——June, 2014——
——5:25pm——
Around a month or two had passed since S.H.I.E.L.D fell along with HYDRA, and I was a mess. Worry over my pups had begun to drive me insane as Bucky and I traveled slowly over Europe. I wouldn't leave him though, he was like one of my pups himself. So we stuck together like glue, no matter where we went or what happened.
The rain gently dripped off the shingles as the few people still around rushed for shelter. The distant Eiffel Tower was scoured by clouds as the rain slowly intensified.
Bucky had left the run down building to go get food for himself —with a bit of arguing about getting food for me as well, which I won by the way—, and I stayed inside. The walls were suffocating to me, mostly since I was used to wide open spaces or large forests.
I had been pacing back and forth, wall to wall, for quite a few hours now. Worry overcoming my mind, both for Bucky being alone for so long and for my pups back at home. Footsteps approached the building and I recognized them to be Bucky's, but something was wrong... they were hurried and slightly louder than usual. I quickly went to the door as it opened and Bucky entered, quickly shutting it behind him. His eyes were wide with fear as he calmed down next to me. I went over to the window and peered out, looking for anything suspicious in the rain.
"The hell..?" Bucky's quiet voice reached my ears, and I felt him lift one of my forepaws. The metallic scent of blood hit my nose as I looked down. He gently ran his hand over the pad of my foot, a slight sting making me wince as his hand came back with a bit of blood smeared over his fingers. I watched him look around the room, and noticed for myself that there were blood smears over the floor where I was pacing. The hard concrete floor had rubbed away at my paws until the pads had begun to bleed.
"It's nothing, don't worry. I'll heal within a day." I quickly consoled him before sitting down and beginning to lick my paws, the tang of blood smearing over my tongue.
My ears perked up and I stiffened as voices reached them. Bucky looked at me confused for a moment before understanding and crouching down. I began to crouch down and move to the center of the room while my ears swiveled around, pinpointing the sound's location. "I tried to lose them, but it looks like they found us anyways..." Bucky's low voice just barely registered as I focused on the number of enemies.
'Two in front, three to the sides, five in back, two on the roof. That makes twelve, a lot less than I thought there would be.' I growled softly, a signal to get close. The footsteps were now loud enough for Bucky's hearing to pick up and we braced to fight.
The doors all opened at once and men came into the room. I ran forwards, wasting no time in killing the two in the entrance while Bucky fought three. The sound of a gun cocking caused my head to whip around. I head to take care of them, but Bucky got there first with a hard punch from his metal arm. My ears swiveled around and I began to growl as more footsteps registered to my ears. I pushed Bucky to one of the exits and we burst outside. There were at least 50 men all running forwards with their guns drawn, moving to surround us. "Stand down!" One of them yelled out and I saw Bucky looking over the group before tensing up even more.
I began to snarl as I moved to block them from Bucky, my dark eyes flicking around in search of an escape. Something clicked in my mind and I lowered my muzzle so my head was really close to Bucky. He grabbed my mane that lay on my neck and shoulders and I waited for the group to get closer. My eyes flicked up to gain a sense of direction. Bucky's grip tightened as the group advanced, step by step. 'Just a bit closer...'
I quickly turned and shoved my head under Bucky, forcing him onto my shoulders. My hind legs bunched beneath me and I jumped over the HYDRA agents. I felt Bucky's hands grip my fur tightly as I began to run, my stride lengthening until we were almost flying over the ground. The buildings were a blur as I left the city, the cool feeling of grass replacing the hard road beneath my paws.
I continued to run, slowing down slightly to a canter-like run as to conserve my already larger than normal energy/stamina while still covering a lot of ground. We moved fast, covering tens of miles within minutes. A normal wolf could move at around 10mph for quite a while, but I was moving at close to 60, or maybe even 80mph on the open countryside without breaking a sweat. Another testament to the serum's enhancement of my abilities.
The countryside with houses dotting the open space passed by quickly and we entered a forest. The tall trees provided long shadows in the twilight that I easily ran between, a phantom amongst the trees. I had been running for hours upon hours now before and after reaching the tree-line, and forests came and went. After running for —what must have been— hundreds of miles, I slowed down and began to walk, at home in the seemingly empty forest. Sounds and earthy smells reached my senses and I stopped, closing my eyes and breathing deeply.
