I'm very sorry about what happened, I uploaded the right chapter, then I modified something on it but I uploaded the wrong chapter with my phone... As I said, I offer my deepest apologies to you, my dear readers.
Here the 18th chapter for you!
Hello, I'm back! Did you miss me very very much? However I'm sorry for the delay, I was stucked between Diablo III and my university, so it was really unavoidable...
By the way, READ, ENJOY, REVIEW!
Chapter 18: Crossroads
GRIN's P.O.V.
While we were walking together, me, Maya, Oya, Pia and Maya's brother, we could see many wolves stop their activities to turn around and look at us. Their faces were a mixture of amazement and gladness…For them the daughter of their beloved leaders was finally back from Alpha training…But soon enough contentment was soon replaced by curiosity to know who were those wolves with her, and the desire to know where her training partners, who had left with her the pack at winter's start, were.
Soon we faced with a large flat plain, where we could see several wolves, intent to carry out various activities: some of them, clearly Alphas, were dragging there a pulled down prey, to allow all the whole pack to benefit from that; other three were in the middle of a heated discussion, while a fourth was trying to mediate their disagreements, attempting to calm them down; others were playing with their pups, laughing and joking all alongside; yet there were others that , posted on a plateau not far, supervised the whole area, as sentinels , as if they were wary of anything that might disturb the balance and try to placate it, by hook or by crook. Say that situation at the same time made me feel intimidated and threatened, but also safe and secure.
Among those sentinels definitely stood out a wolf to his impressive tonnage, he really seemed to be the merger of two wolves. His fur's colour was dark red, with cream-colored shade under his chest and belly, and he had some piercing green eyes, he seemed to be one of the leaders, or ,at least, someone with a high charge in this pack, since he gave commands to the right and left to those who seemed to be his subordinates. Despite having some composure, a note of sadness could be read on his face, but maybe, who knows, it was just my impression.
While I was eyeing that wolf, I did not realize that the road was slighlty inclining, turning into an uphill that was necessary to travel to reach the Alpha Leader's den, alias Maya's parents.
I suddenly felt a nudge on the shoulder, and it was Maya, who said: "Why were you staring at my uncle Garth?"
"And how do you know I was just looking at your uncle?" I answered her with another question, willing to know how she did know.
"Well, weren't you looking at the wolfwho towers above all others, who looks like a bull by the mass, the one who strikes you most fear?" She said with confidence.
"Ummm…You're right…That giant red wolf is your uncle, then?" I said, in a tone that went from resignation to amazement.
"Yep…My aunt Lilly, my mother's sister married him…But you still have not answered my first question…Why were you staring at him?" She said to him, anxious to know.
"Well ... I seemed to feel… Sadness in his eyes…But it's probably just me" I said, a bit confused.
She giggled a bit and she told me "I highly doubt it: my parents said that since the day he married my aunt Lilly, happiness had delighted him every single day…He did nothing but repeat every day how lucky he was to have met and married a she-wolf like her…"
And immediately after surely came to her mind all the mawkishness that two lovebirds were used to, because her face bore marks of disgust.
To tease her a little, I decided to turn the knife in the wound, saying with a cunning smile "What's wrong? Unpleasant situations recur in your mind?"
She replied, a little annoyed but always jokingly, shaking her head in attempt to remove unpleasants memories "Oh, shut up!" and then she hit my shoulder.
At a certain point, we came to a halt: we finally arrived in front of leader's den's entrance.
"Ok then" Maya's brother began to talk to us "Let me get in a moment alone, so i'm gonna introduce your presence to my parents-" "Shall I come in, too?" Maya said, craving to embrace her loved ones, but he put a paw in front of Maya, saying quietly "I want to gave them a surprise, so be quiet!"
Maya's tail began to wag so furiosly, that seemed to possess its own life. Maya's brother couldn't help but chuckle to his sister's reaction, who was beginning to push him into the den to speed up procedures.
"Okay, okay! I got it!" He exclaimed quietly, and all the onlookers could not help but laugh at that funny situation.
Maya's brother finally entered the lair, and after a short time, he came out, along with four other wolves.
