5/21/2017 Ranked: 717
5/22/2017 Ranked: 665

SOOOOoooo...... Unedited

My mouth parted a little in disbelief as I stared at him, a grin forcing its way out as he tried to hide it.

Who does he think he is, coming up and announcing a dumb idea like that?! Hasn't he ever heard of personal space? Has he already forgotten what his pack has done- Ugh, shut up Crystal; you don't want to go down that rode, not now.

Oh great, now I'm talking to myself... and now I'm talking to myself about talking to myself. Okay, I'm officially shutting up now. I snapped myself out of my thoughts and found him watching me, amusement evident on his face. I quickly shut my still open mouth and turned towards the tunnel.

I heard his hard shoes clomping on the rock as he hurried to stride beside me, the dark tunnel now engulfing us. "That's it? Not even going to say anything?" confusion crept into his smooth voice.

"Is there anything I can say to get out of this?"

"Shut up, Crystal!" Brook squealed. "You might make him change his mind!"

"That's exactly what I want to happen you stupid, stupid wolf!" frustration towards her filled me and I allowed it to seep through the mind link.

Before she could respond, Damian continued, "Nope, not a single thing!"

We then fell into an awkward silence; well, awkward for me anyway, he was too busy trying to nonchalantly get closer. Every time he stepped nearer, I stepped farther.

I was so caught up in his little game, that only as we were approaching my den, did I catch a glimpse of brown hair from the corner of my eye; instantly, I was shoved into Damian from the impact and glanced down to find Jade hugging me.

"Where have you been???" she yelled at me. "Since I saw you return to camp, I've been looking everywhere for you! Not that I could move from my group but- oh you know what I mean! I thought you'd be put in my group, but you never came..." she looked up with teary eyes.

Jade is one of the sweetest people I know; although, she tends to get scared easily. In my closest group of friends, she is the one who always worries about us and keeps us from doing dumber things than what we already do.

"I know, I wanted to talk to you but these river rats wouldn't let me leave my den," I slowly pulled her and I off Damian, who's smile had unfortunately grown three sizes larger from the close contact. "Do you want to stay with me tonight?" I looked to her hopefully.

"I- I can't," she stuttered. "My mom needs me right now, you know how it is with moms- oh," she gasped and looked at me, realization filling her eyes. "I'm sorry, I forgot. Are y-you okay?" Her eyes were even bigger than the full moon. The deep green was liquidity with unshed tears.

"Yeah, I'm just peachy right now," I tried to keep my emotions out but it just resulted in a major voice crack. I felt like my emotional dam just sprung a leak and before she had a chance to say anything else, I excused myself with a "See you tomorrow. I need to get some sleep," and swept towards my den, mere wolf lengths away.

I swung the door open, and slammed it shut behind me out of habit. I had already stormed into my room, past the dried bear hide that hung as another door, when I heard the one to the den creak open and then shut.

I waited by the hide with my hand raised, and as Damian tried to blindly pass through it, he was met with my roadblock. "You are going to stay in the living room and that's final. Don't even think about arguing with me cause I'm not in the mood," I growled.

I heard a sigh and was relieved when the sound of his footsteps was carried away from my room.

Glaring at the fur, trying to pinpoint my eyes to wherever he stood, I gave it one last suspicious look before turning and flopping down on my now misshapen leaf pile.

I was exhausted. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to wisp me away...

Still waiting.

After what seemed like hours of tossing and turning, I finally rolled out from under a thin, fur blanket, and approached my small window. I stuck my head out of it, my shoulders wouldn't fit though, and peered up at the moon. It's so beautiful.

Gradually, I tore my gaze away and stretched my neck a little farther so I could view the clearing; movement flickered near one of the entrances, and I noticed the two wolves that lay sprawled in front of it.

Can't escape that way.

I craned my neck even farther but had to yank it back when it suddenly cramped. Reluctantly, I returned to survey my small room. The walls are built of sticks, stones, and mud. A grass roof covered it from above.

My rickety desk lay in one corner. I moved over to it and inspected my drawing outline of two wolves, one staring into my eyes while the other nudged her affectionately.

