Warriors: The Hunt Begins

Freedom isn't free

We've been running through the woods for at least three hours and I start to slow down. Shadow's been wanting to hunt, but I wanted to get some distance first. Plus, the game out here smells much better than the ones further back towards home. Shadow shakes out his fur and sighs.

"Finally. Can we hunt now?"

"Soon. We should find somewhere to sleep first. I doubt we'll find a cave, but keep an eye out for one."

"What if it's occupied?"

"Then, we won't have to look very far to hunt."

We keep walking for another twenty minutes and we definitely won't find a cave. We see some promising trees, but it feels too open under them. I find a cliff that juts out and it provides a small roof when you're under it, so we make our way down there.

"This will work. Good eye, Red."

"Thanks."

"Are you two sleeping together?"

We look at Shadow, then at each other. Kent's voice is in my head.

"What do you want to say?"

"No, for now. Things are confusing enough for them."

I turn back to Shadow and shake my head.

"No."

"Why? You're adults."

"I'm not explaining this to you."

"I'm old enough for these conversations."

"I know you are Shadow, but there are some things that are off limits and that's one of them."

"Why?"

"Because it's weird. Let's go find some food, then we'll come back and sleep for a few hours."

"How much farther out are we going to go?"

"Much, much farther. We need to get distance between us and Zenith."

"What will happen if he catches you?"

"He'll take my wolf away again, then he'll probably personally kill me for good."

"Just because you left?"

"No. Because I left with Kent."

"Why doesn't he want you and Kent together? Wasn't he your bodyguard?"

"He was."

"What happened that Zenith doesn't want you together?"

"He caught us."

"Doing what?"

"Sleeping together."

"I knew it!"

"It was just the one time."

"Yeah. Ok."

"Shadow."

He laughs and nudges me.

"Mom, chill. It's ok. You deserve to have fun and I think that he cares about you, genuinely."

"Yeah, me too."

I look at Kent and he looks back at me, then licks me.

"You smell that?"

"Yeah. Shadow, you still want to hunt with me?"

"Yeah."

"Be careful, Red. Bark if you need me."