Chapter 4

The Covered Moon Pack

            An entire moon had passed. The snow was beginning to melt as spring was on its way. The full moon shone brightly in the sky, turning the snow silver. Herds of deer were grazing among the few pieces of grass that were poking through the layer of snow.

            Kamatz was lying next to Salena, their heads together. They were lying on the ledge overlooking the Moonlight Shadows Pack’s valley.

            “I’m glad I left the pack and came to you,” Salena said as she snuggled up closer to Kamatz.

            Kamatz smiled rubbed his muzzle against hers affectionately. His white tail intertwined with her silver and white one. He and Salena watched as the Moonlight Shadows Pack members came outside into the dark night of late winter. Kamatz quickly spotted his sister Kahoko as she stepped out from the rock cave that the pack lived in.

            While Kamatz was living near the packs, he happened to notice that they would come outside during the full moon and howl to each other. Often they were sharing news about the health of a pack, others they simply struck up conversations. He could see that Salena really wanted to join in.

            Eventually Salena relaxed again and just listened to the beautiful song that was ringing throughout the land. She looked away uncertainly, as if she was fighting with herself about whether or not to do something.

            “What’s wrong?” Kamatz asked her in a concerned voice.

            Salena turned back towards him and smiled slightly as if she had made her mind. “Nothing’s wrong. But I have to tell you something.”

            “What is it?” Kamatz asked, preparing for the worst.

            Salena’s smile grew bigger as she considered it for a moment more. Then, without hesitation; “I’m having pups!”

            Kamatz’s eyes grew wide in surprise as the news began to sink in. He was going to be a father! All of the abandonment he had felt as a pup when he and Kahoko were forced to survive on their own, when Kahoko had nearly died, everything was slowly fading away as joy swept through Kamatz’s entire body.

            Salena was looking a little unsure of what Kamatz’s reaction would be when, suddenly, the white wolf bounced in the air in excitement. His storm-blue eyes blazed with amazement at the moment.

            “Settle down!” Salena said as the smile on her face grew to an amazing size.

            It was all Kamatz could do not to bounce off the cliff in excitement as the sentence kept repeating itself in his head, pouncing through his brain almost as fast as he was on the ridge. No words could begin to describe what he felt.

            “Do you know how many pups?” Kamatz asked curiously as he looked at his mate’s stomach that he now noticed was a lot bigger.

            “I’m guessing more than the average amount, judging by the size I’m growing,” Salena replied.

            “Have you thought up any names?” Kamatz asked another question as the excitement was slowly simmering down a bit.

            “I’m only half a moon into my pregnancy!” Salena exclaimed as she was trying to hear all of the questions that were now being thrown at her, “Just relax for awhile.”

            “You’re right,” Kamatz said as he sat down and started trying to control his breathing.

            Salena let out a large yawn before saying, “We should probably get to sleep before we pass out from exhaustion.”

            Kamatz nodded and walked back to the den with her. They went to the very back of the den and settled down next to each other. As Kamatz started to drift off to sleep, he couldn’t believe he was going to be a father, and the words that Salena had told him before were traveling through his mind.

~

            “I’m going to go hunt,” Kamatz said, looking at Salena’s growing belly. She was due to give birth in a few days and Kamatz wanted to make sure she kept her strength up. They now knew there were about ten pups which was a pretty large amount but Kamatz thought there couldn’t possibly be too many!

               Kamatz bounced out of the cave and rushed down the mountain as quickly as possible, wanting to return to Salena as soon as he could. He ran through the quickly melting snow to the nearby hunting grounds and waited in a tree to see if any of the packs were nearby.

            When he didn’t see any signs of anyone, he leaped into the valley and chased after the largest elk which was a giant buck and he took it down without much difficulty. He begun lugging it back to the den, blood pouring over the snow.

            As he made it to the foot of the mountain, Kamatz looked up at the top and back down to his carcass. It was gonna be one heck of a climb. Instead, he decided to improvise and take it up piece by piece. He ripped off one of the legs and began his trek up the mountain.

            All of a sudden, a gasp of pain shot through the air. Kamatz jumped in surprise and thought, Salena!

            As fast as he could, Kamatz raced up the mountain and flew through the cave to the very end. Two little white pups wiggled on the ground as Salena gasped in pain once more.

            Kamatz ran to her side and attempted to comfort her, “It’s all right Salena. Just relax and breathe deeply.”

            Salena tried to do as he told her and began to slow down her breathing until she howled out another agonized yell. The process kept repeating as a silver pup was born followed by another silver, a white and silver one, four whites, another silver, another white and silver, one last silver, and last but not least a little gray pup.

            Salena looked up at Kamatz and let a weak little smile cross her face.

            “You should get some sleep,” Kamatz told her as he realized how exhausted she must be after all of that.

            After she had fallen asleep, Kamatz decided to finish lugging that elk carcass back up the mountain. Fortunately, after the event that had just occurred, he had the strength to pull the entire thing up at once. As he reached the top and pulled the carcass into the den, Salena lifted her head, now apparently awake.

            “You hungry?” Kamatz called softly to her from the entrance of the cave. Salena nodded and yawned briefly.

            Kamatz dragged the elk carcass further into the cave and set it beside her so she could eat and relax a bit more.

            “I’m a bit thirsty; could you bring me some snow?” Salena asked. Kamatz nodded and went outside to get some snow. He rolled some into a ball and brought it inside in his jaws and gently placed it beside his mate.

            “We’re our own little pack,” Salena laughed.

            Kamatz suddenly realized that she was right; they were actually an official pack. When he came to this realization he said, “Then our pack needs a name.”

            “What if we combine the meanings of our names,” Salena began, “We can be the Covered Moon Pack.”

            “Sounds perfect,” Kamatz replied affectionately.