I woke up the next morning, and realized that I was actually the first to awake in a while. Brutus and the twins were still piled together in the corner, and Foire and Treel were somewhat intimately curled together. That wasn't entirely a surprise to me, but it was a little. I still was far from sure about how I felt about keelish affection, but I was a little happy to see my companions taking some sort of comfort in each other after the rough night we had had.

Took laid close to me. It was companionable, in a strange way, but I realized that I couldn't help but consider her a trustworthy friend. She is growing well into her role as a beta, and has been here for me since the beginning. I don't see myself ever reproducing as a keelish, the mere thought of it gives me the creeps. However, I could see myself having some friends. I only wish I had gotten to that point with Oncli, but, maybe, in retrospect, it's better that I didn't.

Regardless of any of my ruminations, the pack slowly began rising for the day. We tore into the large carcass in front of us, and, after we seven had eaten our fills, there was still about one third of the massive bird left in front of us.

We exited our den, and I noticed several of Tieran's females lurking around the opening to their den. I tried to speak to them, and one, almost looking like a smaller Shemira, spoke up. "You are not our alpha. When he returns, I will send him to you." She then whirled around and tail slapped the other two, and they followed along obediently.

... Okay then. The more personality types that I meet of keelish, the more conflicted I get about how easily I treated them as mindless vermin in my past life. If I really got to thinking about it, I must have killed 1000's of them. How many of them were named? How many... No, I needed to stop thinking about that. They were my enemies, and it had been in preemptive defense of my life and people.

I put my mind back on track for what was at hand.

Now, it was time to begin the hunt once again.

...

While I had wanted to continue hunting at night, Rulac's recommended 2 days were long past at this point, and I didn't want to run into any more predators that could instantly decommission one of the pack, so I decided to return to the tried and true daytime hunts.

We made our way to the forest's cover, and it took a second for us to come to a collective realization that our main tracker was gone. I turned to the twins.

"Do you remember the training that Oncli gave you when you came out?"

They nodded, and Silf immediately began to search for a promising track, prompting his reticent brother to do the same, while the rest of us gathered around, keeping a focused eye out, making sure to keep our two smallest companions safe. Speaking of focused eyes, I was glad to be able to use my normal vision. If I was honest with myself, the thermal vision is almost certainly superior to the normal type, but I just couldn't get over my decades of experience with the other type. I wondered when I'd ever be able to upgrade my [Improved Vision] skill, but, catching myself getting distracted, I focused on the surroundings, making sure that there were no pressing dangers around.

It took more time than usual for a promising trail to be found, but it was eventually found, and we headed off, following the proactive Silf, with Vefir slinking behind his much more confident sibling.

...

It took three trails, but we finally found a mating pair of Toothy Bullfrogs. I was pretty happy about that, since the meat was one I had a little bit of a fondness for, at least in comparison to the rest of the raw meats I had consumed thus far. Yeah, none of them were my favorite, but the taste was the least offensive, and was nearly pleasant to my keelish tongue.

With our numbers and growth, I was sure that we could tie both of the pair down between our four frontliners, so I signed for Took and Treel to pair up on one, and Brutus and I on the other. Brutus just didn't understand, so I sighed and simply counted down from 3, and we all rushed in.

Remembering my newly upgraded skill, I immediately activated [Bloodlust] with a thought, and I zeroed in on my prey. He was mounting the female, and completely oblivious to my presence, until it was too late. Croaking in a panic, it began to flee, but I caught one of its back legs at the hip. I hadn't quite realized this, but in the days since I had last hunted a frog, I had grown. My jaws could, just barely, clamp entirely around the leg where it joined with the body. I bit down as strongly as I could, and felt bone crunch and blood flow over my tongue. I noticed that Brutus was ravaging the other hind leg at this point, and I had hobbled this leg, so I immediately spun to its side and shoved it onto its back.

I felt my adrenaline truly pulse throughout my body as I dug into the creature's exposed belly. It was different this time, however, because I had my new hands to assist me. As my mouth dug in, my hands would carve a wider entry for me so I could bury my face deeper without suffocating on the flowing blood and pooling viscera. I dug deeper and deeper, until I could see the heaving lungs of my prey, and ripped in, tunneling to the heart, which I promptly ripped from its cavity. The frog stopped struggling, and I, in a moment of clarity, deactivated [Bloodlust] with a thought.

The shift was different from how it was in battle before. It was a slow drop off in adrenaline before, but now, it was almost like coming back from an out of body experience. It was jarring, and a little uncomfortable, but this was preferable to the other option, which was unconditionally losing a part of myself any time there was an excess of blood in the area.

I quickly took stock of the general situation, and was happy to see that the others had been just as successful in their own hunt. I was also happy to see that Silf had engaged with the frog in the last moments, and was currently working with the rest as they used their jaws to dismember the frog, eating their fill as they went. Vefir, however, was hesitantly standing at the back. I thought that he hadn't been able to quite get over what had happened to him the last time he went on a hunt, and was paralyzed at the thought of being killed.

"Vefir, come here."

He started, then walked forward, his head hanging low and his tail dragging on the ground.

"I-I-I'm sorry-y-y I j-j-just..."

"Quiet. I see that you're uncomfortable on the front lines. In basically any capacity, is that correct?"

"No, n-n-not at-"

"I want true honesty here. I'm looking for a position for you to fill, and I want you to be effective there. Are you able to stand on the front lines?"

"... I... d-don't t-think-k so..."

"Then it is your job to find a way to support us from a distance. However it is, I don't care."

He nodded pensively, and walked away with his head slightly raised. Hopefully, he'd find something.

Suddenly, we heard the crack of thunder in the distance.