The Love of a Wolf

"Do you know your place in the pack?" growled Ty, the alpha male who had yet to choose a mate.

"I know my place, pal, but I'm not sure you know yours. Aren't you supposed to leave cussing out the girls to the lower ranks?" I looked at him, amused.

He growled and glared at me, his dark black eyes glinting with danger.

I wrapped my tail around me and sat down on the ground, what I knew he would represent as the ultimate sign of disrespect.

Unsurprisingly, he bared his fangs and lunged at me. I quickly slid to the side and seeing him changing direction in midair, I snapped at his snout and sidestepped again. I watched him back off, his snout nicked by my fangs.

Laughing, I said,

"So this is how powerful the ultimate fighter is. Not much, eh?"

He stood at his full height, and seeing I came only up to his shoulders, he chuckled in the way that only wolves can.

"You've got a long way to go before you can catch up, despite your little tricks."

He sprinted past me, his paws barely brushing the forest floor, and I stared at him, allowing the hurt in my eyes to show.

Once, we were happy together, but then she came along and ruined my happiness.

Her name is Lola. She tricked Ty into believing that I purposely tried to kill her, and he believed her. Our months together had meant nothing to him. He had chosen to trust her rather than trust me.

So now we were in the position we're in now.  

We’re strangers now. It’s like we’ve never met and loved. I’ve tried explaining everything to him, but he won’t listen. I guess there’s no chance between us now.

I guess it’s really over.

My tail tucked between my legs, I slowly padded my way back to the clearing where our pack had settled for the night.

I made a vow to myself. If he wouldn’t believe me, then our love wasn’t worth being sad for. Why should I weep for someone who has never loved me?

With that set in my mind, I sprinted the rest of the way back to the pack, feeling a sense of exhilaration I had never felt before. I was free. I wouldn’t have to feel pain anymore. The snow on the bottom of my paws was cool, and was invigorating my spirit.

When I reached the clearing, I was greeted with an unusual sight. Our pack was encircling a lone wolf, who was sitting down on his haunches, amused.

I immediately recognized him and howled. The pack looked at me.

“Don’t attack him.” I said calmly, “He’s with me.”

The pack let open a path between me and him, and I went over the rub snouts with him.

“Long time no see, Jake.” I whispered in his ear.

He replied by grinning and licking me on the ear.

The pack saw that we were friendly and slowly backed off to let Ty and Lola walk forward.

Ty was bristling and glaring at Jake as if they were life-long enemies while Lola was looking at Jake with interest in her eyes. Unwittingly meeting my eyes, she saw the warning in my eyes for her to back off, and that he was mine.

Of course, I thought of Ty as…

A little more than a friend, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. But Lola wasn’t the only one who caught my look. Ty was looking at me, and seeing my possessive look, he growled at Jake, and hot flames of jealousy ran down his spine.

He stepped up until they were eye to eye, and then he snapped,

“Where do you come from? What is your business?”

Jake looked at him insolently, and leaned closer to me.

“I come from the lands across the mountains. And my business is…” his fur brushed against mine, “Katara.”

Ty glowered at him and turned, prepared to stalk away, but then Jake’s voice rang through the air.

“I was wondering if I could stay in your pack awhile. I promise to leave by next summer. I’ll hunt for the pack and carry my share in responsibilities.”

Ty turned back around, and knowing he had no way to refuse the friendly request, agreed grudgingly.

Wolf Code Law #18: A pack leader must accept a wolf with a request to join the pack unless there is a cause to believe the wolf will harm the pack. Also, the wolf must accept the full responsibilities of being one of the pack and must protect the pack against danger.

“I haven’t seen you in so long!” I cried and rubbed my snout against his in the custom greeting style.

He chuckled and licked my snout.

“I couldn’t leave you behind. And besides, we just saw each other a month ago at the gathering.” He said, a twinkle in his eye.

“But a month is such a long time.” I pouted.

Laughing, he lay his head on top of mine, and we sat there silently. I could feel his throat pulsing above mine, and I could feel my heart quickening.

“I’m sorry. Are we interrupting something?” an icy voice intruded.

Jake took his head off of mine, and we turned to see Ty and Lola coming towards us.

“It’s okay.” I replied with a smile, calm now, knowing that Jake would back me up, “We’ll go somewhere else.”

“What?” Ty mocked, a dangerous glint in his eyes, “What are you doing that can’t be seen by outsiders?”

I just gave him a little smile, and signaling to Jake, I went towards a tree a little ways of from where they were, and I dug through the foot-deep snow. Beckoning
Jake towards me, I let him slither into the hole first, and then knowing I was in full sight of Ty, I crawled in after him.

I stuck my head a bit out of the hole and breathed in the fresh cool air, and I saw Ty looking at me, anger in his eyes.

Pulling my head back in the hole, I grinned that special grin that only wolves have, and I thought to myself:

Mission accomplished.

Then, cuddling close to Jake and breathing in the warm, clean scent that belonged only to him, I fell asleep with his tail wrapped around me.