A/N: I finally finished this rewrite. Took me quite some time, but the truth is that I have been lazy, terribly lazy~~
"What? Rabbits? Fish?" Pale Moon repeated what I had said earlier.
I nodded at him. Being lectured about hunting by a wolf that almost managed to starve herself to death probably wasn't the greatest idea ever, but somebody had to tell him.
"But those are just…snacks," he started saying.
"Here, they help you get through those failed hunts," I interrupted him. He looked slightly doubtful when I said the word 'failed'. Where we lived previously, prey was handed out in a silver platter and a failure was extremely rare, but that wasn't how it works here. Prey here actually runs, and they were quite fast when they did.
It had been hard to get used to the decreased food supply when I first came here, but father refused to turn back. Even though I had been here a year or so, I never started hunting until that day.
"So you are saying that I should focus on rabbits first?" Moon asked.
"Yes, fishes too," I replied. Moon grimaced. I raised an eyebrow.
"No fishes," he said firmly, "and that's final."
"Survival first…" I started, and then paused.
"Yeah, yeah, preference later," he grinned, "I could live on earthworms."
I went through my mind, wondering if there was anything important that I had neglected telling Moon. I had mentioned the bears, the prey, prey gathering hotspots, scavengers…but there seemed to be something that kept on slipping my mind.
XXXXX
"You let him escape after a confrontation?"
I nodded.
"That's not like you," Shadow growled suspiciously.
That was the reason I had tried to avoid telling him. But being the one that catches on to everything, it wasn't long before he knew.
"What? Suspecting me of double dealing?" I sneered.
"You could be doing so, Midnight," he narrowed his eyes.
I smiled at him. He had plenty of suspicions, but he couldn't do much about them. Not while I was Beta.
Midnight was not my real name. I was born Lucas but I changed it immediately when I joined Blackwatch.
"You better find that wolf," he growled, "or the Alpha will hear about this."
There was a glint to his eyes, "or better yet, I will hunt him down."
I had pity for my enemies. And I would not wish anyone to be murdered by Shadow, not even my most hated.
XXXXX
We scouted the area for prey. Angel was still uncomfortable with walking with only three legs, while constantly avoiding hurting her injured leg, but she managed. I had to slow down slightly for her to catch up.
But despite the setbacks, we quickly spotted a herd of deer, at the edge of the forest, grazing rather contently on patches of grass.
Compared to the cows that we hunted back home, these deer didn't seem like much. I quickly discovered that they were not as weak as they looked. After spotting us, the entire herd bolted like lightning.
Despite Angel's previous warnings about how prey would try to escape, I wasn't much prepared for it. I didn't react well to the sudden change from docile grazers to jet planes.
I stood there for a blank moment, while Angel attempted to chase after the herd. I stopped for only a second, but that was enough for them to reach somewhere far, far away.
Of course, I tried to make up for the lost second, but by the disappointed look that she had when I saw her limping back during my desperate sprint, I could tell that I was too late for venison.
My first real hunt and I truly blew it.
XXXXX
I tore the strips of flesh off gleefully, savoring the pleasant taste of food. Pale Moon watched me with a faint disgusted look on his face.
It had been a lucky catch, scoring me a rather large fish.
(Flashback)
"I can't believe that I am really trying to fish here," Moon muttered.
"We didn't get the deer," I retorted.
A guilty look crossed his face for a moment, "I guess you're right." He looked at me with a prompting look on his face, "so how do I start?"
"Well…spot the fish, and then catch it," I said bluntly.
"What? You expect me to dip my muzzle in-"he thrust his muzzle quickly into the water.
(End)
Believe it or not, he actually came back up with a fish. He was as surprised as I was.