Bloody Paw Prints

Ch 14 Chasing wolves

Carson was making something in bowl while Ally and Tori scavenged around the kitchen like vultures. Carson ushers them away half smiling as they giggle and slither away only to come back a second later. Miki’s head was resting her arms on her arm which were folded onto the counter top.

Ally suddenly spins around, a grin spread across her face. “Hayo!” she sings bubbly.

“Hey” I say frowning at her happiness. Only and Ally and Tori could always be this happy all the time. 

“Hey!” Carson shouts after Tori as she runs around the bench snickering.  Tori laughs and licks what appeared to be chocolate cake mixture off her finger. “Out! Out!” Carson says shooing them out of the kitchen. Both girls laugh and dash out like hyper puppies.

“Finally, they’re gone!” Miki says exaggerating slightly, a small smile on her face. “They’ve been at it forever. Sometimes those two are too hyper”

I sit at a seat in front of the counter, leaning my chin on a hand. A door opens and a few seconds later Ember waltzes in, butt naked.  I turn away, still unable to look directly at people when they were naked. “Where have you been?” Carson asks causally, smiling kindly at Ember.

“Out and about” Ember says bluntly and reaches into the fridge.

I glance over as she pulls out a carton of milk. “What’s the bruise on your neck?” I say before I could think not to.

Ember shrugs a shoulder uninterested. “I probably ran into a tree or something, maybe one of the guys got a bit rough when we were having a wrestle,” she says indifferently.

“Oh” I say feeling embarrassed. Why hadn’t I thought of that, everyone was always having there little play fights, of course someone would have bruise now and then.

“Irana” Ash says walking in, already shirtless. “Come on”

I slide of the seat with a sigh. Ash was going to show me the territory todays. Ash pauses in the doorway of the study. “You coming out to help Vic?” he asks looking at the older man. Vic appeared to be in his early later 30’s maybe early 40’s. He had a head of thick black hair and troubled brown eyes. They reminded me of elderly people’s eyes, old and weary, like he’d seen too much in his time. But he was kind and strong. I also noticed he changed less than everyone else.

Vic looks up, seeming content on what he was doing. “I’m fine here, try to not scare too many squirrels with your face, Ash” he says in his easy, amused way.

Ash grins and shakes his head. “Don’t worry, the squirrels are safe. You should be more worried about Irana” 

I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but I was leaning towards the not serious because of his half grin. It seemed to make him less menacing.

Vic smiles at me and salutes teasingly. “Good luck young one, you’ll need it. And don’t let him pick on you too much”

“I’ll try not too” I say light-heartedly and follow Ash out the door. I strip off quickly, my back to Ash.

I shove my clothes into the wooden boxes Bray had installed the other day, telling us to put our clothes in there so they didn’t freeze into rocks, but no one ever wore them afterwards; they were ice cold and kind of stiff

I step back and nearly collide with Ash as he moves to put his clothes into the box. He grabs my arms and pushes me to the side in his gentle but not-quite gentle way of his before leaning down to shove his clothes within the box.

I feel my cheeks burn slightly. Ash was naked and I could see the muscles under his tanned skin, the pink lines of scars criss-crossing his back and chest. I turn away and focus on the change. My stomach rolls and my bones ache with a now familiar pain. I could change on spot now but I still changed randomly at times, usually just after stepping out of the shower or late at night while I was lying in bed.

Hot adrenalin pulses through my veins as I change, my blood rushing through my body. I stretch out my muscles as Ash changes, his bones snaps and grinding into position. It sounded so painful, but I guess the adrenalin creased the pain to a dull ache or something.

Ash suddenly leaps forward and bounds towards the fence. I dart after him, the thrill of the chase making my heart race. We slide though the forest, as silent as ghosts, faster than the quickest human could run, more resilient then marathon runner.

My eyes search the trees for Ash, my ears flicking for the sound of him. I pad to a stop, fearing for a second I’d lost him. I hear a twig snap to my left and my ear twitch toward it a second before I bolt in that direction. Ash trotted a few meters away, an ear trained on me while he snuck between the trees, never looking at me.

My grey paws sink into the snow quietly as I make my way to Ash who keeps winding his way around the trees slowly, his ears flicking, and tail swaying every now and then. He pauses as I creep up beside him. A few meters away two rabbits sat in the snow, one snow white and the other dusted in a light grey over its back and ears

I watch as they clean themselves and paw at the snow for a few seconds before Ash nudges his shoulder against mine. I shy away, no wanting him to touch me. I was hot enough as it was, my fur like an electric blanket over my body.

Ash creeps forward, turns in front of me and heads off at a slow trot. The two rabbits freeze before one dashes away while the other dives for cover under a half dead bush.

I turn to follow Ash, watching his tail swing and his ears prick at every sound. He almost looks paranoid but I couldn’t help it either, every sound made my ears twitch. An image suddenly enters my head, a wire fence with barbed wire running across the top. But in front of me was no fence. Ash looks at me, too see if I understood. Territory line.

Ash turns towards me and presses his face into my neck, pushing me til I stumble in the snow and face west. I lay my ears back and growl at him. Why did he prosiest on touching me when he knew I hated it?

Ash trots away, padding through the snow and along the territory boarder with swift, silent movement. He doesn’t look back, knowing I was going to follow him anyway.