Bucky slid off my shoulders, but kept his metal hand on my neck to stabilize himself. I huffed in amusement at his disorientation, but understood that he wasn't used to riding a giant wolf.
Hunger slightly rumbled in my stomach and I began to sniff the air for other animals. The only scents in the air were cows from the far away farms, birds, and a distant herd of chamois, and my mouth began to water a bit at the thought. My paws moved in a trot towards the scent of chamios and Bucky walked briskly, almost jogging, next to me. I stopped at the edge of the trees and swept my eyes over the landscape. A black shape grabbed my attention and I began to almost canter over.
A deer lifted its head as I got closer and began to run. A growl rumbled from my throat and I gave chase, easily catching up with them. My jaws clamped shut on its hind leg and began to tear at the tendons and muscles to cripple the animal. A kick caused me to let go and switch to the other side. The chamois slowed down and turned around. I backed up a bit to avoid its odd fangs, lowering my head and bristling my fur. It tried to run past and I rotated around a bit. Seeing an opening I lunged forwards, sinking my fangs into the deer's throat from the side. A warm sticky liquid spattered against my neck and chest as my jaws clamped down, crushing the windpipe. It let out a cry and went limp under my jaws, its heartbeat faltering and disappearing.
Blood oozed around my fangs as I let go of the throat. Bucky caught up and stood frozen in shock for a moment. He had seen me hunt before in the 1940s, but then it was rabbits or very very young fawns, not full grown deer. He gave a tiny nod and I grabbed the neck again, dragging the chamois towards the rocks. It took a bit of time, but eventually I had dragged it into the shadow of a rocky outcrop in the gathering night.
Bucky had lit a fire and I waited by the kill, looking at him expectantly. He looked confused and I pad around him, gently nudging him towards the cow. "I'm not going to eat until you take something first." I chuffed and pushed him even closer to get my point across.
"Alright, alright. Stop pushing I get the point." He began to laugh a bit, the sight warming my heart.
He took enough to fill his shrunken stomach —which wasn't enough in my opinion, but I didn't want to push him too much— and I began to tear into the carcass. Devouring the muscles, organs, and bones hungrily, my muzzle slowly got coated with blood. I made sure that where I was eating in a fashion that Bucky wouldn't see anything, since not a lot of people would be comfortable with seeing blood and guts...
We ate our fill and I ran my tongue around my jaws, cleaning off the blood. A yawn escaped me as tiredness quickly began to build in the warmth of a full stomach. I needed to sleep to digest, and I could see that Bucky was exhausted as well.
With another yawn I began to walk away from the chamois, putting some distance between us and a focus point that could reveal our location. Bucky followed me after putting out the fire completely, gently putting his metal arm on my back as we walked.
After getting a good distance away, I circled a sheltered spot below a rock before settling down with a grunt. Bucky walked over and sat down in the curve of my belly, automatically curling up into a ball as I tucked him safely between my legs. My tail came around and finished a circle of warmth and protection. With a sigh of comfort, my eyes closed and I fell asleep to Bucky's calm and peaceful breaths.
——Sunrise——
Sunlight filtered in through the trees as my eyes opened, birdsong just starting to ring over the forest as it woke up itself. I lifted my head and looked to the curled up shape of Bucky, safe and warm in my own curl around him as he slept peacefully. Looking out through the trees, I decided to wait a bit before waking Bucky.
A warm and gentle breeze rustled the trees, the dappled sunlight shifting on the forest floor. The earthy smells washed over my nose and I sighed in comfort.
A soft grunt caught my attention and I turned to see Bucky waking up, blinking his eyes open in the morning light. I looked at him and noticed he looked a lot better than before in DC. There was more color in his face, his eyes were still haunted and scared, but were light and soft like pools of water, and the dark rings under his eyes had all but disappeared.
"Morning, Mallow." His voice was raspy and low as he woke up more.
"Morning." I paused and lifted my head up, sniffing the air again. My limbs moved automatically as I found a familiar scent. Bucky stood up next to me as I stiffened, continuing to sniff the air.
"What's wrong?" He sounded worried and I began to trot away. My nose had picked up a scent that both worried and excited me.
