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Chapter 17: Finally At Home
GRIN's P.O.V.
After a three-quarters of an hour, finally the couple returned to the temporary lair with the loot, a freshly-caught young deer, sufficient to fill the stomach of all four.
We were all gathered around the carcass, ready to devour it due to our common starvation. But I stopped, and turned to Maya, saying:
"Well…My old friend and mentor gave me a custom that I intend to keep…Since Maya has caught this prey, my morality expected her to taste the first bite of dinner". After that, I gave her a nod and made a circular motion with my left paw, as to say "After you". Oya and Pia also seemed to agree with that custom, and nodded, but on Maya's face started to appear a pale blush. Maybe she was a little embarassed, but she did not back down and sh inflicted the first bite to the died animal, giving way to the banquet.
We all ate voraciously, finishing dinner in a couple of minutes. After dinner we decided to talk a bit, to know us better, and I decided to make the first question.
"So…Where you were going before being stopped by those…despicable wolves?" I asked them, hoping someone could answer me.
"Well…" Maya began to say "…We just finished our Alpha training and we were returning home…Those "naughty" wolves belonged to our own pack, and were sent with us for Alpha training… Training had not helped them, they became all stuck-up and troublemakers, especially under the guidance of their stupid head, Burton…I never imagined they would end up like this…To committ such atrocities…" She saddened a bit.
"I'm sorry about that, Maya…" I said to her, with an emphatetic look.
"Maybe I could just reserve this question for later…" I thought to myself, almost slapping myself in my immagination.
"…Did you just say you were going back home?" I said to them, hopefully not to open other wounds into them.
"Yep" They both said in unison with a smile on their faces, clearly enthusiastic about something.
"I cannot wait to come back and hug my parents and my brothers! I missed them so much!" Maya said with her tail wagging the entire time, her face lit up with joy.
But suddenly Pia's face darkened…Of course the thought of not having a single relative at home was getting wide in her mind, making resurface sadness and despair.
Maya seemed to have noticed her change of mood, and immediately told her "Don't worry honey, I'll ask my parents if another wolf can become part of the family…" She finished with a wink at her.
Pia babbled a little: "A-are you talking about m-me? But you're already six! How could your parents take care of me,too? I am but a useless weight…" Pia concluded, almost on the verge of tears.
Maya reassured her, saying: " Don't worry, dear, one more mouth to feed for them certainly will not be a problem…And then don't EVER say again you're useless, or i'm gonna hit your head so many times that you're going to forget who you are…You are a young, beautiful, strong Alpha that everyone wants as a friend…And I am sure that sooner or later will also be someone who will love you for who you are, wholeheartedly…"
Pia couldn't help but smile at her words, replying to her "Well, how could I go on without a true friend like you?...Or,maybe, stepsister?"
I could not help but look smug about Maya's behavior: she was so incredibly caring and compassionate towards others, a feature that had already hit me earlier.
"Whoa…So you have a large family,huh?" I asked to Maya
"Let's just say that my mother and my father are pack leaders, I have three older brothers, two of which are Alphas and one Omega, and three brothers having the same age as me, of whom I am the only Alpha"
These proportions made me thought a bit…As Valen explained to me, rarely by Alpha leader of a pack generated Omegas…It was a case out of a thousand, caused most often by the manifestation of some recessive gene present in both wolves, but here the cases were very high…Just like…
"It is possible tha-" I began to say, but I was quickly cut off (It's incredible that I am always interrupted by someone during my speech…I have to present my claims to the Executive Director of my script) by her, who ended my sentence.
"…That one of my parents is an Omega? Yes, my father is an Omega…But if you're gonna say something, ANYTHING about him, and I swear that you will not be able to hear your own voice, because i'm gonna rip your vocal chords and shove them in your hears so…"
"WHOA, calm down there!" Pia shouted in shock.
I was incredulous before the manifestation of threatening violence, especially by a person who not long before had shown totally different.
Pia, almost apologizing for her, said: "It's not her fault…The fault was of her maternal grandmother's influence…She inherited some of her…"violent" attitudes and threats…" she concluded bursting into laughter.
