chest. It was a warning to me, not to be too reckless. And that it was not my job to hunt during my pregnancy. The older wolves of the pack, joined by Mate, would hunt.

Mate walked around a bit, checking the youngsters. I walked over to Pup and heard that she had started to learn wolf-talk. She still made those clumsy human noises, but she also made the more precise ones of the wolf. And her body-language was becoming more controlled. She used it more to say what she wanted to say. I could see that. Though a lot of it was still unintentional.

Spring was closer. I could smell it in the air. A few more weeks, maybe, and the first flowers would blossom, and a few more moons, and my cubs will be born. Soon I will have to find a nest for them and myself.

Mate howled and the hunting party assembled. I knew that I wasn't one of them, though I felt a longing to hunt. They departed soon after, and I was left to baby-sitting, which was good. I needed to learn the individuals of my own pack a bit better, thought to my credit, I was the youngest alpha, presumably. I wasn't meant to have even found my mate yet. And here I was, alpha of a respectably large pack, pregnant, and with my mate going hunting for me and the pack. I was seasons ahead of myself, which led me to wonder whether the cubs would make it. I was too young to hold them in my body. But I knew they were there. I felt them there, felt my belly being heavier than it usually was, and moving took more energy than it should have.

“Pup,” I greeted the human child and she came over, still on her hind-legs, like a human. She would be faster if she used all four of her limbs appropriately. But her stance said something else. It didn't suggest clumsiness in the slightest. It suggested possible authority, though in a humble way. Just like she should be at that age. Good, I had barely had her in my pack for a moon, and already the changes were showing.

'Mother,' she said in human-tongue.

I grinned a wolf grin, showing all my sharp teeth. Normally they didn't fell sharp, but when I saw Pup return the grin, displaying her blunt and useless teeth, I felt proud of mine, and worried about how Pup would hunt.

“Let's play hunt!” some young male wolf barked excitedly to the pack. I had to join in here. I had to be careful with the cubs in my belly, but the childish streak still in me due to my young age, made me want to. The pack scattered and started to hunt each other. Sometimes teams formed between young wolves, to hunt down a slightly older wolves, while that older wolf was sneaking up behind a busy, even older wolf. And just as the wolf pounced, so did the small group of younger wolves. It was amusing to see.

I couldn't help but jump on top of them all. We rolled in the rest of the snow for a while, until I felt too tired to keep it up. So I got out of the mess of furry limbs and tails and lay down in the sunlight on a patch of grass, watching my pack play together. Pup was getting better. She could sneak just that little bit closer to a wolf now, showing that even though she walked on only two feet, her steps had become quieter. Practice makes perfect.

I closed my eyes. The sun was getting pleasantly warm on my back and it was tempting to just sleep. Not like last night, where I had been completely out, but just the average nap like sleep. And I almost did if it weren't for the fact that some wolf had to jump right onto me at that very moment, growling, “Watch this! Watch this!”

“Alright,” I growled back irritated.

He bounced off, obviously pleased with himself, and started to sneak up on some other wolf. He readied himself to pounce, tensing his leg muscles and crouching low. He waited for a moment or two and jumped. To his credit, the other wolf hadn't noticed he was there until he had her pinned to the ground. She looked somewhat astonished. Why hadn't she gone hunting. She was old enough. Then I saw Brother in front of her. He had to have gone hunting, he's older than me.

I listened and watched them closely. He seemed to be trying to get her to see how wonderful her was, and it was sort of working. He was telling her a funny story, and she as laughing at all the right moments. Was he trying to court her? It was fine, it's just that she was a bit young. Younger than me, and they weren't anywhere near the same age. Mates can be a litter or two apart, especially since each pack had its own cycle, but they had too big a gap. That would mean they wouldn't be able to raise nearly as many cubs.

Not my problem. Theirs.

When would Mate come back from the hunt. I had to at least tell him about the fact that Brother was courting some wolf who was way younger than himself. Okay, it's not really any of my business, but it was a really young wolf from my pack, which kind of made it my business. I looked again and saw the way she sniffed, smelling him, the way her ears were pointed at him, the way she looked at him, and at her wagging tail. She was enjoying herself. She was trying to take as much of him in as possible.

Who would have thought that when Brother came here he would find his mate.