Chapter 6:
"How Could You?"
Nars was with Fleet and Magril, his only children, now, in the den he shared with Daria since their marriage. Since they were pups, Nars had been trying to reconcile his relationship with Fleet and Magril because of how he had once treated them.
He was telling his children the truth about why he had treated them so harshly over just a racing event that was supposed to be nothing more than friendly competition.
"I know there is no excuse for what I did to the two of you," Nars began, "but I think it is time I explained why I was so harsh with you over The Great Wolf Games a year ago."
"Didn't you already tell everyone that it was because Kate won the games and not you when you were a pup?" Magril asked her father. "That you tripped over a rock and hurt your paw like I did?" She and Fleet were both confused now because of why Nars wanted to talk with them in private.
"That isn't the full truth," Nars sighed. "I never had the courage to tell anyone what I am about to tell the two of you. It has to do with your late grandfather, my father, and what happened between the two of us after I lost to Kate in The Great Wolf Games. He had told me, 'You failed me, son, after all the effort I put into training you for the games. I'll never be able to show my face at the games again now, because of how you lost. I'm afraid I can't allow you to compete next spring, son'."
Fleet and Magril gasped but said nothing so their father could continue.
"Not long after my father passed away, the two of you were born," Nars continued, "and I didn't want either of you to go through what I did as a pup, feeling as if you failed your father if the western pack came out victorious against the northern pack again. But I saw the error of my ways not only when I saw you—Fleet—and Claudette tie in that last race. But it was also how you, my son, had reacted to not winning that had made me so proud of you in the end.
"And then there's your mother, whom you never got to know," Nars continued, almost in tears at the mentioning of his late wife. "She passed away shortly after you two were born, before your eyes and ears had even begun to function. You had to nurse from a mother in the pack had given birth to two pups who hadn't survived long after birth, unfortunately. I never told you this until now because I had wanted to wait until you were old enough to at least handle this kind of news. I had wanted you to win the games to not feel bad about failing me as I had with my father, and to honor the memory of your late mother.
"But that isn't to say I don't regret how I treated both of you, my only pups and all I have left to remember my wife by, other than memories. I look back at how I had felt little emotion about you—" Nars was now talking to Magril, his daughter. "—being hurt. And Fleet, I never should have attempted to strike you for having fun rather than practicing for the games. I cannot believe I had ever been so selfish before, all because of some competition. My father and wife wouldn't be proud of me, if they had been around to see my behavior."
"Dad," Fleet said, casting a glance into his father's eyes. "I forgive you."
"And I forgive you, too," Magril told their father as well. "We both do and we had some time again. We love you dad, and always will."
Fleet and Magril approached Nars to brush their heads against his face and front legs. But, rather unexpectedly, their new loving bond felt for their father would be short-lived. At least for now. Daria entered the den, the one she and Nars had lived in together since their marriage several weeks ago. Daria had lived here much longer, however, with her sister Lois and the porcupine known as Floyd, who had raised her from a pup.
The way Daria was panting told her new husband and children-in-law that she had been running for some time over a long distance. A long distance for Daria anyway. She had the physical build of an alpha wolf, but not the endurance. In that sense, she was more like an omega than an alpha.
"Fleet, Magril," Daria said to her children-in-law as soon as she had regained her breath. "Why don't you go off somewhere and have fun for a bit?"
"Why?" Magril asked.
"What's going on?" Fleet questioned her.
"Something has come up," Daria said, looking at them even if she was not sure if she had looked where they actually were. She never was sure if she was looking at someone when they spoke to her due to her blindness. "I need to speak with your father in private."
Fleet and Magril looked at each other nervously but they agreed to leave the den. They would go see their spouses, Claudette and Liam, or something, for now.
Daria did not say anything until instinct told her Fleet and Magril were well out of hearing range.
"How could you not tell me?" Daria asked Nars in a hurt voice.
"Excuse me?" Nars was confused.
"About your father," Daria pressed.
"You already know—" he began.
"I mean your real father!" Daria cried. Tears were streaming down the blind wolf's cheeks. "How could you not tell me that you are the son of the wolf who took my mother from Lois and me?" she asked, once again, in a hurt voice. It was impossible to not notice the pain in her words as they came out of her mouth.
"W-What do you mean?" Nars stammered. "I was raised in the northern territory, not at Rabbit Poo Mountain!" he pleaded, trying to make her not believe whatever it was she had heard.
"But you were born there," Daria sobbed. "And your father is my mother's killer! I overheard eastern and western wolves saying that you are clearly his son because you look like a younger version of him!"
"I never knew him," Nars told his expecting wife. "I don't even know what he looks like…"
"Liar!" Daria wailed. "You're lying to me, your pregnant wife, just to save your own skin! What I heard almost makes me glad I am blind. I wouldn't want to look at the face of a wolf who looks like my mother's killer!"
"I'm telling you the truth!" Nars pleaded once again. "I really am, dear…"
"Don't call me 'dear'!" Daria almost snapped. "I refuse to call the son of my mother's killer my husband. And you'll never get to see MY puppies when they're born!"
"Daria!" Nars begged. "Come back! I don't even know my real father!"
"Just leave me alone!" Daria wailed as she ran through the tall grass, away from their den at the base of The Howling Rock, and back to the western territory. Back to Runt and Lois, who would surely take care of her well. Better than a wolf who was the son of her mother's killer, Daria believed.
"Come back!" Nars howled from the mouth of their den. He felt his heart aching more and more as he saw Daria run further and further away from their den where they had conceived the pups growing within her now.
"No, Nars!" Daria hollered back. Next came to the last thing she would say to him. "We're over! And I hope to never hear from you again!"
