We made it back to the pack safely and I was forced to put my little kitten in a dog crate since she wasn't able to shift back. I still feel guilty for doing it. Although, once we made it to the pack house, we were able to safely let Kat out. I had shifted and rubbed up against the cage before nodding at my beta to let her out. I left the pack in the hands of my mother for the time since she was the only one able to communicate with me.
~~~~~
I followed close behind my little kitten as she sniffed and prowled around every bush, tree, shrub, and plant looking for a good place to den. She took us almost to the border of the Wyoming sector. We even saw a Yellowstone park ranger and Kat almost attacked him but I was able to stop her. He was quite frightened by my size and looked about ready to pass out. Let's just hope he keeps it to himself. Although I doubt anyone would believe him. I am happy that, to humans, Kat looks like a normal wolf instead of a fiery Phoenix one though.
I stopped abruptly when Kat stopped and sniffed at a large oak tree. There seemed to be a den already there but it wasn't big enough to fit us both. Kat started digging, and I so desperately wanted to go stop her and dig the den myself, but I remembered that the doctor said she would be aggressive. The last thing I wanted to do was start a fight with my pregnant mate. I sniffed the area and made sure there wasn't any danger near before I walked a good 1/4 of a mile and rubbed up against trees and peed an almost every thing around the circumference of the territory. I did it twice to make sure it was undoubtfully marked before I went back to the den in the center of the territory. When I slowed at the entrance of the den I was met with a face full of dirt. I let out a small growl and shook the dirt off before running off again to get a den offering. Kats wolf new the drill from instinct and already knew to make the den very large for me but she would still expect a den offering. I managed to find a few rabbits and a baby deer before I started making my way back to the den. When I stopped outside of the den and dropped everything, Kats head popped out of the den and she quickly came out with her tail tucked between her legs, wagging, while she happily licked my muzzle. She quickly ate one of the rabbits before getting back to work on the den. When she kicked some dirt up onto the food I dragged it away and got to work getting rid of the giant pile of dirt at the mouth of the den. By the time I am able to finish I am covered in dirt from the dirt Kat dug up and my paws are caked in dirt. When Kat climbs out of the den panting I lead her to the lake I saw earlier and clean off my paws. Kat takes long drinks of water before she swims into the river shaking her fur of and cleaning it while she's deep in the water. I wade into the water and lick her back to get the place she missed.
We got out and shook off the extra water. We walked back to the den, her occasionally rubbing up against me and me nipping her ear.
"Black?" I hear my kittens soft voice and my wolf purrs.
"Yes kitten?" I ask.
"Where are we?" She asks.
"We are within a one forth mile radius of the den." I say and she nods.
"Did she finish?" She asks and I hum.
"Yes she did." I say licking her head.
"I haven't been inside but I did move the dirt pile in front of the den and it was huge." I say and she giggles. A sweet melody to hear at any time.
"Let's go see shall we?" She asks and I nod. We pick up speed a little but not much.
"Soon you'll be living in it without leaving at all kitten." I say and she nods.
"I know." She says pressing closer to me.
"I think the alpha and Luna of a wolf pack broke off to den away from the pack. There is no possible way that he isn't alpha he's at least 7 feet tall." I hear a mans voice. I groan when I realize it must be the rangers voice. I grab Kat around the scruff and place my front paws high up in a tree and place her in a branch that will cover her in leaves.
"Gordon. There is not such thinggggg" another man drags out when I drop down back onto all fours. I look at them and just stare at them for a while.
"See." The first one says and when the other does not respond he turns to look at him.
"Uh. Dean?" This Gordon character calls and the other ranger snaps out of it.
"Are you giving the wolves steroids?" Dean asks and Gordon scuffs.
"Even if we were giving them steroids they wouldn't be anywhere near that big." Gordon says and looks at me.
"His eyes are too..." he stars and I allow my wolfs eyes to come through when I step to the side and walk through a path of light.
"Never mind. I guess the dark made them look a little brown." Gordon says and I turn away from him. I hear Kat move around in the tree and get ready for her to pounce on me. The two men get a gun ready and when Kat jumps I jump while spinning around and grabbing Kats scruff again. My paws hit a large tree trunk and I spring off the tree and back onto the ground.
"Wow." Dean says as Kat huffs.
"Your no fun." Kat links me and I inwardly chuckle. I prance back to our den and duck in carrying her down the tunnel to the den. It's deep enough that I can stand upright with my head ducked just a bit but it wasn't any trouble.
"I have to go out scent marking." I tell Kat.
"But you already did. I can smell it from here." She says and I nod.
