Hello, everyone! It's been a long time in the making, but the prequel is finally here! This story will be told slightly different than Silver Snow, but I think it's going to work out. I apologize for such a long wait, everyone. I've had a massive creative block for about two months now and it's really been killing me. It's still lingering, but hopefully it won't hinder my writing as bad as it has been. So without any further delay, enjoy the prequel to Silver Snow, everyone!
Silver Snow: Candace of Memories
Chapter 1: (Snow and Aurora): The Beginning
His heart pounded against his ribcage like a frantic drum. It thumped so loud that the sound filled his ears. His paws ached. His body, littered with cuts and bruises, felt pained and tired. If only the flesh was as strong as the spirit to keep running. But still, through the haze of fatigue, the sleek black wolf darted like a bullet through the underbrush of the forest. It had finally stopped raining, but residue still flailed from the canopy of leaves above, and made his fur stick to his skin along with the blood.
And as the wolf literally slid to his destination, it was as though all the sound in the world around him had been sucked away. Those shadowed figures—the ones he had been gunning down so frantically—they were here now, surrounding him with numbers far too great to count. But he couldn't care less about that. The only thing that worried him was her; the rather small brown bear that lay on her tummy with her face being pressed into the mud. Her paws were bound behind her back in chains, her scarf lay in ruined tatters around her neck, and a pipe she had been smoking had been mercilessly knocked into the muddy ground. Her body, much like his, was slicked with rain and blood. Slowly, so sickeningly slow, her grey eyes elevated up to him with all the vim and vigor beat out of them. He tried to speak, but the wind carried no words to her. All he could hear were the voices of those figures. Hear them, but not understand them; feel the malice lingering on every word like death. She would die tonight. And so would he.
And so, everything had ended. And everything had started…
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"Hurry it up!"
"I will when you all learn to stand still, I'm almost there."
"My paws are going numb."
"Stop being such a baby."
"YOU AREN'T ON THE BOTTOM!"
Snow's legs wobbled heavily and she knew it would only be a matter of time before she toppled over. Even with her claws dug deep into the ground, there was no stability in her stance. The snow-white wolf clenched her fangs and closed her emerald green eyes, her back starting to feel numb. Her best friends, Mick and Luna, were stacked on top of her like a card castle waiting to fall. And at the very top of the leaning tower of wolves was Aurora. The small wolf pup bore a very strong resemblance to her mother, Kate; flare-licked brown fur that cascaded into a pure white lining her underbody and paws. Her headfur was done up in a spiky ponytail that arched forward over her brown eyes. She deftly kept her equilibrium on her hind legs atop Luna's back while reaching up to an overhang in the cliff wall before them. Her target: a tomato-red ball about the size of a watermelon that had been haphazardly tossed onto the natural platform above.
"A-almost got it…" Aurora ignored a loud whimper from digging her toe claws into Luna's back, figuring forgiveness would soon come after the prize. With one mighty push, the wolf pup lunged atop the mouth of the overhang, sprawling over the bright red ball. "Yes! We got it!"
Pfth!
Aurora's eyes widened and her ears perked as several small thuds pounded against the grass below. She guiltily glanced over the edge, watching her cousin and two friends flailing over each other on the ground.
"Oh, smooth, Aurora—real smooth!" Luna spat.
"Actually…" A grin spread across Mick's face, who was sprawled rather suggestively underneath Snow's body, "I'm up for a repeat performance. Let's go look for some more—"
"I think you found yours already." Snow rolled her eyes and hauled herself off of a disappointed-looking Mick. She carelessly checked to ensure all her limbs were in order before rounding on her cousin above.
"Seriously, though—a little warning would have gone a long way."
"A little warning and none of you would have bothered to help. Besides, look at the prize." Aurora held the shiny red ball over her head, as though its presence would absolve her of the trouble.
"Okay, I don't even really know what that is, but it doesn't even look like it was worth the trouble." Luna picked grass out of her fur. "I mean, what does it even do?"
Aurora felt a grin spread across her muzzle. She gripped the ball and whipped it to the side; like a rubber band, Luna's head darted in the exact same direction, eyes slightly wild.
"W-whoa, what the hell?"
"It's a ball." Aurora whipped it to the right, watching her friends and family follow suite, "A human toy. A fun human toy." She whipped it downwards and they all fell in a play-bow stance below her like puppets. "Want me to throw it?"
"YES!" Mick blurted out loudly, almost a bark. Aurora grinned and tossed the ball overhead; like a flash, Mick, Luna, and Snow darted off after it as it bounced across the tree trunks and along the grass-trodden land.
