"The situation isn't good at the pack den." Stewart explained to us while the other member of our pack, Ian, informed the Thundering Falls pack members as to why they were shocked to see me shift.
"The remaining wolves are attempting to hunt, but their pregnancies are making it hard for them to move swiftly and silently. The entire pack would be lucky to be getting a rabbit or two a night from the packs combined hunting effort." Stewart continued.
"So why aren't we helping them?" I asked while successfully managing to hide the anger in my tone. "There is plenty of meat here at the encampment."
Taking a good look around I realised that there was indeed an excessive amount of kills waiting to be cooked. The amount of meat here could feed the Shallow Waters pack three times over before half the pack was taken away.
"That's the thing Eva." Stewart continued with a defeated sigh. "We've hunted all this meat here for the hungry she wolves and pups. But they won't take it. We've tried approaching the pack den, only to have them get nasty and defensive. We've also tried to leave the kills close to the pack den, but they completely ignore it and let the meat rot. It's like they're trying to starve themselves. We don't even know why because any attempt at communicating is met with aggression on their side."
"Well I hope they'll talk to an old pack member then." I said before looking at the position of the sun in the sky. "There is about another hour of daylight left as the three of us made our journey in good time. I'm going to use that time to visit my old pack." I stated. It was a weird feeling for me but I wasn't asking for permission, I was simply stating what I was going to do.
"Of course Eva. We'll be waiting to bring the meat if you can convince them to eat it." Stewart slightly lowered his head in submission to me.
When Stewart lowered his head I realized that I was giving off that powerful aura again and mentally forced myself to relax. All the wolves in the area also visibly relaxed when I did.
"Would you like to come with me?" I asked addressing Thomas and Daniel. "No more races I promise." I was met with a scowl from Thomas. "Just say back a bit until I mind link you. I'm going to try and see if I can get them to meet my pack members and you two are the perfect candidates."
"You'll also need to be in wolf form, as your human form will most likely scare them too much." I said as I headed behind one of the makeshift tents to shift back into my wolf.
Considering this is only the third time I have ever deliberately shifted. It was surprisingly easily to let the wolf part of myself dominate my being and the shift to occur. It was the weirdest feeling, there is no loss of control of my body or my mind, the part of me that is a wolf was simply slightly more dominant now.
"I'm glad you're finally getting the idea." Aurora told me mid shift as my mind was wondering.
The shift itself only took about a minute to complete and was completely pain free, which was almost unheard of for a beginner. It normally took lots of practice to achieve a fast and pain free shift.
I trotted out from behind my tent just as Thomas and Daniel's wolves emerged from the trees.
"Follow me." I told the duo as I headed out of camp and towards the Shallow Waters pack den. I already recognized the land around us as we really weren't very far from the pack den. Every tree, rock and plant was familiar to me now. It caused a lot of nervous and excited energy to stir inside me.
It took less than five minutes of walking before we came to the edge of the clearing that housed the pack den. A quick look into the clearing told me that everyone was still inside the safety of the cave that served as the den.
"Can you two please wait here until I mind link for you to come out." I asked while the nervousness was creeping into my voice at an alarming rate.
"Of course." Daniel replied. "Don't worry, when you call for us we will come out slowly and as non threatening as possible."
"Thank you." I replied before quickly nuzzling each of their faces in appreciation.
I took a deep breath to calm myself before letting it out. At the same time I let out my breath as I started to walk forward towards my old home.
A second later I was out from under the cover of the trees. But no one came to greet me. They must surely know that an unknown wolf had appeared right next to the pack den right?
So I plodded along in a non threatening manner and approached the entrance to the pack den.
It was only when I got within 30 meters of the pack den that a snarling and pregnant Luna Kate appeared from within it's depths.
Even though Luna Kate had a swollen belly, it was as clear as day that she was severely underfed. If all the pack members were like this then the entire pack was literally starving.
"Luna Kate, it's good to see you again." I said while bowing my head in a show of non aggression towards the Luna and therefore the entire pack.
"Leave." Luna Kate snarled back at me. "I don't know how many times I need to tell your packs to leave our territory. But we don't want your help or your poisoned kills."
"Why would we poison our kills?" I asked the aggravated Luna in front of me.
"Because that's what everyone does now. The last pack that came into our territory made us eat their kills. All the males ended up as zombies and every single female ended up in heat, even though it is the worst possible time of year to be in heat. As well as every single one of us ended up pregnant from a single forced mating." Luna Kate almost spat at me. "So take your wolves and leave." Luna Kate bellowed the last bit at me with all the authority she could muster.
