No One's POV
Kierra
Kiera felt herself huff as she bolted through the forest, with Koaki and Flake in tow. Their speeds combined creating a tail wind that brushed through the nearby bushes and trees. Their limbs pistoned them forward while Kiera started contemplating who could have found them all the way out here. Fear brushed the back of her mind and heart as the possibility that these intruders were sent from the raven pack. Or worst, the Arndin pack.
Kiera pushed her worries to the back of her mind the scent of blood forced itself into her nostrils. She brought herself to a stop, glancing around herself trying to figure out which direction it originated from. Her pack mates came to a stop beside her catching the distinct scent as well.
"That's not good," Flake exclaimed, a tinge of guilt in her soft voice. "The scent being this far out. Blood must've already been spilt." A slight breeze of cold caused the white furred wolf to shiver slightly as she began to imagine how many bodies that they might come across.
"We may have been too late to save anyone." Kiera sighed subconsiously, lowering her head while tilting back her ears. Guilt starting to hover her like that of a dense blanket. "If only we had been a little faster. We could have stopped this."
Koaki grumbled in frustration, "Then let's stop moping around and get there before any more blood is lost." He shuffled forward in front of Kiera raising his muzzle to the air breathing in deeply through his nose. The smells of the forest that surrounded them started to paint a picture within his mind, forming something similar to that of a map. He took another strong whiff, refining the picture inside his mind before turning to the west and bolting through the dense woods.
"Come on, this way. Hurry!" His low gravelly voice left behind with a hint of desperation to it.
The three of them streaked through the woods, bobbing and weaving between trees and vegetation with grace and experience. In less than a minute, they reached the packs border.
They came to clearing that once they broke through the final shrubs, were both satisfied and horrified to see that they made it to their target. Though the sheen of darkness hid the any sight of blood from the naked eye, the dense reinforced musk of it was enough to tell them that a decent amount was shed.
Keira padded forwards exploring the battlefield with her nose. "Quickly, Flake check on the bodies, see if they are still alive. Koaki lets go find this-" She was interrupted by a massive ear numbing roar. Kiera shot her glance towards the side to see small glint of bear eyes that towered and loomed over what seemed to be a smaller body.
"Found it." Koaki sarcastically stated.
Kiera felt herself instinctively launch herself forwards, almost as if defying all laws of physics moving at the speed of lightning. She felt adrenaline kick into her system as her body collided with bears massive form, sending it stumbling back roughly. Kiera recovered finding her footing with ease before charging again at the bear with teeth bared. As she came closer, the bear tried to swipe at her in defense, but Kiera evaded sliding to her right before standing back up and leaping at the bears now vulnerable neck. Kiera noticed just how easily her teeth sunk in and was confused but the taste of old blood seemed to answer her unknown question.
The bear cried out in pain, bringing its paws up before slamming Kiera off with a massive amount of force. Kiera's body flew through the air before fumbling into barrel rolls once she hit the ground. She felt pain flood one side of her body as she stood back up but was soon drowned out by the anger inside of her eyes.
She felt a tail wind brush over her quickly bringing a slight cold shiver. She looked up to see a shadow of black crash into the bear head on. The force was enough to cause the bear to stumbling backwards in a dazed motion. Koaki brought himself forward, wasting no time sinking her teeth into its side before he felt his muscles tighten and lock in place as he tore the chunk of skin away. A howl of pain elicited from the bears throat followed by a slight trickle of tears rolls down its face. The bear retaliated with other swipe at Koaki but the pitch black furred wolf moved out of the way with ease, jumping back before dashing behind the blood stained bear. Koaki leapt on the bears bloodied shoulders before locking his jaws on the creatures tuft fur on the back of its neck.
The bear responded with kicks and violent spins, but unlike Garth, Koaki unsheathed his curved claws, shining a glimmering gold locking them inside the bears dense coat and flesh. Koaki's claws functioned more as a hawk's talons, the sharp, lengthy, and curved nails granted him an extra grip on the bear all while puncturing the monstrous near indestructible hide.
Kiera took the time that Koaki granted her to run over to the side of the bloodied wolf who lied there almost lifeless. She took a second to inspect all the wounds that covered her beaten and bruised body. The musk of sweat mixed with the metallic scent of blood and stained Kiera's senses but despite the stench she pressed on. She lightly touched the wolfs neck, searching for a pulse.
Her face lightened slightly to feel a pulse weakly beating against her paw. 'Thank God, we weren't too late.' With a quickness in her step she sprinted to the closest tree searching for any vines or thick leaves, despite the heavy darkness that covered the trees surface.