"Heh, told you it was fun." Aurora beamed proudly. And then snapped her eyes open in sudden protest. "H-hey, wait a minute! You guys have to help me down from here!" But her voice fell on deaf ears as the others scrambled over the bouncing ball. Aurora rolled her eyes and began to gaze around the edge to find a way down. The cliff was very sheer on the sides indeed. But then, had that not been the case, they wouldn't have had to resort to the leaning-tower-of-wolves in the first place. As she surveyed the edge, she guessed she could always try and jump down. With an agitated sigh, Aurora started to work her way over the edge backwards. A few pebbles rolled off as her claws scraped the edge.
"What are you doing?"
"Aieee!" A spooked Aurora slipped off the edge and landed on top of Snow with a loud plop. "…Hey, that actually didn't hurt that much at all."
"My shattered bones only broke your fall, that's all." Snow groaned and rolled her cousin off. As if being on the bottom of the tower wasn't bad enough, she was probably going to suffer back trauma in her later years now.
"Well, on the bright side, how are you liking the new ball?" Aurora helped her cousin up and the two started to walk off in the direction Mick and Luna ran off in.
"It's great, though you should keep it away from Aunt Kate; you know how she gets whenever you bring human things back to the den."
At this, a sour frown spread across Aurora's face and she looked down at her paws in a sorry attempt to hide it.
"God help us all if I have to sit through another one of her rants. She's always going on about and how much of a danger they are to us."
"Maybe she's just worried?"
"Paranoid to the bone." Aurora retorted, "I mean, if they're so dangerous, why don't they just come over and attack us right here and now?"
"Because grandma would probably chomp off and proceed to beat them with their own arms just for the entertainment." Snow said. Aurora looked at her, silently and sharply with a no-mood-for-jokes kind of expression. Snow huffed at how quickly the mood had changed. She looked to the side. "Oh, okay; I didn't think it was shut-down-Snow's-fantastic-sense-of-humor day today."
Aurora let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to be mean. Just that every time someone brings up mom, it reminds me of what she said to me yesterday."
"Oh…you mean the whole alpha school thing? You don't want to go?" Snow asked.
"Of course not." Aurora walked off ahead of her cousin, not bothering to even look at her. The sun had died the sky a lush sort of autumn orange, almost like the clouds were on fire. It was getting late. But instead of worrying over her curfew, Aurora instead busied herself with a trio of birds flitting at each other in the tree leaves above. Instead, she busied herself with a trio of birds flitting at each other in the tree leaves above. "I keep counting the days till winter…It's creeping up on me so fast…no more playing around; no more hanging out; moving on to be the next head cheese in a cycle that just doesn't stop."
"But it's not like you wouldn't be a good leader, Aurora. I mean, how much trouble have you gotten the four of us out of on a daily basis?" Snow tried to comfort her.
"You mean out of the trouble I got all of us into in the first place?" Aurora raised her left ear. The sun was sinking faster now. The light poked low through the tree leaves and danced all over both hers and Snow's fur, turning them the same color of fall. For a moment, Aurora stood in silence as Snow came to bridge the gap between them. But before her worried cousin could get in another word, she held up her paw and gave the best smile that she could.
"It'll be ok, Snow. Don't worry so much."
"Oh…uhm, oka—"
The sound of rubber ball and skin-contact echoed and Snow found herself staggering backwards. The bright red ball had spun off of her forehead, leaving a bright red mark under her bangs and fur. The snowy white wolf growled, snapping her head up towards the bushes, where Mick and Luna sat pointing their fingers at the other.
"Wasn't me!"
"Oh please!" Snow snatched up the ball and hurled it as hard as she possibly could; the red projectile ricocheted over Mick's and Luna's heads against the trees beyond, shot through the branches above, only to come slamming into Snow's face a second time and send her reeling to the ground.
"Pfftht! Bwahahahahaha!" Luna rolled over in laughter, hugging her sides. Mick did his best to suppress the few snorts that escaped from him. Instead, he took it upon himself to make his way over to Snow. His paw slipped into hers as he pulled her up.
"Snow, are you okay?"
BAP! Mick flew to the side as Snow bounce the ball off his forehead, giving him mark to match hers. She stuck her tongue out while Aurora applauded her in the background.
