The next morning, Lilly awoke to the warm feeling of the sun on her beautiful white fur, but something was making her feel a little funny. What was the cause of this feeling, it was the day before mating season and Lilly was already going into heat. Thoughts of having pups with Garth began filling her mind, but the sound of her mate waking up put an end to the thoughts.
"Good morning, Lilly," Garth smiled, "I want you to know that you look like an angel." Lilly blushed, but then remembered something from last night—Angel had not been seen at the feast. "Garth, I didn't see Angel or Mooch at the feast last night," she stated, looking out toward the valley where the feast had been held. "I didn't see them either," he said, "maybe we should tell Humphrey." With that, the two of them rushed off to see if anyone knew where Mooch and Angel were.
In another den, Humphrey sat between his parents, who couldn't help but notice how worried he was. "Humphrey, is everything alright?" his mother asked, feeling rather concerned for him. "I'm fine, just a little nervous about the tests, that's all," he lied. His father didn't buy it for a second. "Humphrey, I know that there is something..." he was cut short when an alpha rushed into their den.
"Sir, Angel has regained consciousness just a little while ago," he said, informing his leader about Angel currant condition. Humphrey however had not known about this, so he was quite shocked to hear this news.
"What happened to Angel dad?" he asked. Clark looked at Humphrey with a frown. "Yesterday, Angel was attacked by a wolf named, Thatch," he explained calmly, "she was hurt bad and was taken to our healer. At first her chance to pull through was very low, but now Angel has woken up so I will go and get any information she knows on this Thatch."
Humphrey was outraged. "Why didn't you tell me and my friends about this when it happened?!" he rudely snapped at his father, who didn't take it very kindly. "I didn't tell you because I couldn't afford a panic in the ranks of my pack," Clark said. "Don't you mean 'our' pack?" Terra said softly, correcting her mate on his statement.
Clark quickly corrected himself. "Yes, 'our' pack."
"Humphrey we will test you after we go to Angel, and see what she knows," Terra said, turning to leave the den. "I also suggest that you gather your friends and mate and meet us at the den of the healer." Humphrey nodded and rushed off to find Kate and the others. He found her with Salty and Shaky who were busy trying to ask her on how to see if a girl took interest them.
"Guys, we need to go to the healer, right now!" Humphrey said between pants, as he was clearly out of breath from running around looking for them. "Why? What's wrong?" Salty asked, cocking his head to why his friend looker really worried. "Angel was attacked last night by Thatch," Humphrey replied.
In the healers den, Angel was staring at Mooch who was sleeping in the corner of the den. She saw the healer coming in with some meat for her. "Glad to see that you are still awake," he said softly, as not to wake Mooch from his slumber.
"Did Mooch stay here the whole time?" Angel asked. The healer turned to Mooch and smiled. "Mooch never left your side, but only when I needed him to get herbs for you. I guess he really likes you and cares very much for you."
Angel felt really sad, but at the same time happy. She had been not very nice to Mooch, then when Thatch attacked her, he stayed and took care of her. "Do you think he has fallen in love with me?" she asked, but this time with a hopeful smile. "Yes, he most likely has fallen in love with you," the healer said and right at that minute, Garth and the others came into the den. They all looked rather worried, but they were happy to see that she was alright.
"How you feeling, Angel?" Garth said cheerfully, taking a second to study her wounds. "You look strong enough to pull tree out of the ground." Angel smiled. "Thanks, Garth."
"Angel, did Thatch do this because he wanted no one to know his plans?" Humphrey asked, but Angel seemed a little out of it. "I... I don't remember much, Humphrey," she said shaking her head, trying to figure out what really happened. Kate walked up to her and spied a bad bump on the back of her head.
"Guys, I think Angel has lost some of her memory!" she gasped, everyone looked at her and nodded in agreement. Angel had indeed lost some of her memory, but how did she really lose? For the rest of the day, Humphrey, his friends and his parents tried to help her regain her memory, but it wasn't helping much. So they deiced to let her and Mooch have some time alone. But as the sun went down, Thatch came out to see Lilly. With him was Dax, who only came to see if Angel was really dead.
As Lilly sat under the starry night sky, she began to wonder when Thatch would come for her. She kept her guard up in case he came to defile her... like he did when she was younger, but this time was different. Lilly was no longer afraid of him; in fact she was waiting for him to come so she could scratch out his eyes.
Only a few feet away, Thatch watched Lilly carefully, sniffed the air for any other wolves near by and slow crept out of the bushes. Looking down at his left paw there was a twig near by, so he decided to snap it to let her know he was behind her. Thatch put his paw down on the twig and pushed.
Snap! Lilly turned and saw Thatch looking rather happy to see her all alone, but she seemed to be not so happy—in fact she was really angry. "You have really shown your true colors, Thatch," she said, slowly walking toward him with her teeth beard. Thatch cocked his head with a dark smile. "And why do you say that?" he asked, still smiling. "Lilly, the only thing you and the others know is that I tried to take you by force to be my mate, other then that... you got nothing on me."
"Well, what about attempted murder?" Lilly frowned. Thatch ears shot up, he wondered if Angel had survived his attack and had told the pack about his plans. "So, Angel survived," he said with a low growl. "Indeed she did... now I'm going to scratch out your eyes!" As Lilly ran at Thatch, she didn't notice the black bear that had followed him and soon, she was swatted into the air and knocked onto her side by the bear's large paw.
"Whoa there, Killer," Thatch said calmly, as he walked toward Lilly who was dazed by the attack. "Remember, I want my pet unharmed... because I really want her know what it really feels like to mated by the greatest alpha—me."
"Sorry boss," Killer said, apologizing for his mistake. Thatch nodded. "Good. Brim!" he shouted, and another bear showed up. "Take her back to our territory, have her kept in my den because tomorrow is mating season."
Lilly's heart froze. Mating season was going to start as soon as the sun came up. That meant she would go into heat and if Thatch mated with her, she would get pregnant through him. "No matter what you do to me Thatch, I'll will never see you as anything but a heartless demon who doesn't deserve to be called pack leader." With those last few words, Lilly was dragged away to Thatch's territory.
Meanwhile, Dax had found out that Angel was alive and she was being well taken care of. "Thatch, you lying psychopath!" he fumed, watching Angel giggling as Mooch licked her face and cheek. "I think the others need-" but before he could finish, someone came up from the darkness and knocked him to the ground. The noise alerted Mooch and Angel and they came out to investigate, upon their arrival Dax was being pinned down by Garth who was beyond angry. He was burning with rage.
"WHERE IS MY MATE, LILLY!" Garth shouted, his face full of rage and malice. Dax looked up at him and almost wet himself. "I... I would say..." he hesitated for a minute, then he spoke in a very soft, but shaky tone. "Thatch has taken her to his pack."
Garth snapped his jaws near his face. "WHERE?!" he growled. Dax jested toward the hills. "Over the lower hills, past the stream that cuts the north and south apart and it won't be hard to miss Thatch's den." he said in high hopes of being allowed to live, but Garth didn't seem all that willing. He raised his paw in the air above Dax's head, but Angel quickly stopped him.
"Garth, Dax has told you what you wanted to know," she stated, "it would be best to expose the truth to who everyone who works with Thatch." Garth looked down and at Dax who was whimpering like a pup out of fear. "Plus..." she added, "if you kill him now then you will have stooped down to Thatch's level."
Garth saw that she was right and he got off of Dax. "I want you to run and never return, Dax," he said calmly, but with a deep growl. Dax ran off as fast as he could run. "Mooch, Angel, I want you to go and round up the rest the pack, because tomorrow morning, we go to war."