If I was a lowly ranked werewolf it would have worked as well. Unfortunately for Luna Kate I was mated to the Princesses of all werewolves so I simply sat there.
"We're just trying to help you Luna. I've never lied to you before so why would I start now?" I questioned the slightly erratic wolf in front of me.
"What do you mean you've never lied to me before? I've never known any wolves that can turn into humans in the past. So stop trying to play mind games with me and go home." Luna Kate snarled.
It appeared that the fear of what Alpha Tim had done to her pack was now clouding her judgment. I don't even think she recognizes me as the Eva who grew up in this pack in her current state. While I couldn't blame Luna Kate for being fearful of everyone, I still needed to make her see that we really were here to help.
As I was debating how to get the Luna to listen to me, a small brown ball of fur shot past her and skidded to a halt in front of me. I stared into the deep brown eyes of my little brother John.
"Is that really you big sister?" John asked with a hint of confusion. I had grown quite a bit in my time with the werewolves, even if I wasn't as large as most of them.
"It's really me John. You've really grown since I've been away." I replied back to my brother.
Luna Kate tried to get John to back away from me as I was a wolf from another pack but John simply ignored her. His tail was thumping on the ground even though his face displayed his hesitation.
Suddenly he made up his mind about me and sprang forward. He wrapped himself around my legs just like he used to. I nuzzled him and fondly groomed his coat where it had been left to stick out at funny angles from lack of attention.
"I've missed you big sister." John almost purred from where he was leaning into me as hard as he could.
"I've missed you too little one." I replied happily. "I was so worried about you and everyone here."
"Does this mean you've come back to take care of us?" John asked happily wagging his tail in excitement.
"Sort of." I replied to my brother. "The pack that I have become part of wants to help take care of everyone here because they're my family." I tried to explain to the child at my feet.
"You can't be the little Eva that disappeared from this pack. You're HUGE." Luna Kate interrupted the conversation John and I were having. "Also Eva didn't have those marks on her right shoulder."
"I've just grown a lot." I replied patiently to Luna Kate. "As for this mark, it's my mate mark."
"You're what?" Luna Kate replied with complete confusion in her voice.
"My mate mark." I repeated before explaining. "The pack that I was taken in by is a pack of werewolves. This means that they can shift between being a human and a wolf."
"We realized this ages ago when the wolves that have been hanging around started transforming into humans then back to wolves again Eva. I'm quite surprised that you stayed with a pack like that." Luna Kate said to me.
"Well they are the nicest and most caring pack of wolves I've even encountered." I reply. "They actually take care of their members and their family's without expecting anything in return."
"But because they're part human as well as part wolf, they have some different customs than we do." I continued. "One of the things they do differently is that they mark their mates, like the mark that I'm wearing, to tell other wolves that their mates is claimed and to back off."
"So you have a mate who is also one of these werewolves?" Luna Kate asked with a raised eyebrow. At least she wasn't being hostile any more.
"I have two actually." I said as Luna Kate's eyes went wide. "They also have my mark on them."
"Does this mean I have two more siblings?" John asked me innocently from where he was still pressed against me.
"It sure does." I replied to him. "Their names are Grace and Detsy, they're going to love and spoil you rotten I promise."
"How do you manage to be mated to two werewolves that can change into humans?" Luna Kate asked with curiosity written over her face.
"Well I found out a couple of days ago that I'm actually a werewolf myself." I said slowly not wanting to have to admit that so quickly but knowing that it was for the best.
Luna Kate's face went rigid with surprise so I quickly continued. "But it's something you have to be born as. It's not a disease you can catch or anything like that."
"Wait," John said looking a little unsure of being so close to me all of a sudden. "So you can also turn into one of those scary humans?"
"Well they're not scary at all once you get to know them John." I answered while trying to suppress a laugh. "But yes I can. It actually nearly scared me to death when it first happened."
John still looked unsure of me but he hadn't moved yet so I continued. "Don't worry little one, I'm still the same Eva that has always been your sister. I can just look like a human from time to time now."
John seemed to relax at my words. "Ok big sister, but you have to promise to show me."
"I will later as long as you promise to not get scared and run away." I playfully teased the pup.
"Ok, so you're really Eva." Luna Kate said slowly. "So what is it you want with our pack now that you're no longer a part of it?"
"Simply put, my Alpha and I want to take everyone here back to our pack." Luna Kate growled at me when I said that.