"I'm glad everyone's finding such a great use for our new toy. It'd be even better if we could find some more lying around though—" Aurora stopped abruptly and her nose gave a flicker. A smell, strong, tantalizing, and a bit smoky drifted between the leaves of the trees. It was enough to make her stomach rumble loudly, and remind her that she hadn't eaten a thing all afternoon. As if automatic, Aurora felt her legs following the lead of her nose. Snow had followed after, already forgetting the slight stinging sensation coming from her stricken forehead. The four young wolves made their way through the forest underbrush, pushing along dirt-beaten trails, until they finally came to the edge of a clearing. A white line of smoke and charcoal drifted into the air from an ebony steel grill. Beside it lay a small makeshift table consisting of two wood planks and cinderblocks for propping, upon which sat plates of hotdogs, ribs, and hamburger. Snow would have thought of it as a little slice of food heaven—had she not noticed the scramble of human children chasing each other about the clearing. They giggled, oblivious to the wolven visitors, as they pelted each other with small twigs as though they were real swords. The appeal of the pleasant smells had lost some of its zeal and Snow found herself reluctantly backing away with Mick and Luna.
But Aurora hadn't budged an inch. She wasn't intimidated by the presence of humans, and Snow couldn't tell if it was her alpha bravery, or her shameless hunger that kept her unwavering.
"I'm going in."
"You're what?" Snow had reached her paw out for her, but Aurora had already slipped beyond the bushes. Hints of the alpha within her had already began to control her movements as she stealthily made her way about the edge of the clearing without so much as a single sound. The children laughed in oblivious glee, and the wolf took cover along the tent lines, inching closer and closer towards her goal. The smell of barbequed meat was enough to make Aurora's stomach lurch in hunger.
"Aurora, are you crazy?" Snow voiced, but moreso to herself as to not give away her and her friends. Aurora made her way to the makeshift table and neared her nose to a slab of hamburger. The sensation of sweet-tasting victory swept over her. And then, Aurora wolfed down the slab of burger so fast that she almost didn't taste it. She couldn't help herself and snagged another in her mouth, this time allowing the savory juices to seep against her taste buds. Her tail flagged in satisfaction and she turned her head back to her friends.
"'Ou all gonna' jus' sit there or get 'ome?"
Immediately, Snow, Mick, and Luna shook their heads from side to side, choosing to remain hidden in the dense foliage as opposed to the bold allure of cooked meat. Aurora shrugged her shoulders and chomped up the last of the hamburger meat.
"Doggie!"
Aurora suddenly froze in mid-advance towards a hotdog. Only her eyes dared to shift to the side. One of the human children—a small girl with auburn pigtails—hovered face-to-face with the young alpha wolf. Aurora could feel her warm breathing disturbingly close to her muzzle; feel those big blue eyes gazing like lasers into her fur and skin. For a moment, the two stood without movement or sound. But it wasn't fear that rooted Aurora in her place. It was intrigue. The girl's skin was smooth and clear, and she smelled of bug repellant and candy. Never before had she been this close to a human, enough to really analyze them. The little girl blinked once, smiling with child-like innocence, then passed another hamburger to Aurora. Her tail wagged and she eagerly accepted, not minding at all when the little girl started petting her ears back.
"Eek!" Snow gasped.
"What the heck is she doing over there? Is she trying to get in trouble?" Mick was leaning over the bushes, enough to get a good view, but not so much as to get caught. Luna sighed, her paw to her head, and closed her eyes.
"Let's try to figure out a way to pull her out of there before something dangerous happens." She said. Snow nodded in agreement and started to shift away from her spot, trying to find the best way to get to her cousin.
"Nice doggie!"
"H-Hey!" Aurora giggled, now at the point of laying on her back, leg trilling while the young child scratched her belly. She had forgotten all about the reason why she had come over there in the first place. And her mother thought these creatures were dangerous. The only thing dangerous going on here was how addicting the belly-scratching was getting.
"What the—what's going on?" The voice was like a rock shattering a glass moment. It was edged with surprise, only to slowly warp into a fearful kind of anger. Aurora cocked her head to the side the moment the scratching had stopped. A human, much taller and broader than the girl before her, towered over the young alpha wolf with a look of maddening fear. The cup of whatever liquid he had been holding had dropped from his still-opened hand, and the contents dyed the grass with a sweet, purple smell.
"Get away from it!" The man grasped his daughter by the arm, yanked her away, and wasted no time tossing his belongings aside to find a long-barreled rifle.
