Cedarwood Forest curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction brought him back

By luck, the youngest Macieo had been up to her old tricks again. The pale princess trailed along behind her brother practicing her stalking. Mama said she was getting good! Felix was easily kept within her sights, though his gray fur was far better at blending in to the surrounding forest compared to her own off-white coat. Ophelia was halfway across the territory trailing her brother when she heard what was finally drawing his attention out this way.

She had only a moment to pout - how come he'd heard that weird noise way back there and she hadn't? - before she, too, caught sight of the angered animal huffing and snorting at Felix. As her brother had forgotten how to move, Ophelia had forgotten how to speak which was almost unthinkable! The girl was rarely quiet unless trailing after her siblings in secret to play tricks on them.

Seeing as how her brother needed the encouragement, the smallest of the pups rushed towards her brother. Lithe, growing legs carried her there fast enough to haphazardly shove him as well as herself free from beneath potentially fatal hooves. When the pair landed roughly and the moose charged past, Ophelia found her voice.

"Get up, dummy! Run, we gotta run!"

It was supposed to be a simple day. First check up on the food caches, to see if they need topping up since winter was here and they needed all the food they could use, and if they did, doing a small hunt or something along the way wouldn't hurt while doing a border patrol.

But it seemed two of the resident pups had other plans, as Amaryllis first spotted Ophelia’s off white coat through the low lying brush and smiled when she noticed the young girl was stalking her brother, Felix who was not far off. May as well keep an eye on the two, since she couldn’t spot another adult nearby and they weren’t supposed to be so close to the borders without a guide, let alone crossing them by themselves. She didn’t allow herself to be known right away however, letting Ophelia the pleasure of surprising her brother when she finally pounced on him. Pups were pups after all

Even so, she’d curse herself later for not seeing or hearing the moose first and getting the pups out of there quicker.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she spotted the moose as it was already charging at the pups! Somehow, though thankfully, Ophelia managed find control of her feet again and pushed her brother and herself out of the way of the first charge but the moose seemed to have more plans as it swung around again. Its eyes were still on the pups so acting quickly, Amaryllis found her own limbs moving as she rushed forward, with every instinct crying out to protect the pups. There was no way she could get both pups out of the way and run them to safety all alone so she would have to draw attention to herself instead.

“Over here you big brute!” She growled at the moose, her lips drawn back and sharp teeth snapping at the moose. Of course, she tried not to get too close to it because a raging moose was still a raging moose and they could move remarkably quickly for their size. But as long as she was at least between it and the pups, that didn’t matter. The pups had to be protected and given enough time to run away. “Why don’t you pick on someone who can fight back!”

There had been no intention of crossing pack borders that day for there was much work to do, but it seemed Mother Nature was displeased with that thinking for the scent trails of two of the Macieo brood laid out a path across said border. With a sigh and shake of her head Yvly began to follow their trail, picking up Lily's along the way as she crossed over into neutral territory. At least they were not alone, but either way she would have to herd them back to the main den with some stern words. It was not safe out there, especially for a pup, even if there was two of them. Pack borders were there for a reason, but pups were pups, always pushing their boundaries to the breaking point.

The tawny female expected to see Felix and Ophelia playing with each other while her companion watched over them, but what she saw was far worse. Her heart jumped up into her mouth as she stared in horror as the moose charged at the pair, unable to reach them in time. However, Ophelia seemed to have her wits about her and managed to get both her and her brother out of the way of the flying hooves. Rushing forward she made it to Lily's side as the other called out to take the moose's attention off the pups. They were both between the moose and the pups, as per the duty of a pack wolf to the leaders' brood should be. They were the lifeblood of the pack and needed to be protected at all costs.

Yvly glanced sideways at Lily who seemed just as willing to face off against the moose as she was, but they could not both distract the moose. One of them needed to get the pups to safety while the other kept the moose's attention on them. As leader she knew it was her job to be a protector for the pack, and so her mind was already made up on who should do what. "Lily, you go get the pups to safety while I distract the moose until more help arrives," she said quickly to her friend with a hard look. This was an order, and she hoped Lily would not try and sway her mind as it would be futile. There was always the chance help would not arrive, but either way the pups were going to get away safely and be taken back across the borders, even if it meant she had to lead the moose away herself.