She clicked her tongue finding a loose vine fall down the tree. She grabbed it with her teeth along with a few dense branches, before running back to the wolfs side. She wasted no time, applying the vines to the wolfs body, tying up her ribs in a makeshift splint and covering her gaping wounds with scarce leaves that she found around them. Kiera sighed in relief seeing the wolf start to stir a little and see its stomach start to rise and deflate in a comforting cycle.
The wolf slowly opened its tear filled eyes, before slowly picking up her head. Kiera was quick to gently lay it back down, not wanting her to strain herself anymore than she already had. "Shh, stay down." Kiera gently whispered, taking notice of her golden amber eyes.
The wolf groaned below her, a feminine tint in her voice. "What… What happened." She moaned.
Kiera hushed her again, "Relax, you're safe now. Can you tell me your name?" Kiera questioned still retaining her gentle and caring tone.
The wolf took a second to respond, her dazed state apparent to Kiera. "My name… My name's Kate." She softly stated with a pause between each word.
Another roar called for Kieras gaze, she turned her head over to the bear, seeing Koaki still on the beasts back, still clinging to it all while tearing at the spot behind its back.
"Kiera!" Shouted Koaki, still straining and with a mouthful of the bears torn off fur in his mouth. "As much as I like riding this thing-" Another roar of frustration elicited from the bear before raining on its two hind legs and start to stretch for Koakis body behind its back, its claws coming inches to graze him. "I would appreciate some help here!"
Kiera turned her head back towards Kate seeing her start to come to it by the second. "Alright Kate, I need you to stay here. I'll be right back." Kiera whispered gently before turning around.
She charged to join in on the fight. Koaki noticed her advance and grinned slightly. Koaki leapt of its back and snapped at its tail. The bear cried out more in frustration than pain and turned itself around to face the pitch black wolf. However, before it could face him, Kiera crashed into the bears side, engulfing both fangs and claws into the bears side before tearing out her own chunk of the bears hide.
Another cry elicited from the bears throat, this one more raspy and desperate than the rest. The two wolves wasted no time and continued their assault on the bear, biting, slashing, and tearing the bears pelt despite its many swipes and bites of desperation.
Kiera could feel the bears fight start to dwindle down with every ounce of blood that the creature lost as did its will to fight. Koaki could see a glint of fear spark in its eye and started to feed off it, energizing him even more.
The bear had enough of this.
Turning tail, the bear charged in the opposite direction. It stumbled after every step in its pitiful excuse of an escape. Koaki's hunger for blood wasn't satisfied just yet.
In a blur, Koaki sprinted over and blocked the bears escape route a desire to kill locked deep within his eye. The bear turned tail again and started to sprint in the opposite direction only to feel another set of jaws latching onto its jugular.
Kieras canines submerged into the vulnerable flesh, it's blood flowing freely down her blood thirsty throat feeling her limbs start to re energize. Feeling empowered, with the bears neck locked in her jaws, Kiera started to lift the bear up, forcing it to put its weight on its two hind legs before Kiera leaped forward causing the bear to lose its balance and tumble backwards.
"Kiera wait!" She heard Koaki shout out. Little did Kiera know, the bear was going to crush the same wolf that they fought so hard to protect.
No Ones POV
Humphrey
Grey felt himself bolt forward, breaking into the clearing, streaking past the other wolves and towards the collapsing bear. He felt the world start to slow down as his brain started to take a hit of the adrenaline was only a meter away from the timbering bear, its descent slowing down to a snail's pace as did Greys sprint. Grey leapt forward all while ducking underneath the bear. He firmly bit into the wolfs neck before finding his footing again and leaping out from underneath the bear with the wolf in tow.
The world returned to its original speed as the bear finished its fall to the ground, where Kiera finished off its life with a flick of her head and a crack of the bears neck.
Grey panted harshly, having been sprinting for the last ten minutes just trying to catch up with Kiera and Koaki. he took a second to catch his breath and recover from his first adrenaline high, the silent wish of something to drink in the far back of his mind, taunting him.
The groan of the wolf he saved pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned his attention to the wolf that he had just saved. He took a moment to examine her body and was surprised to find that despite the blood and wounds that covered her body that she was quite attractive. The sight brought back a little bit of a nostalgic memory more than anything and Grey found himself under the influence of a major headache all of a sudden.
And then she opened her eyes.
It was as if the world stopped all around the two of them.
Those eyes. He knew these eyes, but from where. Who was this wolf? Why did he have such a heart wrenching effect on him.