"Aurora!" Snow swore and forsook the cloak-and-dagger to dart over to her cousin. "Move! Move now!" she hissed as Aurora rolled up with a stupid look of confusion across her face. The human man raised his weapon at the two hesitantly. Fear—or maybe shock—shook his hands and he found aiming to be somewhat of a chore.
"Aurora, come ON!" Snow headbutted her cousin harshly. It was enough to roll her halfway across the ground just as a loud crack from a bullet whipped through the air. The shot left a blackened hole in the earth near Snow's paws, enough to strike a deathly fear in her.
"Snow!" Aurora had snapped to her senses . She dashed across to Snow, rolled her on her back, and sprinted back towards the shrubbery. More shots fired, each one parting the air around Aurora's cheeks and ears. Bullets pinged into the trees as the young alpha wolf leapt towards safety.
"You damned mutt!"
BANG!
"Ah!" Aurora felt herself being thrown off her equilibrium in mid-air. She crashed to the ground, feeling pins in her shoulder from the impact, but none so much as to rival the now searing pain in her hind leg. Snow had been thrown into one of the trees with a loud thud.
"Good job, Aurora!" Luna swore, trying to help hr up while Mick attended to Snow.
"Stay the hell away from my daughter, you dogs!" More shots whizzed into the trees, shattering branches and cleaving leaves like paper. Aurora's ears perked up and she could hear the rabid sounds of footsteps. He was coming after them! Aurora shoved Luna aside.
"Nevermind me!" She exclaimed, "We have to get out of here now!" Another shot caused Mick to dive protectively over Snow.
"I just have one question. Was it worth it?"
"You bet your ass it was." Aurora nudged Luna forward and the four of them sprinted off just as the human male leapt into the foliage. Snow took the lead ahead of them with Mick closely following. She tried her best to zig and zag as to make it difficult for their pursuer, but every shot fired seemed to shake her back into a straight line. Aurora would have usually been in front. However, the pain in her leg made running a chore. The bullet had only grazed her, but it was enough to leave a slick trail of blood along her fur. Another shot pelted the ground beside Snow, causing her to scream. Aurora could see this wasn't going to work.
"Spread out!" She shouted. Almost at one, Snow and Mick whipped around the trees towards the left, while Luna sprinted towards the right. Aurora stayed straight to the middle—as did the human. She tried to run faster, but the pain in her leg was like a slap to the face. She staggered, and took a wild tumble across the shrubs and into a tree. She groaned deeply.
"Well, w-well…" The human came to a panting stop. His gun was aimed dead center between Aurora's eyes. "I guess today isn't your lucky day, mongrel." The click of the loaded gun seemed to slow time down around Aurora, and the sound rung in her ears over and over again. Fear gripped her like a vice. All she could do was stare down the barrel of the gun and wait. There was a loud bang—and the bullet seared into the side of the tree Aurora was sprawled against. A familiar snarl snapped her back to reality, and she saw her mother. Kate's fangs wrestled the barrel of the gun; her strong alpha muscles and golden-brown fur gleamed in the sinking sunlight. The wolf let loose one final snarl, snatched the gun, and tossed it behind her. Kate's fangs barred and she glared the human down dangerously. The man shuddered in fear. It was only a matter of moments before he turned-tail and scrambled off along the forest trail.
Aurora felt herself finally being able to breathe. The sensation of pain ran needles into her leg once more and it was her wince that caused Kate to finally turn around to her.
"Aurora, are you okay?" Kate exclaimed. She ran over and nuzzled Aurora worriedly, licking her injured foot. "How did this happen?"
"It's nothing—I'm fine, mom, it's just a scratch."
"Nonsense!" Kate exclaimed and persisted to check her daughter over. And then she saw Aurora's muzzle; and then her worried look became infused with anger. It wasn't until her eyes followed Kate's that Aurora noticed the crumbs of meat and barbecue sauce that traced her fur. She was cold busted.
"Aunt Kate, is that you? Aurora is still—" Snow came sprawling through the bushes with Mick tumbling behind her. She gazed up at Kate and Aurora, of which only Aurora's eyes glanced her way. "—is obviously right here with you, I see."
"So everyone is okay?" Luna asked, coming in from the other side. She had gotten a few twigs in her fur, probably from tripping somewhere along the way.
"That will be debatable." Kate answered. Aurora shuddered. Her mother's angry gaze never left off of her, almost like she had been reduced to being her mother's prey. "Snow, take your friends and go straight home." Kate's ear flickered. "And I mean straight home. No sidetracks; no distractions; no detours—not even so much as to stop and lift your leg!"
