The Fox Who Ran with Wolves

2

The day before

   "I don't care what happened. You should have been able to protect her! One of our best hunters, and you just let her die!"
   Sun whimpered and crouched down. His father's fury was like a fire that never went out. And it was usually directed at him. The weak cub whose mother had died days after his birth. The alpha's son who ended up an omega. The cub who was called "son" so often by his father that everyone thought it was his name.
   "I couldn't. It was too fast! It snuck up behind us and-"
   Alpha snarled. "Oh, please. That's absolutely no excuse. I said I don't care how it happened. You've grown weak, son. You took down a fox when you were only a cub without even touching it!"
   "The same fox whose mother permanently scarred you," Sun muttered under his breath. He was sick of being compared to what he was like then when his father ignored his own defeat that night.
   "What was that?" The silver wolf's voice was icy cold.
   "Nothing."
   His eyes narrowed, but he didn't take it any further. "Now, I trust that you know the consequence for letting a packmate die."
   A chill ran down Sun's spine. It was exile.
   "However, I'll give you one more chance. That's all I can or will do. One wrong step, one claw out of line... And there will be one less wolf in this pack. Or more, if you're as careless as you were about letting Hiirni die." Alpha's eyes were as cold as his voice as he dismissed his son. "Go. And remember that if you do anything else wrong, you won't be coming back."
   Sun scampered away. He was incredibly lucky that he wasn't beaten up or bitten. He was still limping slightly from the bite yesterday. His father was definitely not the kindest. He seemed to blame Sun for every death of someone close to either of them, even his mate. The only thing keeping him from completely giving his son up to a nursery mother was the pack law that required the alpha to have a cub ready to take their place by their third life-season.

   For all Sun cared, it would be better if he'd had a brother or sister to take his place as his father's "special" cub. But the alpha took that out on Sun, too. Everything was his fault. No siblings? Blame Sun. Mother dies of infection when the cub is a few days old? Blame Sun. Less prey in the plains? Blame Sun. A leaf falls onto the alpha's head? Of course, blame that on Sun, too. It made no difference to him. Sun was already the lowest ranking wolf in the pack, a beating or two would only remind him of that. 

   Only one wolf had ever cared for the cub. Hiirni was one of the highest ranking wolves in the pack, revered within their group for her supreme hunting skills. Nobody ever expected her to take the alpha's weakling son under her metaphorical wing. But to Sun, that wing was more than metaphorical. She was a true angel to him, willing to raise him when not even his own father would. She had been the one to convince the alpha to give the cub a chance after his mother died. She had turned the bare term his father called him into a name that meant greatness. She had been the wolf to stand up for him against his father's wrath when nobody else cared. Hiirni was everything to him. And now she was gone, murdered by a two-faced lyingt fox while Sun stood by helpless to save her. She had been willing to give the fox a chance at mercy. 

   Well, wherever the dirty trickster was, it had lost that chance of forgiveness. Sun had no sympathy for any fox. The next time he saw one, it would be killed by his own teeth and claws. Hiirni would be avenged, whatever it took.