The Birth of a Ranger

Chapter Twelve

Zundel had been given guard over the new wolf pups that day, much to his own annoyance. Gods he hated this job. It was just watching over them for hours on end making sure the pups didn't try to kill each other when they decided they wanted to play. Mori and Losa had been sleeping in the corner of the tent all day leaving the four grey pups to play and rough house all over the tent.

Ren had been out to investigate reports of a newly formed assassin's group preying on men, though from the report Ren had given him he knew those being hunted had deserved it. They all were evil men, undeserving of life for the things they had done to those around them.

The nearby talking of a voice he recognized all too well as Connor, the father to Dante and Marshal stirred him from his thought. Had Dante returned? He sat up, sitting vigilantly over the pups.

"There were ten pups in total, we don't know what killed the mother but the pups were abandoned without a pack, so we took them in and began acclimating them to us." Connor spoke to an unknown person, yet to enter the tent.

The tent flap was pushed to the side and in came Dante. Gods she was even more beautiful than when she had left the fort. Before she was pronounced missing. She was still an initiate though for how much longer he didn't know. He just knew Ren teased him about her all the time and snickered whenever their conversation went towards her.

She was the only girl in the fort that was a Ranger Initiate that he knew of and the only one to undergo a change of species for that matter. Her well-defined features stood out in the darkness of the tent. Her long, knee length brown hair fell so neatly and unknotted that he wondered how she kept her own hair and her eyes, gods her eyes. They were so hypnotizing. She nodded her greeting to him before her attention went to the pups. Was she to take a pup to be her own? She had a fox, didn't she?

"Is it possible the father killed their mom?" Her gaze didn't linger on him or the pups long before they went to meet her father's gaze. Her accent was thick and he wondered where she hailed from, even if for a split second.

Zundel noticed the sudden interest the Mori and Losa had in Dante and the way they approached her to sniff her. He was quite amused by her ability to split the attention and pet them both.

"I am unsure. We got there maybe an hour after the mother died. The wounds were unlike anything I have ever seen before. We have been searching for what might have done it, but no luck so far." There was clear concern on Zundel's face as he spoke. Curiosity as well. Whatever had killed the mother had left the pups for dead and all the Rangers who had been informed of the pups noted it.

He sat and watched as Dante was brought to the ground by Mori and Losa before the other pups tackled her and she was on the ground, being rushed by the other pups. She had become their temporary play thing.

"Okay..." Dante spoke up and he felt like he was sinking into her voice every time she spoke. "Now that I have been violated by the pups..." She giggled and he fought the urge to smile, to stay neutral around his Marshal and his daughter.

Connor grabbed a ball filled with little beads, granted it was a small toy the wooden ball, it kept the pups entertained. When he tossed it the pups chased it. Except one.

'It looks like you've been chosen by Mori. Dark in our tongue. You can change her name if you wish. This one has been the more calm of the bunch, quick to rouse but gentle in play. I feel like you've made a good choice with her." The smile on Dante's face was contagious and he found himself looking at her as if she might be worth the beating he would surely get for courting the daughter of the marshal, if he ever got the nerve to speak with her.

He felt a slight bit of jealousy hit him when she began to bond with the wolf, rubbing behind her ears and bent down leaning her head on the top of the head of the wolf. She was bonding with it, making them an official pair. In response Mori licked her hands and then sniffed at a spot on her stomach before licking at it too, warranting a wince from Dante. Was she injured?

It didn't take long for Dante to smile and rush out of the tent with Mori in tow, keeping up with Dante rather well leaving Zundel and her father there in the tent together.