In the middle of the night, the wind outside was wildly blowing at the trees and the snow was falling down. Everyone of the herd members were sleeping in the 2 caves. In the Sabre cave, Diego and Shira were still lying close together, only Shira had turned around so that she was facing Diego -who had moved so that he wasn't on top of her any more- her chest pressed against his as they slept. Diego woke up, before dawn, to feel Shira's paws draped across his neck. He smiled softly to himself and just lay still.
"Are you awake?" Shira's voice filled the cave. She moved off of him and lay her head by his.
"Yeah. What are you doing up this early?"
"I usually wake up between now and dawn to go for a run. But with the Blizzard, it looks like I am stuck in here with you." Shira pretended to be sad about being there with him, but she couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face when she saw his Emerald green eyes looking lovingly at her.
"You don't sound to happy about that." Diego said as he leaned his head up so he could lick the back of her neck.
"Depends." Shira smirked.
"How can I change your mind?" Diego asked seductively.
Both Sabres began purring and were about to kiss when they heard someone calling them from the front of the cave. Shira stood and walked away from Diego, who sighed in annoyance before walking after Shira. As the two emerged from the darkness from the back of the cave, they saw Many stood close to the entrance brushing snow off of himself.
"Hey Manny, what you doing here." Diego asked the mammoth
"I just came to see if you guys were OK in here by yourselves."
"Yeah we're fine Manny. Aren't we Diego?" Diego nodded, and nipped Shira's ear. Manny looked at the Sabre's suspiciously.
"Is there something going on here that I don't know about?"
"Manny, if it was anything that concerned you, I'd tell you. But seen as it doesn't, we aren't saying anything for now." Diego tried to say this in the most polite way possible. Manny knows that Diego isn't one for sharing his private life. Deciding to leave it at that, Manny said his goodbyes then ran back to the cave.
"Shira, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what was your family like?" Diego asked as the two lay back down together.
"My family. They were... great I guess. Me and my brother, Mikael, used to play around a lot and pull pranks on everyone. My mom, Esther, and dad, Ari, were the best. They were a perfect of example that sometimes love does last forever." Shira licked Diego under his chin and nuzzled him affectionately.
"What then why did you leave?"
"Because my pack was half white Sabres and half Tawny. And my dad was the Pack Leader and there was this other male and his son who thought that the leader shouldn't be... well, my colour because there aren't very many Silver Sabres around any more. Then one day my dad died in a hunting accident; apparently a buck trampled him. The whole pack took it badly, me especially. I stopped hanging around with my brother; moved into a cave by myself by the Pack's main cave; and just basically shut everyone out. I found out when I was a teen that the Sabre who wanted to be Alpha, he'd gone out
hunting with my dad and his son that day and when the deer started to charge, they left my dad there to get trampled. That's the day I left."
Diego pulled Shira close to him and nuzzled her, tears were in her eyes. But Shira wasn't finished.
"Before he died, my dad had decided that to keep the pack happy, I was supposed to marry his killers son, Alexander. When I was little I didn't pay much attention to stuff like that, but when I found out he was there the day my dad died... I couldn't marry him." Diego felt something deep inside him.
Jealousy. This Alexander was supposed to marry Shira; his Kitty. But Alexander was long gone now. Shira was his. Only his.
"What about your family? What were the like?" Shira licked Diego's paw, which was across her stomach.
"I didn't really know my mom, she died when I was young. My dad was Pack Leader and my Half brother, Soto, was next in line. One day, humans came and killed half our Pack, including my dad. When Soto became Alpha, he became obsessed with getting back at the humans so he sent me to go and take the
Human leaders young baby." Diego told Shira about the baby, Soto, meeting Manny and Sid, almost dying.
"Wow. Diego, you were really brave." Diego made a sound that implied he was going to say 'Yeah, sure I was.'
"No Diego, I'm serious. It takes a lot to stand up to a family member like that." Shira nuzzled Diego affectionately. He perked up when she began licking his chest and neck. Diego licked her back.
