The Fall of 06

Chapter 3

The sun shined down through clear skies, warming the Earth and encouraging plants to reach towards the light. My paws were splayed out away from me as I lay on my side, basking in the warmth. It was rare for such a sunny day to occur in the middle of autumn, and I wasn't about to let the opportunity pass me by. Besides, it had been a long time since I had gotten a chance to relax as my rank had tripled after my little hunting stunt. Just as I was about to fall into a deep sleep a shadow passed over me, shunning away the sun and with it the warmth. With annoyance I fluttered one eye open and instantly met Yinda's hazel gaze.

"Move. I need to clean your bed." Yinda demanded, poking his cold, wet, nose into my side. I growled at this and pawed his chest in a feeble attempt to push him away. "Merda move!"

With regret I got to my feet with a glare at Yinda. As soon as I moved off the leaves he started nosing them into a pile. It was sad watching him cater to everyone's needs like some slave. He was my brother, not an inferior.

"Yinda you need to rank out of omega. You seem really miserable." I tried to sound neutral, but I couldn't keep the concern from etching it's way into my voice.

He snorted as if it was laughable. "What a keen observation. I mean, I would've never known otherwise." He laughed at this and scooped the dry leaves into his mouth.

"Yinda I'm serious! Why don't you try? You've been on hunts plenty of times, you've had so many opportunities to prove you're more than . . Well, this!" He was my brother, he was Huyung's younger sibling, how could he not at least try? He was so much more then omega! He had been so much more than this.

Yinda met my eyes, searching mine as if there was something there he could become. But then he blinked and looked away. "I've accepted my role, it's time you accept it too. Stop trying to make me you. I'm not you."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Yinda walked off with the dry leaves in his mouth. On his way away, one of the leaves broke off from the pile and he sighed.

"Here, I've got it!" My litter brother Ruan picked up the dry leaf with a smile. Yinda looked surprised, but he accepted the help and took the leaf from Ruan. Ruan wagged his tail when Yinda took the leaf away and looked over at me.

"Merda, why didn't you go hunting with Huyung and father?" Ruan nuzzled my shoulder in affection, not caring to bow to my greater ranking.

"They didn't need my help. I suspect father wanted to talk to Huyung about Mohini." I met Ruan's hazel eyes and flashed his smile back at him. He was such a kind brother, he didn't care about ranks when it came to his siblings. All he ever did was support us and brighten our days.

"Mohini? Huyung's . . ." Ruan trailed off, unsure how to describe Huyung and Mohini's relationship.

I nodded. Everyone knew relationships when another wolf led the pack was forbidden. Every wolf knew, it had been a rule since the beginning of time put in place in order to prevent overpopulation.

"They haven't . . . Done anything though have they?" Ruan asked, titling his head to the side in the direction of my mother's un-used den.

"No, Huyung isn't dumb enough to do that. Him and Mohini are good friends, and they respect father. They would never do that, but the feelings are definitely there." I sat down leaving my tail curled by me as a gesture for Ruan to sit too.

Ruan nodded in understanding and lay down across from me. "Well, Huyung better not break the rules. I don't want to lose a brother." Ruan shivered at the thought of losing one of his siblings. I couldn't help but smile at his undying love for us.

"Don't worry, Huyung knows what he's doing." I assured, lying down too so that I wasn't towering over Ruan.

"Speaking of knowing what you're doing, how do you do it?" Ruan asked, his eyes sparking for a split second.