So, this isn't a long chapter (it's either the shortest or one of the shortest) but I hope it's enjoyed all the same!
Spinning, Wulf turned just in time to sink her teeth into the black wolf's leg, dragging him harshly as she backed up. He stumbled and bit into the side of her neck, growling hard enough that she could feel it through his jaw.
Just as he began to fall, she pushed herself upward and used all the power in her hind legs to shove, pushing him onto his back in the hopes of landing in a dominant position.
Around them, the Sky People and Lexa's people had gathered. A few of them had tried to notch arrows only for Wulf to snarl at them whilst still fighting. They all realised quickly that this fight wasn't going to end in death, this was a dispute between the two. Still, he was the first other wolf like Wulf they'd all seen, some had even thought that she was the only one.
Lexa watched on with worried eyes as Wulf's coat became tinted red, blood coming from each of the bites that the other wolf delivered. She considered lodging a spear in the black wolf's shoulder to give Wulf an edge, but when Wulf had the gall to growl at her for picking up her spear, she knew that she wasn't to get involved.
The snapping and snarling was almost unbearably loud, but Wulf never once gave in. She bit and scratched and dodged until finally they were somehow snarling at one another from about five or six feet apart. Both of them were in strong stances with their feet firmly plants, their enormous teeth on show and sounds coming from their mouths that would frighten a Reaper.
They made the most horrific noises at one another for at least another minute or two until finally the black wolf slowly but surely closed his mouth and simply regarded Wulf carefully across the small space. She continued a little longer before she grumpily closed her mouth, but she still let a grumble find its way from her chest every so often.
To Wulf's surprise, the other wolf then sat. He wasn't submitting, but he was proving that he no longer meant a threat. With a huff, she followed suit. She didn't sit, but she relaxed her posture a little.
"Wulf." Lexa's voice softened the white wolf further. "Why don't you and your friend come inside?"
Happily, the black wolf stood and began to head to Lexa's tent. A little too close for Wulf. She stood and snapped her teeth at him to tell him to back off, then followed Lexa inside.
It ruined everything for her having him here. Would he reveal what they were? If he did, Lexa was sure to hate her. Lexa couldn't know, but it wasn't as if she could stop him, she could only hope that his being there had her interests at heart.
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Nothing much had really been said in Lexa's tent, but the hour or so that they were in there gave the camp time to calm down. Lexa had told Wulf to clean herself up, but she had been unwilling to leave Lexa alone with the black wolf. So, Lexa had cleaned her with a cloth while Wulf stood protectively between them.
By the time they had all come back out, there seemed to have been some unspoken agreement set in place that stated that both Wulf and the black wolf would stand, united, behind Lexa. Wulf wasn't all too comfortable having him there and that close to Lexa, but it wasn't as if she could say anything, so she took it a minute at a time.
It was strange having him there. Not just because he could out her, but because their meetings were usually so secretive and full of desperate passion. But this? Well, this was an entirely new dynamic. They were together, but not alone.
Wulf really wasn't sure what she was feeling about the whole situation.
She could already feel her wounds beginning to stitch themselves back together and after chancing a quick glance across, she could see that his were, too.
In all of her thinking, she began to wonder how long he would stay. Would he tell her when he was going, or would she just turn around missing him? She knew that he wouldn't stay overnight, he would never leave the pack that long, but perhaps she'd nod off and wake to the lack of him? She didn't want that, but it wasn't as if she could just go with him and abandon Lexa. No, Lexa meant too much to her.
Despite the pain in her chest, she wasn't angry at him. If she wasn't willing to leave Lexa, then he shouldn't be willing to leave the pack. She didn't expect it of him, but that just made him being there that much harder. Knowing that he would leave again after stepping into her world. It was almost too much.
However, as they day began to darken and night began to crawl across their camp, he made no move to go.
That night, when Lexa told Wulf that it was time to retire, there was a small but awkward silence where Lexa looked at the black wolf, then opened the curtain of her tent to him with a raised brow, inviting him in.