I stopped at the edge of the trees and looked out over the open area, rocky mountains in the distance. A black shape appeared and disappeared behind a distant rock. I lifted my muzzle and howled, short and low pitched. I looked out again hopefully, as Bucky stood next to me.
A close howl answered me and I shot forwards. My paws flew over the grass and I was met by thirteen shapes all tackling me to the ground. I growled, but there was no aggression to it as I wrestled under the fluffy bodies of blacks, whites, and browns. "Alright, alright, I missed you too, but get off me!!" I huffed and struggled to my paws, not wanting to hurt any of my pups.
A lower chuff caught my attention and I lifted my head to see the only other adult wolf here. I gently pushed my way over and nuzzled his head whilst crooning softly. My head lifted back up and I looked over at Bucky who was standing off in the distance. I could hear my family starting to growl and I quickly rebuked them, moving between them and Bucky and showing my teeth. My pups all lowered their heads instinctively and I walked over to Bucky again. I reassuringly nuzzled his head and looked back at my family.
My smallest pup —still quite large due to being effected by the serum, and actually as big as his father despite not being fully grown— came over cautiously, his head down and ears lowered a bit. Oddly enough he took after my lighter brown and white markings, with the slightest bit of black accenting on his face, ears, and tail from his father. About three of my pups had blue eyes, and he happened to be one of them. He also inherited my floppy ears.
All my pups were bigger than normal due to me having the serum. Each one was bigger than their father —who stood at about 2'7— without being full grown, at 3' tall. They might get to 3'4 by the end of the year, but that would be it. Another thing they inherited because of the serum were slightly more intelligent brains. They were able to think to the point of integrating a non-family and non-wolf member into the pack. That's what I hoped they would do with Bucky at least...
I licked his face affectionately and turned to Bucky, repeating the action. At this, he seemed to get a bit bolder and lifted his head up to sniff at Bucky. They both were being cautious, and Bucky lifted his right hand up with his palm down and fingers curled inward. I saw his metal arm being held behind himself while his other hand was being offered. I crooned happily as my family slowly came over to cautiously sniff at Bucky, seeming to slightly accept him.
My pups backed off and returned to jumping around at me, playful growls rumbling in their throats. Bucky began to laugh after a moment and I looked up, tilting my head and twitching an ear. "Care to share what's so amusing?"
"As far as I know, wolves have 5-6 pups in a litter. How'd this happen?" His eyes shone with amusement, and had an intrigued look on his face.
"If you must know, with great difficulty..." I huffed before looking away. "Besides wolves can have litters between 14 and 17 pups. It's very rare, but can happen."
One of my pups jumped up and grabbed my muzzle in her jaws, my head dipping down slightly under her weight. I responded with a playful growl and all my pups began to wrestle with me before their father came over. They began to yip occasionally and jumped on him, wrestling with us both. I watched as a few pups began to gently play with Bucky as well, and my heart warmed at the sight.
The hours passed by fast and I noticed the pups were getting tired. With a soft chuff, I began to lead the group home. Bucky was hesitant at first to join in, but eventually was a bit more comfortable. A cave came up as we moved into and through the forest, my home...
I waited outside while my pups filed inside, their father looked at me and reached up to lick my muzzle. I returned the action and he entered the cave. Bucky look apprehensive, but a reassuring look on my part and we entered together.
My pups were cuddled in a pile with their father laying nearby, all sleeping or close to being asleep. I laid down nearby and Bucky laid down near me, curled up into a ball. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, listening to the soft snores of my pups, mate, and Bucky.
——Midnight——
My eyes opened to a slight shifting near my neck and I lifted my head. When it had happened, I didn't know, but my pups were all in a group cuddled in the curve of my belly. I saw their father laying down with his head near mine and muzzle pointed towards me, but something else caught my attention...
Bucky.
He was snuggled into my neck on his right side, with his arm draped over my neck and hand gently clutching the fur just behind my ears, his head resting on my shoulder. His metal arm was resting gently on one of my pup's shoulders while another was pressed against his side, as they all cuddled against him as one of the family...
The sight warmed my heart and lifted my soul. My two families had combined into one...
Bucky was accepted into the pack, even though he was a brainwashed assassin... even though he had a metal arm... and even though he had memory problems. We were all a bit... odd, so his differences didn't matter. He was one of us.
——End of Book 2—-