Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 57 - Puppy Love

Okay so since I've just realised I forgot the last update (I think exams fried my brains), this is double length to apologise. Two weeks is a long time to leave it, let alone a month, so I'm sorry, everyone.

"Where are you?" she asked.

 "The valley," I muttered, resting my head against my knees. It was taking quite a lot of concentration to keep the raging hangover away from the link. "Jess and I are trying to sober up."  

It was the next morning, and I'd woken to a link from my sister. It was understandable that she was worried, since I'd disappeared from the camp without saying a word, but I didn't understand why she'd thought it was a good idea to contact me at six in the bloody morning.

Eira laughed at me. "Yeah, I saw you two chugging. Thought you were going to abstain?"

"Tom told us it was disrespectful," I sighed.

"Really? Lee got pretty smashed, but I didn't touch a drop, and he didn't say a word to me," she said.

"That's ... strange."

"Hang on a second — I'll pull Lee in," she murmured.

I felt him joining us, and I could feel his hangover pulsing into the link. It was worse than mine. I built half a wall just to stop it overflowing into my mind, because I was having enough trouble functioning as it was.

"Morning, Llewellyn. Tom's a big fat bloody liar," he said groggily. "How drunk did you get, exactly?"

"I don't remember."

"Damn," Lee sighed. "Well, don't rip his throat out. He was probably just trying to get you to loosen the hell up. Did it work?"

"No," I said shortly. "I was sick."

That made him laugh, and then he winced at the volume of his own laughter. "Bloody novice."

"Your head's pounding right now because you weren't sick, Lee. Wise up."

More laughter, more wincing.

"You'll have to excuse Lee now," Eira told me. "He needs a shower and a greasy breakfast."

Before I could answer, I was jolted back into my body by a noise. Jess was awake, and she was on her feet, somehow, facing in the direction of the woods — all in all, annoyingly functional for such an ungodly hour of the morning.

"Are you coming?" she asked me.

I let my face ask the question for me.

"To hunt. It's time for breakfast. Drunk Jess packed a book, but she did not pack any food."

"You did have a few Yorkies," I told her, straining to remember. "But you ate them on the walk over here."

Her mouth stretched into a rueful grin. "Ah, yes, that sounds like me. Hunting it is, then."

So we shifted. In the daylight, I could pick out splashes of amber and gold hidden amongst the timber of her coat, and the size difference between us became all too apparent. Unlike me, my wolf didn't seem to notice our hangover. He was in an unusually playful mood.

I lay down on my belly and crawled forwards, inching towards Jess. She watched me curiously, her tail sweeping from side to side. When I got close, I rested my head on the ground and whined. She lay down, too, her neck stretched out to snuff at my muzzle.

Her hind legs started lifting off the ground, and that was all the warning I got before she pounced at me. I was knocked flat onto my side, so I rolled both of us. My hind legs kicked at her stomach, and she chewed at my ears, and soon we were wrestling in earnest.