To give him his due, he seemed shocked right down to the core. Perhaps he hadn't realised how long he'd stayed, or maybe he hadn't expected kindness, but whatever it was, he was grateful. That being said, he walked over to a shocked Wulf and licked her maw despite her growl. It wasn't a threatening growl and they both knew it, she simply wasn't sure what the hell was going on.
Two licks later, he stepped closer again and gently nuzzled her neck. He closed his eyes and lay his head against her chest for a moment until he finally felt her do the same. When they stepped closer together, the bottom of their jaws came together, wrapping them in a warm embrace that Wulf was first to break, embarrassed in front of Lexa for the first time. He looked back at her with understanding eyes though.
He had declined Lexa's offer, so was this it? Was that his goodbye?
To Wulf's amazement, he turned away from her and lay just beside the door of Lexa's tent. He slumped heavily and lay his head contently down on his paws before sighing softly and closing his eyes.
Through the whole thing, Lexa had simply watched on with a slight smirk on her mouth. not a cocky smirk, but one that knew that this wolf, whoever he was, was special, especially to Wulf.
Wulf, seemingly in a daze, followed Lexa inside and climbed up onto her bed without waiting for the Commander.
"He seems nice." Lexa teased, smiling ever so slightly when Wulf grumbled like a teenager. "Is he why you sneak off in the night and come back covered in all kinds of stinks and dirt?"
Embarrassed, Wulf didn't make a sound and simply released a huge fake yawn before dropping her head onto her paws in the same way that he had outside and closing her eyes. Of course, he was the reason that Wulf wandered off in the night and came back covered in everything they'd rolled around in, but she didn't enjoy Lexa knowing that.
Lexa fell asleep quickly that night, but Wulf simply couldn't. She couldn't close her eyes or tear them away from the tent flaps. When they blew just right in the wind, she could just see one of him back legs stretched out. She wondered if he was sleeping, but she didn't want to check. She couldn't risk waking both him and Lexa.
Or... could she?
With a quiet but high whine, she answered that question herself.
God, was she really so desperate? Well... yes.
Thankfully, he seemed to shuffle for a moment before popping his head through the flaps and tilting it in confusion.
Unashamed, she looked meaningfully down at the spot beside Lexa's bed where there was more than enough room for him on the floor. When she looked back at him, she saw a glint of laughter in his eyes. Had he been waiting for her to cave and call him in? Surely not, it wasn't as if they were going to have sex in Lexa's tent, especially not in their wolves' bodies. Perhaps he just knew how much her body craved him.
Whatever it was, he trod heavily over to the space on the floor before lying down with a deep sigh and looking ever so slightly up at where Wulf was on the bed. She was lying with her back to him since that's how Lexa had fallen asleep with her, but he didn't seem to mind. Wulf managed to gently shuffle almost all the way round so that she could lie with her front paws and head just off the bed, pleasantly surprised when he gently pushed his own head under hers, supporting it and letting her gently drift away above him.
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When Wulf woke in the early hours of the morning as she always did, she was more that surprised to find that only her back legs and hips were still on the bed with Lexa and that her entire front half was on the floor, curled up in the black wolf's body.
He was still there!
Already awake, he looked at her with what only could have been a smile.
Gently, he rose and stretched, cracking a few joints before looking down at her with a content sigh.
It took only another fifteen minutes before he left, but those fifteen minutes were spent with the two of them lying on the floor together, wrapped up in one another as much as their forms would allow.
Wulf wondered, was this what love felt like? She knew that she loved Lexa, but that was so different. Was she finally in love?
Watching him as he jogged off into the woods, she knew that she was. Perhaps that was why everything between them was so hard. However, she knew that she wouldn't see him again for quite some time, so she decided that every ounce of her energy would go into defeating the Mountain. She would keep Lexa safe and survive herself on the off chance that she would see him again. They could roam freely together once the Mountain was out of the way.
She just hoped he didn't care what happened to his old home.
I know that things aren't the same as the first few chapters but I'm trying to bring things together as well as I can. I'm not too sure how religiously I'll follow the show when it comes to deaths and a few plots (for example, I didn't enjoy the whole A.L.I.E. thing but I can see that it could be interesting) so just hang in there and I'll try my best!As always, please keep me updated on thoughts etc, but just enjoy!