I felt hypnotized as I stared at the picture; running my fingers along one's fur. If only I had a contentment as great as they do.

Finally, I set the picture aside, and returned to my bed. The leaves crunching loudly as I laid down. I felt so tired, but I couldn't sleep, irritation filling me.

I slowly sunk into a cushy darkness, inches away from sleep. I cleared my mind as best I could, although the images of my pack strewn around the blood soaked clearing and the sound of my mother's wails still filled my brain. I only saw those horrible images, not the ones of my friends hanging upside down in trees, swimming, or our invigorating hunt.

I moved my head to get more air when light attacked my eyes. I shoved my head deep into the furs of my bed, until I realized that the light meant it was morning.

I felt heavy, the lack of sleep weighing down on me.

Wait, it's to bright to be dawn. It makes sense for no one to have done the morning howls; after all, they're not letting us shift. If it's so late, why am I this tired?

"Whatever it is, we should get up and tend to the pack," Brook yawned.

"I didn't know you can yawn when I'm in human form," I smiled lightly.

"Of course we can yawn!" She retorted.

Ugh, my stomach feels really heavy, I wonder if I ate something bad...

I decided that I'll only feel better once I get up; so, I ruffly threw off the fur but it wouldn't flip over all the way.

What now?

I dragged myself into a sitting position and found a lump in my bed. After I pulled the deer hide away from the mysterious blob, I found an arm and a head hugging my belly.

I carefully leaned over so my mouth was right above his ear, making sure not to stir him, until I screamed, "DAMIAN, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!!".

He jumped back, hair disheveled and eyes huge as they roved around my room until landing on me. The only thing I saw though, was that he was very shirtless.

I inspected my ceiling while pointing at the door, "Do I need to say it again?".

Grumbling about his hearing, he slowly stumbled out of my room, the door swaying behind him.

How long has he been in here???

Too scared to voice my question, I pulled out a new set of cloths, but before I could change I heard the door to the house slam open followed by a voice, "I heard screaming, is everything ok?"

I stuck my head out, around my door and found my two assigned guards, Jake and Ron, in my living room.

They both scowled at me as I said, "As long as he stays out of my room, everything is as perfect as sunshine!"

I hate sunshine. I thought bitterly, but kept an obviously cheesy smile as I nodded to Damian who once again had his shirt from yesterday on. No longer wanting to interact with them, I ducked back into my room, and waited for them to leave before I changed so it wouldn't be as likely to be walked in on.

Once they left, and I had my usual, fringed leather shirt and pants on with wavy but combed hair, I heard Damian fake cough on the other side of the door. Instead of replying, I simply shoved my way out.

"Anything you want to say or can I go?" I asked in monotone.

"One, it's not 'I' it's 'we'," he rolled his eyes dramatically. "Second, Nick wants to meet with you in a couple hours."

     I bit my lip and suddenly wasn't so hungry. I should still probably eat, even if I feel like I'll be sick.

     Sighing, I grabbed my hatchet and moved towards the door when Damian stepped between me and it.

     "And where do you think you're going with an axe?" he raised an eyebrow at me.

     I let my arm that was holding it drop to my side and gave him the most exasperated look I could muster, "This," I shook the wood and stone tool, "is a hatchet. Big difference. An axe would have a much longer handle and is used for different reasons. And where I'm going doesn't concern you, but," I glanced up at him through my eyelashes, "I'm going to chop kindling for the fires if they still need it."

I waited for him to step aside, but instead he reached out to me. After looking between his open hand, and what is one of my most prized possessions, I finally handed it over; glaring at him dementedly throughout the whole ordeal.

"Now if you're done finding weapons, I'd like to see what you eat around here," he fingered my hatchet as he gazed at what only his delusional mind could see.

He's probably thinking of smoked elk, wrapped in bacon... Dangnabit, now I want that for breakfast. You win this round, Damian. I gave him one last glare before slinking around him and through the open doorway.

