The couples casually walked towards the woods. The knights in the camp bowed at them to acknowledge their presence.
As they enter the woods, Ylsen can feel Alice being restless. He tightened his grip on their intertwined hands and she looked up at him and smiled. He kissed her as an answer.
He used his enhanced sense of smell to locate their kids' whereabouts. Also, his wolf, Caden, seem to be looking for something else and he is not dumb to not know what his animal subconscious is looking for. It is his mate. Most probably. Caden wanted to sprint off and dash to the other wolf but he is afraid to offend their human mate. He is being caring and impatient at the same time.
And Ylsen is thankful that his wolf is not the impulsive reckless type.
"I'm confused." Ylsen looked unquestioningly at Alice. He slowed down their pace to listen to her.
"What makes you confused love?"
She shrugged but obviously her mind is on over thinking mode again.
"I don't know. There's a lot of things in my mind right now."
"You just stated the obvious?" He grinned when she jokingly hit his abs and chuckled. Well that's better.
"Jerk. I'm just thinking. This may be my wolf. And I am not sure if I wanted her in my body. I mean. My previous wolf is a psycho ex god's wife that did so much havoc then and now. I lived years without one and I coped up just fine. I don't want to selfishly drag her in my fight. And I selfishly don't want anyone to share my body and consciousness. But... I don't know I'm so overthinking." She sighed and rubbed her face with her palm.
He stop walking and held her waist to pull her closer and looked closely at her. She snaked her arms to his nape and looked back straight to his eyes. Letting him read what she is thinking through her eyes.
He caressed her face and pulled her nape to kiss her forehead and hugged her close to him. "If your asking my opinion, I think you have to meet your wolf first. You can decide after that. But you know, you can be mean sometimes."
She pinched his nipples and he jumped away chuckling . They continued to follow the kids' scent and it led them to the small water fall inside the woods.
They first saw the twins. They are having fun playing with slightly grown wolf cubs. They might've sensed their parents and turned their heads to the at the same time.
The couples smiled at the beeming kids. He noticed the wolves became wary but eyed at the curiously.
"Momma! Dada!" The twins rushed to them and gave them both hard squeeze.
Ylsen patted their heads. Alice leaned to match their height. "Are you both having fun?" They both nodded animatedly at her question.
Honestly, these past years, Ylsen has been worried about the twins. Because of the difference of interest, they grew apart. Almost like separate worlds. Thankfully, they have Aqui, the little piece of neutral ground connecting them. But now that he is watching them talking animatedly to Alice, that didn't know who to listen to, he can see the twins he saw back at day care, best friends with each other.
For some reason, he looked at a certain way, on top of the small falls. Then he realized his wolf wanted to look that way. To see his other mate. Or more like his mate's supposed to be wolf.
Her back is facing us but both Ylsen and Caden think that she is the most divine wolf he had ever laid their eyes to. The light peeking through the trees is reflecting her snow white fluffy fur making her look more surreal.
Her ears are twitching. Somehow he know that she knows of their arrival. But don't bother to look at them. Like deliberately ignoring them. It made Caden restless even more. He wanted to go to the beautiful wolf but he don't want to leave Alice. She might overthink again. His wolf loves Alice too. It's like being torn between two lovers. Except, they should have been one in normal circumstances.
Ylsen didn't notice his wife looking at him. She let her kids go back to play. She know all his wolf wanted to do now is to run to her. Alice wanted to feel jealous yet she is not. She know the feeling of not being near your mate. She jumped in first because she couldn't bare it, remember?
She gave Ylsen and Caden a push. His head turned to her immediately. She gave him a smile and her heart know that it is a good decision when his blue eyes lit silver specks showing that his wolf is looking through his eyes. He gave her a tight hug and whispered thank you. He then walked behind a tree to shift to his massive black wolf with white chest fur. He went back to Alice and rubbed himself to her before bolting to the pathway to the top of the falls. Alice decided to take a dip with the twins and the wolves willing to get near them.
When Caden reached the top, the white wolf is no longer there. He looked around and sniffed the air deeply and recognized Aqui's baby powder scent.
He followed his daughter's scent and it moved deeper in the woods. He wanted to bolt and rush to hide them when he realized something. He have been running in circles.
He good frustrated and excited at the same time. Tracking and hunting is a wolf's nature afterall. He left scratches on the trees he passes marking them.
He then patiently track the scent only to go back to where he started again. Caden huffed and sat on the forest floor thinking that the wolf have been playing games with him for quite sometime now. But contrary to that, the wolf was just up the tree with a sleeping Aqui. She draped her tail to the child and and felt happy when the girl smiled in her sleeping state and hugged the tail. She seems comfy.
Eversince they arrived at the forest a week ago, the unique white wolf made a safe sturdy nest like cradles on some of the trees in the woods made from wood, vines and straw. She learned how to do those at the northern regions. When a flock of harpies just want to go around the planet for fun.
It took her a year to master it thanks to her winged friends. She used those skills to keep her pack safe from predators that can't climb. They all gained the ability to climb in her reign. And with that their population grew and the harpies took care of the flying predators for them.
