Way of the Wolf: Equilibrium

Chapter 25 ~ Contemplative

Updates may be a little slow from here on. I'm working away to get book 4 published and struggling through the (hopefully) last few weeks of lockdown.

Hope to be feeling better soon so I can finish this story and introduce to whole new ones that have been tumbling around my head with grumpy characters.

Stay home if you can, keep safe, and thank you to all front line workers!

Chapter 25: Contemplative
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Juice dripped over my fingers as I slid my knife through an apple, peeling a piece away to eat. It was all I could stomach when my nerves were twisting away, my leg bouncing without me even noticing. It was same niggling feeling I’d had when leaving home. I put it down to the fact that any minute now, I would be leaving to head deep into the wilderness with the Pack’s strongest hunters. But still I stared at the crow that cawed high in the branches of the old oak tree that towered over the settlement. A shiver went up my spine and I tore my gaze away from the messenger of The Morrigan.

My eyes drifted to the wolves gathered nearby. They were going through our supplies and double-checking which way we would go according to the last trackers. Out of everything, this should have been the part of my trip that was the least stressful because I knew that when it came to hunting, I was amongst the best. As was Ebbe. So what was I so anxious for?

A hand snatching my piece of apple from my grip snapped me to attention and I glared up at a grinning Fenna. Dark hair was pulled away from her face in a series of braids as intricate as Signy’s today, and her gaze was thoughtful as she studied me.

“You look like your dad when you’re away with the fairies.”

“Thanks.” I rolled my eyes as she ate the last of my lunch, wiping her hands clean on her tunic.

“No problem.” She winked, then wound an arm around my shoulder. Even with me sat on the table, she towered above me easily. “Don’t fret, Raerae, you can handle this. The summer hunt is fun, if a little tiring. You’re lucky it’s not winter, then I’d understand why you’re so nervous. We all had to burrow together last year to stop from freezing.”

But I didn’t mind the cold. In fact I loved running through snow drifts, hunting for hibernating pray deep below the ground. But she was right, this would be tiring but it wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Will you do me a favour?” Fenna asked, and though her tone was light, I could hear the importance.

I nodded, giving her my full attention. “Of course.”

“Keep an eye on Orin for me will you?” She chewed her a moment while I digested that request before continuing. “He’s happy here, I know he is, but I also know he still hears the call out there, that urge to disappear into the wild for a while. I’m sure Ebbe’s told you how it can be.”

I frowned. No, Ebbe hadn’t told me how it could be. But I was Wulver too, we all heard and felt the tug of the wild when we ran in fur. I’d lost myself to it a few times; a day of hunting turning into a weekend or longer, yet I always made my way home. When I was barely out of my pup years, and finally allowed to run alone, I’d had to be hunted down and dragged back home a few times, but that was the same for many young wolves. We learned to control ourselves.

Did Orin and Ebbe feel it more powerfully than just a slight tugging sensation?

Helping me down off the table I’d been sat on, Fenna grabbed my arms as she waited for my answer. Shaking away my thoughts, I smiled up at her. Even though I wasn’t sure quite what she expected me to do, I couldn’t deny my cousin anything.