United With Fate

Chapter Three

Knowing that it would be too cold to change back into our skins, I stayed in my fur to eat the delicacy that my brother brought me. Technically the moment that my parents died, I became Alpha of the pack, so my brother was only doing as any other of the pack would do and let me eat first. So when he returned with the legs of the deer and put them aside for later, I had already finished my fill of the deer and resumed my digging.

I knew the moment which he was done eating, for he put the rest of the deer away and started digging his own small den. For now the two of us would sleep in the same den, for it would be too cold at night to sleep alone, but once spring came in a few weeks we would be fine. My Wolf growled with the idea of sleeping in the same den as anyone else, but this was Danny we were talking about and survival; I could handle some brotherly-sisterly cuddling.

By the time that the sun was setting, I was in my new den, battling a tree root for space. I had tunneled underneath the rock nicely, digging so that there was enough room for my brother and I to keep warm, yet airy enough that we wouldn't have to touch. I rounded out my den so that there wouldn't be anything to jab me in my sides or knock my head on as I moved about, and crawled out of my den. I dug at the snow around my den, and uncovered the soft leaves that covered yellowed and browned grass from the soft snow. Carefully, I then blushed the leaves into my den with my snout, picking out small twigs and rocks as I went.
Feeling satisfied with my work, having placed the leaves all around my wonderful den making it soft and soon warm, I went to see how Danny was fairing. I saw that he had hit rock several times, as he was now growling in frustration as he started in another spot. I always was the one who was better at finding a good spot to start a den, I shook my head at him, making him growl at me.

What a moody Wolf, I thought as I started to smell the earth around his rock. Satisfied with a spot he was opposite from, I started to dig there and when he hit rock again on the other side, he then quietly came to take over where I was.

With the sun now set, I went into my cozy den and started to warm the space with my body heat as I lied down and put my head on my paws. I eventually heard Danny enter my den as quietly as he could, but I still growled at him to tell him that I did not appreciate being woken up.

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A month has passed and Danny and I have settled on a nice routine. First we would wake up when the sun entered the tip of my den at daybreak. We would wake ourselves up by going for a run around the area we claimed as ours. We would occasionally find a snack that would pop up on our morning run and bring it back to our den area to have as breakfast. As soon as it had been warm enough at night, I kicked Danny out of my den so that I could enjoy sleeping in my skin in the security of my den. Danny and I rarely spoke as humans for a lack of clothes, but we managed to understand each other's growls or barks.

Before I went to sleep each night, I worked on making sticks and rocks sharp enough so that we could start to use the pelts of the animals that we caught for use. I couldn't wait until the soft furs of rabbits and deers adorned my den, then with my Wolf getting increasingly snippy with everything, we would be able to relax some when the day was done.

After breakfast, Danny and I worked with our skills, honing them and sharpening them so that we both were able to fight well in our fur. We tracked each other in our skin and in our fur, and once we found one another, we would give chase in our fur again. Until we wore the pelts too, we wouldn't be able to hone our skills in our skin nearly as much as we did in our fur.

When a day full of training was done, Danny and I would lie in our dens and just poke our heads out as we changed into our skins. We would talk for hours under the stars, enjoying each other's presence and keeping each other from being lonely. We never brought up the topic of our parents, knowing that we were getting stronger precisely so that we could get revenge for them. But we were still very sad about it. Danny usually was an optimistic person who loved to talk to everyone about everything and anything. Often now though, I found him to be rather pensive, retreating into himself.

As his sister and Alpha, I hated how much he was changing because it felt as though he was pulling away from me. As though soon my brother was going to be a shell of a person. Everyday we both got more and more aggressive with our fights, pushing ourselves, but not too much. The mother bear and her cubs were virtually our only enemies, and we made sure that she knew where our territory started and ended, but that did not mean that other predators would not try and make their way to us.

By the end of the second month, my brain wrapped around what was happening to me. My Wolf was starting to get really aggressive and it affected me greatly; if Danny stepped within a meter of my den we would freak out at him, we would make sure to eat as much as possible before bed and often we had to hunt for three full grown wolves instead of two. But I now knew all the signs were there, especially since I never went into heat after my first month of being 20.

So that night I steeled myself at the possibility of what happened to me, even though I was scared out of my mind, I had to tell Danny so that he could help me. When we went into our dens, and waited for darkness to fall, I changed into my skin and rested on a soft rabbit cured pelt. My hands fell over my stomach, and as I looked carefully, I could start to see a small bump of a belly on my usually flat stomach.

Sighing, I poked my head out of my warm den as I watched the moon start to rise into the sky. I carefully leaned on my arms as I tucked my legs under me, keeping my weight off my hips. Soon I saw Danny's head poke out from his den, and he gave me a smile in greeting. I smiled back and wondered to myself how I was going to bring up the topic. We watched the stars come out in silence for a few moments before Danny started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"I swear, each day that we live out here, you get more and more aggressive. If I was any closer to that deer, I would have lost my head!" I scowled at him.

"Well, I'm glad you find it so amusing." I mumbled as he laughed all the more.

"Danny," I said, stopping his laughter and taking a serious note. "Do you remember how I told you that I didn't remember what happened at the party a day before...?"

"Yeah." He nodded his head, and I knew he knew the exact day I was talking about. It was a silent rule between us to not actually mention what had happened to our pack.

"well, I wasn't lying when I told you that I didn't remember what happened." I said, which made him scowl at me, but I continued anyways. "but I can guess at what happened, because I didn't wake up... alone."

He waited silently as I took a breath and continued.

"Danny, I woke up next to the wolf from another pack that you saw me with. At first I just wanted to greet him so that there wouldn't be bad blood between you and him, starting a war between our packs accidentally. But then I blanked out. I know I didn't pass out, I just don't remember what happened. When I woke up, he was beside me and I... I was sore..." I looked at Danny, worry in my eyes, and saw as his widened with knowledge of where I was going with this.

"Danny," I said weakly, "I think I'm pregnant."