Those In The Forest

Part 3: Iris

I pulled the ax back, swinging it at an angle into the tree. Ivy stood a few feet behind me, observing. With a few more swings, I heard the cracking of the tree, and I took a few steps back.

          Ivy and I watched the semi-small tree fall to the ground. A loud smashing echoed through the woods.

          Ivy snickered and grabbed her ax from the ground next to her, heading toward the tree to start cutting the fire word to load on the wagon. I frowned at her.

          "What's funny?" I asked, following her lead swing at the fallen tree to get the firewood.

          She shrugged. "You usually scream 'TIMBER' whenever we do this. You've just been really of this past week." She swung partially hard at the tree at that last statement. "We all have... ever since we saw Reagan."

          We started talking about her a lot more since that day.

          Lennox and Avah didn't know what to make of it, so they told us to just wait until Karina and Celia come back home to really figure things out.

          Our sneaking out did cause us to get punished—a week's worth of getting firewood for the winter and no running. The week is almost over, and we all feel like we're on fire in our own skin. Not being able to shift for long periods of time is highly uncomfortable.

          The punishment isn't that severe, not like some of the past, but it still isn't great.

          We started actually using the human girl's name despite our whines when we think of her. Two days ago, we all tried to have sex to work off some tension... and things got violent, almost like we were in heat. Which we aren't due for, for like two months.

          During our moans of pleasure, we would whisper her name. It was almost instinctive.

          None of us have been able to function properly. I haven't been able to function properly.

          "Can you two either fuck it out or keep the sexual thoughts to yourself! I feel like I'm about to combust, and Rose and I are trying to hunt. We can't really fuck it out. So cut it out." Hazel's voice rang through my head. Ivy laughed, hearing her too.

          Hazel's libido is a little higher than ours. She was the most violent during our lovemaking. Not that we didn't like it. We weren't very soft and slow when we fucked, but things have changed.

          Hazel and Rose were out hunting to stock out meat cabin. We all have our jobs that some are better at. Hazel and Rose excel at finding the best deer to eat, and Ivy and I are good at gardening the produce to go with that meal.

          In a pack, we are all separated by certain power balances. Ivy, Rose, Hazel, and I are runts. We are a scarce breed because we are bonded to each other. No other pack has what we have, at least not with four wolves. The second in charge is the Alphas. They keep us runts in check when we misbehave, like last week. Then, at the head are the Elders. Karnina and Celia are Elders; they are in charge of discussing land layouts with other packs and other trivial things.

          Hazel and Rose are only a mile away from us. They can only go so far, or we all kind of go feral. Our entire bodies go into this fevered state, and a lot of the time, we get sick. We try not to be too far away from each other to avoid that.

          "Has anyone else felt really fucking anxious since we last saw Reagan?" I asked, swinging at the wood. Through our bond, our feelings are kind of mixed. I would like to believe that we are all anxious, and I'm not the only one, but because of our bond, I don't want just to assume.

          Rose huffed. "Just remembering her cruising at us has my body running on ten. I miss how relaxed I was before we saw her."

          "I agree," Ivy said aloud and through the bond.

          "She's been crowding my dreams... I can't have a decent night's sleep unless I think about her naked in the bed with us." Rose grumbled through the bond.

          We all laughed.

          "Yeah, she's been in my dreams too," Hazel said after a while.

          Ivy swung really hard at the tree, the wood splintering everywhere. "Mine too."

          "Same." I agreed with everyone.

           I stopped chopping at the wood, needing a breather. Ivy started loading the wagon with what we cut.

          "What's wrong, Iris?" Rose's light voice filled my head.

          I swallowed. I have a love-hate relationship with us being able to feel the other's emotions.

          "I want to see her again..." I finally admitted.

            We all knew it was a bad idea. The next day after we saw her, we begged Lennox and Avah if we could go and see if we could find her. They both told us no.

          "Avah and Lennox told us no. They have been on our asses since we snuck out. There's no way we could even try and see the place we saw her at." Hazel grunted.

          "Yeah, I don't partially like listening to them, but I don't really see how we can sneak out again." Rose agreed.

          I whimpered, and Ivy just laughed at me. "When have you ever listened to them, Rose?" Ivy asked, sitting down on the tree.

          Rose snarled. "Look, any other day, I would attempt it, but this is something I haven't been able to handle. Reagan has really fucked with my head, so I don't know if I can attempt a sneak out, knowing I'm close to a fucking mental breakdown!"

          Silence filled my head. Ivy just looked at me with wide eyes.

          We were all on edge. However, Rose has been a little more off. We try comforting her, but it doesn't always help. Not knowing what the hell happened and why Reagan could hear us as really fucked with our heads.

         "I think we should at least try. Any punishment Lennox and Avah set up for us can't be worse than what we feel right now handling this human girl." Ivy said sternly.

          There was silence for what seemed like forever. A few seconds passed, and Hazel's voice rang through my head. "We caught a herd of deer... well, three deer, but we'll be eating food for a while." Hazel sounded proud.

          "With six wolves in the house, this won't last three days," Rose grumbled.

          "Her scent is stuck in my nose..." Ivy admitted. When I looked at her, she pressed her fingers against her temples. She had a pained look on her face.

          Rose huffed. "I'll figure something out because I can't function like this. We'll go back to where we saw her. Just let me think of a plan."

          We all let out a pleased howl. I assume Hazel was hugging Rose, squeezing her so tight she probably couldn't breathe.