Maya also giggled looking at my petrified face "Ehh, she's right…But I'm still a novice compared to her…Think that merely to her menaces, she made petrified by terror two whole packs that were about to attack each other…But also made shiver and scare the hell out of my uncle, a big and brawny and brave Alpha, who fears nothing and nobody…If you make her angry, she could be really…Fearsome."
Chill ran down my body quickly, just to listen to such things about her grandma…I was shivering a little, I had not noticed yet, but it seemed they had.
"Uh, Grin, do you feel cold?" Oya asked me, having noticed my slight shimmer… I was not shivering for the cold, but because of the fierceness of Maya's grandmother, but did not want to make the figure of a wuss, so I pretended nothing.
"Yeah, a bit, but I can stay a little more, don't worry about me" I said, and she gave me a nod of understanding.
Maya then said "Well, now my turn to ask you questions…Where were YOU two going?"
"Therefore, since we are not part of a pack, Oya told me that there was a pack that willingly accepts lone wolves like us…I think it is called…uhm…(The name escapes me at the moment)…" I was thinking with all my memory, but Oya came to my rescue , saying " The United Pack of Jasper Park"
Pia and Maya's faces lit up again and Maya gleefully said : "That's our home…And it is also where we need to go! Obviously, we know the exact way to get there…It's not very far away from where we are now… We're gonna get there by noon, tomorrow…"
Then I produced a long and loud yawn, expressing to them my tiredness. "I think it's time to…" Another yawn broke in my sentence "…Sleep…What do you think, ladies?"
The yawning was spreading like wildfire, as a viral disease was affecting the tired wolves. So we decided together to go to sleep, to be ready and prepared for a long day, tomorrow. As we entered in the lair, we put close to each other, in such a way as to keep ourselves warm during the night.
"Good night, everyone!" I said, in a tired-but-excited-at-the-same-time tone. How can you blame me…After all, this would be the first time I see a whole pack!
"Good night" Said everyone else in the den, ready to enjoy a moment of rest.
Then a voice boomed "YOU… DIDN'T EARN MY LOVE…NO, YOU NEVER COULD…I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" This was the second time that I heard this voice, saying the same phrase…And the worst thing is that I did not know if it was in my head or someone had said those words into reality…
I shrugged, thinking that my mind was playing me some strange tricks…Maybe the previous days had put a strain on my mind, and is thus in this manner that was responding to external stimuli…
I shrugged, shook a little my face, pretending as nothing was bothering me, and I fell finally asleep.
Humphrey P.O.V.
Ethel showed me the area, and honestly I was not very excited about what I had seen…It seemed an area devoid of life, where the rocks and dust reigned supreme, if it were not for a small watercourse that brought a bit of life in that wasteland…I did not understand why a wolf like her would live alone, much less why she would decide to settle in this place, frankly I found it…highly repulsive.
I was used to quite different places, full of vegetation, in which flora and fauna were skillfully intertwined for creation of magnificent ecosystems…From riches to rags…But at least I was stilla live thanks to her… I feel obliged to do something for her, too…I was, sort of, indebted to her.
When we come back to her den, she turned to face me, her tail wagging: "Did you like the tour?" she asked excitedly.
I began to make a slight frown of disapproval, saying: "Well… I have to tell you the truth?...I don't really understand why do you like living here…Would you like to explain it to me?"
Ethel's face visibily saddened a bit, but she answered me: "I like this place because it is away from other wolves' possible threats, because I love the solitude, I absolutely hate other wolves's presences, but there is something in you that particularly struck me ... I do not know why, it is the first time of my own free will I get close to a wolf ... What's more, to a complete stranger…"
"Well…The least I can do to repay your care is to tell you a place where it is worth living…Not in this barren wasteland…" I said, trying to regain control of the situation.
"Uhh…Ok…But on one condition: you have to come with me" She said, blushing slightly, but given her snow-white fur, it was quite evident.
I thought about it for a moment…Actually I did not have a place to go and what to do, could just be something to pass the time ... My memory was still somewhat damaged, and I was wondering for how long I had to still remain in this state…
(As the good Barney Stinson would say I thought "Challenge accepted!")