The wolf did a double take at the sight of him, seeming to question something deep within her mind.
"Humphrey?" Her voice silky and smooth, bringing ease to the painful headache that afflicted Grey as did it bring memories back to his head, though they were too clouded and blurry to make much out of them.
Grey found himself on the ground with the mystery wolfs head snuggled deep within his neck. "Humphrey is it really you!" She mumbled almost incoherently with her muzzle locked deep in his fur taking in the dense scent of his musk.
She retracted herself from him only for a moment to look at his face again, scanning over his features as if trying to confirm before slamming her head back down into Greys chest. "I missed you so much, I never gave up on looking for you. I never lost hope regardless of how many people told me how hopeless it was to find you." She confessed quickly, her chest heaving with her lungs trying to keep up with how fast she spewed her words.
Grey felt his mind start to race to match his speeding heartbeat, trying to piece together who in the hell this girl was and why she had tackled him to the floor. And why the hell did his heart start to fill with a sense of happiness, as if he had found something that was lost long ago.
Grey tried to open his mouth and question this wolf, but nothing exerted from his dried out mouth. The lightness in his lungs failed to supply him with the proper air to speak and being squeezed to death didn't help much either. Grey was at a loss for pretty much anything. Words, thoughts, actions, hell even he struggled to continue breathing. Upon seeing this wolf, he felt as if his entire body locked itself down to the point where he could only lay there and cradle the delusional wolf with his arms, exerting a love that was unknown to himself.
Grey felt the wolf start to retract herself slowly from his embrace and sit up above him. Her warm amber orbs stared into his own icy blue ones, exerting a sense of comfort and love that was unknown to Grey. His heart started to feel heavier with every second that he gazed into the girls beautiful eyes.
Beautiful? Where the hell did that come from. He had just met this girl. But it felt like he knew this girl for all of his life.
Did she originate from one of his crazy dreams, had he known her when they were pups, or maybe a little bit of both. He didn't know.
"Humphrey… I found you." The voice softly ringing in his ears knocking him out of his thoughts. A woeful sense of nostalgia started to coat his heart and he started to feel a tear form itself on the bridges of his eyes, threatening to spill over at any second.
What the hell, now he was crying? Why? What was wrong with his body.
The world froze once again as her soft and warm lips connected with his own, sealing them in a bond that seemed to be lost deep inside of his soul.
No One's POV
Kiera
Kiera felt satisfied with the snap of the bears neck, releasing her vice grip from the bears coat and hopping off of the now lifeless body, a sense of pride ringing in her heart. She licked her lips and her canines, trying to catch the left over blood from her recent kill. The metallic and musky taste staining the back of her throat upon gulping it down.
She turned her attention over to Koaki whose focus was still on the lifeless corpse, His muscles still tightened and his body ready to lunge again if even a twitch exerted from the body. Kiera laughed to herself and ventured over to his side. Not even when she was right beside him did he lower his stance, bringing Kiera to grin devilishly.
Slowly she walked behind him and pounced on the unsuspecting wolf. She felt him almost leap out of his skin under her, a pup like whimper leaving his throat before realizing that it was just his alpha. Kiera was shocked to see the larger wolf glare at her with an intensity to rival the bear that they had just killed.
"Don't you ever," He growled at her while slightly bearing his teeth. Kiera felt her skin pale underneath her dark coat. "Do that again Kiera." He sighed before hanging his head in embarrassment.
With that, Koaki got up and started to walk back to the pack grounds while grumbling slightly to himself. Kiera composed herself and chuckled to herself, always enjoying messing with the wolf that took nothing without seriousness.
She turned her attention towards Flake who was dashing in between the two unconscious bodies, applying salves, splints, and honey with a momentum that rivaled her own speed. She trotted over to the white wolf as she worked on the wounded wolves with a gentle and tender touch, sitting down beside the seemingly lifeless grey and white wolf.
"How are they Flake?" She asked concerned, pressing a paw to the side of the wolfs neck searching for a pulse, almost cringing once she felt a line of gaps in his skin, now covering with leaves and honey preventing anymore blood loss.
"They're alive, but barely. They sure did take a beating from the bear and with how much blood the two of them lost, it'll take a while for them to recover." Flake sighed, now putting her full effort into the well built crimson furred wolf. She put pressure on his open wound all while wrapping it in a salve of loose tree leaves and stale oak tree sap. "They fought like hell."
"Seems as if they did. They did a number on the bear though." She said remembering how the previous holes that her fangs sunk into, as well as the many scratches and gashes in its skin. Come to think about it, the bear was surprisingly easy to take down for the two of them. Easier than the others that she'd hunted down in the past. They must've worn it down quite a bit.
