Book Chapter60
Conflict
Leaves that have seen better days crackle and break underneath my wolf paws. They look like candy, brightly colored, scented so sweet she tries nibbling at them. Glant pines look like guardians of the forest, standing up straight, protective, virtuous. Pine–scented earth swirls around us as the brittle needles are disturbed.
The land still holds the soft spice of autumn and its harvest that is almost
over.
Dallas finds my Wild playing in the undergrowth, trying to hunt up a mouse. Isit back inside of my wolf while she discovers her nose. One trail a dead end, the next trail holds a better promise of finding something to eat that tastes better than leaves. Her nose sticks to the ground, paws now drenched in mud. She has forgotten about the chase she was promised. Instead, she’s focused on her own hunt.
Glancing his way, while her nose is pushing away the dead leaves for that trailshe’s still on, we never even heard him approach. How long has he been watching?
She greets him with a softly wagging tail, playfully jumping on his back, only to scamper away and do it again. His tailswishes back and forth, and my wolf is mesmerized by it as she tries pouncing on it. Back and forth, his tall plays with my wolf. She’s stalling the tail as If it’s prey, Jumping high in the air before trying to pin it down, she tries to take a bite out of it, but she just isn’t fast enough to catch it.
She’s makes loud, rasping growls from the back of her throat when that tail escapes her mouth. She went for his ear with her next leap, biting down with a tight, clenching jaw. He whimpers, backing away slightly. Lightning fast, he strikes her ear hard. She whimpers until he lets go. His growl was intimidating to her as she slightly crouches in on herself.
He licks her jaw, pressing his cheek against hers.
His nose to the ground, he starts to rummage around, scattering the debris of the forest floor until he finds what he’s looking for. Clamped in his jaw tightly, but not dead, he holds a squirming mouse. He clamps down slightly harder, injuring it, but not killing it.
Dropping it on the ground, the little mouse drags its body, willing itself to get away. My wolf snitts it, picking it up in her mouth, dropping it back down on the ground. He’s watching us, not moving, just looking on with a tilt of his head.
The struggling mouse tickles my wolf’s tongue. When she crunches down and that first trickle of blood saturates her taste buds, it’s magical tasting meat for the first time. Crunching bones in her jaws, she swallows it down, looking at him, the provider of her food.
My Wild starts to nuzzle him, lick him, brush her tur against him. She is in awe of this wolf who can provide food for her.
Setting off on the trail of meat, he hunts up several more mice, letting my wolf make the kill. She’s getting gluttonous, drunk on the blood of living creatures. His wolf takes off fast and hard on a trail of something, pose to the ground. His fur is iridescent black, blending into the shadows of the forest where the light doesn’t penetrate. He disappears in the undergrowth for moments at a time.
My Wild waits, sitting on her haunches for him to come out with another mouse. Instead, he comes out with a rabbit, placing the dead animal at his feet. He takes a stance over It, watching my wolf as if waiting for something to happen.
She’s in a greedy mood, wanting that rabbit between his legs for herself. As she approaches him, he bristles his fur, a malignant growl tumbling out of his throat. She gives him her own menacing growl from deep in her throat. Nose wrinkling, she shows her teeth to him, and he does the same back to her.
One pawtakes another step toward his kill, her shoulders crouching down, tail straight. She postures her intent to take what he wants
to keep
Another snarl for her not to approach, but she doesn’t listen to his warning Her teeth almost sink into the flesh of the rabbit that is still
twitching slightly in death.
A sharp slash of teeth opens her ear up, and blood starts to drip onto the leaf–littered forest floor. He takes a step back over his kill, waiting, watching her. The consuming hunger that rages in her stomach makes her forget the consequences. She half circles him with lifted lip, exposing her teeth. He pounces on her threat instantly, pinning her to the ground. He just holds her there until she stills underneath him; the threat of spilling blood from her throat of life is real in her mind.
Getting up again, he stands over his prey. My Wild doesn’t move off the ground. He snarls once more before tearing into the flesh, consuming the meat bite after bite as she watches him. Swallowing when he swallows, licking her lips when he does, she doesn’t try to move from her spot. He tosses her the remaining half of the rabbit. She crunches it down between powerful canines. She like rabbits
Chapter
more than mice.
Crouching down on her stomach, tail wagging happily, she gives him her peace sign. He gives her his own as he starts to lick her jaws and muzzle her neck. Rubbing down her flanks up the other side of her body, he throws a leg over the top of her back, making to saturate every inch of her in his smell. She welcomes it from her provider of meat.
