Chapter 20

Baffin Island

"We're almost there, Claws!" Kate shouted. "Can you hold up for a bit longer? It's only ten feet away!"

"I can hold up, but I'm getting sick of swimming in ice-cold water every morning!" Claws shouted back. "I'm freezing my pregnant belly off!" she added in serious, yet joking voice. "I hope these pups are gonna be alright when we reach this damn island!"

When the wolves and the crow finally reached Baffin Island, most of them were shuddering because of how cold they were because of the water, which was always cold in the morning until about midday. Claws was the coldest of them all, partially due to her pregnancy. Claudette, Runt, Stinky, Mica, and Magril gathered around Claws on all sides. They were using their combined body heats to keep Claws and each other warm. The adults were doing that, Scava included. Right now, Scava didn't care whom he was sharing body heat with so long as he didn't freezing to death! He'd rather being sharing body heat with Omegas and Jasper wolves than freeze to death when he was so close to freedom. He was so cold that the one eye he had left was hurting. The black cloth mask he'd stolen to hide his mutilated face wasn't doing much to keep his face warm. It was soaking wet. Kate thought he was stupid for keeping the fucking thing on.

"Take that damned thing off, Scava," Kate snapped. "It's soaking wet and I'm not surprised you're colder than the rest of us! Use your brain, Scava!"

Snippy bitch, Scava thought, but instead he said, "Fine." Then he took the mask off, and threw the soaking wet cloth on the ground. His face had been mutilated by Princess worse than they thought. There was no fur on the right side where she'd clawed him. His right eye was gone, and his ear was torn off on that side. It was just a pink, almost bloody colored flesh on the entire right side of his face. His eye socket was empty, but his flesh was starting to grow over the wound. They could tell what was going on with his eye regardless of the eye patch, which was, remarkably, still dry. It was the driest thing here, excluding Marco. But even Marco was wet because of the water. He'd been splashed by the currents as he'd flown over the bay, but he was drier than any of the wolves who were shivering were. The wolves would occasionally shake their bodies to get the water off themselves, but even when that action got them dry, they were still shivering. They moved to do a dry patch of earth, where the little water left on them soaked into the ground, leaving it dry. Yet the wolves were still freezing cold, but at least they had more body heat to share.

Claws was the wolf who warmed up entirely, and she was thankful of that. She didn't know how badly her unborn puppies, whom could come out at any time now, had been affected by the cold and the ice water. She hoped that she was affected worse by it than her unborn puppies had. For Scar's sake, Claws and her puppies had to all survive. Being on Baffin Island greatly increased everyone's chances at survival because it was not on or anywhere near a fault line. It was so far away from any faults that even another 10.5 earthquake, like the one that destroyed The Howling Rock, would hardly have any affect this massive island.

Obviously, once everyone warmed up, they would not stay at the coastline of the island but would move to the center. Not only was it too high of a risk to stay here because of possible hurricanes and other usually tropical storms, no one would look for them here. If what Marco, the crow, had said about seeing survivors was true, and if they were Jasper wolves, the wolves he saw and any other survivors would've moved to the center of the island, where it was safer than anywhere else. And when they got there, Kate and Humphrey would demand that Scava find another wolf pack, or remnants of one, to live with. Because of what happened to Princess, they would never let him join their pack again. And hopefully Claws gave birth after they reached the center of the island, where there sure would be caves and dens for all the wolves to live in.

"Claudette, Runt, Stinky," Kate began instructing her and Humphrey's children, "I want you to take Claws, Mica, and Magril with you now to the center of the island. You all move so much faster than we do, and that is a good thing. We can't afford to waste time for Claws's sake. If she gives birth here, there won't be any good or safe places to create a den for her. You must get her to the center of the island now."

"What about you?" Claws asked.

"We'll catch up as soon as we can," Humphrey said. "Kate, Scava, Marco, and I will follow you, but I want you to get there long before us. Marco will hopefully be able to scout from the air and find a faster path to the center of the island for us. Maybe even let us know if there are any wolves there, besides all of you eventually, and dens there for us all to live in."

"Be careful, you three," Claws said to Kate, Lilly, and Humphrey, without even looking at Scava. She didn't say it to him because she wanted him to fall in a fucking ditch and laid on a sharp rock that could send his entrails right out of his fucking body! Claws knew damn well that Scava killed Princess. She wasn't some stupid female like the one she was sure Scava thought she was! Claws was smart enough to know that Scava killed Princess. There was no denying that given the facts. Scava hated Princess and she'd hated him. Not to mention how she'd threatened his life when they first met and then tore half his face off. It was too obvious, given all that, that he'd killed Princess. She didn't want to leave Kate, Lilly, and Humphrey with that fucker for one second. She feared that Scava would do something to Kate or Humphrey like he did to Princess. Maybe even both of them! But what could see do? She was pregnant and the others didn't have as much experience as she did. Not even Claudette, Stinky, Mica, and Magril, who were all Alpha wolves, had as much as experience as Claws did. "You pull any of the bullshit you did with Princess," Claws warned Scava, "and I'll see to it myself you die the most brutal death possible when I see you again. I don't care if you saved my life. What you did to Princess makes that meaningless to me, you piece of shit. I hope you don't make it to the center of the island. I'm sick and tired of seeing your ugly face every time I turn around. I'd like to tear the other half off and feed it those wolverines that killed Princess."

Claws left with the five adolescent wolves before Scava had a chance to retort.

He almost said, "I'd like to tear that bitch's unborn puppies right out of her," but he remembered how Kate, Lilly, and Humphrey weren't very far away from him. So he said nothing about her.

"We're leaving now, correct?" Lilly asked her older sister.

"Not quite yet," Kate said. "I can sense how tired you two are. I think we may rest up for an hour before we go." Kate looked up at the tree branch just over her. "Marco, I want you to go with the others, and let them know we're going to rest up for an hour before we go. Make sure you let them know that Lilly and Humphrey are tired."

Marco flew in Claws and the others' direction without saying anything. When the crow was out of sight, Scava thought, Good. One less I'll have to kill. These two have—He was referring to Kate and Humphrey—slandered me for the last time. Claws said she'd kill me as brutally as possible, well, she's my inspiration for what I'm gonna do to them as soon as I get a chance. I have nothing against Lilly, but I can't let there be any witnesses to what I do...I'm sick of them treating me like dirt! They're gonna find out who I really am within the next hour!