Wolf Runt

The Runt

I stumbled out of my jump and landed on my face. Growling I leaped to my feet to try the jump again. Edging myself on I leaped for the cliff face, bringing my feet in and pushing away. Twisting my body mid air I tried to grab hold of a thick branch. But again I fell too short and landed in a heap on the ground.  

Whimpering I stood, pain erupting in my front paws. I crouched and waited for it to subside, it didn't take long thankfully. At least being a wolf full time did have its perks. Shakily I stood up and saw the early sun peek through the trees. The familiar nauseating pain spears through my shoulder blades, but unlike the other wolves I didn't change. Sighing sadly I walked back through the trees. Alpha wouldn't be happy that I was out all night. Then again nobody, even the alpha, would notice the absence of the runt of the pack.  

Shaking the last of the morning tingles away, I turned to run back to the shack I lived in. Alpha was the only one who knew something about me, he knew a little of my... Condition.  

When I was a pup I was severally injured, and grew to the size of a normal wolf, and also losing my ability to shift back and forth between a human and wolf.  

So everyone in the pack thought I was a real wolf, and the forest companion of the Alpha. It was kind if funny to be around the pack when they think your a dumb animal.  

Alpha is the only one that feels that I'm intelligent, that there is something different about me. But of course he can't prove that, and I cant help him. Without being able to shift I can't be accepted into the pack, so they can't hear my thoughts, and only the alpha can speak to those out side the pack, but if I don't accept his thoughts then we can't speak, and that was the way I was going to keep it. It was easier to be a pet than a runt.

In the run back I heard the approach of wolves. And cursing my curiosity I stopped to examine the new wolves. Their smell had told me that they weren't wild, their voices filled the air. Shifters.  

Crouching I peeked over a rock to see five shifters, in human form chatting. "We strike tonight!" someone snapped.  

"They'll hear us coming!" a calmer voice answered. "We need a way in... Something that will let us slip past the guards and into the camp." 

"They might be listening right now!" The first one growled. I took that as my queue to act dumb. I stood slowly and yawned like their conversation had waken me. "What the hell?!?" the first man snapped looking at me. I sniffed the air to let them know I knew they were there and lowered my head.  

Shifters felt that they were above the wild wolf breed, and the wild wolves knew it, and responded to it.  

"It's just a wild, forget about it." The calm man said waving me away. Slowly I turned to walk away.  

"I once heard that the Alpha if this pack kept a wild as a pet!" The first one said loud enough for me to hear. I tried not to trip as I continued my pace away making it look like I was trying to find food. Their scent flowed me. Guess I wasn't going home today. I sighed lazily following the scent if a rabbit. The shifters stayed on my tail all day, even resting near by when I stopped to nap in a small cave. I hoped to make them leave but they stayed, and if I didn't get back before dusk then Alpha was going to start looking for me.  

Rough hands grabbed the scruff of my neck and hauled me from my nap. "Just make it do what we want! It doesn't matter if it's his pet or not!" the shifter shouted. They surrounded me, but I could see the last rays of sun drop away behind the trees.  

The calm shifter changed and stood in front of me, he towered, nearly double my size. Shakily I dropped to my stomach and whimpered. "I need your help!" he barked in wolf.  

"Help?" I barked back much like a child would who didn't know how to speak. When normal wolves barked, cried or howled shifters could translate it in partial to what human words would be. The sound I made was more of a question, reciting back to him the sound he made at me. This gave me a small voice.

"A strong wolf pack lives near here, I need to go there!" I turned my head to the river where the furthest out post was, and the Beta. He could deal with these idiots.  

"No! I need you to lead me into camp!" he snapped biting the air close to my ear. Yelping I jumped back. 

"What are you doing in my territory!" a different voice barked. Every head turned to the giant white wolf that stood in the shadows. Alpha.  

The calm wolf stepped over me, like he wanted to protect me. Ha! Like that was true. He grabbed my neck in his jaws and glared at Alpha. The forest went eerily quite as they started to speak with their minds. I squirmed, knowing that was what any wolf would do in this situation. I even managed to get a good scratch along the wolf's chest. That resulted in a painful squeeze in my neck and Alpha's pissed bark. After that I stopped fighting, feeling like a rag doll in his jaws.  

Slowly I was lowered to the ground, as soon as I was free I ran to Alpha's side, and cowered under his paws. The other wolves started to laugh at my fear.  Laughing wolves was a unique sound. It was a strange combination of a bark and a laugh.

I looked to see Alpha trying to figure a way out. Sniffing I realized that he had come alone. I nipped his paw, making him gaze at me. I gave him one of me very few, knowing nods before standing. Once he growled I bolted for the river. All I had to do was make Beta follow me, which wasn't hard, and he would help Alpha.  

"After it!" someone barked. I dared a glance to see two of the wolves chasing me, the other three advancing on Alpha. I ran harder forgetting to find which way I was supposed to go, leading the way to the cliff face.  

The shifters were much bigger than me, and ran much faster, but were constantly slowed by the trees. Their bulky bodies couldn't fit through the branches like I could. They left quite the mess behind them though.  

As the cliff suddenly loomed before me I panicked and stumbled giving one of the shifters a chance to bite at me. Quickly I put my tail between my legs and ran as hard as I could. Their laughs bounced off the wall and backd into my face, but I kept running. They slowed thinking I would stop and they could corner me, but I had no intention of stopping. I leaped for the cliff, twisted my body and flew through the air. Instead of aiming for the branch I so often missed I tumbled over the wolves, leaving them shocked in place. Landing on my feet for once I bolted for the river.  

When it was in sight I started barking like crazy, Hoping that they would hear me and I wouldn't have to try to cross. "Help!Help!Help!" I barked quickly, even in desperate times I had been able to keep up my charade. To my glee Beta stepped out of the shadows and easily jumped over the river.  

"Whats wrong?" he asked lowering his head to my level. My breath caught as I gazed into his eyes. Alpha and Beta were the two most beautiful wolves I had ever seen.  

"Help!" I barked. Beta snapped to attention and called the rest of the out post members to this side of the river. "Follow!" I barked getting a head start. They could follow my trail if needed, but more than Likely they will be trying to not get a head if me.  

I moved faster than I had ever in my life, Beta wasn't even getting ahead of me. I weaved through the small saplings and into the clearing where Alpha was fighting.  

Panic rose in my throat like acid. Alpha's white fur was stained red, he still stood, but barely.  

I caught sight of the calm wolf about to catch him from the side. Beta and the others went straight for the other four, I guess the other two rejoined the fight. I pushed off a tree log with all my strength catching the calm wolf in the side, saving Alpha from his deadly blow.  

Jaws sliced the flesh on my shoulder, I bit back as much as I could, pushing his head away from me. I slipped under him and bit his tail as hard as I could. He jumped around to catch. But I slipped through his legs and attacked his throat. He jumped back and whipped around, I tried to hang on as hard as I could, but I slipped away and flew into a tree. I felt the pain and forgot everything after that.  

Closing my eyes I just wanted to sleep.