Kierra

Thicker, darker, more wild feeling. The layer of snow over the ground has no tracks of any kind, just mine leading up to it. So focused on the smell of potentially incoming danger, I don't realize it's already come up behind me until I feel a nose at my flank.

My whipping around immediately has my tail smashing into a thinner sapling, shaking it enough to drop its load of snow right onto me. I'm so majestic. Shaking it off as I backpedal in a panic, my rump backs into a slightly thicker sapling. My weight colliding with it has more snow falling over me.

Clearly, this isn't working, so I just stop moving altogether. The heart hammering in my chest thunders in my ears as I lower my frame to the ground, sore tail tucking in close. Good thing wolves don't blush. My ears are awfully hot though.

When nothing happens and I’m unable to hear anything but my own heart laugh at me, I slowly stand and shake the snow off. Feel much like Bambi coming out of dropped snowfalls. Think I'm a bit better equipped though. Or so you'd think, clearly I have some catching up to do on this whole scary predator thing.

Yellow eyes now clear, fur ruffled and standing on end, I look at what has caused me so much grief. I've given quite the show to the two wolves standing there, looking at me in amusement. A black hole can open up beneath me at any time while I stand here and glare at Gabriel and Dirk.

Putting forth a visage of perturbed bravado to cover my embarrassment, I don't think I'm fooling anyone. Not with the way my ears are burning anyway. Stepping forward, I look back as I move my tail this way and that, injured pride nothing compared to the throbbing in my lower spine attachment.

Blowing a huff of air through my nose, I look back to the others. A young black and white wolf next to a damn charcoal giant. How old his line must be to have a freakin' dire wolf as a shape. Christ.

The smaller wolf at least tries to hide his laughter, looking everywhere but at me. Gabriel, on the other hand, is openly smiling with his maw parted and dancing eyes. It sparks my indignation.

Rude ass tree humping...

"Can I help you?"

Even the voice in my head sounds sullen as I project it out. Dirk sits on his rump and cocks his head, tongue lolling as he looks at me. The Gray Wolf Alpha stays standing, just watching me from his towering height.

Not just tall, but thicker as well. He has to hate summertime, I know I would, and will. Being an Alpha, I'd imagine it's all muscle too, nothing soft or squishy.

"Are you always this graceful?"

Gabriel's voice in my head is soft silk, rubbing at the inner walls of my brain. Low and full of amusement, his very presence is seriously irking me.

"Always. Won't find anyone else with moves like mine."

My sarcasm smarts of annoyance as I glare into his yellow-green eyes. Getting the impression of a smirk, he adds to his quip.

"I don't doubt that. Seems to be quite a talent. If I were an enemy, I would have died laughing by now and you'd be perfectly safe."

Ears burn as more blood rushes to them, they have to be glowing by now. Rudolph has nothing on me. I enjoy making others laugh at my own expense, sure. But not him. He's an ass all on his own.

Shaking my head and huffing once more, my tail goes up and I make my way around the pair to follow my tracks back. Can feel Dirk's apology in the waves coming from him, but the Alpha has blocked himself from me. Can't say I mind that one.

Once past, it's the younger wolf’s spike of emotion that lets me know something's wrong. Just as I'm turning I get a harsh nip to my flank, the bite throwing me back to the last dire wolf I'd encountered. The one whose skin I have at home right now.

Spinning, I lunge at Gabriel, teeth bared and growling. He dances away with no problem, quite light on his feet for being such a huge brute. When Dirk moves, his Alpha growls at him, which has the young wolf tucking tail and lowering. Dirk may be a new wolf as well, but he's really connected to the animal part of himself. Think I've only ever seen him in human form once. And to think, he's only seventeen.

While Gabriel takes up his dominant pose, my ears go back, tail straight out and teeth bared. Having learned not to stiffen up, but stay loose and agile, I move away as he moves in closer. I really hate dominance displays when they're used on me.

When he goes right, I go left. We pace each other, neither giving ground. I'm not trying to claim I'm higher than he, but I'm sure as hell not lower either. Feeling the press of his Alpha draw, I growl again.

As he moves forward, I stand my ground. Much larger than I, and probably able to break me in half without much effort, my stubbornness has me rebelling at his push. If he's going to try this shit every time we're around each other, then we're going to have problems.

Another step forward has him way too close for comfort, but when I take my step back, he lunges, barreling me over by just running into me with his chest. I keep from rolling onto my back, but only barely.

Crouched low, I snarl as he hovers. His scent fills my nose as he stands over me, jaws right next to my face as he growls back. The scent of an Alpha mixing with his draw combines, making the pull stronger, but I'm still resistant.

"Submit to me, and I'll let you go."

Silk once more unfurls in my head. That, I can deal with, the twinge in my loins from it though...can so go. With his weight class I doubt I'll be able to do much, even less considering the very long, very sharp teeth next to my face.

Considering who I am though, I'd wager he doesn't want to hurt me...too much. That thought wavers when I feel the clamp of teeth on my shoulder. He'd seen what I went through with one of his wolves, and he's purposefully doing it again. Using it against me.

Instead of cowing me, it just royally pisses me off. Unheeding of any possible damage or danger, I start bucking like a wild thing, ignoring the tearing skin as I wrestle his much heavier form off of me.