Two male wolves, and two females. Their description, starting from left to right:
To the extreme left, we have a young female wolf, with a predominant white colour with a black-greish chest and underbelly, a black facial mask, black paws and black ear tips, all seasoned with a pair of hazel eyes. Then we have a male adult wolf, with a black-greish fur colour with white chest and underbelly, a white facial mask with some grey shades, and a pair of cerulean eyes. Next, we have a female adult wolf with a tan fur, except for her underbelly and her chest, painted in a cream color, with a light beige facial mask in which there are two insightful and inquisitive brown eyes. And lastly, to the extreme right, we have a young male wolf, with a tan-coloured fur, blackish towards chest and abdomen, with black ear tips and a black facial mask, and he had a shade of eyes intermediate between that of its parents, his eyes possessed a greenish-amber hue.
The adult male, after giving a glance around, said something to his partner "Uh…It seemed that Maya isn't back yet…" He seemed pretty disappointed and worried.
But little they knew that Maya was lurking behind a curve, in such a way as to hide from their sight, ready to pop out all of a sudden.
"Oh well…Our son told us all…That you are lone wolves and you would like to jo- Hey, wait a second, I know you…" The male adult wolf said, giving another look to the wolves and eyeing Pia "…Aren't you, by any chance, a wo-" He was saying, squinting his eyes as if he were remembering that he's had already seen her.
Maya slammed a paw in her face for her naivety, and thought it was finally time to come out from her hiding place. She leaped into air, going to end up in a space between her family and us.
Then Maya exclaimed: "I'm back!"
Her family members's eyes seemed to glow with immense joy…It is always hard to be separated from a son, no matter what the motivation would be… They seemed to have taken on a new shape, contentment could spurt from all their pores.
All four threw themselves on Maya, first came her those who could be her brother and sister, who literally run over her, pinning her down and while her sister began to hug her, crying tears of happiness, her brother began to howl with joy, happy that his sister was finally back home, and after his sister had finished to embrace Maya, now was his moment. He nudged gently his sister, saying "Oh sis…You have no idea how we missed you…!"
Maya replied "You can not have any idea how much I missed you all, mom, dad, and you, Matt and Alanis…How much I missed the days when we used to play airily togheter… Now this will be an honor reserved for only the two of you, through your games you will have the task of keeping the peace within the pack…and I'm sure you've learned from the best" Then she looked at his father with a wink.
After those words, it was finally time to greet her parents…Maya jumped to hug her father and her mother, nudging them both, and they both patted her shoulders, saying things like "Wow… Look at you…How much you've grown!" "Don't worry, you'll always be our little puppy!" "I'm so proud of you, my daughter!" and so on.
Excitement and mirth permeated the air, tears began to appear in Maya's eyes: she almost couldn't believe they finally gathered all togheter…Also it looked like that someone was missing…
Maya turned around, peering around other familiar presences, and she did not notice any other familiar face among the wolves gathered there…So it was natural for her to ask a question.
"Mom, Dad…Where Runt, Claudette and aunt Lilly are? I can not see them around here…And yet they knew that one of these days I would have to come back home…" She said, with a thoughtful expression.
As soon as she finished the question, expressions of their faces changed radically, hovering on them a veil of sadness.
"Before we talk about these things" The adult male said "I think it is appropriate to make mutual presentations: I'm Humphrey, she…" He said, nudging the tan female next to him "…is Kate and we are one of the two pairs to govern this pack, and those ones, as you could understand…" He said, pointing to the other four wolves "…Are our children: Maya, Stinky, Alanis and Matt" When he called their names, they made a little nod with their heads , as if to say "Nice to meet you".
Pia exclaimed, before they continued to talk: "I apologize…I feel a little tired, could I go to rest a bit?"
Both Kate and Humphrey nodded, accepting her leaving. "Thank you very much! Goodbye, sir, ma'am…" Then she bowed in respect and went away from there, directed to her den.
Suddenly Maya remembered something and screamed to her while she was walking away "Don't worry about that fact, I will tell them and I'll let you know what they'll say about that!"
Pia responded her with an Okay with her paw.
"Okay…Where were we?..." Kate said, trying to regain the discourse "…Ah yes, it was your turn to introduce you" She said, adding a smile at the end.
"My name is Grin, and this is gonna be the first time that I'm part of a pack" I said, wagging my tail a bit for the thrill.
Oya then added to the discussion: "And my name's Oya, I was an Alpha leader of a pack very far away from here…" Kate and Humphrey decided to focus on her, wanting to know precisely the causes that have brought to waiver of her office…Rightly, it was for the good of the whole pack…
Kate said "Nothing personal… But how come you decided to leave your office?"