"Technically, Mick's the only leg-lifter here—"
"NO BREAKS!"
"Yipe!" Mick, Luna, and Snow damn near scrambled over each other for a few minutes before finally getting free enough to scramble away. Kate's ear flickered and she waited until they were gone completely out of earshot. And then she rounded back to her daughter. They exchanged another angry-to-"I'm-in-deep-crap"-look before Kate licked Aurora's wound again, then proceeded to scoop her up on her back.
"What on earth am I going to do with you?' She sighed.
"Pretend like this never happened." Aurora quipped. Her comment met with strong, angry silence. So she sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "Okay, so I messed up."
"You're damned right you messed up! I mean, seriously, do you ever stop to think about the things you do, Aurora? Do you ever just stop to think that maybe what you're thinking might not be such a good idea?" Kate exclaimed.
"I'm sorry…"
"No, 'sorry' won't shield you from bullets. 'Sorry' won't keep you safe from humans who won't hesitate to take your life. 'Sorry' won't keep you alive every time, Aurora. I don't know how many times I have to explain this to you." Kate's walk became more agitated the more she talked, and Aurora felt pins in her leg from the unintentional bouncing on her mother's back. She bit her cheek a little. Kate let out another sigh and looked up at her daughter. This time, her eyes reflected pure worry with the anger pulled completely back. "You can't keep putting yourself in danger like this. You can't keep putting your friends in danger, either. One day, you'll be responsible for them. I'll grow old and then it will be your time to become the new alpha of this pack. I just want you to be responsible. Alive, more importantly, but responsible all the same."
Aurora wanted to get off. Every conversation with her mother had always somehow come to this. She frowned and turned her head away. "You keep doing that, but I told you that I don't want that."
"You don't really have a choice."
"And why not?" Aurora protested, "You always, always make sure to let me know I'm going to be the alpha wolf someday; that it's going to be my responsibility to the pack and that I need to start getting serious. But I'm not serious, you know I'm not. I couldn't be serious a day in my life."
"You sound pretty serious now."
"Mom! I'm trying to tell you that I'm not like you!"
"Moreso than you think, but yes, you are so obviously like your father." Kate rubbed the side of her head. "I'm just trying to do what's good for you."
"No, you want me to be you. But I'm just not…I'm different."
"Don't make me out to be the bad guy, here, Aurora!" Kate barked and stomped her foot. It was as if the entirety of Jasper Park had gone hushed under her authority all of the sudden. Aurora just stared at her paws and said nothing. She wished she could just make her mother understand; let her know that she just wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. But that would be just as easy as pinning Kate down and pulling her teeth. So Aurora crossed her arms in agitated silence. Kate shook her head.
"Let's hurry home. I don't want your foot getting worse."
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Though the moonlight was only partially full, on such a cloudless night, it shown like a silver beacon in the blanket of black above. The wolves of Jasper Park had already wound down for the day and the cool autumn air provided the only real noise outside of the snores. But not all were sleeping soundly. Snow lay flat on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling of her family den. She couldn't sleep especially not after the scolding she had received upon her return home from Lily and Garth. Sure, she hadn't instigated the incident with the humans, but she hadn't really made a true attempt to stop her cousin from getting in trouble either. And now she lay there in her den, on punishment for a week. But the punishment wasn't really what got to her. It was her cousin's somber expression when she came hobbling into the den. Her eyes stayed glued to the floor with the light dimmed to a melancholy amber. Her and her mother had obviously been fighting again. She seemed to wear that expression a lot lately, every time it came time to mention her limited days of freedom. Snow huffed and rolled over onto her stomach.
"Can't sleep, hm?"
Snow's ears perked up and she glanced behind her. Aurora hobbled over to her cousin. She had a slight limp in her step, but she was strong and seemed to barely notice it.
"Nope, not a wink."
"Come on, then." Aurora plodded across the den in silent steps, side-stepping her sleeping family. Snow's tail wagged for a moment and she got up to follow.
"We'll probably get in trouble."
