The savage wild

9. The star crossed lovers

yeaahhhhh buddy! uploaded :) and it is slightly longer than usual ^^ I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it :D Now the legend (from the Japanese festival Tanabata) I put down there is not completely the same as the original story is, but I believe there are many versions and mine is just another one :) 
ENJOY!  

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I overlooked the snowfields beneath me. The white snow shone like a billion diamonds in the sun. The late morning sun was warm against my pelt, while the air was crisp and cold.
I sat on a hill in the middle of the winter and breathed in the crisp scent of wildness around me. When we’d first came here, to the land of snow and vastness, I hadn’t enjoyed the snow. It got stuck in my toes and froze them together and the wind could cut you like a human blade. Especially the nights were cold. After a while though, I learned to bite the frost from my toes and my pelt became thicker. My body acclimated to the cold temperature and I began to like the winds which carried smells of secrets I might never know. Now, I loved it fiercely. There was something about the savageness that subjugated the lands around me that appealed to me.
I yawned and stood, stretching my body to shake off the stiffness. Then I turned around and threw one last longing look at the fields behind me. I knew I needed to get back to the pack. I had been gone for more than three days already and my little siblings were easily worried. 
For the past few months, I had been wandering off on my own from time to time. Sometimes I just felt the compelling need to be alone and to wander the wilderness around me. Something inside of me always wanted to be moving, to explore the world that was still unknown to me. To see and feel all the secrets hidden in the paradise of what we call earth. However, my loyalty lay with my family and so I always returned after some time. Today was no difference.
The pack we had found on that cold autumn day had completely accepted us in their midst. Especially Ayama, who they seemed to like a lot. Me, however, they quite despised. I don’t really know why, maybe because of my slightly foreign scent, even though you almost couldn’t detect the difference between me and a normal wolf. When I asked Daciana, she told me that I was an outsider. That because of my blood I would stand out between the rest of them. 
I was slightly saddened about that, knowing that I couldn’t really fit in the family I had found here. It didn’t bother me that much really, but I received constant harassment from Arnou and his friend Ulf. Arnou was the son of Bodolf, the alpha. The alpha still hated me by the way. The hate-for-Shivani must be something in the family. I snorted and shook by pelt, then jumped down and looped back to the south, where I knew the pack receded. It would be another five hours before I’d be at the right place, even if I ran quickly. With the snow blurring past I fell back into my thoughts. 
Last week I went over to river. I was sipping on the water and was a little absentminded when I heard another wolf approaching. My hair rose and I quickly whirled around. A few feet away from me, Arnou entered the clearing and I saw him smirk when he spotted me. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the stupid cub of Daciana,” he said. “Finally decided to have a little chat with me alone?” He approached me, his lip curled and his hair raised. I knew he wanted to kill me. Dump me in the river and tell his father happily what he had done. He had been gunning for me the moment we’d arrived. He’d do things like try to steal my part of the meat or bite me when nobody was looking. He tried to corner me with his little ass-kissing friend Ulf and harass me. They tried to cut me off from my family and attack me alone or just simply annoy me. It was indeed annoying. I tried to evade them as much as possible. That led them to think that I was afraid and weak. In reality, I didn’t want to fight him. Because I knew that when I fought, the alpha would intervene. And I wasn’t so sure I could win from Bodolf yet. Besides, my siblings would try to help me and they might become hurt. That was something I really didn’t want. 
Convel and Ayama always tried to defend me when Arnou tried something, but I always snarled at them when they tried. It was my fight and they had nothing to do with it. 
Arnou snarled at me, demanding my attention back from where my mind had floated. His tail was high in the air and he walked up to me slowly, stiff legged. I snorted. He growled again. I had learned the ritual fighting of the wolves from Daciana. How they always first had to intimidate their opponents. However, the stiff legged approach left them with one disadvantage: they were slower. And you know what, being slow wasn’t smart when you were fighting someone. Especially someone like me. So without warning, without letting him prepare for the fight, I flexed my knees and jumped forward, slashed at him with my teeth. His blood tasted like copper and wildness in my mouth. He stumbled backwards and I advanced again. I slashed his other shoulder quickly and jumped back before he could retaliate. He growled and tried to attack me, but I easily evaded him. I prowled around him, looking for an opening in his defense. His ears were laid back against his head; his lips were pulled high, showing me his canines. I must have resembled that same picture, except for the fact that blood coated my muzzle. 
The blood excited me, as did his weakness. I knew in that moment that I held power. That I could play with him until he bled to death. That I could rip his limbs of one by one and feel the pleasure of blood and flesh in my mouth. It was because of his behavior. He thought he could win from me. That he had a higher rank than me. That he was superior than me. It annoyed the hell out of me. 
I attacked again, this time ripping his ear to shreds. He whimpered and paced backwards again, unable to evade me. I growled at him, showing him my gums. Enjoying the smell of fear that coated him. He whimpered again, and then suddenly rolled himself on his back showing me his vulnerable belly and throat. Showing me that I had won.
I stopped and watched him, fighting the urge to just rip his throat open for the insolence of his actions. He was whimpering softly, trembling on the wet spot of snow. He was perfectly submissive, but would he stay that way? I stepped forward and pressed my muzzle against his throat, softly biting down. He whimpered harder and shudders of fear shook his body. He knew as well as I that I could kill him.
I let him feel the strength of my jaw for a moment, pressing my canines close to the vein that held his life.  Then I let him go and licked his snout. He whimpered against my snout and I let him off with that. He knew. He knew not to mess with me again. With that, I turned around and walked away, wandering off into the white landscape around me.