Chapter 5

Clover's First Gift

Tim's POV

Jerry and I were cleaning up from lunch. I threw away the feathers and guts. Luckily, the garbage would picked up tomorrow. I didn't want to deal with the smell. Jerry washed the dishes. It was mostly quiet up until he spoke.

"Samantha must be from the local pack. Probably split from it to look for a mate." Jerry said.

"I assume that visits are unusual." I washed my hands.

"There are some stories about Satyrs befriending the townsfolk, but it's to be taken with a grain of salt." He explained.

"I see. I suppose this was a one time thing." I hummed.

"I believe so. Samantha wanted to thank you." Jerry agreed.

"Let's finish this up." I went to the dishwasher.

Tim's POV End

Sam's POV

The girls marked me when I got back. They were worried when I hadn't come back for lunch. I reassured them I was fine. I had found a place to wait out the flurry. Then I told them about Mandy and her pack.

"I can't believe the nerve of her! Trying to steal our food." Clover fumed.

"They just wanted some easy food." Britney said.

"Yeah, but I stopped them. So, what are we doing for the afternoon?" I asked.

"We need to check the blankets for tears, get more firewood, sweep the cave, and I'd like to check the west part of our territory." Clover thought.

"I'll get more firewood." Alex said.

"I'll sweep." Britney said.

"Good, Sammie will come with me." Clover smiled.

"Huh?" I frowned.

"It won't be that long. Just a quick check and then we'll come back." She insisted.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Love you, Sammie." She nuzzled me.

"Love you too." I smiled a little bit.

We went to go do our tasks. Clover and I walked out to the edge of our territory. There wasn't a lot to look at. Just some bushes scattered throughout the forest floor. We renewed the marks on our marking trees. As we went south, we smelt an Alpha male near our territory. He started to call out when he smelt us. We went to check it out. There were some rabbits waiting for us near Clover's marking tree. The Alpha was quiet now.

"There's enough for the whole pack." I said.

Clover inspected the rabbits. She deemed them satisfactory and picked them up. The Alpha, which now I realized was Blaine, purred. He left after we moved on. Clover was excited, but I got her calm down enough to focus. It was a little infectious though. We finished our patrol and went back to the cave. It was getting dark when we had gotten back. Britney and Alex were mending the blankets. The cave was free of fur clumps and there was more firewood.

"You're back!" Alex smiled.

"When did you go hunt?" Britney asked.

"Blaine gave me a courting gift!" Clover squealed.

"Really?!" Alex stood up and hugged her. "That's so awesome!"

"They're gonna be so good for dinner." Britney licked her lips.

"Good, cause you're gonna help Clover cook tonight. I'm going to rest." I said.

"Aw, Sammie!" She whined.

"Nope, you getta do it." I laid in my nest.

"Fine." She pouted.

Clover and Britney started skinning the rabbits and cooking them. We'd figure out what to do with the fur later. Alex finished up the blankets. After she was done, she put them away and sat near me.

"So..." She waited.

"So what?" I asked.

"So what happened?!" Alex asked again.

"We just remarked the trees and then we headed south. Then we smelled him, but I didn't realize it was him until later. I think the wind was against him since he didn't start calling until we were closer. The rabbits were near the creek clearing trees. Clover accepted the gift then we finished patrol." I summarized.

"That's it?" She frowned.

"It's just the first gift, Alex. There'll be more." I stretched.

"Yeah, I guess. I was hoping it'd be a little more romantic." Her ears swiveled.

"Dinner's ready." Clover called us.

"There's no flowers right now. It's too cold." I got up.

We ate dinner and talked more about our day. It was had been relatively quiet for the most part. Alex said there wasn't anything unusual in the north part. Britney said the same about the south. That was good. I thought back on my day. Going to Tim's had been... intriguing. It showed me a different side to humans. Tim was nice and a very good cook. My gift was made into a good meal. But I couldn't tell the girls anything. I had already lied about the hunters. Was it too late to tell the truth? I didn't know. Maybe they'd understand? I decided that I'd tell them in a bit. After the excitement of getting a courting gift settled down. We put out the fire and went to sleep.