"Just wait until I've finished please." I asked the upset Luna. She stopped growling to permit me to continue speaking even though her face portrayed her hostility. "Once you're at the Roaring Hills pack, you will be provided with as much food as you like, comfortable dens for everyone and a safe place to birth and raise your pups. We can't protect you from threats like Alpha Tim while you're out here, but we can back in our pack lands."
"I've told the wolves that have come before and I'm telling you Eva. We have no interest in joining another pack. What in the world would lead you to believe that we would accept another Alpha after what happened last time?" Luna Kate spoke with venom.
I sighed. "It appears that whoever was sent before me didn't explain things very well. You're not being asked to join my pack Luna Kate, nor are you being asked to give up the title to your current one. All the Roaring Hills pack is offering is shelter and good food, you are allowed to leave whenever you want to."
Luna Kates expression had frozen, like she didn't know how to process what she'd just been told.
"Think of it as temporary protection of the Shallow Waters pack provided by the Roaring Hills pack." I continued. "You don't have to accept it, but personally I would really rather you did as you look like you're going to starve and perish out here."
"What about our pack territory?" Luna Kate asked.
"You may not have realized it as you currently seem to weak to be able to make it to the pack borders and back, but the Roaring Hills pack has already scent marked and therefore claimed, the entire of the Shallow Waters pack lands."
The look on Luna Kate's face at this point was one of complete and utter fury.
"Let me finish before you try and kill me." I hastily said. "We did that because no wolf is stupid enough to try and claim a werewolves territory. We're only holding onto the land for you until you are ready to come back to it. We are in no way trying to claim it from you."
"How can we trust your pack?" Luna Kate no longer looked like she was going to try and kill me, but the mistrust was still clearly evident on her face.
"By trusting me." I said. "Everything I'm saying are direct orders from my Alpha. If you still trust me then know that my pack and I really are trying to help you without any tricks or forms of repayment required."
Luna Kate retreated deep into her own mind to think for a few minutes. Occasionally glancing back into the pack den and occasionally towards where the werewolf encampment was located.
"What would be required of us?" She finally ask me, which made John's tail wag again.
"Are we really going with Eva?" He asked before I could answer the Luna's question.
"I hope so John." Luna Kate answered the pup gently. "But it will all depend on what they want of us."
"All that is required of everyone in the Shallow Waters pack is to make the journey back to the den of the Roaring Hills pack. There you will be cared for and protected. That is everything that is required of you." I answered the Luna.
"And we can leave any time we want?" Luna Kate pressed.
"Any time you like at all." I confirmed. "Although the space we've set aside for you is both the comfiest den you've ever slept in and specially made for raising pups in."
"I'm not going to lie, that sounds too good to be true." Luna Kate admitted to me.
"Honestly, when I was first taken in by the Roaring Hills pack I couldn't believe that there was a pack and an Alpha as kind as what I was witnessing. But after a couple of nights there I was wrongly accused by a member of the pack and she got physical. What I was not expecting was the Luna to come to my defense. Not only did she punish the woman who had done me wrong but she was incredibly scary while doing it, even though I wasn't a part of the pack yet. The leaders of this pack and most of the members really are kind and just." I finished my story.
"Can we please go." John begged Luna Kate from between my legs. "I'm tired of being hungry and the Roaring Hills pack sounds amazing."
"You'll even be able to play with all the werewolf pups there." I added in while watching my little brother get even more excited at the idea.
Luna Kate sighed in defeat as I heard a definite growl from her stomach. "When do we leave?" she asked me, finally surrendering to the help we were offering them.
"First thing in the morning." I replied happily. "But before that, we have plenty of food at the encampment for you. I promise that it's not poisoned and is safe for you to eat. Everyone needs to eat their fill so they've got the energy for the walk tomorrow."
Luna Kate hesitated. I could tell that she was still full of fear about accepting food from others but the sound of her stomach growling at her again sealed the deal.
"Ok then." She finally said.
"I'll have two of my pack members bring an entire deer over if you'll allow it." I said. "There names are Thomas and Daniel. They're both my friends and I promise that they're very friendly."
Luna Kate was forced to give me a nod of approval as she turned to head back into the pack den to announce to everyone what was happening.
John stayed with me as I linked Thomas and Daniel to drag one of the deer carcasses over here for the pack to eat, reminding them to approach carefully.
"So does this mean that I get to stay with you forever?" John asked me, confusion still written across his small brown face.
"It does indeed little brother." I confirmed. "Forever and ever if you'd like."
John's face lit up as I heard the sound of a deer being dragged and familiar faces from my childhood appearing from inside the pack den.
It was going to be a night of introductions and feasting before the long journey back home began at sunrise.