Flake clicked her tongue at the top of her mouth feeling satisfied with her work with the two wolves. Though there were little touches here and there that she couldn't attend to due to the lack of the proper supplies. She finished wrapping up the red furred wolves salve with a double knot before standing up and sighing. She turned her gaze towards Kiera and the wolf that lay beneath her. "We need to get these guys back to the pack grounds. I need not only light but I need some other materials in order to fully patch up these guys up."
Kiera nodded in agreement, following her gaze over to the wolf that lay beneath her. "Alright, I'll go grab Koaki." She said, standing up and turning her gaze to the area around her, searching for the larger wolves silhouette. The blanket of darkness made it hard for her to make out any distinct shapes out, especially when she was searching for Koaki's pitch black fur.
Upon scanning around for a few seconds, her eyes caught onto that of a wolf's silhouette in the distance, about 50 yards away from her. Kiera started to walk over to whom she assumed was Koaki, calling out his name. "Hey Koaki, get your butt over here and help us haul these other wolves back to pack grounds."
Her words echoed in the air a moment before dissipating into the thin air. Kiera squinted her eyes trying to refine the shape a little more, feeling annoyed when the shadow remained still even after she had raised her voice at 'him.'
As she began to get closer, soon she was able to tell that the wolf wasn't the same structure as Koaki, obviously due to the difference of muscle. Step after step, she begun to manage to make out two figures rather than just one. In fact, the slight twilight that exerted from the horizon exerted enough light for her to be able to make out that the figure on top ended up being the same wolf that they had just saved.
Not only two was she incomprehensive but now she was up and on top of another darker furred wolf, engaged in a heated- Kiss?! 'What the fuck?!' She heard herself think, almost out loud. Rage started to raise from her confusion.
"Hey!" She shouted out to the two wolves, earning not even an ear flick in return. She grit her teeth in frustration before starting to run over to the pair. Her speed surprising even her.
In a matter of seconds, Kiera shoved the golden furred wolf off of the darker furred one, growing spitefully. "What the fuck is going on here!" She yelled out again, catching both of the two wolves by surprise.
Kiera felt a familiar musk start overwhelm her senses, and before she knew it, she started to turn her head in the direction of the dark furred wolf, a slight hope that whoever that laid before her was not the same canine that she assumed it was. However, once she saw the penetrating icy blue eyes glance up her, her body began to heat up.
"Kiera?" Grey asked, trying to confirm the identity of the wolf that stood above him. When his gaze fell over her eyes, he was surprised to find a ocean of sorrow behind the emerald green orbs. He felt his heart drop when he saw the tears that started to form inside of her eyes, threatening to drop over the edges in a tantalizing manner. "Kiera what's wro-" His brain finally put the two pieces together, and a tidal wave of guilt washed over him.
"Wait! Kiera, I can explain!" He exclaimed trying to disclaim what she had witnessed.
"Shut up…" Kiera growled with a ferocity that rivaled that of the bears own. Before hanging her head low letting her tears start to roll down her face. "Just…"
With what felt like a stab to the heart, she recoiled a little bit. Stepping a little off the the side still taken aback at what had just happened. She felt a cool breeze and a wave of cold brush over her similar to that of a cold front, leaving her shivering and shaking lightly. This enigma of feeling that started to rise from her core confused Kiera.
She kept her gaze to the ground, the familiar sting of betrayal returning to her tattered heart. Her body felt weak, threatening to give out on her at any moment. With the familiar pain came the memories that it originated from. Faces of the previous wolves that she had feelings for in the past started to appear in the back of her head, furthering her pain more so.
"Just… Shut up" She sighed defeated, the utter sting of rejection apart on her heavy expression. "Just be quiet." She whispered, dragging a vocal blade across Greys already guilty heart. Kiera stiffened up her body, dragging a weight that rivaled a block of lead, before turning away from him and venturing back to Flakes side. She left Grey laying there, wordless and hopeless to call out to his wounded alpha. His heart tore at him to call out her name. To beg for her to hear him out, to understand that it all happened against his will. But all that left his dry throat was soft and sorrowful whimper, knowing that, his fault or not, he opened a scar in her heart that he had worked so hard to nurture and to heal.
A/N: Pfff! You guys thought that Hutch, Garth, and Kate died. Come on now, I'm not that heartless. Well… not right now at least. Haha, hope you guys enjoyed. Have a goodnight or a good day, whichever applies to you all!