Concealed Compassion

Chapter 14

Shadow woke to the sun shining off the snow. The breeze ruffled his fur slightly. His brother laid beside him, still sound asleep. The night before they had found a cave to sleep in that was full of mice and rabbits. They had gone to sleep with a full stomach. Walking outside, clouds drifted in the sky, the wind powerful in the height of the mountains. There were no birds, not a single food in sight. His gaze scanned the ground and sky for some sort of food, but nothing came.

Going back inside the cave, a rabbit darted in front of him. Instinctively, he jumped towards it and gave a killing blow. Movement out of the corner of his eye alerted him to his brother moving. Looking up, he saw Dusk stalking another rabbit, a white one. The rabbit sat upright, saw Dusk and ran out of the den. Shadow had to drop his rabbit because he was laughing so hard.

Dusk didn't say anything but stare at him immensely. "Let's eat and then continue on. We must find him."

Shadow nodded his head and tossed the rabbit to his brother. He stalked out of the den and pushed his nosed into the air to smell for prey. With snow on the ground it was hard to tell where any kind of food was. Finally he found a vole by a small stream, gazing into the frozen water. Shadow stood there for a moment, looking at the small figure. One small life taken from this world to feed another. But is that okay? What would Evergreen think of this? We have killed for food, territory, and sometimes nothing. What was it all for? Everything in life has its tipping point. What is the tipping point here?

While Shadow had his mind wholing, the vole had noticed him and ran off. Dusk walked up to him, unnoticed, before his thoughts had left him and he looked at Dusk.

"Why didn't you catch it?" Dusk looked at him so confused that Shadow was speechless as to what to say.

Shadow didn't reply for a few seconds, thinking about what to say. "Nothing. I just hesitated."

"Well we better get going then. Catch something on the way."

Shadow nodded and together the two headed further up the mountain. Snow piled up as they went. Birds and eagles chipped overhead. Eventually, Dusk saw a rabbit up ahead and chased after it. Again he lost it and grunted as it ran into the bush.

"Are you okay?" Shadow padded up to him as the rabbit ran away.

"I guess," Dusk didn't meet his brother's gaze and instead looked at the path ahead.

"What's on your mind?"

"Marigold." Dusk took a deep breath before continuing. "She's expecting pups. My pups. I have no idea how to react. I'm going to be a father, Shadow. I'm so scared that I'm going to turn into our dad. Which is why I asked Beta and Alpha if we could find him. So I can ask him why he left. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner. You were dealing with things with Evergreen and I didn't know how to tell you."

Shadow stared at his brother in amazement. Without saying a word, he threw himself on his brother and play fought with him, as if they were pups again. Some time had passed when they stopped and laid down in the snow from exhaustion.

"Dusk, I'm so happy for you. I really am," Shadow barked delightfully once he found his voice.

Dusk sighed with relief. "I'm glad to hear it, Shadow. Come on, we should get a move on."

Shadow nodded his head and together the two of them headed up the mountain further. It felt like forever when they finally reached a larger cave. It had a couple moss beds and a pile of food in a corner. As if someone was living here.

Without a word, the brothers went separate ways to explore the den. They sniffed each nest, each leftover food, but they didn't recognized the scents. Just that there were five different ones.

As they were about to give up and leave the cave, a couple of wolves' shadows filled the cave. Shadow and Dusk immediately hide behind some rocks. A male voice toward and echoed through the cave.

"Whoever you are, come out now!"

Dusk and Shadow looked at each other before getting up from their hiding spots. The large male was standing with his back towards them. His fur was the color of the night sky, black with a hint of brown here and there.

"Dad?" Dusk spoke so softly, Shadow thought the male didn't hear him.

The large male sighed and started speaking in a softer tone. "I thought I told you-." He cut off when he saw Shadow and Dusk standing behind him. His gaze went from soft to hostile.

"We don't want any harm," Shadow barked before the male could say anything. "We are just looking for someone. We were told he came into the mountains when he left our pack."

The wolf looked stunned when he said 'pack'. He looked away for a second before looking at the two young wolves.

"Are you brothers?"

Dusk and Shadow nodded their head and didn't say anything.

"What's the wolf's name that you are looking for?"

It was Dusk who answered him. "We don't know. Our mother, Dawn, never told us."

The large wolf stumbled back, gasping for air. "You were just pups. Hadn't even gotten your names yet."