He followed me like a puppy as I made my way over to the food quart. There was already a fire going with plenty of tender and fuel next to it; Damian continued to hold onto my hatchet until we return to my den later.

I found that only IceStorm and Fern were working. I remember seeing a couple others at the meeting, I wonder where they're at...

I grabbed Fern's arm as she tried to scurry pass me, "Fern, where are Autumn and Ripple?"

She took a moment to register what I had just said, her mind far, far away, "Hmm? Oh, yes! They didn't show up today, IceStorm and I could use some help though. Luna, are we just cooking for Silver Moon?"

I opened my mouth but Damian cut me off, "No, you are cooking for both packs. There are seventy-six of us."

She looked to me and I nodded, sadness filling me as I realized just how much freedom we've lost.

"I'll go see what's holding up Autumn and Ripple. I'll see you soon." I turned away and backtracked to the housing district.

It didn't take long until I was at Ripple's door. I knocked and it almost instantly opened to reveal a middle aged woman with frizzled brown hair. Her stormy grey eyes were ablaze as she scowled at Damian.

"Morning Ripple," I waited for her to say something but she just looked at me expectantly, "Why aren't you in the food quart?" I asked sternly, making it apparent that despite our ages, I still outrank her.

"Why aren't you at the food quart?" she mimicked me, "I'll tell ya why; I refuse to cook for that" she jabbed Damian in the chest, "scum. What do you think you're doing bringing it to my doorstep, Crystal?"

"Ripple," I raised my voice before lowering it again, "You are not to speak that way to your Luna; I know your frustrated, everyone is, but you still are required to follow pack law." She opened her mouth but I kept going, "Also, your pack needs you. Don't cook for Blood Moon, cook for Silver Moon. If you stop now, you condemn us all."

She looked taken aback, like she didn't know how to respond; finally, with a few incoherent words mumbled under her breath, she returned to her den before reappearing with some cooking supplies.

     I stepped to the right and leaned on her wall while she scuttled on her way to serve the pack. I pushed off the den, and made my way to Autumns home.

     When I knocked on the door, the sound of things falling could be heard within the walls. A few moments later, a girl about sixteen, the same age as me, opened the door.

     A look of fear was plastered on her face at the sight of my unwelcomed company, but when her eyes flickered to me, through her red hair, she looked relieved, "Luna Crystal, how may I be of service?" she asked shyly.

Her and Ripple were polar opposites, "Why haven't you been attending your duties as a cook?"

Her eyes widened a little, "Oh, I'm so sorry; I'll go over immediately! I didn't realize we were still expected to perform our normal duties..." she trailed off and dipped her head in embarrassment.

I smiled kindly, "It's ok, just don't let it happen again."

She nodded fervently and then, with a look of confusion inquired, "Luna, if we aren't allowed to leave camp, how will the food be replenished?"

I paused, that is a very good question! I hadn't even thought about our resources. After a moment, I replied, "I will discuss it with Blood Moon. Until fresh meat is brought in, just take from the winter stores."

We exchanged farewells and then departed.

I checked all the stations, and other than a few minor problems, everything went smoothly. We had breakfast and then, it was time to negotiate with the devil.

     Having returned to my home, I entered and to my displeasure, found Nick had already let himself in, and he was currently rummaging through my belongings.

     "About time you showed up," he sighed impatiently while testing the point on one of my arrows. "Why do you have so many weapons?" he stopped his inspection and looked at me, curiosity glimmering in his eyes.

     "They're not weapons, they're tools," I corrected. "Before I could shift, I would support the pack by hunting with all of these," I gestured to the pile of bows, arrows, spears, knives, and snares.

"Speaking of hunting," I moved to sit on one of the whicker chairs that was set at the table, "my pack needs to be able to leave camp to restock our food supply."

"And how will you do that?" he was now inspecting the hatchet Damian placed on the pile.

"What do you mean?" I furrowed my brow.

He stopped and looked at me to reassure himself I wasn't trying to be difficult, "What will you hunt, in what way, and where?"

For once, he didn't sound like he was plotting to be a skunk. I thought about what would be the best species to hunt, before deciding on, "Moose, in wolf form, the location depends on where the moose is."

