Mystical Wolves: Raven's Quest Book #1 Series #1 [COMPLETE] [OLD]

Chapter 3

"What?! It's not even chill-season yet!" Raven awoke to hearing a surprised howl from Scarfur. Snowy stirred right after her, by the looks of it, they woke up late because no other wolves were in the wolves den. Duke trotted into the den, ducking his head under the lichen as he made his way inside.
"Why are you both not up yet? You don't normally get up late!" he pointed out with a growl.
"Sorry." Snowy dipped his head to his father.
"Yeah sorry." Raven echoed.
"Get on a hunting patrol! It's snowing and we need you working hard!" Duke turned around and trotted out. Raven sighed, and she watched as her breath came out in white puffs of cold air that looked like white smoke.
"Let's go hunt." She made her way out of the wolves den, and looked at Goldenglow's healer den. Silverfur was sitting down next to Glacier right in front of it, their eyes were filled with sorrow and sadness. Goldenglow was explaining to them what happened with concern in his eyes. Raven felt a pang of guilt and ran out of the den arena quickly.

Snowy followed behind her, his white pelt completely covered with snow. Raven stopped running and turned to look behind her. Snowy?
"What?" she asked with sadness in her bark.
"It's not your fault. Silverfur will believe you and so will Glacier. Now, let's get hunting to get your mind off of it." Snowy started padding again. "Now, what about Thunder? Does Duke know?" Snowy asked.
"No." Raven muttered.
"I told Graylight, he's no longer mates with Primrose because she wouldn't give a rat's tail when I tried to tell her like what you did. I told Duke and he just believes it was your fault." Snowy's eyes were filled with sorrow.  "I feel really bad." he barked.
"Silverfur once mentioned to me that Duke wants to make Thunder the alpha male when he dies. And Primrose is proud that Thunder and Huntress will be mates." Raven shook her head in anger.
"Wow just wow." Snowy sighed.
"Is Swift still a trainee?" Raven changed the subject.
"He's a full pack member starting from today." Snowy's voice grew with pride.
"I'm proud of my nephew." Raven smiled and licked Snowy's shoulder. "I'm glad my mate is training him, Goldenglow even feels safer with you being his mentor." She suddenly felt happier again.

Raven and Snowy were too busy chatting that they hadn't noticed they were supposed to be hunting. Thunder raced up from behind them.
"Aren't you two love wolves supposed to be hunting? Duke told me to join your patrol!" Of course he did. Raven kept that thought to herself.
"We know, let's get hunting now." Snowy snarled. Thunder nodded and licked his frosty pads as Snowy trotted away deeper into the snow covered woodland. Great, what does Thunder want from me? Raven looked Thunder straight in the eyes expectantly.
"Are we done with our training yet? As in Huntress and I." Thunder asked.
"Well you are, but now Huntress needs extra training to be a healer wolf." Raven's fur started bristling. Thunder's face was expressionless for a few seconds but then quickly turned into laughter. "Be quiet." Raven snapped, shaking her head.
"Well good, when will Duke announce to the whole pack that I beat my mate and that I'm strong?" That fleabag! Why is everything a competition to him?! And besides does he not know that Huntress will never be his mate after what he did?! I suppose it's right to end his training early, there were supposed to be two more sessions but I don't even want to see his face in the rest of my life.
"Huntress doesn't want to be your mate after you almost killed her and caused her to be blind and infected. Besides, I wouldn't want to either if I were Huntress. I guess Duke will even if you don't deserve it." Raven was clawing marks in the snow, taking her anger out.
"She's useless anyways. I should kill her if she doesn't accept to being my mate. And you will not tell anyone about that plan, otherwise I will have Duke exile or kill you. He trusts me more than Snowy or Stormleaf." With that, Thunder padded off with a snarl, heading to the wolf path to the farm.

I will not let this happen. This is not good. I have to tell Duke even if he won't believe me. Raven grunted as a squirrel escaped from her grip. She had been getting distracted, but she remembered that she at least caught a few animals and felt a wave of relief. She bit a killing bite into a rabbit as Duke's howl sounded throughout the FrostPack territory. Oh no. Raven carried her prey back with her powers and her mouth. She dropped the prey down into the loaded prey pile and smiled at all of the prey. Snowy had just entered the den arena with his prey and dropped it down right after Raven. They sat next to each other as their mood changed from happiness to annoyance as soon as they saw Thunder right next to Duke on the alpha rock.
"Wolves of FrostPack, today we gather for a trainee who is now becoming a mystical wolf. Otherwise known as a legend. He has put all his might and effort into training and he his very strong and a great hunter. He has a big heart, and is a smart wolf. Raven, come up here please." Duke swayed his tail back and forth in acknowledgement. Raven padded up with annoyance growing. "This mentor has done a great job." That's all what Duke said. Raven's anger almost spilled out of her mouth, his tone was even non excited. Thunder smirked as Raven felt his claw scrape over her shoulder instead of licking it. Duke didn't seem to notice nor care. Raven snorted of disgust, as she trotted away back into the crowd.

Thunder puffed out his chest, "thank you every wolf!" he barked out loud in a fake grateful tone. No wolf said anything or looked proud except Duke and Primrose.

The crowd cleared and every wolf went back to their jobs. Raven caught Duke alone and asked for a private talk. He followed her into a bramble patch.
"What is this?" he sighed.
"It's about Thunder. He said he would kill Huntress if she doesn't accept to being his mate." Raven explained.
"Look, Thunder wouldn't do that. Stop with this nonsense, you have work to do. So do I, so you're wasting my time. There's no need for rumors, and I'm not getting rid of a very experienced and good pack member." Duke didn't even wait for a reply, he raced off. Raven huffed angrily and exited from the bramble patch.