"Yes but I need to do it a few times to help it become more permanent." I say and she nods.
"Be safe." She calls and I nod.
"We should put cameras around here to get video footage of the two. Incase he is out and she gets an intruder. Although I don't know what would be stupid enough to try to come near her." I hear Dean say.
"Dean we can't do that. This has to stay between us. If we tell them of him, they will tranquilize him and bring him in. He has a mate he needs to take care of." Gordon says.
"Gordon, we can't keep this from the park owner. He will know of it even if we don't tell him." Dean says and Gordon sighs.
"I can't help but think what's gonna happen to him." Gordon says and I pee on a tree near the den. I rub up against all the trees that surround the big oak tree and when I rub up against the fairly small tree they are hiding behind it sways a bit and they jump. They look at me and I continue on my way.
"He's incredibly nice for a wolf." Dean says and I roll my eyes rubbing up against another tree.
"What if he orders us to bring him in?" He says and I growl. It was loud enough for them to hear.
"I don't know Gordon. All I know is that he will know about this even if we don't tell him and if we don't tell him, we won't have a job to protect him from anything bad." Dean says.
"But I think he can take care of himself." Dean continues. Damn straight I can. I take care of a pack of more than 7,000.
"Come on. We can come back later. Maybe bring a slab of meat." Dean says and Gordon scuffs.
"I think he has that part down." Gordon says and they walk through the trees. I scuff when they are going the wrong way and walk up behind them. When they finally notice me I grab Gordon by the back of the jacket and walk in the opposite direction towards the Yellowstone park.
"DEAN. GET ME DOWN. DO SOMETHING!" Gordon yells and I scoff.
"Not much I can do Gordon." Dean says following when we get to the small patch of tree separating the forest from the open park I place him down and nudge him forward.
"It seems we were going in the wrong direction." Dean says and walks up to Gordon. I hear a gun shot and flatten my ears growling. I quickly spin around and bolt, but not before feeling a sting in my left hip. I stumble but none the less continue on even after the two yell at me to stop.
"Who's the idiot that's shooting at the parks animals." I faintly hear Dean yell angrily before I get out of hearing range. I quickly make it back to the den and climb down into the open den. I lay and start tending to my flesh wound.
"Black, what happened." I hear Kat ask angrily as she makes her way over and takes over licking the wound.
"A park ranger must have thought I was attacking the two and shot at me. He just nicked me." I say and she growls.
"Why isn't it healing?" She asks.
"Our bodies are more wolf than in between that it will be normal healing. Do you know what that means?" I ask.
"No."
"You don't get to leave this den. It's happening faster than I thought it would." I say and she groans.
"Black." She starts and I growl.
"It's far to dangerous. We aren't normal wolves. There are many rogues that will be looking for us to take our pups. They would sell for a fortune and we have to protect them at all costs Kat. You cannot leave this den." I say and she sighs nodding.
"Fine." She says and I catch wiff of rogues.
"Speak of the devils and they shall appear." I growl and get out of the den. I pretend to be wondering around a good twenty feet away from the den but it's still in sight. The rogues come up behind me but they all aren't here.
"Where's your little leader huh?" I mock and face them. I have to look down to see them and they growl at the silent mock.
"Getting your Luna." One says and they all attack at once. I hear a gun shot and panic. Another gun shot and one of the rogues falls off my back. I tear apart ones throat and get a grip on another's spine. The last one slips away when I try for his head and I manage to catch his ear. When he pulls away if causes me to rip some of his ear off and he howls in pain. I grab him behind the neck and shake him like a chew toy.
"Stay away." I growl and finally release him.
He drops at my feet dead and I growl. I face the den and run to it to see what caused the gun shot. Dean and Gordon stand there a bit frightened and stiff as a stick as I slip into the den. A man stands in the middle of the den shaking slightly as Kat growls at him from a small hole she made incase of emergencies. Her wolf out completely. I grab him by the back of his shirt like I did to Gordon and carry him out.
"Walt. We told you not to go in there." Dean scolds and I growl.
"I slipped. You shot the gun and I jumped." He says and scurries away when I let him go.
"Be more careful. Now, we need to give him a mild tranq. so we can patch him up." Dean says looking at me cuts and scratches.
'Yeah right.' I think to myself.
"You have to give him a freaking wild moose tranquilizer to give him a small dose to knock him out for a short period of time.
"Well would you rather loose your life or knock him out for at most twenty minutes." Dean asks and I slip back into the den.
"Neither. We should leave them be. She will clean him up dean. Let's go." Gordon says and that's the last time I heard from them for the day.