Author note
well well well ... long time no see eh ? I'm so sorry for lack of updates on story and that I didnt manage to keep my promise, had quite alot going in my life ... first I was getting more frustrated with my old job where I was overworking and getting underpayed and being unable to find better job for one and half year ... in addition problems with my family and lastly a small fear and gut feeling I was having and finaly got over with it because future events in my story will involve some of the characters causing ... issues, dont want to spoiler anything but just so you know I had trouble writeing this chapter because I didnt wanted to hurt feeling of thoes I would write about ... but enought about my life that noone came here to read about hehe. I cant promice if next chapters will come out quick but I know it wont be an over a year wait for it, I'm so sorry to everyone that waited for so god damn long for this update if there is anyone even waiting still, and I wouldnt be surprised if there wouldnt be any of those that were here before, but I will finish this story regardless of people reading it or not, as you can probobly already see, my english got better over time and I promice to sooner or later edit all the chapters because I cant stand looking at those spelling errors like writing sayed insted of said ... but with that out of the way, here it comes ...drum rolls please! ...
Chapter 29
"unwelcomed guest"
The quiet forest roared to life as me and Anadormi rushed downhill dodging trees that seemed to grow out of the ground right as we were running as we both did our best to catch the sent of missing alpha and two hunters but with little success. I was slowly getting more agitated as we were getting closer and closer to hunting grounds itself and we still couldn't locate any familiar scent.
"let's split up and circle the wash" I said to Anadormi with slight commanding voice as I was trying my best to hide that I was nervous we still didnt found their scent
"alright Sky, stay safe" Anadormi replied at first abit surprised that a younger male was commanding him what to do but in the end he didnt protested as he knew he wasnt as familiar with the territory as well as I did.
After we met echother on the other side of wash after going all around it carefully sniffing every pice of grass every bush and every tree we still found nothing, I was really starting to panic and it was getting harder and harder to hide it from Anadormi that was now by my side.
"anything ?" I asked what hopeful eyes
"n-no ..." Anadormi said after a short moment and a sigh.
"it's impossible we cant smell them ... Miakoda said they went to northern hunting grounds ... we are here
"and there is not even a smallests of scents as proof of them being here" I said growing anxious and even more nervous thinking of what could have happend but before I could think of the worst possible outcome Anadormi pulled me back to the reality with a quiet exhail and then followed by him sniffing the pathway up towards the waterfall that came into wash.
"did you found something?" I asked and walked up to him
"I think so, it's a weak scent masked by water but its there" he responded and looked at me showing me where he smell it with his snout as I came closer and inhaled myself, closing my eyes and slowly taking in the scent
"I'm pretty sure that's Cesar's scent ... but why it goes up the river ?" I asked not expecting any answered and before Anadormi got any time to think of possible reasons why I spoke up again
"come on let's follow the scent, they might need our help" I said and followed the scent with Anadormi following me closely behide.
we walked quite a distance as now I could way more clearly smell all three missing Allos but soon I came to a stop jerking my head backwards like if my snout hitted a solid wall
"what is it Skylen ? why did you stopped?" Anadormi asked and looked at me slowly comeing to my side
"I... I'm pretty sure I smell blood" I replied trying to suppress my fear of the worst and after Anadormi made it to my side I begain walking forward again then trotting into a quick jog and finaly into full on sprint after I heard distant calls of ongoing fight.
I was fearing the worst, that the rex got them or maybe a spino but after we finaly made it past one of the river's sharp turns we saw a fight that was taking place. Maka and Ragnor crouched up and ready to run into whoever dared to attack then, behide them was Cesar laying on ground and trying to clean his wounds and stop them from bleeding. He was wounded quite abit but not fatally, then I finaly focused more on fight taking place after making sure all 3 of missing pack mates were there and looked what they were up against. In a distance I could see around 6 maybe 7 ceratosauruses and both me and Anadormi sprinted into the fight to the aid of our pack mates.
"Alpha! we're comeing !" I said running towards the fight with Ana close behide me and we soon joined the fight.