Shira rolled over onto her back and began purring. Standing up, Diego stood over Shira and began licking her belly, causing her purring to get louder. He licked her stomach, went up to her neck and cheeks; he then kissed her full force on the lips. Once again, Shira brought her paws up to his shoulder and began scratching then gently. As things began getting more passionate between the two, they heard another voice calling them from the entrance.
"Diego, Shira? Manny sent me to come and build a fire for you two. You know in case it gets to cold."
The Sabres stopped kissing and Shira slid out from under Diego to walk towards the sloth at their cave entrance. Diego however didn't go to Sid, he was getting annoyed that when he and Shira have a moment of intimacy, someone comes along and ruins it.
"C'mon Sid, down here. Out of the wind." Shira led Sid to the back of the cave where Diego was still stood. Sid carried a handful of sticks and two stones.
"Hey Diego. Shira, why do you want the fire down here?"
"Because it is already a bit warm down here, and it's out of the way of the wind so the fire won't blow out. And anyway, until the blizzard ends I don't think we will need to leave this area will we Diego?" Smirking a little Diego nodded. Sid finished making the fire and went to sit down.
"Sid, what are you doing?" Diego asked, Shira could tell he was getting irritated.
"I was gonna sit and talk with you two... but now I think I'll go back to see if Granny... Yeah Bye."Sid was quite keen to get away from the irritated Sabre now. Even-though he had no idea what was wrong.
"Oh and Sid." Diego called to the sloth "Tell the rest of the herd that we are fine, we will be OK, so there is no reason for everyone to keep checking up on us every hour."
"OK. Bye Diego, Bye Shira."
Once the sloth was gone, Diego looked back at Shira and pounced on her.
"Where were we?" He asked,
"I don't quite remember, you may need to help me..." The pair laughed and kissed each other again. This time they were sure no interruptions were going to arrive, so they let themselves got deeper and deeper into the kiss. Panting, Diego pulled away from Shira and whispered in her ear. Smiling, Shira rolled over onto her stomach and Diego began licking her back.
In the other cave, everyone was sat around the fire Sid made when they heard roaring coming from the Sabre cave. Manny stood up to go and see what was happening; when Ellie grabbed his trunk and pulled him back.
"Leave them be Manny."
Granny, who was sat gnawing on an apple, stopped what she was doing and spoke up.
"Ooh, sound like Lady is getting a bit of action..." The herd looked at her in shock for what she'd said but she just shrugged. "What? Here Sydney chew this apple for me."
Over an hour later, Diego and Shira lay pressed up against each other, Shira licking Diego's chest as he nuzzled her. The pair shared a kiss -a sweet, gentle kiss.
"Diego, can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Am I your first? Like mate, girlfriend?"
Diego was a bit stunned by the question.
"Yeah, I did have one girlfriend when I was a cub. But she was just like a friend from birth. It never really meant anything. Not like you. What about you?"
"I was sort of going out with Alexander before my Dad's death, but after he died, I just shut everyone out, including him. So we just drifted apart I guess." Shira felt Diego tense at the mention of Alexander and her being in a relationship "I love you, Diego."
"I love you too, Shira." The pair pulled each other close and fell asleep for a mid-day nap.
Outside, the weather was calming down. The eye of the storm was above the herd. It wouldn't be long until it was over and the herd could get out.
On the opposite side of the island, a pack of Sabres were bracing the storm. In the cave they were inhabiting their leader was sat talking to some of his
food trackers, when a male walked in.
"What is it Kol?" The leader asked
"We caught the scent. We have found her." Kol replied.
Their leader smiled.
"Good work. She thinks she can just walk away from the pack. She's got another thing coming. FINN, DIMITRI!" Two Sabres came over to the leader and Kol. "Go with Kol and watch them. Tell me everything you see."
Kol, Finn and Dimitri all nodded then ran out of the cave, despite the blizzard. Still smiling, the leader resumed talking to his trackers.