Fall of the Packs: Void

Chapter Thirteen

To Desert's dismay, nothing had changed.

She hadn't had much hope for it, but a part of her continued to pray that Colt would do things differently than Draco had. But he did not, and Desert feared she would have even less influence than she had with Draco, even if that had been precious little to begin with.

Only a week after he had been elected, Colt was ordering another assault to take back the strip of territory which Wind Pack had reclaimed. "We'll need it for the winter," he said. "No pups are going to die this year."

Several dogs growled in agreement. Desert said nothing. Let's just hope no more parents die either.

"Desert, I want you to lead," the alpha continued, turning his gaze to her. "You can choose four others to take with you. I assume I don't have to tell you what to do if Wind Pack makes trouble."

Desert guessed Colt was testing her, just like how Draco had. He probably wanted to make sure his rival candidate wouldn't make trouble. She didn't have the energy to make trouble, at least for now. "No, sir," she answered. "But we'll avoid it where possible."

Colt merely snorted. "Get a move on," he said. "I have to organize the hunters."

Desert turned to look at the defenders which were assembled underneath the overhang. If she could help it, she didn't want to bring any of the dogs who had been there at the prior battle. They would be the most likely to start a fight, even if it was unnecessary.

Unfortunately, her options were still rather limited. Juliet and Senna both had young pups they were currently taking care of, and she wasn't comfortable taking the younger trainees out for something like this. She definitely didn't want to bring Gannon or Jas.

"Jade and Ajax," she said finally, knowing that both of them would be responsible and obedient. "Cypress, you as well. ...Where's Tinder? Minerva, have you seen him?"

She looked at her daughter, who glanced aside briefly. "No. I haven't seen him lately."

Desert frowned slightly. Minerva had been quiet these past few days--more than usual, that is. She also had been around Tinder as much as usual. Whether she was simply grieving for Draco or if it was something else, Desert could not tell.

"He volunteered for sentry duty," Jade said, interrupting Desert's thoughts. "But if you want him to come I don't think Colt will mind."

Desert nodded, refocusing on the task at hand. "All right. Let's head out, then."

The group did so, picking up Tinder by the entrance and heading towards the east. There wasn't deep snow on the ground yet, but it was still enough to leave paw prints. The trees were bare, allowing more sunlight to come through to the forest floor whenever there weren't clouds overhead.

"I don't think you were very eager to accept this task," Jade commented after they had walked for a little while.

"Oh, really?" Desert asked sarcastically. "Are you just guessing, or are you going off of my current track record?"

"This territory will come in handy," Jade said, ignoring her tone. "And I don't think Colt is doing it to be vengeful. He's a hunter, and he thinks like one."

"Don't try to rationalize it to me," Desert said before she continued. "I'm just going to do my duty. I can't think about it any more."

There didn't appear to be any Wind-dogs around, at least for the time being. Desert felt that they would probably be closely monitoring this border, but no one was on patrol currently. Desert flicked her ear and they began to spread out, resetting the borders once again.

The thought that Draco had bled to death on this very grass made her falter, but she forced herself not to think about it. She was just going to reset the border, and she wasn't going to blindly attack any Wind-dog she saw.

But she couldn't stop herself from thinking about her niece and nephew. They're reactions to their father's death had been mostly subdued. Jas had said that Draco wouldn't have wanted them to cry over him, and Desert knew that was true. Both of them had thrown themselves into training with an intense, almost frightening level of dedication, especially where Gannon was concerned. He refused to talk about the attack and any mention of Wind Pack made his fur bristle. Desert knew she really shouldn't have expected anything else. In her family, they didn't feel their grief or their anger. They channeled it and turned it on something else.

"Look out," Ajax called from a short distance away. "I think there's some Wind-dogs up on the rise."

Desert looked up to see two silhouettes in the direction Ajax was staring. They weren't moving, appearing to be watching the Night-dogs intently. "Do you think they're going to attack?" Tinder asked.

"It doesn't look like it," Desert responded. "They'd be greatly outnumbered."

"I think they're down a few defenders right now," Jade said. "But it won't be long before they do something."

Desert narrowed her eyes, watching as the two dogs turned and went back the other way. One of them was tall, and going off of its outline, Desert could guess what kind of dog he was. A feeling she didn't have a name for churned in her belly. "Is that him?" she asked, her voice low.

Jade slowly nodded. "We'd fought him before," she murmured. "I never liked the look of him."

Desert slowly swallowed. "There isn't going to be a fight today. We should go back."