"Is sitting atop high ledges and brooding something you do often?"

I smirk, looking down at my brother who sat at the base of the boulder. "It's a habit," I tell him. "It helps me think,"

Damon nods and looks out over the great valley just under the cliff we stood on. "It's pretty fucking dramatic,"

I laugh at that. "No arguments here,"

We stand in silence for a few moments. I can sense he wants to speak, but I can also see he is hesitant to do so. I wait, hoping he'll get there eventually.

My patience is soon rewarded, although it had been very close to breaking. I wasn't the patient sort.

"Flare tells me that you planned our transformations," He says, his tone indicating nothing.

I don't need to ask what he means. Perhaps he feels a sense of betrayal. But I doubt enough of his old mentality was left to do so. Wolves desired nothing more than to be wolves, regardless of whether or not they started out as one.

"I did," I say.

Damon is quiet for a moment. "Why?"

My eyes scan over him. Thick dark fur and sharp green eyes. Taller than me but noticeably slimmer. He had been on track to become a lawyer before I had turned; a carer path he'd been truly passionate about.

"You're my brothers," I say simply. I sigh. Knowing he needed more than that, I continue, "I knew we were going to migrate and it would have pained me to leave you behind,"

Damon scowls at the valley below. "I didn't know you cared so much,"

I frown slightly, hurt by my brother's words. "Of course I care. I may not show it often, but I do love you, Damon,"

The dark-furred wolf sighs. "I know, Dare."

"Then why do you speak with such venom, brother?"

Damon looks at me fro the first time since he arrived. His eyes are tired. "You have everything you could ever desire. I've seen the way you treat us, all of us. Why bother with blood when the bonds of family run so deep within your friends?"

Ah. He thinks that I feel obligated to them because of our kinship. I cannot say that isn't the case, but it's also so much more than that.

"If this were about blood, I would have brought along Mother and Father, as well,"

"Why didn't you?" Damon inquires, cocking his head in such a way that his ears flop loosely to the side.

I hide my smile at the ridiculous expression. "Mother and Father have no business out here. Blood they may be but family they are not,"

Damon looks even more confused at my declaration. Our parents had no doubt loved us, albeit from a distance. After the transformation, I had struggled to find any affection I had previously felt towards them. I never had the same problem with my brothers.

I tell him as much, and while he doesn't seem entirely satisfied, he's content for the moment. I leap down from my boulder and accompany my elder brother back into the forest.

"They're still my parents," Damon says quietly. His voice is unsure, hesitant.

"I know,"

Damon eyes me cautiously. "Wolf seemed upset. Said something about a girl named 'Tera',"

"Yes, I had imagined he'd be... less than pleased with my actions," I frown for a moment, thinking. "He'll get over it eventually,"

Damon scowled at me. "Talk to your fucking brother, Darra. He's upset and you're the cause. Fix it."

I sigh but nod along. Damon was right, of course. I needed to talk to Wolf about --Lord have mercy-- feelings. Ugh.

Curse my brother for being emotionally competent. Right as he may be, he's still an asshole.

***

"I thought I might find you here,"

Wolf turns to look at me before his eyes drift back to the river.

I pad closer to him. "I would think you would be tired of the river after our journey," I try to joke.

Wolf says nothing, eyes skipping over the rippling surface of the water. We were near a waterfall, and the rapids made the water appear white. It was no doubt a beautiful sight, if a bit plain.

I brood next to cliffs, but it seems that my little brother has taken a different route.

I sit a couple of feet away from the grey-furred wolf. Looking out over the river, I can see why he'd come here. The cool and humid air had a rather calming effect on the body. It was nothing compared to a valley on an overcast day but to each their own.

"Damon tells me that you're upset," I say.

Wolf huffs. I can tell from the way his mouth tightens that he knows why I'm here. Because Damon told me to be.

"I understand that I'm not the greatest person," I say slowly. "Or the greatest brother, actually. Sometimes I make decisions that hurt other people, usually the ones I care about. I can't take back what I did, and I can't apologize for it, because I'm not sorry. But I can say that I'm sorry it hurt you, because I am. You don't deserve to be played with like that, manipulated for my personal gain. You're my little brother, I'm supposed to protect you. I haven't done a very good job. So I'm sorry that I hurt you, though it was not my intention it still happened and that is inexcusable,"

Wolf looks up at me and sighs. "You're terrible at apologies,"

"I know,"

Wolf huffs, a microscopic smile tugging at his lips. "Good,"

He stands up and trots off into the undergrowth. "What's for dinner?"