"Took you long enought" said Cesar annoyed as he growled angrily because of his wounds.
"Like if it's their fault you got yourself bitten" replied Ragnor with a quick glance at Cesar and with a nod of acknowledgment of me and Anadormi comeing to their aid
"good to see you boys" siad Maka looking very intimidating and ready to lash out onto anyone that would dare to come closer then 20 meters of him.
After alittle while of a standoff between us and ceratos they finaly gave up as they couldnt find an opening to strike and the two additional allos did made their plans complicated and so soon they runned off up the hill into the forest.
"Soooo ... what the hell happend ?" I asked looking at Maka and secretly side eyeing Cesar
"Cesar got abit too excited to chase one of the ceratos and he got ambushed, good that we were there to save his scails" said Maka relatively calm "Cant blame him, we hate ceratos but he does so with burning passion ... it's going to get you killed one day Cesar" he added shortly after and looked abit disappointed on Cesar that he made such childish mistake but I could see that deep inside he was glad he was still alive
"sigh ... I told you already Maka, I'm sorry for that, I didnt noticed the other ceratos when I tried to catch one of them" Cesar tried to explain earning a quiet growl from Ragnor.
"if you would pay attention to your surroundings or at least listen to me telling you to stop it would never happend" said Ragnor, annoyed by his actions that could very possibly get him killed
"that's enough! he learned his lesson and he knows what he did wrong, you are acting like you never made a single mistake Ragnor, do you want me to point all of them out to you as well ?!" said Maka with an angry growl that demened them to stay quiet and drop the topic.
After a short moment of silence that felt like eternity I finaly spoke up
"Alpha ? ... did you manage to hunt anything down before those ceratos ambushed Cesar ? I could carry it back home with Ana" I asked offering my help whenever I could.
"No, sadly we didnt hunted anything" Maka said and sighed as he walked back up to Cesar.
After a short while of him staring at Cesar wondering what to you he turned to me and spoke up again
"Sky take Cesar back to the den, and you Ana come with us, we will go and try to find something to hunt"
"alright alpha!" both me and Anadormi said it almost at the same time and we went to do our assigned tasks.
"come on, I will try to help you stand up" I said standing by Cesar's side, offering my help to pull him up and to lean on my side if needed
"thank you" said Cesar slowly standing up with my help as he soon was standing up straight. His wounds were still bleeding quite abit be we couldnt just sit there and wait for them to close and so we begain to walk back to the den while Maka Ragnor and Anadormi went the opposite way in hopes of finding prey that didn't got spooked by the fight they had.
As I was escorting Cesar to the den site my right side was quickly getting covered with his blood as he had few quite deep wounds on his side around the chest area. I let out a quiet sigh as we walked up the hill as I felt sorry for Cesar since I knew more then enought that I would also get fixated on that cerato and not pay attention to my surroundings.
"Cesar?" I asked quietly
"yes ? what is it Sky ?" he replied shortly after.
"my I ask you ... why you hate those ceratos that much ?"
"you are saying it as if you didn't hold a same hate towards rexes"
"m-may I asked what had happend ?" I said quietly and lowered my head down in respect
"sigh fine" Cesar said and we slowed our walk "when I was an adolescent, abit younger then you are now, I was takeing care of my younger siblings ... " I could see in his eyes it cause the pain to him to revisit his past but it was also mixed with alot of anger.
As he was having troubles to continue his story I spoke up
"hey it's fine Cesar, I think I know what you are trying to say ... I know that pain ... all too well" i said and tried to comfort him but he shaked his head and raided it high again in attempt to not show the pain of his past be seen by someone like me.
"let's hurry to the den site, at this pace Alpha will be there before us with a kill" he said and and tried to walk on his own but he begain losing footing when he left my side and so I dashed forward to support him again and we continued walking in silence to the den.
After some time we made it up to the meadow near the den site as we got greeted by rest of the pack with Miakoda on front
"Cesar! Skylen! what happened !?" said Miakoda clearly terrified from the blood on both my and Cesar.
"he was..."