     "No way! How dumb do you think I am?" he glared at me.

     I cut him off, "How does your pack hunt?"

     "We don't." he sat in the chair across from me.

     I looked between him and Damian who had taken the seat next to me, "If you don't hunt, then how do you get food for your pack?"

     Damian answered this time, "It's complicated. Your pack lives in a waaay different way than any other pack I've ever seen."

I wanted to push the subject but Nick ended it with, "You and your pack will see soon enough," his usual smirk returning to his pale face.

Continuing, he drawled, "How many days worth of food do you have left?"

I paused to think, we would be consuming about twice as much food as when it was just Silver Moon. I quickly did the math after I remembered the I amount of food left, which was announced at the last, traditional pack meeting, in our winter stores, "For both packs, probably twelve more moon rises. We have already been pulling food from our stores; we got a late start supplying them this season due to harsh weather."

"Perfect," Nick grinned, "we'll leave in ten days and bring the other two days worth of food with us."

My eyes widened, "We can't leave so soon! What about the injured? Both our packs still have serious injuries." I tried to persuade him, but he raised his hand.

"They will be well enough in ten days to travel if we go slow. And stop saying 'both packs', it's 'our pack' now," his eyes darkened and Damian sighed, clearly not wanting to push the subject.

     I ignored them and went back to the subject of moving, "We can't leave that early, we'd be crazy to! No one has ever gone far from the border and survived; we've lost entire search parties to the unknown before!" I pleaded, "If we cross that border in our current condition, we might as well dig our graves now."

      He snorted, "How do you think we got here?" He met my eyes, and there must have been something there that changed his mind, because he sighed and relented, "Fine, once every pack member is fit to fight, we'll leave."

     I let out the breath I'd been holding, and calmed down. The border terrified me, but that's not what really had me scared; if we had left in our current condition, not everyone could have escaped when the time was right. They only have to make it to our summer rendezvous site, there were weapons stored there for human and wolf form. In the summer, we train the hardest for bear encounters. All our equipment is there, and if we had it, then I know we could win the fight that would proceed.

     I straightened my posture again, "For food, we can set fish traps and snares daily. It won't be enough for all of us, but if you let us catch some kind of larger game, we could make it work," I spoke confidently.

     He thought for a moment before glancing at my pile of hunting and work supplies, "Wolf form is out of the question. Are you any good with that stuff?" he gestured towards the pile.

     I nodded, "I'm good with the bow."

     "You and four others of your choice can go out everyday until we leave to hunt. You will be accompanied by ten guards, two for each of you."

     I knew that was the best I was going to get so I left it at that.

It was growing late, the sun dipped below the trees casting the clearing in a blue haze. The wind had stilled and the sky was turning grey-blue, to lavender, to pink, to peach, and finally, to orange.

I tore my eyes away from the window to find Damian staring at me, his brown eyes a lighter shade than I've ever seen them. I gazed into the beautiful depths of gold and peace; content filling me.

He leaned forward as I fell into the light abyss of his stare, unable to move. My mind didn't even think as his lips came so close to mine they almost touched. He closed his eyes and moved towards me when a cough came from the other side of the table; snapping me out of my lack of thought.

I instantly pulled back and shook my head, trying to get the image of his eyes out of my mind.

Damian whipped around and glared at Nick, who was smugly leaning back in his seat, "What are you still doing here?" he growled at him frustratedly.

I was too baffled by my behavior to say anything.

Nick stood up, "I was just leaving. Have fun, maybe even a little too much fun!" he laughed as he exited my den.

Damian rolled his eyes towards me, "I take it we can't continue what we were doing, now?" hope filled his voice and he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

I blushed and looked away, "No we most certainly can not."

Okay! So, right now my goal is to have chapters that are around 3,000 words long. This one is 3,500 (I didn't think you'd mind an extra 500 😆); let me know what you think of the length! Especially if you like it, that way if someone says they don't, it won't look like everyone hates it. Just put a 👍 or a "👎 (too much, too little)" in the comments.

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