The storm wailed for what felt like days, and truly it had. Though the three did not know it, three days had passed before the skies began to lighten and this beast of a storm began to pull away. The system was stuck in this push and pull like the tide, hours of calm followed by hours of anger. Father used to calmer times to go find small prey for them all to eat to keep them from going too hungry, though there were times that he came back empty-handed or short-handed. Usually in those times he sacrificed his share to Pup, but always felt guilty when he came back with nothing. He disliked seeing Pup's disappointed look while his stomach rumbled in a plea for food.
But now with the storm finally seeming to lift, they could leave the cave and go on a proper hunt. The three slowly emerged from the cave's mouth, each stretching in their own unique ways; Father pulled his arms high above his head and turned his back side to side, Pup dipped into a play bow and swayed back and forth, and Grey Lady merely walked off her aching, aging joints. She would not go on the hunt. Father inspected his crossbow, preparing the arrows and the weights so that he could take down something larger for them. Pup seemed excited to tag along, prancing around Father excitedly as he prepared. "What are we gonna go after, Father? I'm so hungry I could eat an elk all by myself!" Father chuckled, ruffling the top of Pup's head. "Won't be bringing anything that big. But you're staying here with Grey Lady. I'm going alone," he said, to which Pup growled in protest. "No fair! I want to help!" he replied, to which Father shushed him. "When you're bigger we can hunt together. For now, stay," he firmly told Pup and before he could hear another protest Father was already gone from sight.
Father stalked the woods for hours, looking for anything to help him. The scent of prey was mottled by the recent storm, the tracks washed away. He was relying on his eyes alone, at least until things dried up a bit. With his crossbow set and readied he silently stalked a good area of the forest until he saw between a couple of trees something feasible to take down. It was a buck, not too old by the looks of him. His horns were not as grand as older ones were, which meant this one was not as seasoned as the rest. Father grinned, crouching low to the ground as he began his approach. Just stay still, it'll be over soon.
He then stopped a safe distance away, drawing his crossbow and looking down the sights to aim. He was debating on going for the head or the chest; both would be feasible as the buck was still quite oblivious to Father's presence as it grazed on the soggy grass below them. After a few moments Father settled on aiming for the chest, readying his shot. He took a deep breath, finger on the trigger when suddenly out of nowhere he saw something charge forward and take the buck down by the neck. He was shocked at first, the blur of pale gold messing with his senses. "Kali?" he whispered to himself that being his first thought and he stupidly went running forward. Why he thought that the blur was Kali he did not know but he felt strongly about it for some reason. "Kali!" he yelled again, running towards the scene expecting to see a blue-eyed, collared lion with its jaws around his kill.
Yet, as he got closer he skidded to a halt. That pale gold blur turned into a sandy bulk of muscle, sleeker than a lion's frame. It was no lion, but a hillcat. A normal, wild hillcat. The mountain lion drew its mouth from the buck's neck and glared at Father, its ears flattening against its skull before it gave low growl and hiss at him. He growled back at the cat but instead of challenging it for the kill he let it go, backing away back into his hunt. He sighed to himself, rubbing his face a bit. Maybe he was a little disappointed that it wasn't Kali. But honestly, he should have known better. She would never come this far north. Turning about he moved on, resuming his hunt.
It would be hours before he saw anything else but finally, when the sun was past its highest point in the sky, he spotted another buck. This one was older than the previous target, wiser but was just as hungry from being cooped up due to the storm. The buck grazed warily, and luckily enough Father was downwind so the buck never saw him. Father coiled, setting hit shot up once more and instead of dilly-dallying around with where to shoot he merely took a quick glance down the sights before he pulled the trigger and sent an arrow into the buck's heart. It bugled a painful call before it fell, at which Father quickly approached and shot the buck in the head to end its suffering. Pulling the arrows out he set them back up on his crossbow, hoisting the buck up to carry it the long way back to the cave.
As the sky turned pink and orange, he began to approach the last set of trees that separated the forest from the clearing around the cave. There were fallen trunks he had to maneuver over, but otherwise things weren't terrible. However, as he grew close a menagerie of scents hit his senses like a brick wall and he paused. Inhaling deeply and multiple times, he soon differentiated each; he detected one bear and...no. Father snarled, throwing his kill to the ground as he started to run as fast as his legs could carry him. He pushed past the trees and into the clearing, running towards the cave to where he skidded to a halt again. Frozen like a deer in the headlights, he looked in horror at what he saw.
There was blood everywhere. He hadn't seen so much in so long, and it absolutely terrified him. It shook him to the core, which almost brought him to his knees right then and there. But his pounding heart and racing adrenaline kept him standing and he took a panicked look around. Amongst the blood he saw what looked to be the silvery (though now blood-stained) Grey Lady, flat out on the ground and barely breathing. And Pup...Father growled and he ran over to Grey Lady's side where he surveyed the damage. She was badly wounded and looked like she had fought something off. The bear? Her body was ripped apart, bleeding profusely and it was remarkable that Grey Lady was even alive. He held her head, careful not to move her too much as to not injure her further. "What happened? What did this?" he urged, hoping she could answer. Grey Lady painfully opened her eyes halfway, struggling to breathe. "Bear...m-mother. Was her den. Cubs gone...so she...she took..." she struggled to say, coughing as she got the last bit out. She paused then, her eyes tearing up as she drew in a last deep breath. "P-pup is no longer...w-with us..." she heaved and as the breath left her body so did her life. She grew limp, eyes shut and her heart slowed to a halt. Grey Lady was dead.
Father snarled, setting her head down on the ground before he slammed his hands down onto the muddy ground. No, not again. He'd already lost his pack once. This was supposed to be their chance to start anew, to rebuild and grow once more. Not to be destroyed yet again by some outside influence. She stumbled to his feet and started to frantically look about, finding the bear's tracks and he was determined to follow them and kill the bear. Mother or not, her rage was not acceptable. He would get his vengeance. He was going to put an arrow right through that bear's head right between the eyes. He was sure of it.
Stumbling along the trail, he didn't get too far before he saw something that almost made his heart stop. A small, blood-stained lump of a body lay on the side of the bear's tracks that continued on, and Father was almost too scared to go over and investigate. Yet he somehow mustered the courage to do it, swallowing the fear and cautiously approaching the lifeless form. He prayed that it was not Pup. He prayed that it was some other pack's foolish get, and that Pup was still out there somewhere. But as he grew closer, his fears were realized. Falling to his knees, Father scooped up the lifeless and mangled Pup into his arms. He listened for a heartbeat foolishly, but upon hearing silence he buried his face into Pup's cold and bloodied chest. It was then that Kyle began to sob angry, forlorn tears into his ward's limp fur.
For he was not Father any longer.