Rosaline, sticking to her promise, kept her pace at an easy lope as she climbed up the mountains, following the scent her mate had left the last time he had gone back to his pack. The scent was two months old but she could still follow it, since it hadn't rained and the wind hadn't been too strong. Rosaline loved to hunt, enjoying the sensation of chasing down her prey. She tried to keep herself from getting sidetrack, but the smell of rabbit drifted over her nose and she went chase after it as she realized she was starving. As opposed to the first few weeks of her pregnancy when she had no appetite at all, she had begun to finally feel like she was eating for two. She made short work of the rabbit and was on the trail again. It was hard to track, but she found the scent.
Darkness fell and Rosaline debated stopping to rest but she decided that she could rest when she saw Kouga. Plus, she enjoyed traveling at night. She loved the sounds of the crickets and the stream that ran down the mountain and the scents of nocturnal predators and prey. She loved the cool of the night as well as the fact that she felt safer in the cloak of darkness.
She slowed as the mountain became steeper and she became tired. Inuyasha was right, she thought vehemently, thinking of his remark about her being slower and quicker to tire, I hate it when he's right! She finally forced herself to rest, burrowing a nest in the grass where she was warm and she could smell danger if it advanced on her. She slept, her tail draped over her nose. She tilted her ears forward, her nose twitching to take in the scents around her, part of her brain staying alert as she slept.
Rosaline woke with the familiar feeling that her stomach was doing cartwheels. She grouped in her pocket for those nasty tasteless crackers that Kagome had brought her from her time. She had called them saltines. Rosaline didn't like them much, but they settled her stomach. As she rested, her stomach slowly feeling better as she twitched her nose, feeling the shifts and changes in the air pressure, finding Kouga's faint scent. She closed her eyes to focus on the two month old trail as she stood, feeling a little dizzy as she shifted forms. Her pace was slower this time, seeing as she was still a little tired and nauseated. That and the scent was more scattered in the higher altitude as the wind picked up and the air thinned. Her pace also slowed as the air thinned, being harder to breath.
She rested when she reached the peak, lapping some cold water from the stream and finishing off the rest of her crackers as the baby fidgeted restless while she panted. Rosaline nuzzled her belly, willing the baby to stop her incessant kicking. The pup didn't seem to want to oblige. Rosaline was forcefully reminded of what her mother used to say about her and her sister. I knew from the time you girls were in the womb that you would be sisters. You used to fight so much and kick the hell out of me until I told you that when you came out I would knock you both silly. Hearing that had always made her laugh, but, thinking about it now after her mother had died made her miss her more. She also missed her sister, who had chosen to stay with her mate.
Rosaline stood and continued on her journey. Kouga's scent was too faint to follow now so she went mostly on instinct and her sense of direction. She knew that the wolves usually stuck close to the mountains. She was loping again, her energy returning as the morning sickness faded. As she loped down the south side of the mountain, she finally caught the scent of the wolves. With an excited yip, she tore after it, easing herself down the steepest part of the mountain. She had shifted to human form by now, needing the use of her thumbs to climb. She heard a growl below her and saw a large brown wolf. She clambered down and shifted forms, sniffing noses with him. She barked at him, asking him where Kouga was. He wagged his tail, and beckoned her to follow him and she obliged, following him inside a cave. She dropped her tail and sniffed for Kouga. "Rosaline!" said a familiar voice and she smiled as Ginta and Hakkaku swooped down on her.
"Guys!" she barked.
"Hey, I didn't know you were pregnant!" Ginta said with a laugh as Rosaline shifted forms. Some of the other wolves growled but backed off, sensing she was with child and knowing she was Kouga's mate. Rosaline lowered her head submissively, not in the mood to fight. "Is that why you're looking for Kouga?"
"Yes. I wanted to tell him." Hakkaku giggled. Rosaline had instinctively liked them both from the moment she had met them.
"You don't look all that pregnant yet," Hakkaku was saying.
"You guys want to feel the baby move?" They both nodded and she directed them to where the baby was shifting uncomfortably. Both wolves pressed their fingers to her abdomen.
"That is so cool. Kouga's outside hunting." She nodded as the let her go and she shifted forms again, darting outside, catching Kouga's scent on the breeze. She slid down the embankment and saw her mate sitting by the stream. He turned around, looking at her in complete shock, tilting his head.
"Hey," he said finally, his face breaking into a smile as he stood to hold her close, kissing her cheek and forehead before finally kissing her lips. She slowly worked her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss, his hands locking on her waist, pulling her slender form closer to his. "How and the hell did you get here?"
"I walked. Why?"
"Did you come by yourself or did the mutt and the humans come with you?"
"I'm by myself."
"Are you crazy? You could have gotten hurt."
"I am very capable of taking care of myself, thank-you," she snapped. He chuckled and silenced her with another kiss.