"Well…" Oya answered, trying to look for an excuse, instead of having to tell the whole story "…Because I think I finally have done my duty, and it was time that younger people would take my place…I'm eight, now…I'm a little bit old, you know… "
Kate and Humphrey both nodded, understanding clearly her reasons…Also Kate's parents decided to retire from their post because of their age…They had no objection.
"Okay, okay…Now one last question remains, and then you'll finally be free to roam around pack's territories…What role would you take in the pack, would you like to be an Alpha or an Omega?" Humphrey asked both.
Kate almost answered for Oya, saying "I think she might be helpful to us, due to her experience as Alpha leader of a pack, so I think we should name her as an Alpha…" Humphrey thought about it for a little, but immediately agreed with her, nodding vigorously.
"Yeah, Kate, you're right, she could really give us precious advices on how to handle various situations...On the other hand, recently we were put in charge, and we are still not clearly able to deal with different scenarios…" Humphrey added.
I was taken slighly aback: I had not thought at all about that choice…I needed some time to reflect about my final decision…I had always lived so far not bothering to have and to belong to a rank…I felt a conflict arise within me.
On one side, life as Omega was unconstrained , a life in which play, laugh and joke would reign sovereign, with the only obligation to appease the conflict, if there were any… But I did not cherish the idea of not being a participant of the important issues, and therefore always be put aside, being considered of less importance… On the other side, Alpha's life could be interesting and optimal for gain prestige within the pack…Live a life with a military optical and full of responsibility if one part was fascinating, from other it could be tremendously stressful and painful, not to mention the almost non-existence of free time…
I was at a crossroads that would give a substantial turning point in my life.
Kate and Humphrey, noticing my indecision, decided to grant me an extension to the decision…I really appreciated it, and this could be an indicator about their interest toward others and toward the pack, thus demonstrating their magnanimity.
"Thank you very much from all my heart, sir, ma'am!" I said, really grateful to them.
They both smiled and nodded, and then Humphrey added "We'll give you until tomorrow to make your decision…Try to make it by then"
"Yes, sir!" I exclaimed, proud for having placed his trust in me "By tomorrow I will give you the definitive answer"
"Okay then…" Humphrey concluded with a smile "…Take the rest of the day off…Feel free as well to take a look around, to become familiar with the place…With your new home"
"Yes, sir" I and Oya both said.
A second after, Humphrey shouted "Hutch! Please, come here a minute!" and almost immediately after a fairly well developed black wolf came running from from the hill that led to the main den.
"Yes Hump-…Oh…Uh…sir?" He said, stumbling a bit, and Humphrey seemed to take advantage a bit from it
"How many times must I repeat to show the respect due to superiors?" He said, with a serious tone, turned to him.
"Oh…Uhm…I'm really sorry, sir…" Hutch said with a face that showed deep regret.
Then Humphrey smiled, and began to laugh a little, saying "Don't worry, Hutch, I was just joking…However, would you mind to guide our new members here to their new homes?"
Kate rolled her eyes a bit…I was wondering what she was thinking at.
Momentary change to KATE's P.O.V.
I shook my head a little, thinking "Ahh what can I do with him…He doesn't think of anything but play pranks on others…Any time is good for a joke…I just hope he changes over time…"
Back to GRIN's P.O.V.
I noticed Kate's sigh and she elbowed him a little on his shoulder, maybe she was a little annoyed by his recent behaviour, but honestly to me it seemed sympathetic…Having a leader that is not programmed, like a machine, but who also knows how to joke ,it seemed a great thing to me. Honestly, I couldn't ask better.
"Yes, Humphrey sir!" The wolf called Hutch said to Humphrey, who nodded in agreement, then he said to us "Please, follow me, so I'll show you your new den" and started to walk down the slope, with me and Oya following him.
Then Kate shouted from behind us: "Welcome to the United Pack!" and I began to smile after that phrase…Although the correct phrase would be: "Welcome Home!"
I'm gonna make this story a little interactive: infact you will decide if Grin will choose to be an Alpha or a Omega ... You can decide it with a review, you have until Tuesday, and its effects could be seen in two chapters...So, off to vote!
GrinWolf here...over and out.