I laugh and follow after him.

###

Hunting was a pack-wide effort. In order to keep seven five-foot-tall wolves fed and content, you needed a large amount of meat.

We only ate something big every couple of days or so, mostly sustaining ourselves off of smaller predators. This was a move decided by Flare. The fewer predators they were competing with meant more food for them. And If the occasional rabbit or field mouse made their way into a wolfs belly? Well, who's judging.

Wolf seemed to have the same talent for it that Alarra did, and so they became the main providers of food for the pack. Not only were they good at it, but they also enjoyed it. There were worse jobs...

Such as Dean and Damon, who scouted the territory at all hours of the day, leaving marks and searching for a human settlement. Every day their territory scent extended further, telling everything that could sense it that something lived here. Something big.

The basket did indeed still smell of blood, even now after nearly a month of living in the mountains. The scent was heavy and thick, the bitter copper tang like poison on the tongue. Rotting blood, and lots of it. Soaked into the very fibres of the basket. It was kept outside, an ill attempt to air it out. All it did was stink up the outside. Though it did attract crows, which were swiftly devoured. Small blessings.

We hadn't found any humans yet. Not for a lack of trying, they just... didn't seem to be in the area. I saw this as both an up and a down. The further they are, the less likely they are to find our camp.

Alarra often brought me along on the evening hunt, catching me up on anything I'd missed while I was 'off sulking in the woods'.

For the record, I do not sulk. I venture into the woods to get a feel for the territory. Sue me.

She tells me things like how Wolf had taken down a deer all on his own and that Sam seemed rather listless. The former I had also noticed. I had yet to find a task for our scruffy friend, so perhaps the lack of labour was getting him down.

Wolves, I had noticed, needed to work. To hunt and run and howl, to dig our claws into the mud and rend flesh from bone. Work was to be done, and a wolf without work was hardly a wolf at all.

Sam needed something to do. Damon and Dean had their scouting; Alarra and Wolf had their hunting; Flare and I had our planing; Sam sat in the clearing starring at a rock.

I broached the subject with Alarra, asking her what kind of job would fit the wolf.

She seemed to think for a moment before answering. "Have him accompany the scouts,"

"The scouts? Sam isn't exactly the scouting type..."

"No, but if anyone can keep him in line, It's Dean. Not to mention his impressive tracking abilities,"

"There is that..." I agree slowly.

"It's better than nothing,"

"And also that," I say, this time with a smirk.

And so Sam joins the scouting party. He didn't seem to mind, simply thankful to have a reason to leave the camp.

Now, about those plans...

###

"We've had this conversation a dozen times, Devil," I drawl.

Flare huffs, his tail and ruff puffing up in irritation. "I simply fail to see why this is taking so long," he growls.

"Cities aren't built in a day, Beta. Have patience,"

Flare suddenly deflates, looking horrified with himself. "Did you just tell me to have patience? What kind of ass backwards world did I wake up to?"

I roll my eyes at the red-furred wolf. We were, of course, discussing expanding the pack. As we had been for the past month or more. Good Lord does it feel like more.

"As I have told you a dozen times prior, we're working on it,"

Flare sighs heavily. "I know, I know. Still,"

"Flare, I swear to the moon, if you fucking--"

Flare holds up a paw placatingly. "I'm letting it go, I'm done,"

I raise a single eyebrow.

"...For now," Flare adds.

I hum, content with that. Standing, I make my way towards the exit tunnel, the other wolf following me.

"Goodnight, Flare,"

Flare nods stiffly at me. "Goodnight, Alpha," and with that, he slips out of my den and into the mid-day air.

Nocturnal as we may be, it was so much easier to ignore the sun completely and speak as they would if they were still diurnal.

So, they say 'goodnight' before they go to sleep even if the sun is high in the sky. Words were hard, now especially that they spoke a magical wolf language that no human could understand. Lord, if I had a crown for every headache our language must have caused Flare, I'd have enough to pay Dean back for Tera's reward.

I should have killed her, I think. I'm still unsure as to whether or not the bite had taken. If it had... well, I'd loathe to dwell on unpleasant unlikelihoods.

I shake my head, dispelling my thoughts. I turn on my heel and pad off to my sleeping chamber. A worry for another day.