The Shadow Alpha

Chapter 19: Careful Stepping

Chapter 19: Careful Stepping

Holly

            My paws pad against the earth almost soundlessly as I find my way easily along the outer tree line of what used to be my home at Half-Moon. River is on my right flank, Desiree, Drake, Tyler, and Clark in formation behind us.

            We finally decided it was time for us to come back to Half-Moon and scout things out. It took two days to convince River once more that I should be the one to lead this, and another two and a half days to arrange meetings with everyone and organize ourselves. 

             We could have made it happen sooner, but River and I knew everyone was still reeling from the funeral, and it didn't feel right to dismiss their grief so quickly.

            We're about a half-mile out, stay sharp.

            I say to them through our mind-link, and I feel a tension prick the air, our fur starting to stand just ever so slightly on end. All of us are now ten times more alert than we'd been on our way out here, anticipating a Striker or many to appear at any moment.

            I lead them along the trees, and I have the most unsettling sensation of not feeling at all like I'm at home here. I used to be, back before the attack of course, but now...Now this land feels foreign, the trees and shrubbery looking familiar to me but only in a dream-like sense. As though I have seen them once, long ago, as if almost having had lived another life.

            In a sense, I suppose that's all true. I really was living a whole other life before the attack and meeting River. I've done the unthinkable and joined the Shadows. Hell, I'm going to be Luna of the pack: lead them, protect them, and maybe even kill for them. All of it really is so far removed from the simple life I used to have, yet somehow, I can't picture my life any other way now.

            A gust of wind from the north carries forward several scents: pine, squirrel, sweet grass, and...

            Wait.

            I say this, stopping in my tracks. Everyone else halts behind me, stiff, poised for attack. My fur bristles, standing on end instinctually.

            That's wolf all right. The bastards reek.

            Drake grumbles telepathically.

            Stay low, the trees will conceal us for maybe another twenty feet, but after that it's mostly shrubs. If we can make it just beyond there, I know a lookout that'll take us up above them, out of sight. They'll have no clue. Stay down wind and follow me.

I explain this, casting a glance over my left haunch. I catch all their gazes for just a moment, but I need no confirmation from them before we resume our stealthy trek.

As we move further towards the ridge, staying low behind the shrubs, the smell grows stronger and we begin to hear a collection of sounds: growling, yipping, snarling, and barks. They're distant enough we know there's no immediate danger, but the reality that our small group of six is approaching this vicious pack of unknown size starts to sink in.

As I trot silently behind the shrubs, I see the pathway to the lookout come into view. Carmen is the one who showed me, saying she went there often to clear her mind, and remind herself of that which was truly important. She meant the pack, of course, given that the lookout offers an unobstructed view onto the main area of Half-Moon. I soon began to go there too when I needed time alone.

There was something I found comforting in being able to see everyone, and knowing they weren't able to see me. Watching others go about their lives somehow made me feel a bit less worried about what I was meant to do with my own. It gave me hope that I would figure it out, I'd get there. Regardless of how lost I often felt, it always gave me such comfort to observe others navigating their way through life just as aimlessly as me.