Exposed

Children's Story

"Joey, I'll figure out how to get back to the pack soon, but I really need to be here right now. Tell Jae that I'm fine. That I'll be back. But this is important. When I get back, I'll have a plan... maybe."

Ki grabbed an empty notebook and laid it on the desk. Tapping her pencil on the desk, she thought of what to write. She stared at the page, the name Suijin itching at the back of her mind.  Carefully, she wrote his name and decided that she needed answers from him. She stood, shifted, and ran from the room. The other's were too shocked to stop her, not expecting for her to try and escape. She sprinted through the dirt tunnels bursting through the hole she saw when she first awoke in the Den. She squinted at the light invading her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she focused on her hearing. Her ears twitched as she picked up on the sound of running water. Again, she was sprinting, straight for Suijin.

"Jae! Mason! Someone!" Zack whisper yelled, frantically running through the cave.

"What is it?" Jae stepped out from behind some pack members.

"There are wolves outside. I think they're the same ones from before," Zack said worried, his voice carrying to the rest of the pack.

"We broke through to the surface a couple of hours ago," Mason stepped in, "There's a pretty blatant whole in the ground."

"We need to cover the hole."

"We could try to move some of the dirt back, but that might be too obvious. If we're moving around that much, they're bound to see or hear us," Mason thought aloud.

"Everyone, stay as quiet as possible and on high alert. If they find us, go straight into the water and run. 10 miles east is the beginning of the river. If anything is to happen, we will meet up there," Jae spoke strongly, the worry and pressure eating away at him on the inside.

Jerking his head to the left, Jae signaled to Mason that they needed to talk.

"Do you know who they are? The pack that's apparently hunting us?" Jae questioned.

"No, I don't recognize them. They can't be from around here."

"We don't know who they are or what they want, except for that they have some beef with us. Mason, we can't fight a pack like that in our state."

"I know. Our food supply is almost non existent; if they don't leave soon we'll have a starvation problem on our hands."

"Then we really won't be prepared to fight," Jae groaned.

"We need to find Ki," Jae decided, "If we find her, we can use her to draw out the first alpha who is causing all these problems."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm gonna give you a crash course in our family history. My mother had 18 children...with the second alpha of the Silver River Pack. We're all half werewolf and half kitsune. For every sister, there was a brother to protect her. Of course, our father being an alpha, one of us would naturally succeed him. Being that we're half kitsune, we have eternal life until something or someone kills us. And that means, all 9 of us could take a role as alpha for a certain amount of time. I remember my brothers and I used to be so excited about getting to be in charge of an entire pack. But the first and original alpha... well he hated my mother," Jae said, moving to sit on the floor. Sitting down with Jae, Mason nodded, signaling to go on.

"Kitsune were known much more back then and it was common knowledge not to trust one unless you're prepared to lose everything. He didn't trust her and told my father that her children would never be accepted into the pack. That she would not be accepted into the pack. And that he needed to find a proper mate to carry on the lineage. I don't know the details but I know my mother ended up dead and her blood was on the first alpha's hands.

My mother had or has a lot friends in high places and cursed this pack and the original alpha. That's why we go through hell every so often. Ki is the last one. If we don't end this now, the whole pack will suffer at the hands of the gods. The original alpha will be reincarnated without us to interfere and keep his bad influence from ruining the pack. We need to find him and figure out how to stop him from being reincarnated. That starts with Ki."

"No offense," Mason spoke cautiously, "but that doesn't seem all that bad. We've been able to push through the disasters and hold our own against the gods. And the original alpha can't have that much of an influence, we don't know if he's even been reincarnated into the pack. I doubt he could do anything-"

"Mason, you weren't there. You didn't know him. He was viscous."

"I'm sorry Jae, this is just a bit much to wrap my head around. Thinking that you were alive 900 years ago. It just doesn't make sense."

"Are you saying you don't believe me," Jae narrowed his eyes.

"I believe you. I will follow and support you through everything, but things just don't add up nicely."

"Do you remember that old pack story we tell to the pups?"

"The one about how our pack saved the river?"

"Yeah. How an evil, cold-hearted werewolf ruled the territory. You could see his yellow eyes coming from miles away; they were a warning to run because destruction was coming. He killed every living thing he hated and tore down everything that was in his path. He set fire to the forests and ran the river dry. The trees were burnt and the animals homeless. The fish dead and the river barely there. For miles surrounding the river, everything was withering away. Nature had lost and the evil werewolf was ready to move on to the next place."

"But then, a wandering pack came across the desecrated land. They were small and barely holding onto the last thread of life when they entered the territory. Instantly, they felt a  connection and were guided by the spirits to the river, where they drank from the small trickle of water. Close your eyes and open your senses, most importantly your heart. You can feel the wind whispering to you. The land laughing with you. The water giving you strength," Mason whispered, remembering.

Nodding, Jae continued, "This is our home. It was always meant to be our home and we can't let it die. The small pack of werewolves hunted down the yellow eyed werewolf. They found him, bloodied, standing over the corpse of a fox."

Mason's eyes flashed to Jae's, just now realizing the foxes had always been apart of their history.

"Angered over the death of another life, the small pack lunged at the yellow eyed werewolf and fought until he was dead. The wind blew past them like a sigh of relief. Slowly, the pack began to replenish the land. Life began to spring up from the ground, animals found new homes, and the river became strong once again. The pack made shelter near the river that gave them water when they needed it the most. They would watch it's waters shine silver under the moonlight. One day, they heard the river whisper to them. And from then on, the small pack was known as the Silver River Pack."

"Mason, it's true. It's disguised as a sort of fairy tail, but it's true. It's the story of the first alpha and the rest of us. If he comes back, don't expect anything to survive him."

"Okay," Mason sighed, "We'll find Ki. We'll find the first alpha."

"Good," Jae nodded, "I'll gather a search team."