My Love but Not My Mate

Chapter 7

‘...’ – speech in wolf form

“...” – speech in human form

Chapter 7

   The sun was now fading fast below the horizon and Blake and I were now heading back to his pack, though much cheerier than when we had left in the earlier hours. Every now and then, one of us would pretend to climb onto the other’s back and I chased him through the high, yellowish grass of the field trying to nip at his tail in a free spirited gape. I felt happy, happier than I had in a long, long time.

   When we neared the bank of the hill to which his family were camped the other side of, we slowed down and settled ourselves trying to portray the characteristics we had left with. He wondered off to his father while I went and sat by my tree; I had sort of claimed it as my own little territory as it gave me some sort of base at which I could do my thinking around.

   There was a pile of freshly caught deer that some of the pack must have hunted down during the day on the far side of the fire pit and my stomach grumbled with the reminder that I hadn’t eaten all day. Neither had Blake and he gestured for me to join him for a quick bite. When our hunger was satisfied, we split up and went to sit in our chosen spots for the night’s story telling; me by my tree, him between his nephew and another young wolf.

   It was Kai who started to talk. “Tonight I will tell you all a story that my father told, and his father told him and so on. It begins in the mountains to the north, where our pack began. It was much like ours, large with different ages forming the group. But our attention focuses on a young male. His name was Russell; he was young and boisterous and wondered off a lot to do his own thing. As many of us are, he was also white coated with bright blue eyes. He was unmated but had a free soul that contributed to his free spirited life.” Kai went on to describe the type of year it had been and how that old pack had found its way onto the plains, hunting the fresh deer that had made its way up from the south.

   Then the story started to become more of interest to me, I sat and listened intently but my gaze remained on the flickering flames that danced before me. “Another one of those young wolves was Letty. She was mated to a mid-ranking male and spent most of her time watching over her younger siblings and cousins while the elders went hunting. One night, a mischievous pup decided to run off and hide among the trees of the forest. Letty was torn between finding him or staying with the other young ones. In a split second she sprinted off into the night to follow his trail.

   “As the other wolves had also run into the woods, she soon lost his scent and became lost among the tightly packed trees. Running on as best she could, she soon found herself bumping into Russell. Some growling and scratching passed between them before they realised they were of the same pack. ‘Aren’t you meant to watching the puppies?’ Russell asked concerned.

   “‘Yes, but one of them ran off and now I can’t find him,’ Letty explained. She became more frantic and worried the longer she wasn’t searching for the missing pup. After suggesting that they look together, Russell set about finding the freshest scent and following it to a pile of rocks deep within the woods. His many years of stalking through the lands had paid off and the two young wolves found the pup asleep in a hollow log.” Somehow the story sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite figure out where I might have heard it before. Kai went on to continue the story, about how the two young wolves in the story grew close but Letty’s mate had grown jealous of their new friendship and had tried to convince the Alpha of how Russell had been interfering too much.

   As the story unfolded, I smiled more to myself; the flames’ heat soaked into my skin and through to my chest. Shadows began to move in the left side of my vision; I looked up and shuffled as I saw it was only Blake who had come over to join me.