The Middle Child

Chapter 4

She sat at the bottom of one of the trees and tossed the knife up in the air and catching it with ease by the handle.

She jumped as a white wolf pinned her down. She could swear she heard him say "Archerson!" as his blue eyes held a malicious look in them. She looked around the annoying white wolf and saw the other three watching tentatively. Hayden seemed a bit uneasy.

"Maikoh!" Alyson said challenging the much bigger wolf. She, of course, knew his brother's had the same name but if Mason wanted to play that way so could Alyson.

"Now get off me you brute!" Alyson says pushing the wolf off her gently and searching for her dropped knife.

"You're so stupid you know that, Mason. I had a knife in my hand you know," Alyson said. Mason sneezed at her.

"Hey! I can be dangerous with this if need be!" Alyson said and the white wolf sneezed again.

"Asshole!" Alyson said to the white-wolf.

"So where do you guys want to start?" Alyson asked and felt embarrassment wash over her. They, of course, couldn't answer her.

"Right, I forgot you all couldn't actually talk. Okay if we got west there's a bunch of caves, south is full of drops and cliffs, north is a bunch of trees for miles, and east is towards my house. Which way?" Alyson asks. Dustin starts west towards the caves.

"Caves it is then there are about 20 of them that I've found, there's a few that have bears in them and a few with actual wolves," Alyson informed. Collin gave her a look at the 'actual wolves' statement.

"What you guys aren't really wolves! I mean you're physical wolves right now but mentally you all are still human! Don't give me that look!" Alyson said grabbing a branch to stabilize herself as she jumped off a small cliff rolling to defuse the impact. All of this second nature to her.

The guys looked over the cliff with wide worried eyes.

"Oops, should've warned you about that," Alyson said laughing.

She could practically hear Dustin mutter, " This girl is gonna be the death of me." She chooses to ignore it.

"If you don't want to jump there's a small path to your right that's a bit beaten down, that's how I usually get back up," Alyson said and watched Collin and Dustin walk down the path. She laughed as Hayden and Mason jumped off the cliff. Alyson watched amazed at the grace they landed with.

"Awesome, the first cave is this way," Alyson ordered as Dustin and Collin trot over to everyone else. She showed them around the first few caves, and at the 10th one, she slowed down and began to speak.

"In this cave live a family of bears, but as long as we don't enter it they should be peaceful. Oh, and you probably already know but don't get too close to the cubs or momma bear will try to eat you. I learned by watching a poor wolf get clawed to death because it got too close to the cubs. Though I did save one of the cubs when it fell down a cliff that was too small for momma to get down. I luckily got the poor fella out and he was unharmed. Since then, Momma bear didn't mind me around her cubs," Alyson said.

The four wolves listened quietly to her story, and once they reached the cave Alyson held a hand for them to pause.

"Gwen? Sanders? Sandara? It's me, Alyson! Are you home?" Alyson called from the entrance of the cave.

"I brought some blueberries for you and your cubs!" Alyson called going further into the cave. She heard one of the guys' wine in warning.

"It's fine, just wait outside," She said over her shoulder.