Lone Wolf Lovers

Chapter 2, (Meeting) Lupus:

"How?!" barked Iceout to his chief, Fyord, overly frustrated, "We outnumbered them 3 to 1, how did they beat us?!" He threw back his head in protest, and padded back to his cave to shelter from the cold northern gusts, mumbling "They really aren't sorry for what they did to my precious Alaska."

Fyord sighed in concern, and curled up into a white ball on the icy plateau for slumber, the scars on his head covered up.

It had been one day since the battle, but Lupus still couldn't stop thinking about it. He broke the Wolf Law by saving one from another pack. But he couldn't just leave her there to be killed by his fellow guardian, Blizzard. That would also be breaking Wolf Law.

He growled in frustration, and tore into the snow den, where Blizzard himself, was surrounded by other guardians and trainees, telling his story of the battle.

"I was about to end her, when all of a sudden, this massive animal tore me off of her," he explained. Every wolf there was listening intently, wanting to know what happened, "I though it was a bear or something, but it was the chief of Greypack, Tripaw, maybe? Doesn't matter. I tore him off his feet, and..."

Lupus knew he was lying so he could get all the glory. Classic Blizzard. He was the one that actually knocked Blizzard over, but Blizzard wouldn't know that, since he ran away from the scene shortly after, so no wolf could see his disloyalty to Snowpack.

"That's not true," he piped up from inside the crowd. Blizzard looked at him in annoyance.

"Oh, yeah?" he threatened, "Prove it. It's not like you were there." Lupus quickly realized that this was a bad idea, and he stormed out of the den, defeated. He had to get some fresh air. He needed a break, to clear his thoughts.

"Where are you going, Lupus?" his trainer, Icecap called to him, interested. This was the pup that he had to train to become a strong wolf one day, but he couldn't teach right now. He had lots to think about.

"I'm just going out for a bit," he replied calmly to her, "I need to be alone for a while."

Icecap gave him a suspicious look, before walking off, and disappearing into the trainees's den. Lupus slowly padded away, lost in thought, deeper into the forest until he was in rouge territory, inside the pines, with the distant outline of Snowpack's camp behind him.

Did he even deserve to go back for what he'd done? He had broken the Law of the the Wolf. That was a big deal, and he felt so bad.

He spotted a finch, and stalked it to clear his head. Then he'd eat it and go back to Snowpack. It was starting to get dark already, so he had to hurry up.

He jumped on the startled finch, and clawed it 'till it was dead, then he sat down, and started eating it.

Wait. He listened. Someone was nearby. From another pack. He could smell the scent of a Greypack guardian, coming his way. He quickly dropped his catch, and crouched down to listen some more.

Rustling bushes, until a muddled grey figure was behind the bush in front of him. he drew back, ready to attack. Now! He pounced on the intruder. She yelped, and started away, but he was on top of her in an instant, keeping her bound to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing, you-" Wait a minute. This was the she-wolf that he rescued the other night at the battle. He quickly let her go from his grip, and she stopped to catch her breath, but she didn't run. He admired that.

She looked back at Lupus and inquired him, "Are you that wolf who saved my life?" She probably already knew the answer to that, but he said yes anyways.

There was an awkward moment of silence, until the she-wolf said to him, "Well, um. Thanks." She turned to leave, but Lupus called to her, "Wait." He padded away, and came back with the finch that he caught in his jaws.

"Take it," he said, dropping it to the ground for her, "I'm not hungry," although he was, desperately so, he wanted to know more about this wolf from Greypack. Like her name.

As she picked up the finch, he asked her what her name was.

"Canis," she said, setting down the finch so she could talk to him, "And what's yours?"

"Lupus," he answered her. They both sat down and began to talk a bit.

"So tell me, Lupus," she asked conversationally, "Why exactly did you save me?"

"Well, I couldn't just let you die under my pack-mates's claws, could I?"

"Ya, I guess that's true." They both laughed. Soon, they began talking about life in their packs, and what's going on, until Lupus brought up Alaska.

"Who's Alaska?" Canis asked, curiously.

"She was our princess, the daughter of Iceout and Snowbrush. She was ready to become our new alpha wolf, that is, until one day, Iceout found her in her sleeping cave...dead. Badly scratched and bitten. It was a murder."

"And he blamed us for it?!" she snarled, "That's rude, what did we ever do to him?"

"He thinks that one of Greypack's guardians did it, and now he's going to start a war, to get revenge." He just noticed that he had told Canis all of Snowpack's plans. Could he really trust her? He had only spent about an hour with her.

Wait, an hour?! He needed to get back to Snowpack, although he wanted to stay here with Canis, he couldn't come back to the camp with all those suspicious faces staring at him. He needed to leave.

"Sorry," he exclaimed, pulling back from her, "I have to go. Iceout will kill me if he finds out I've even talked to you."

"Okay," she replied, picking up the finch as she got up, "I'll see you tomorrow at dusk." He agreed, and with that, she spun around and ran back to her camp, bringing his finch. He was left alone with only the sweet scent of Canis in his nose, and the feeling of love in his heart.