Now, she is decorating them to the little girl's comfort and liking. She bring her here when she can. The little girl is willing to come. And the wolf is happy with it.
She is just on top if the tree watching him run around aimlessly. She don't want him to find her. Unless she finds him worthy. She is quite hurt when he didn't look for her earlier than today. It made her feel unwanted. She is born beautiful, intelligent and strong so her standards are high. If her mate will just be as stupid as the wolf below, she rather just find a wolf that id worthy.
She thought about her supposed to be human. She jaws clenched and she huffed. Having kids with someone who is not her mate. That is her impression when she first met the twins. It added fire to her hatred to her supposed to be human. Her first offense was she didn't look for her. Second, like her mate that looks dumb below looking around, she didn't even bother to look for her again. Then she found out about the twins. Her impression for her human part dropped lower than the cold in the northern regions where she came from.
She holds grudge. Tight and firm. And she is proud of that.
Well there was one time she was impressed with her human counterpart. When she fought and killed mountains of her pack's captors. But that does not mean she will forgive them. Ever.
Ylsen stopped his wolf from wandering. Caden have been too focused on following the scent and they are going nowhere.
They have to think first. The problem is, how do you find someone who don't want to be found? He don't know where to start thinking. He have always been the best in hunting ever since he know. It will be an insult if he can't even find his mate.
If it were regular wolves, he can easily track them miles away. He sniffed the air deeply. The scent is rich and his target seems near but he can sense no movements or presence on the forest floor.
Then something came to his mind. He looked up. He remembered Lenia saying something peculiar about the wolf. He trotted and looked around. He noticed several big nests he never seen in this woods before. He continues to sniff the and followed the path where his daughter's scent is dense. And was mesmerized as the he see the white treasure resting on a thick branch beside a nest.
He stood up with his hind legs and put his fore leg on the tree branch, weighing if he can climb. He tried to but he can't and failed miserably flopping down on the forest floor. He looked at the wolf to get energy from his inspiration and tried again only to fall back down again eating dust.
He huffed came back to climbing position when she moved and turned her head to him, slightly opening her beautiful gold eyes to look. Caden yipped happily and his tail swooshed excitedly side to side. She looked uninterested. He tried to bark to call her down. But it seems it just annoyed her because she curled to hide her head away from him.
He somehow felt rejected. Caden let out a little whimper but she ignored him. He went down and layed on the ground defeated. He sulks but she don't even care.
His ears twitch when he heard rustle meters away from them. He can hear wild boar snorting feeding on the forest grass. Caden got ab idea. He looked up one more time and went for hunt. He can try and impress his beautiful mate. Hope it works.
He began his stealth mode few meters away from the big meaty boar. He hid his body to the bushes and careful not to make a sound. He stayed low and slowly approach the prey. His eyes are gleaming and his blood is rushing pumping fast. He didn't do this for a long while and now he remembers the adrenaline rush of hunting.
When he was near enough, he lunged out to it. The boar attempted to run but he already clamped his strong jaws and razor teeth to its neck. It squeeled loudly and fought back struggling. Caden pushed down its body and with one swift, a loud crack came from its neck when he broke it.
Caden huffed proudly and dragged the boar back to the tree. He looked up excitedly expecting a reaction from her but she remained unmoving. He tried to bark to call for her but was ignored again.
Other wolves arrived and the young ones saw his hunt, they excitedly crowded around it. But when they didn't recognize him as their pack member, they eyed him curiously and stayed a bit further. The infants are trying to nip the boar. Their parents would bite their tail and drag them away. Soon enough, there are a lot of them. The adults just stayed back and watched over the salvating young ones, probably hungry for snack.
He stepped back from the meat and let out a little nod and the young ones yipped happily and attack the meat. But because they are still young, the boar skin is still too tough for them.
He tore the skin for them. He wanted to laugh when they literally dived for the tasty treat. He just sat back and watched when Felix sent him a mental telepathy.
He said that Alice and the twins are already home since it is already past lunchtime.
Ylsen willed Caden to fall back andvlet him take over. Caden looked up ones more and let Ylsen take control. He trotted around to look for stash of clothes that they scattered all over the woods in cases like this. He found a pair of basketball shorts and tank top. He shifted to his human form and and went back to the tree.
The young ones ran away to hide to their parents when they saw him in human form. But they eyed him curiously as well. The parents are just immobile as if letting him do his business.
"Uhm. Hi. Can I take Aqui now? It's already her lunchtime and she needs to eat." He tried to higher his vice without seeming like he is yelling. He don't want offend her even more.
The wolf finally looked at him properly for a moment and used her snout to wake the kid.
It took minutes to have her fully awake enough so she can hold onto the wolf as they climbed down. Ylsen was amazed at how she manage to climb down with ease.
As soon as they landed, his daughter ranbto him squealing 'dada'. He picked her up and showered her with kisses and she giggled hugging his neck.
Ylsen looked at the wolf watching them. He slowly approached it with his palms forward wanting to to touch her but she just turned her back and cuddled with the others. He started to walk back home with his wolf whimpering in the back of his mind.
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Not much dialogue for this chap. I hope you guys vote and share. Enjoy.