A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with more (and early if you can believe that lol). I even posted another BuckxKeeva one-shot today, I feel so accomplished! Anyway, that is called Fight Smart if you'd like to go check it out. For now, we go onwards into the next chapter!

Oh! Wrote this on my phone again, hope it doesn't do anything funky with the layout. Fingers crossed.

Respond to the comments:

GZKKGM: I've gotten a lot of support from you, you really drove me to get this chapter out faster, so thanks! No, I'm not having a baby (laughs), my sister is, I'll pass your congrats along. Yes, I have already seen the dreaded and inevitable Keeva v. Shira rivalry, I'm excited for it lol. I'm a sucker for conflict, makes a good story.

Kara IA Fangirl: Every good story has to have feels...and a plot twist. Enjoy the chapter;)

White Hunter: Yes indeed, Keeva will have to face a lot within the next chapter or two. She will definitely need all of her courage and strength to get her through it.

Money100: Thanks and enjoy the chapter!

Me. Magicdrinkmix: Welcome! Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Respond to Fight Smart comments:

GZKKGM: Thanks for checking out the one-shot. I don't want to give too much away now, but I will say that yes, Keeva will stay with Buck for a time, but she will be back on the upper surface in time to star in Continental Drift lol.

Guest: I love your review so much, and the fact that you like Keeva too. You will find the beginning of their relationship here in A Wolf's Cry, as well as its development. I do occasional one-shots for them, because it'll be a while before Buck makes an appearance here. If there is something specific you'd like to see I'd love to take a request. As for Keeva/Diego, you aren't the first to ask me or want such a pairing. Honestly? They are super compatable, I know, part me even swoons for them too. But, ah, there's just something about them that screams 'sibling' to me. I can't make myself write tbem in a romantic way, something just doesn't click for me, you know? Diego will be best buds...even though it doesn't look like it right now.

A Wolf's Cry

Chapter 9

The snow was driving again the next morning, but it wasn't nearly the blizzard it had been the night before. The herd pushed on, Sid holding the baby, as they came upon Half Peak. Keeva was tired, true to her word, she hadn't slept a wink. Now she was paying for it with sluggish reflex and a slow mind, per usual, she brought up the rear of the traveling party, so no one had really questioned her physical state.

Beyond that, her side seemed to be on fire today. It likely wasn't healing properly what with all the travel and strain she'd been putting on it. Whatever, getting Roshan to his father was her first priority, she'd straighten herself out later.

"Alright, let's get you all cleaned up," Sid said drawing Keeva's attention away from her personal problems and toward the three males. "I mean, what's your daddy going to say if you back all smushy and stinky liie this?" Keeva didn't know if she appreciated Sid's method of cleaning, but didn't mention it. Nor did she mention that Runar probably wouldn't care if Roshan was dirty, because human children l, for all their cuteness, could be disgusting little creatures.

"You clean up nice, little fella," Manny said swatting Sid's paw gently away from the baby's face. "I think he's starting to look like me," Sid boasted and Keeva snorted a laugh, probably the first real sound she'd made all day. "Hey, Diego, what do you think?"

Keeva's attention turned to the saber, who's quiet pensiveness had carried on into the morning. Meanwhile, his niceties disappeared into the night. "Maybe we shouldn't do this."

The she-wolf's heart stopped, body and mind going on high alert. She'd been hoping she was wrong about him, maybe he'd changed, but clearly she'd been delusional. No mammal made a complete turn around in two days, it just wasn't done.

"Why not?" Sid asked, confused. "Because if we save him he'll grow up to be a hunter, and who do you think he'll hunt?"

"That's rich coming from you," Keeva blurted on whim. "You being S hunter of man and all. We wouldn't even be in this situation if your pack had hunted gazelle like a normal pack."

Diego didn't miss a beat. "What would you know about hunting, pet, you eat straight out of man's hands."

"Well," Sid cut right into the tension like it was nothing. "Maybe because we saved him, he won't hunt us." Wishful thinking at best. "Yeah," Diego growled "and maybe he'll grow fur and a long skinny neck and call you Mama!" Keeva leapt between Sid and the snarling cat with a rumbling growl of her own, flashing her teeth at the raging tiger.

"What's your problem?" Manny asked, because Diego clearly did have a problem. His aggression had been through the roof all morning. "Nothing," Diego muttered, "lets go, I'm freezing my tail off."

Keeva gives him one last warning growl before stalking after Manny and Sid.

They move further into the rocks, and Keeva feels herself getting nervous. Between the snow and the stones, there are lots of places for pretty much anything to hide, and so far they hadn't had an ideal road trip. She tried not to think about it too hard, Roshan was almost home, and it was best not to kick a gifted horse in the face. Right?

Diego falling behind slipped her notice, until Manny spoke up. She looks over her shoulder at the feline, but her eyes move past him when she spies another tawny body dart through the snow and take cover. "Son of a-"

"Get down!"

"What?"

"Huh?"

Diego darts over to them, where they have temporary cover in a small cave-like structure. "Get down and follow me."

"What have you done?" Keeva's tone was accusatory, her body shaking with rage. She'd expected it, had seen it coming, and yet she was still caught off guard. "At the bottom of Half Peak, there's an ambush waiting for you." And there it is, the truth she'd known all along, cruelly slapping her in the face. Diego delivers the news well, she almost believes the shamefaced expression he's wearing. She won't believe it, Diego could not be trusted, and she knew that was the truth.

"What?" Sid yelped, clutching Roshan closer.

"What do you mean ambush?" Manny's rage is as poorly concealed as Keeva's own.

"I knew it," Keeva seethed, "you sorry waste of fur."

"You set us up," Manny realized and Diego rushed to explain himself, only no one was believing him now. "It was my job!" Diego hissed "I was supposed to get the baby, but then-"

"You brought us home for dinner!" Manny cut him off in thundering accusation. "That's it!" Wow, Sid sounded mad too, "you're out of the herd!"

"I'm sorry." The soft way in which he delivers the words are enough to make Keeva's heart trip, and then Manny is slamming the cat against the wall with a tusk. "No you're not. Not yet."

"Listen I can help you," Diego insisted. Keeva shook her head, teeth bared, "don't listen to him."

"We can fight our way out," Manny agreed.

"You can't!" Diego said, "the pack's too strong!"

"Please," Keeva scofffed, "there aren't that many if you."

"It's not just sabers down there," Hazel eyes locked with blue and Keeva could be sick at the sincerity shining in his eyes. "Wolves?" She croaked. Diego nods to the best of his ability. "Six of them, led by a guy named Luca."

All of the blood drained from her face and she slumped down in shock, the rest of the world fading around her. It can't be happening, they were never meant to cross paths again, he was supposed to think she was dead, killed off by a human pack. Dizzy and hyoerventalating, his name stumbled off her lips in choked fear.

"Luca..."

A/N: Ack! My poor Keeva, I put her through so much! Well now, she has to face Soto and Luca. Think she can manage? This chapter was a real tougjie to write, but it honestly turned out better than I thought it would.

See you in the next chapter!

P.S. My school semester starts back on the 28th and updates might be really slow during that time as school does take priority over writing. So you may get two chapters in one week or you may get one chapter in two months. Don't worry though, I will never quit this story, not ever, I want to see its end as much as you do.