1
The forest flew by in a blur as her paws thrummed on the ground, sure of her footing even in her panic. Snarls rose up behind her and she lengthened her stride, putting on even more speed. She let her instincts guide her effortlessly through the woods, her whiskers just brushing the bark of a few too tight trees.
Sasha could practically feel the rage of her pursuers, the air thickening with tension. As she caught sight of golden fur ahead, Natania, her alpha, Sasha let out a warning screech, sliding onto her belly and slipping underneath the wolf. The tips of her speckled grey fur just barely brushed against Natania’s belly and Sasha stumbled clumsily to a halt behind her.
Natania shot one shocked glance towards Sasha then twisted around and roared at the threat, ready to protect her tribe at a moment’s notice. Not that Sasha needed protection, but if she killed one of them it would ruin the point of them being there. She hoped Natania would be able to stop them in their tracks instead.
The wolves chasing her roared an answering challenge and Sasha saw Natania’s gaze flash with a fury that would have sent any member of their tribe cowering if it was directed at them.
Three wolves stalked into the clearing, their heads bowed low and lips curled back into matching snarls. Sasha scrambled to her paws and took up a defensive position to the left of her leader, her fur bushed out to make her look larger, though she was by no means small.
“What is the meaning of this?” Natania snarled, curling her claws into the dirt and taking a menacing step towards them.
A large tan wolf separated from his packmates and moved until he was nose to nose with Natania. “You are trespassing on our territory,” he growled, fur spiked and tail lashing.
Sasha had to admire his bravery, Natania was easily two feet larger than him, but he didn’t flinch in the face of her alpha. “We were invited,” Natania spat, her pelt bristling.
“You were invited,” he countered, “not your half breed filth.” The wolf shot a glare towards Sasha and a growl rumbled in Natania’s chest. “What even are you?” The tan wolf took a step in Sasha’s direction and Natania had him on his back in seconds, her teeth at his throat.
“Say one more word about my niece,” Natania snarled, “and I’ll rip you open and leave you for the crows. I don’t need your fucking alliance, you need me.” Sasha’s heart dropped at the words, the last thing she wanted to do was jeopardize an alliance with the pack. There were people, wolves, that needed protection here, and Natania could provide it. If she cared to.
The other two wolves muttered to each other, too quiet for Sasha to overhear. The tan one pinned his ears but kept his snarl, though he said nothing further.
Natania curled her lip and swiped her claws over his ear, ripping open the tip before releasing him and turning her back, dismissing him as a threat. “Tell your alpha he can come to me. If I see any of you three again, the deal is off.” Natania flicked her tail to gather her tribe and stalked away without another word.
“Nat,” a medium-sized black wolf hissed in Natania’s ear, “what are you doing?”
Natania twitched her ears and shot a glance at Sasha. “I will not discuss alliances with wolves who try to hunt my tribemates, after inviting us to join them, Hayley.”
Sasha shrank back with guilt, if she hadn’t wandered off to make dirt, the talks wouldn’t have been delayed.
Hayley sighed with frustration. “You know they need us.”
“Yes,” Natania replied, without looking away from Sasha, “so they should behave themselves.” Natania dismissed Hayley with a flick of her tail and walked over to Sasha. Sasha flattened her ears and sank to the ground, looking away from the golden wolf. Natania nosed her shoulder. “It’s all right, Sasha. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
Sasha twitched under her regard and muttered, “They wouldn’t have chased me if I hadn’t wandered off.”
Natania rolled her eyes. “Were you hunting?”
“No, but-”
“Then it isn’t your fault,” Natania insisted. “They knew we were coming. They knew where we were going to be waiting. They saw a chance to prove their strength, and they took it. The fucking fools. They know I don’t work with anyone who harms a member of our tribe.” Her gaze held barely suppressed rage that reminded Sasha there was a reason her aunt was considered one of the monsters of the world. Someone to be feared. Even if she never turned it on her tribe.
“But-”
“No buts,” Natania interrupted, touching their foreheads together. “I especially won’t tolerate them hunting my family.”
Sasha raised her head at that, a small bit of pride growing in her chest. Natania and Sasha’s father, Bran, weren’t blood related, but they had been raised together, and Natania had never hesitated in claiming his half breed children, her father was a wolf and her mother a cougar, as her kin.
The other half breeds in the tribe, few as they were, tended to favour one parent, or turned out something new, Sasha’s brother, Mateo, was a fox. Sasha, on the other hand, had no idea how to refer to herself.
She was, by most accounts, a cougar like her mother, though her snout was a bit too long and she had inherited her father’s bushy wolf tail. Coupled with her unusual size and speckled grey colouring, it made her hybrid nature very apparent. Some of the tribe already thought she was a freak, even if they were nice about it, and now she had jeopardized an alliance with a pack that really needed what Natania could offer.
“It’s better to know early,” Natania continued, “what kind of folks we’re dealing with.” She laid her tail along Sasha’s spine. “Don’t fret. I’m not giving up on them entirely. I’ll give them the chance to apologize and own their mistake. Are you hurt?”
Sasha shook her head and rose to her feet. “They didn’t catch me.”
Natania grinned. “That’s my girl.” She barked out a command to the others and started leading the way out of the pack’s territory. Sasha fell into step beside her, ears perked for any sound of pursuit. The pack had asked for their help because something was hunting them. A vague something that they had intended to explain at this meeting. With her luck, it would come for them, and Sasha had no intention of being caught unaware… again.
“You think they’ll come?” Hayley returned to Natania’s side as they walked.
“They don’t have much of a choice,” Sasha muttered and Natania gave her a nod.
“You’re asking them to make themselves vulnerable by sending their alpha away,” Hayley argued.
“As I made mine vulnerable by coming here,” Natania replied, though there was a glint in her eye that said she was just teasing.
Hayley scoffed and rolled her eyes, not catching on to Natania’s teasing. “I’d hardly call our tribe vulnerable. We’re probably bigger than any pack or pride around for miles.”
Sasha nodded in agreement. The tribe had grown dramatically in the years since she was a kid, so much so that they had had to start breeding their own caribou so the beast bound, the animal shifters who could shift at will, would still have something they could hunt every moon.
They had everything from wolves to wildcats, to coyotes, even a few bears were among their shifters now. Plus a couple werewolves, the ones that were bound to shift only on the full moon, though they only had a half beast form. Natania’s mate was a witch, and the vampires that considered their alpha family were also frequent visitors.
Their home was chaotic, but peaceful nowadays, and very well defended. Nothing had dared to attack them for years, though Sasha had heard it had been rough in the beginning. She shot a sideways glance at Natania, taking in the collection of silver hairs that were beginning to line her muzzle, and hoped that the stability would remain, even when their leader was gone.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Natania complained, raising an eyebrow at Sasha.
Sasha ducked her head and looked away. “Like what?”
“Like I’m going to keel over and die, and you’re gonna be stuck hauling my decrepit corpse back to Gretchen.” Natania flexed her shoulders. “My wolf may be aging, but my human form is still the same as it’s ever been.” The beast bound typically lived up to three hundred years, though their human forms remained in their mid to late twenties for the majority of it. “I’ve got time.” Hayley stiffened and shot an uncomfortable glance at Sasha, her gaze reflecting the same fears back at her.
“I don’t have a look like that,” Sasha muttered, breaking away from Hayley’s gaze. The tribe had started musing more frequently who would take over when Natania, who had aged much quicker than her kind should have due to her troubled past, finally returned to the earth. Natania flicked her with her tail and charged ahead, effectively ending any discussion of her impending doom.
Sasha sighed heavily and dashed after her. One problem at a time.