"We probably will." Aurora stated indifferently. The two girls carefully travelled the stone platform of their den and out into the main area. The wolves that weren't sleeping inside a den were sprawled out all over the floor. It was a pain to try not to wake any of them, but the two of them managed to escape and make their way down the dirt trail beyond. Snow knew exactly where they were going. It was the same place they usually went when life decided to take a shot at them. Aurora lead Snow through the foliage and underbrush up the side of a hill. The hill was steep enough for Aurora's injured leg to be met with some resistance, but she didn't fuss over it. At the top of the hill was a broad cliff that not only overlooked Jasper Park in its entirety, but the world beyond it as well. Trees and canyons cascaded into wider, greener lands with the river snaking its way through them like veins. The moonlight cast a sheen of white along the water, making it seem to give off a sort of incandescent glow. Snow eagerly made her way to the very edge of the cliff, not knowing just how much her tail was wagging. Her emerald eyes surveyed the wide world beyond as if one glance couldn't possibly take in enough. It was something about this view; something about that world out there that made every nerve in her body jolt with excitement. Aurora took her seat down next to Snow and glanced out as well.
"How does your leg feel, Aurora?" Snow finally asked.
"It's fine, no big deal. Occupational hazard." Aurora winked. Snow rolled her eyes.
"Sure it is. I like mine bullet-free, if you don't mind." She said. Aurora let out a giggled as another autumn breeze rustled against their fur. She laid her head down on her paws.
"You think…after alpha school, we'll still be able to do this? Come here like this?"
"You're going into training , not moving halfway across the world. And besides, I thought you were going to fight tooth-and-nail to not go." Snow's head tilted. Aurora looked back at her inured leg. She had found a scrap piece of white cloth and had deftly tied it around her wound—a trick she had learned from watching a human once that never really quite caught on with her canine brethren. It was splotched deeply with her blood, but she was sure it had stopped bleeding by now.
"I really worried mom today…" She rubbed her ponytail back, but it just fell forward again. "I would love to just stay like this. To always be able to hang out with you guys and go on adventures. But mom is determined to make me feel like I'm hitting against the wall." She said. Snow looked at her for a moment, then smiled softly.
"Do you want to know a secret?"
"Sure thing, Snow."
Snow held her paw out over the ledge. Her fingers spread wide, outstretched towards the world beyond. "This is my dream. One day, I want to leave this place; I want to go far beyond Jasper and out into the world we look at every night we come up here. There's more to life than just staying here, stuck in the same boring routine. And one day, I'll get strong enough to go out there and see it."
"…pfth!" Aurora snorted and started laughing loudly. Snow's cheeks reddened deeply and she frowned.
"C-come on, don't laugh—I'm being serious here!" She exclaimed.
"I-I know, it's not that." Aurora laughed more and rolled on her side. IT actually wasn't the reason why she was laughing. This was why it was so easy to be around Snow and why the two of them were so close. She had the same kind of out-of-the-box thinking she did; wanting something that everyone else in their pack would have thought crazy otherwise. They were dreamers.
"You're still laughing!" Snow pounced Aurora, who winced slightly from the pain. "O-oh, I'm sorry."
"Hey, Snow" Aurora rolled her off. "Let's do that then."
"Do what?" Snow blinked.
Aurora sat up, stared Snow dead in the eye, and said, "See the world, of course. You, Me, Mick, and Luna. Let's just up and leave."
"Up and leave? Just like that? Won't our parents worry?" Snow asked her cousin.
"Won't they stop us if we tell them?" Aurora raised. Snow nodded in agreement. She could tell that Aurora was truly speaking with all the seriousness in the world. And she couldn't help but feel excited about such a plan.
"Alright, lets tell Mick and Luna about it when we wake up tomorrow." Snow stated.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Aurora stood up. And that's when they heard the snapping of twigs and rustling leaves behind them.
"Aw crap, busted." Snow sucked her fangs. But Aurora didn't' move. A feeling deep in her gut told her that something wasn't right. Even though they had heard the movement, no one had bothered to make their presence known yet. If it were Kate, Lily, or someone else, they'd have come breathing down their necks in a heartbeat. The rustling sounded again, and then a pair of deep, yellow eyes peered from out of the bushes. Snow let out an involuntary growl, letting Aurora now what her foreboding sensation had suddenly become mutual.
"Well, I guess these two will do just fine." Another pair of eyes came accompanied by a voice. The wolf walked from within the bushes. He had ashy black fur that only receded into white at the fur on his chest. He looked a little battle-worn, with scars marking his legs and muzzle.
"Who are you?" Aurora snarled.
"I don't think that's the appropriate question." The wolf answered with a sneer. "I think the appropriate question is…" and before they could say another word, the bushes and shrubs had quickly become filled with an array of eyes. From the darkness, the wolves poured out, eyes gleaming in the dark. Snow and Aurora took a few steps back, but knew that the edge of the cliff had already began to kiss at their heels.
"How fast do you think you can run…before it's too late?"