Chapter 21 The Hunting Reunion
(Ren POV)
The entire time, everyone was silent, even Nora which was a shock to me, but every time I saw the crazed look in her eyes, I could tell she was secretly plotting to ride one of the elk Akira has been searching for. A signal came {Go up to the trees, they won't be spooked by us there.} Another signal {Where are they?} Akira signaled once more, {By the river, we can find them in the trees.} {Be silent though, we can't scare them or alarm anything.}
It took a while but everyone was in a tree. Akira was signaling everyone again, everyone was to separate the herd as she went to drive the target away from the others. Everyone signaled okay and she was peering to the passing elk, listening to the silence. And then, Akira disappeared to the ground below landing on the target as everyone followed picking a random elk to ride to separate them from Akira's elk.
We were successful in splitting the herd and Yoko signaled to get off and wait for Akira to finish what she had set out to do. So there we were watching Akira drive the elk back in our direction, we saw the sharpened canines in her mouth as she drove them into the elk's neck, stopping and letting go, and jumping off before the elk collapsed as the slowly gushing blood loss began to take its toll. She was kneeling in front of the elk, looking straight into its eyes.
As soon as the elk's eyes glazed over, she stood up, walking back to us, her mouth still ringed with the blood as well as her teeth stained with the same. Her quick wolf ears flickered, a serious look appeared as she signaled everyone, {Go to the trees, hide in the branches, a pack is heading this way. Stay close by.} We had to be quick, they can't find us. Most of us would be glad that these branches were wide and strong enough to hold two of us, some of us not so much. I was somehow stuck on a branch with Akira, she didn't notice me that much, she seemed more fascinated with the pack below rushing in with their own target.
(Akira POV)
It was like the last time, except this time, I was with my friends. After they had achieved their hunt, several wolf pups were entering the clearing, chasing a few rabbits. Eventually, they were able to catch and kill two rabbits. One of the pups took the meatier rabbit and had stripped it of all of the nutrient-rich bits before taking it back to the others while another had shared it with all the others and not taking any for her or himself, I'm not close enough to determine their genders.
A soft bark came from one of the adult wolves and the two pups came to the adult wolf, the one who hoarded what was good in one rabbit getting a firm smack on the muzzle, the other being given a share from the elk hunt.
The pack was leaving, but the elk-fed pup seemed to linger a bit, s/he must have caught our scent and was happily barking at the trunk of the tree I was standing in. Another adult wolf came growling for the pup to follow them back to the others until s/he too sniffed the area around the tree then gave a commanding bark for someone to come here, that someone…was me. Looking back at whoever was behind me, in this case Ren his magenta eyes were telling me he was worried, but I didn't have the time or need to know why. Silently, I leapt off the branch in front of the pup and adult wolf not protecting neither my neck nor stomach, the two most vital regions of any body, closing my eyes and calmed my breathing, waiting for the adult wolf's judgment.
(Ren POV)
What was Akira thinking? These wolves could kill her at any moment. But then a clear signal came from Shawn, {Don't do anything, Akira knows what she is doing.} Watching the wolves, the adult was sniffing Akira as the pup was watching at a distance. Then a soft back came from the adult wolf and the pup's ears perked up, and soon pounced on Akira. Soon the adult wolf was barking at the trees and another signal came, this time from Yoko, to go to the ground. Once we did, the adult was circling us while the pup was apparently was possibly licking Akira to death.
Once the adult finished circling us it sat in front of Akira and the pup giving him a somewhat commanding growl. The pup was sitting down beside Akira as she sat up. Akira was now somehow having a conversation with the adult and pup, a little too deeply to seem normal and too far away from "Nora Normal" to be considered okay.
"Come, we need to follow Fleetpaws and little Stella here, Fleetpaws said that there is something important, some important reason to follow them back to the rest of their pack," Akira said, "apparently they seemed almost too familiar to me, especially Stella. Come on, they know you're with me and they'll trust you with that."
Walking down a forested path that seemed to be only used by the wolves but by how Akira acted: jumpy, confident, concerned and proud for some reason, it couldn't possibly just be wolves. When we made it to a separate, more distant clearing, it was filled with an entire pack of wolves.
"Stay here," Akira said, "The wolves are giving you trust, don't lose it in ten seconds okay?"
"Where are you going?" Shawn asked.
"I was just requested to be at the alpha's den, for some reason," Akira said continuing on.
"So…now what?" Raven asked.
"Does anyone want to know how they make gelatin?" Yang asked.
"Don't even think about it!" Blake said going to cover Ruby's ears and eyes.
"What?" Yang asked.
(Akira POV)
The cave was clean at least, no bones littering the floor, but I felt some sort of heat coming from inside the cave, I already smelled the smoke so it was a fire. Steps closer, my nose caught a familiar scent, one that was supposed to have died out years ago.
"Akira?" he asked and just by his voice, I knew who it was.