428 words

Had you been there tonight, you might know how it feels to be struck to the bone!

There was yelling in the distance. Veho’s ears pricked forward, swiveling as he tried to locate the area from which the sounds came. They were most certainly his packmates, some of the ladies – it was too far to make out the words exactly, but he was fairly certain that was Yvly. Some of the others, too? But the tone, the tone was what concerned him – panic, distress – he didn’t need to know anything else. The leader broke into a lope, his long legs breaking into a longer stride as he rushed across the forest floor, leaves and pine needles spraying beneath his paw pads until the adults came into sight. Shortly thereafter came the-- The children.

Veho’s heart jumped into his throat.

His children.

At once, the wolf tipped his head back to call for any others in the area. They would need all the help they could get. Ophelia and Felix were alright for the moment, but it wouldn’t last as long as the bull moose stormed around their territory. “Lily,” he barked, brows furrowed. “Get the children. Where’s Joan!?”

He was already moving to Yvly’s side, hairs standing on edge as his size seemed to increase, his tail flagged high as he snarled. “Yvly, with me now. We cannot take it. We must drive it away.”

She'd only gone down to the creek for a drink. Pip had even passed by the pups on her way there, blissfully unaware of the potential danger lurking. There were shouts from behind her. The mute girl turned, ears pinned back against her head in confusion. What could have happened in such a short time?

Pip was already trotting towards the sounds when Veho's call kicked her into high gear, her heart thumping painfully against her chest. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong. Panic flared; the orange of her eyes was nearly swallowed by the all-encompassing black of her pupils. PackPackPackWrongwrongwrongpupshurtwrongwrongprotect. The jumbled thoughts urged the lithe young wolf onward ever faster to protect the hallowed ideal of family.

A moose. Pip knew what the creature was this time around, knew of its dangers. She saw the beast lowering its head as it set its sights on @Veho and @Yvly. Nearby, she spotted @Felix and @Ophelia with @Amaryllis standing in front of them. This would end badly. The mute girl felt it in her bones.

Everyone was on the defense. But they had no defense against such a massive creature. They'd be crushed!

Packpackpackpackpackpackprotectpackpackfamilyfightfightfight!

She was at the perfect vantage point, coming from the side. The moose was so focused on her packmates that it wasn't prepared for the small wolf to launch fiercely for its face. The little sea wolf clamped her jaws tightly upon the moose's fatty muzzle and felt herself be lifted off the ground as it jerked its head up in surprise. And still, Pip would not let go.

Stay. Away. From. My. Family!

Well on their way to yearling size now, the pups were lanky and lithe, but still maintained that puppy clumsiness that left them tripping over the paws. Despite her hope to always appear graceful and worthy of the title of princess, Ophelia knew she looked anything but regal when she'd barreled into her bigger brother. It was luck. Pure dumb luck that @Amaryllis had been nearby, followed shortly by @Yvly and Daddy. With Lily ordered to tend to them, Ophelia felt herself able to breathe at least a little as the female came to their aid.

It was only when @Felix shoulder-checked her to further shelter her behind Lily that the pale princess gave an ill-mannered snap at him. "I saved you," she reminded him. "Don't boss me around." That was her job, after all. She was the bossy one. All this was grumbled with annoyance under her breath, but with far less gusto than her usual comebacks. She was just as enthralled by the dangerous scene unfolding before them. One thing for sure, she would never have expected that weird, quiet wolf to attack like that.

As much as she wanted to join into the fray - prove to everyone that she was just as capable as that scaredy mute girl - Ophelia knew Daddy would not approve. Answering her brother, she grabbed on to the fur at his shoulder and tugged to compound her words. "Nah uh. Stay here. Daddy'll be mad if we go in there, too."