"Hmm…It's okay for me, I guess" I said, tilting my head a little to one side.
"REALLY?! OH GREAT!" She screamed, while jumping and hugging me with a terrifying force, almost blocking my breathing
It looked like that her white fur was making some large,massive muscles invisible from my sight.
"He- *pant* *cough* I ca-an…b-breathe!" I murmur to her, almost choking.
"Ah…uh…Sorry about that…" She said, grinning to me…"So, where are we going to, and when are we going to leave this place?" She added, clearly excited to go on a adventure.
" I do not think before tomorrow morning ... But, by the way, where are we? So I set about the direction to take to get you in that wonderful place…"
"Hmm…" She said "I think we're in the mountainous portion, in the south of Banff, near to Millstone Peak…"
"Do you think, or you're sure about that?" I said, a little puzzled by the imprecision of her reply.
"No, no, I'm sure, I swear!" She said in a rather convincing.
"I hope she's right" I thought to myself.
"Okay, okay! Then, we have to go North , and we are going to travel for several days to get there, even for a month if we move slowly…"
"Okay…Well, since we're going to wake up early tomorrow morning, what do you think if we're going to sleep now?"
"You find myself in agreement"
Then we went into her den, drifting swiftly into sleep.
GRIN P.O.V. , At noon
After an entire morning of jog, I was finally beginning to perceive the boundaries of marked territories, signal that they belonged to someone, or rather, to a pack. Our jog stopped and was transformed into a fast walk…I could see the joy on his face Maya, eager to see his loved ones, and strangely also on Pia, by the fact that , perhaps, she was going to have a new family. The fact that I was paying attention to them and not to what surrounded me had already played a dirty trick in the past, but it seemed that I had not learned the lesson yet. In my moment of distraction, a wolf has fallen upon me, hidden most probably in some nearby bushes, waiting for the right time to attack me. He pinned me down, growling menacingly at me, but with a push I managed to escape his grasp, rolling sideways and also beginning to growl at him.
Maya looked closely at the wolf, eyeing him from head to toe…He had a black-greish fur, with a white underbelly and blue eyes…Her two older brothers were almost identical, except for their constitution…The wolf that loomed before them had good muscles, a clear sign that he was an Alpha…So then she exclaimed, surprised:
"Stinky…Is that…You?"
The wolf suddenly froze, partially recognizing voice's tone, and he began to spoke: "There's only one wolf that possesses such a voice, and that belongs to my little sister May-" He didn't have the time to finish his sentence that Maya pinned him down, beginning to howl with joy, in tears and licking him all over his face, and then hugging him.
"I missed you so much!" Maya said to him, he replied "We missed you too! Weren't you supposed to be here last night? What happened to you, where the others are?...And above all, who they are?" He said, referring clearly to us.
"Well…To begin, she is Pia…You should know her well, she's from this pack, you know…" She said to him, and he widened his eyes, nodding: "Oh, uh, sorry Pia, I did not recognize you at first…" and Pia giggled a little.
"Then…" Maya continued "…They are lone wolves looking for a pack to join, and they were coming here to join our pack…" I and Oya nodded together, showing him that she was telling the truth.
"Well, about the last thing, I think it would be better if we're gonna talk directly with Mom and Dad…" She said.
Stinky nodded, perhaps realizing the gravity of the topic. So he said: "I'm gonna take you to Alpha Leader's den, so you can speak with our parents about your entry in the pack, and to avoid to being attacked by other wolves of the pack, which do not know you…Ok, then, follow me."
He said, starting his walk to the main ground, and we followed him really close.
I heard Maya exclaim: "Ahh, finally I'm back home…I cannot wait to see their faces when they're gonna see that I'm back!"
So we all walked in the forest, and I was eager to make a step forward in my life: be finally a part of a pack, and have a place to call home.
If it was not clear, Maya is Stinky's little sister, so she is Kate and Humprey's second litter daughter...
GrinWolf here, i'm gonna have dinner, so...
OVER AND OUT.