"I was trying to catch and kill a cerato but I got ambushed" said Cesar stopping me from trying to explain.
"and what happened to you Sky?" asked Miakoda again looking at the blood dripping down my side.
"nothing happened to me, its Cesar's blood" I explained as I still stood by Cesar's side to support him
"and what about the others ? did they stayed to fight ceratos?" asked Miakoda once more as she was still nervous but not as much as before since she knew the rest was only dealing with ceratos.
"they went to find something to hunt, alpha took Anadormi with him to help them hunt" I explained and as Kaasari walked up to us closer and licked her mate on his right side licking some of his wounds.
"can you help me get him to the den ?" she asked looking at me
"of course I can,lead the way" I said and we soon walked up towards the dens and then Taiinu walked out of the den with Trikk and Zeke right behide her with questioning eyes
"what happened ? where is my brother" she asked as she was clearly scared about what had happend.
"dont worry he is alright, he went to hunt with Alpha and Ragnor, they will be back soon" I replied trying to reassure her "dont worry I will come soon to the den just need to help Cesar get to his" I added after short pause and walked towards the other den, helping to get Cesar near the nest as then he layed down and Kaasari already begain licking his wounds clean as he was letting out a low growl when the pain was getting abit too hard to hide when his mate licked the deeper wounds of his.
soon I was walking to my den to sit with Taiinu and keep her company
"I'm here now, are you okay Taiinu ?" I asked quietly with a soft voice trying to be as much comforting as I could
"yes ... i am j-just shocked" she replied as I walked inside the den and she jumped up in the nest "Sky ! you are bleeding !" she added with a worried voice
"what ? ooh that ... no it's not my blood dont worry, its Cesar's, give me a moment I will go quickly clean it off in a river" i said and smiled to show I was fine and soon I left quickly before she could protest about it.
I quickly made my way down to the river slowly walking inside of it and almost laying down letting the moveing water to clean my side covered with blood.
after few minutes I was walking back up the hill and into my den
"I'm back, once more" I said quietly, with a smile now walking inside complitly
"you know I could have just cleaned it right?" said Taiinu with ever so slighty disappointed voice "it should be my task to do so, as a pack mate I supposed to care for thoes around me, let alone it helps tighten up a bond between pack members" she added before I could have explained and then I just stood there still as a tree when I listened to what she said
"o-oh I'm sorry Taiinu ... I didnt knew ... I'm not that long in this pack to have gotten myself to the point where I needed to be cleaned yet" I said abit ashamed I didnt knew it
"how can you not know it ? you had to be in the pack before right you said you had one ?" she asked abit surprised I didnt knew it
"sigh ... yes I had a pack before ... but I lost it when I was just a juvenile... as I said before, we got attacked by rexes and I was only one that survived and well this pack is my second pack I ever had" i tried to explain and not mention the family of gigas I lived with for a long time, but I didnt knew how she would react to that fact.
"oh ... I thought you lost your pack recently, it sounds almsot impossible you survived alone until now" she said and I didnt knew what to say because I would eather have to lie or say truth and risk her not feeling safe and lose trust to me so for a quite long time it was silence as none of us spoke.
"is something wrong?" she asked worried
"n-nothing I just ... dont know what to say Taiinu ... its really complicated" I said and layed walked up to the nest to lay down on its edge of it letting out a sigh as Taiinu looked at me and her brothers looked at me and at their sister as they were confused.
few quiet minutes had passed as I aimlessly looked outside the den not realizing Taiinu finaly stood up just to lay down by my side whitch got me back to reality from being lost in my thoughts
"why you dont want to tell me what's wrong Sky ? maybe I can help you" she said looking at me with careing eyes.
"I told you its complicated ... I'm afraid you wont understand and ..."
"then help me understand" she stopped me mid sentence with eyes giving a demanding expression
"sigh fine ... but please ... can you promise me that you wont think of me in other way then you are now ?" I said with quiet and hopeful voice
"huh? why ? why would I think of you differently?" she asked confused
"just promise" I repeated my request and looked at her
"I promise Sky" she said and gave a gentle poke with her nose against my shoulder.
