She was on the hunt again.

It seemed her life was one constant search for food. She had left Adonis in an area she deemed safe. She knew he wouldn’t stay put, but she was confident he wouldn’t get himself into too much mischief there either. There was plenty of danger for sure, but she hadn’t scented a grizzly or cougar or wolverine for miles, and so, she left him.

She could smell them. The ones that reeked of the same scent her brother had carried. The memories of that night. Her hackles rose instinctively and the desire to rip whoever carried it limb from limb boiled in her belly... Soon. a soothing voice whispered in the back of her mind. Logic told her she was in no state to be getting herself in fight, and she had Adonis to think of. But one day she would get her revenge.

The familiarity of this particular scent didn’t entirely register in her broken walled up brain. Something told her there was nothing to fear from the owner of this scent but it still belonged to them. Curiosity welled. How could one scent be good and bad, it was one, or the other. But never both.

She stalked forward, her mind entirely focused now on another sort of prey.

Her angular bones made her rapidly thickening coat stick out at angles. Stray chunks pushed in awkward directions, laced with twigs, and leaves and dirt. There was none of the old warmth in her eyes anymore... cold topaz darting between the trees. Searching, seeking the owner of that god awful stench. She wasn’t so close as to the creek to fear the pack coming down on her... if she were in better shape, she would stay in the area and pick them off, one by stinking one.

Naira... Yes, that was her name... this wolf wasn’t the first to know it, but the fact one that smelled of them knew her name... caught her slightly off guard. She turned her body side on to the Creek wolf to hide her emaciation. Her fur stood on end, giving her the illusion of bulk she no longer carried. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in warning as the growl sounded low in her chest. Her tail twitched higher as she watched the wolf move... Stiff. Broken

Something niggled at the back of her mind. She knew this wolf. She had a habit of getting herself into trouble... These things Naira knew, somewhere, locked up tight. But they didn’t get through to the creature she had become. Something held her back... but it may as well have been a spiderweb supporting a falling tree. She waited.

The brown wolf exposed her neck, giving the tawny beast pause. Why was this Creek wolf showing her submission? Her eyes narrowed as she watched for the first sign of deceit, then she would tear it limb from limb.

The whine did not go unheard and her head twitched forward, a small growl sounded in response. The last time she had been a loner, she cared about impressing others, she had been gentle. Nice... Now all she cared about was feeding her son and keeping him safe. Creek scent meant danger to the boy, from the very first day his eyes had opened, and so the mother would take the danger away, no matter the cost.

Nina...remember?

Confusion quickly replaced the anger in her eyes. Her lips relaxed and her brows furrowed as she struggled to comprehend the words. Her tail dropped and her fur settled. Something was telling her to relax and she was quick to follow her instincts.

An ear flicked back, and then forward again as she took a tentative step towards the stranger, head extended, nostrils flaring. She desperately wanted to bury her nose in the thick fur of the wolf before her, and remember, but after her previous display, it may be seen as a threat. This she could comprehend, and so she waited, the tip of her tail twitching in the beginnings of a wag. She wouldn’t rip this one’s throat out while ever she was denied a good reason to do so.

The pace of her wagging increased as the smaller wolf stepped forward. Her nose reached out, breathing in the scent and boldly, she took a step forward, bumping her nose against the cheek of the other and breathing in deeply. Her nose travelled then, up the side of her face, past the still closed eye and up to Nina’s crown, sniffing all the way.

Her nose travelled back down, past the eye and around to the thicker fur at the other lady’s neck. She buried her nose there for a moment, breathing and remembering the wolf before her. She hadn’t been this beaten up the last time she had seen her... that was before... Before the pups were born and before he came.

Stepping back to allow the other wolf her space, her brows drew together in worry. She took it all in now. The eye, the healing leg, scars decorated her pelt, just as they graced her own. This could very well have been her if things had gone differently, and a concerned whine sounded in her chest.

She fought for the words, rummaged about in her mind, her discomfort evident, confusion clearly painted on her face. Finally, she found the word she was searching for, her anger clear in her tone. It was only a single word, and she hoped it wouldn’t need further explanation.

“Who?”

Her own question was mirrored in the eye of the wolf before her and a small growl worked its way from her chest with the name. “Kanosak.”

So it would seem brothers had it in for their sisters when they came to this place. She only hoped this Ash looked as poorly as her own brother at the end. She had very few concerns that he would have managed to recover from the ordeal, but when she had gone back to check, his remains were gone. She had convinced herself that he was probably dragged off by a bear, and she had taken some small sick pleasure in the thought at the time. Now it gnawed at her. What if he was still alive?

But this creek wolf carried no scent of her brother, and she doubted he would return anywhere else. The golden child had harped about pack and loyalties, and betrayal... before she tore off half of his face to stop the incessant whine of his voice. He had stolen her child. She had made him pay.

The rage that rolled off her pelt in waves was calmed some by the presence of the scarred lady and although all her emotions played clearly across her face, none of it was directed at the wolf currently at her side. She was determined now to get them home, and that was exactly what she would do. She expected there to be questions about her brother and so she began to dig for the words. The annoyance at such a task clear, but she would offer them, once she managed to find them.