Thunder breathed in deeply as a breeze passed by. The heavy scent of all the dogs in the pack came floating into her nose.
"Glad to be home," she whispered lovingly.
"That was a nice chat!" Whisper said as his tongue lolled from his mouth.
Thunder smiled and turned to the slightly shorter dog, "Yes, thanks again for keeping my company."
"Of course," Rake growled softly, "but we won't bother you anymore, Thunder. Enjoy your break."
With that, Rake and Whisper walked away from Thunder side by side.
What should I do with my break? Thunder thought curiously, slowly lying down. She twitched as movement slipped into the corner of her eye. Thunder turned her head to see Scramble limping into the open. When their eyes met, he yipped and hobbled over to her.
"Hey, Thunder!" Scramble squeaked, falling purposely against her.
"Hello, Scramble," Thunder growled kindly. She made sure to get a good look at his leg. It was wrapped somewhat delicately in sticky leaves. Only a little of his paw could be seen. His leg was set at an angle that looked uncomfortable to Thunder, but Scramble didn't seem to think so.
"So how's that leg?" Thunder asked quietly, starting to feel her guilt come back.
Scramble's muzzle quickly turned into a frown, "Fine, I guess. Can we play a game?"
"Maybe. Could you show me your leg first?"
Scramble sighed and stuck his leg up a little. He dragged it around a bit until he whimpered in pain. Thunder blinked sadly but didn't utter a word.
"Scramble!"
Both dogs glanced around for whomever carried the tiny voice. Thunder's eyes widened in surprise. The same pup named Tiny she'd seen before hanging onto Sweet's leg was trotting towards them.
"Hey, Tiny!" Scramble yipped, running to his cousin-kin.
"Hey, sorry about your leg," the small golden pup whined as she nudged Scramble.
Scramble shrugged as another pup started to approach.
"Who are you?" he asked Thunder with huge big brown eyes.
Thunder looked the pup up and down. He looked similar to Tiny. He also had golden fur but it was shaggier than the smaller pups, and his was much darker.
"My name is Thunder, I came here a few days ago. I'm a new addition to the pack," Thunder said sweetly, bumping the little pup's nose, "And what's your name?"
"Tumble!"
Thunder nodded as she felt Scramble climbing her back. She looked between Tiny and Scramble, "Are you two kin also?"
"Yeah! But not like my relationship with Scramble. Me and Tiny are litter-mates!" Tumble yipped, pawing at his sister, but Tiny dodged before his paw could lightly slap her muzzle.
"Wow, really? It's just you two?" Thunder asked, flicking away Scramble's tiny teeth from her forepaw.
"Noooo! It's us too!"
Thunder looked to see that two more similar looking pups came to join her. The one who'd spoken was a golden-brown color and her eyes were dark like Tumbles. The other was quite tan with light eyes like Tiny's.
"I'm Fluff! the golden-brown pup stated, sniffing at Thunder.
"And I'm Nibble," Nibble said softly, stretching her tan body.
Thunder smiled, glancing over each of the pups carefully. So these are Lucky and Sweet's pups. They're cute!
A high pitched yip made Thunder turn once more.
Looks like our puppy group is complete...
Nip was scrambling over to join his brother and kin. "Hi everyone! Why didn't you tell me we were hanging out?" he whined, nudging his brother playfully.
Scramble rolled his eyes but grinned at his brother as they started to play.
"Not too rough," Thunder growled quietly as all the pups joined their game. She set her head on the ground and let her eyelids close over her brown eyes.
Maybe I can-
Thunder jumped awake, feeling as if her heart had skipped its pattern.
"What's wrong?" Nibble whimpered. Her light brown eyes were focused hard on Thunder.
Thunder shook herself a little, causing both Tumble and Nip to fall off of her leg, and licked her lips that she felt were suddenly dry.
"Nothing, I was just spooked. You can keep playing."
Nibble narrowed her eyes a little but turned away when both her sisters jumped on top of her.
That was close, Thunder thought nervously, watching as each puppy pawed at the one next to them, if I fell asleep, the whole Scramble thing could happen again! And this time with Alpha and Beta's pups! How bad that would be...
"Wow, Thunder. Why didn't you invite us to the puppy party?" came Breeze's soothing voice from behind.
Glad to have another distraction, Thunder turned to give Breeze a friendly nose bump. She soon noticed that another dog was at her side.
"Oh, you haven't met me yet. I'm Snap, a hunter," introduced Snap.
The dog seemed to be a Beagle with bright eyes. Thunder's gaze drifted to Breeze's. Breeze slightly twitched, indicating that they'll talk later.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Thunder," Thunder barked, playfully kicking Fluff off of her.
This is the dog who rejected Mickey? Thunder watched Snap closely as she joined in on the pup's fun. She seems... Okay. But why did she reject him?
Thunder decided to leave it alone as she came to her paws.
"Where are you going?" Scramble whimpered, hobbling onto his three working paws.
Thunder drooped her head sadly, "I'm sorry, Scramble. But I've got to get back to my High Watch."
"What's a High Watch?" Tiny butted in.
Thunder tilted her head, "I'll tell you later." With that, Thunder shared a goodbye with the pups and trotted off to go back to her punishment.
* * * * *
"One day down," Thunder muttered as she started her walk back to Camp. For the rest of the day, she'd spent her time up on her hill on High Watch, though no dangerous activity occurred, it wasn't half bad having a peaceful evening.
Thunder paused as she smelled one of her packmates scents.
"Hey!" came Chase's urgent voice.
Thunder let her tail sweep across the ground as she started to smile, "Hello. Came to escort me back as a prisoner?"
Chase let out a nervous laugh as she greeted Thunder, "Ha, no. Me and a few other dogs had been wondering where Sunshine was. Have you seen her?"
Thunder let her tongue swipe her teeth as she made it into their camp, "No. Actually, I haven't seen her in a few days." Thunder stopped walking so she could stare directly at Chase' brown eyes, "Do you think... She's in trouble?"
"Yes!"
Thunder turned as Daisy ran to her. The little dog put her paws on Thunder's side so they'd be neck to neck.
"I haven't seen her since the day you, Moon, and her pups had that argument!" Daisy howled, drawing attention to her friends.
Thunder dipped her head in worry as the smell of meat wafted into her nose. The evening hunting party had returned, dragging a deer behind them.
"What a great catch!" Sweet's voice boomed.
Thunder stared at her Alpha as the slender Greyhound came to inspect the pack's dinner.
"You've done well, my hunters," Sweet growled kindly, plopping onto her rump.
Lucky came up beside her, tongue lolling, "Yes, a fine deer."
Thunder took a peek at the deer. It is pretty nice, she thought, looking over the packs plump dinner.
"Alpha!"
Thunder whirled around quickly, recognizing the high pitched bark. "Sunshine!" she yipped happily.
Sunshine ignored Thunder to stare
at her Alpha. The little dog raised her head, meeting eyes with every single dog before barking, "I challenge Moon for the rank of Lead Patrol Dog!"
×××
AN:
There you are Sunshine! But where has she been all of this time? And why would a sweet dog like her challenge Moon?
(P.S. I don't think I put an Author's note last time, I just had nothing to say.)