The group of five returned back to the tree house. Lloyd looked up at how high it was, and became extremely confused on how he was going to get up there. "Uh, guys? How am I meant to get up there?" "Let me show you." Jay jumped off of Cole's back and took him behind the tree. Back there, there was a small wooden lift that could be pulled up by a rope. "That's how. Let's go up. Hey Zane, can you help?" The falcon flew up to the top and held the rope in his beak. Jay pushed Lloyd onto the platform. The puppy yelped in surprise and glared at the bunny. He waved at him as he was suddenly yanked upwards. Lloyd tried not to look down, but when he stopped moving he nearly fell off and looked towards the ground. He quickly backed up onto the platform, Zane mumbled an apology but it barely sounded like it with the rope in his beak. Lloyd quickly jumped off and Zane lowered the platform. He let go off the rope for a second, "Sorry about that Lloyd, I forgot that it's your first time." "D-don't worry about it." He was still shaken up so he sat down to calm down. Zane looked over the edge and pulled on the rope, the platform came up and before it stopped Jay jumped off. "I probably should've told you about the stop. It's best to jump off a bit early just to avoid it. Kinda like I did." Lloyd gave a small nod and the three of them watched as Cole and Kai came up to join them. They gave a tour of the tree house and Lloyd got to meet Nya. She too was a fox, apparently she's Kai's sister, who he's very protective over since their parents were killed by hunters when they were little cubs. "Ok Zane and I are going to get food, what do you guys want?" "Whatever meat you can get." "Ok, Jay?" "I don't mind." "And Lloyd?" "Uh... whatever you guys are eating." "Why don't you come with us so you can choose for yourself?" "Sure, why not." The three of them left the tree house and headed deeper into the forest, "So how did you guys meet?" Cole and Zane were silent for a moment, "Well Kai were always friends, we lived near each other so it was easy to hang out. We met the other two when Kai and I went searching for food. We may or may not have nearly killed them..." Zane smiled at Cole, "But you didn't and that's what is important. It's similar with Jay and I. My home wasn't too far away from his warren and we saw each other frequently so we became friends. After the four of us became a group I found the tree house and we took it for ourselves." "Now, how did you and Jay meet?" "I was told I had to hunt his warren, and I was meant to kill him but I didn't. We sat down together and chatted and became friends." The three of them stopped and heard whispering coming from a bush. Zane stood in front of Lloyd while Cole checked out the bush. He pushed away a few leaves and saw a pair of wolves. They growled at him and pounced. Cole jumped back as they tried to scratch him. "Cole be careful!" He looked back at Zane, his face filled with worry. He turned back to the wolves and one of them bit his ankle. He roared in pain and collapsed onto the floor. Lloyd jumped away from Zane and attacked the wolf, knocking it out instantly. Zane flew to Cole's side and checked over the injury. They looked back at Lloyd, who had taken on both the wolves by himself and won. "We need to get Cole back to the tree house. We can get food later." Lloyd helped Zane to get Cole off the ground and stayed by his side as he limped back home. After a long walk back, Zane flew up to the tree house and grabbed the rope. Kai, Jay and Nya left the room they were in, confused as to why they were back so early. "Why are you back so early? Did you find the food already?" Zane didn't answer, his mind focused on his injured friend. Lloyd helped Cole onto the platform and called to Zane. "Lift him up but be careful."Zane gently pulled on the rope and the platform finally reached the tree house. Kai and Jay ran forward and helped Cole up. Zane lowered the platform and Lloyd went to step on when a bush behind him rustled. He saw the eyes of the wolves from earlier and quickly jumped on. Zane pulled him up and he jumped off. "We need to be careful, they followed us back." "How though? You knocked them unconscious." "Who?" They forgot Nya was with them. "The wolves who hurt Cole." "Wolves?!? But they shouldn't be here. They live on the other side of the forest." "We can't worry about them now though. We must focus on getting Cole back on his feet." Zane flew into the main room where Cole was lying down and Jay was snuggled next to him, his tail twitching from worry. "What happened? Who did it? Does it hurt? God, I'm such a bad boyfriend..." "You're not a bad boyfriend." "But I didn't protect you..." "Jay, I don't think you could've stood up to them. They were wolves and they were 10 times the size of you. Don't worry about it, ok?" Jay looked up at him, his bright blue eyes were swimming with worry. "Ok." He snuggled back into his chest, Zane cleaned the wound and wrapped it in bandages. He had to ask Kai for help though. Kai noticed the stress on his boyfriend's face and carried him out of the room to relax. Nya went back to her room and Lloyd followed, curious about what he had just heard. "So, Jay and Cole. Are they dating?" "Yeah, they are, so is Kai and Zane." "And what about you?" Nya didn't reply. "Nya?" "Sorry, I have a girlfriend but... I haven't seen her in forever, her father is the worst and keeps her locked away most of the time. I just... I miss her." Lloyd approached the fox and wrapped an arm around her, "I'm sure you'll see her soon. Actually, why don't we save her from her father?" "We've done that already. And we failed, he caught us and took her back. Not too long after, they moved away and I don't know where she is. Forget about it Lloyd, I'll be ok." Nya then began busying herself around the room, while Lloyd watched on, deep in thought.