"o-okay ... so ... after some time of me living alone just shortly after I became adolescents ... I met a giga ... she took me to her den, to her family, she adopted me and took care of me, as if I was always her son" I said and looked into Taiinu's eyes seeing alot of emotions but none of them were anger, disappointment or distrust.
"oh ... I see" she paused for a moment thinking about all she heard "you are quite lucky you met her then, and that you have became her son, but ... why did you left them then ?"
"I didnt really left them, i am part of a pack but i sometimes go to visit my family, luckily they dont live too far from her just few hours of walk" I said and gave a small smile whitch she returned.
"then tell me why did you thought I would look at you differently?" she asked and tilted her head to the side.
"I thought you would nolonger trust me" I said trying to explain.
she smiled and gave a quiet giggle "you are so silly Skylen, maybe if i didnt saw you stay on our side when we got found by your pack and talking with your alpha to let Anadormi be tested and as a result to let us stay and be part of the pack maybe then I wouldnt feel on edge now but I trust you because you helped stay here" she explained and stayed by my side with a quiet purr that I returned.
for a while we were talking and jokeing around while Trikk and Zeke played in a cave before we heard cries of joy outside to whitch both me and Taiinu came out of the den to see what was going on.
It was Maka Ragnor and Anadormi carrying two parasaur one slightly smaller then the other, everyone sounded so happy at this sight while I wondered how does the parasaur meat taste while Taiinu and her brothers already runned out from the den to greet Amadormi.
I smiled and stood by the cave entrance and watched for a moment before I heard my name being said and I turned my head to it source. It was Maka
"Skylen come, i need to talk with you" he said to whitch I nodded and trotted over to Alpha's den and slowly entered it to see what Alpha needed from me
"yes Alpha ? what is it?" I said and looked at Maka.
"I wanted to thank you for helping with getting Cesar back safely to his den" he said to whitch I was about to say thank you but I was stope before I could even make a single sound "and I need you to expand your patrols to not just wash but to where those ceratos where seen, and down the river following it. Also you are not allowed to go alone anymore, from now on noone leaves alone until we wont find thoes ceratos or until we wont make sure they are gone understood ?" he added with so demanding and strict voice that just thinking of disagreeing and not obeying his order could make your heart race and shiver.
"Yes alpha, I understand" i replied with no sign of doubt
"good, from now on you will take Ragnor and Anadormi with you on patrols to both cover more ground and to fight off potential threats, and Ragnor will be the leader then so you listen to him like if it was me myself" Maka said to whitch I nodded
"alright alpha, I will try my best to find and kill those ceratos" I said puffing my chest out with pride to show I want to avenge Cesar's wounds
"good, now go, eat and rest, it's too late for patrolling today but tomorrow early morning you are going to try and follow the scent of those ceratos" said Maka.
"okay Maka, I will do so" i said and backed away from the den and went to eat and I saw everyone already fisting on the fresh kill while I heard Maka and Miakoda talking about something but I didnt stopped to listen and soon I was right beside the parasuar's body.
"Dig in Sky" I heard someone's muffled voice and then I saw Ragnor's head lifting up with a pice of meat in his maw swallowing it soon after "it's the best one you ever ate, I can bet you never had it in your life otherwhise you would be already drolling just as it sight" he added and went back to eating as I then also begain eating
'oh my holy theri this is amazing!' I said to myself in my head as I soon begain eating quickly as if I didnt had meat in my maw in weeks to whitch some of others eating chuckled as they realised it was my first time eating this delicacy.
after some time I was full, i ate more then usually and i was now laying down in the nest of our den with Anadormi, Taiinu, Trikk and Zeke all of us having nicely rounded stomach
"damn, I have never ate so much in my life" I said laying on my side
"hehe yea this is the best meat you will ever have, its soo good" said Anadormi followed by Taiinu, Trikk, Zeke agreeing with him.
we all laughed and enjoyed our early evening time before we would eventually all fall asleep.