Throwing my back into his chest and belly, putting every ounce of supernatural strength I have into the movement, over and over, he does move off. Blood scents the air as I spin and tear into him. The neck is useless, it puts me way too close to his teeth, so I go after his legs.

Using my speed to dart in and around, I slash with both teeth and claws as I mark up both front and back legs. I don't get as much damage done as I'd like though, the breath knocked out of me from something plowing into my side and lungs, sending me into one of the trees lining the area. A harsh bite is given to the side of my shoulder before it disappears with a yelp.

My head spins as I catch my breath, ribs screaming as I force myself to stand. The side that collided with the tree though gives out and has me falling back onto the melting snow. Staying down, I work more on clearing my vision to make out the sounds of snarling and yips of pain.

Dirk's scent next to me registers, as does the knowledge that those sounds are not coming from any of mine. That has me relaxing a little bit, but not much. When things aren't doubled, spinning, or bursting with starlight, I look to see what all's going on.

Whatever had happened has ended, Gabriel stands over two belly-up timbers. The Gray wolves may look contrite, but I can feel their animosity towards me. Blood covers their muzzles as they whine, one looks to have a ripped ear.

This, this right here is something I didn't want. I don't want to create friction between an Alpha and his wolves. My side isn't happy, but I make myself stand, and slink away.

When Dirk comes in close, I growl at him to leave me be. His head and ears lower, but he stays close. By the time I'm walking more normally, I'm in territory that looks and smells familiar.

I stop, needing to rest, both shoulders complaining. The blood in my mouth is an exotic spice. Foreign. Dirk gives me a weird look when I start licking at the snowy ground, leaving behind trails of red.

I don't know what to say, so I say nothing. Rolling onto my side to press wounds into the cold snow, the young wolf looks at me anxiously.

"I'm fine Dirk, you can go back now."

He whines and sits next to me, just to jump up when Xavier comes running in with his long legs and arched mane. Should have expected that. My hip attachment looks angrily at me then to Dirk, ears going back. The boy cowers, tail tucking hard.

"Easy Xavier, he didn't do anything. He's just trying to help."

A nose snuffles above me, catching scents and finding damages. At his growl, I tell him to leave it be. Turning, I flip sides and bare my bleeding shoulder. The tear is kind of large, but healing quickly, only bleeding from my moving. The other is punctured, but less twingy than the rip.

At the first tongue swipe, I jump and try to get up. When another growl sounds, I stop moving. Heated strokes move along my side, soft, yet uncomfortable.

Feels good, and that's what makes it uncomfortable. The warmth soothing and calming the burning sensation. Can hear him demanding answers, but I really have none to give. The younger wolf caves under his gaze and demands, spilling everything.

"My Alpha caught scent of yours and followed her. He was trying to get her to submit to him when she started fighting back. That's when the others came. It's not their fault, they thought you were attacking him and came to help. Gabriel stopped them before anything bad could happen, then he told me to make sure she got back to Ava's."

Ahh, I see. Definitely explains a few things, and drives it home deeper that Silver Wolf or not, I'm not as high as some seem to think, even in the eyes of the one who claims it. My own eyes close as I sink into the sensation of injuries being cleaned by canine ministrations. Thick fur and wounds don't exactly mix very well, you know.

"Where are the others?"

Yellow eyes open to look at the maned wolf, seeking his response to my question.

"At the house, where you should have been. Why did you shift without letting any of us know?"

His reprimand has me glaring and refusing to answer. I do not need a damn keeper. Muscling my way up, body feeling steadily better as everything knits and heals, I make my way back to the house.

"And I'm not an Alpha, Dirk, don't confuse me with something I'm not."

The boy is quiet as he trails behind me, tall Dogdeer at my side as if fearing I'll fall over. Doesn't sound like a bad idea really, but there's no time. When we come across some higher snowbanks though, I dip forward into them, rubbing into the snow till it melts.

I get watched, curious gazes roaming over me and the area around. Dirk whines, looking out through the trees. Raising my head, I scent the air. More wolves, ones I don't know.

My pain fades as adrenaline fills my veins again while Xavier's ears flick back, going on the defensive. He may be bigger than some, but he's built for speed, not fighting. Not in this form. Sneezing, my head shakes and I once more head to Ava's. Once in the middle of her 'yard', I turn back and look into the trees.

Pain from my shoulders turns into a craving for more action, ready to make up for my loss. While the smaller wolf bobs next to me, the maned wolf stands feet from me, giving both he and I the room to move.

I can feel them out there, some angry while others are unsure. Fairly dancing in place, I let my voice loose. Howling my challenge to any who dare their luck, kicking up snow to loosen it for me to play with in my head.

Dirk backs off as flakes whirl around me, dancing in the air above me as if attached with strings. Four wolves are out there in the brush with anger and grief as their emotions. Before long, they all fall back, a stronger presence coming forward as I feel others coming in at my back. Human and animal alike.

Maii and the Arctic brothers are all in animal form, coming at my called challenge. More than likely it was originally just the brothers, but Maii seeing them shift triggered his own. I tell all of them to hang back when Gabriel comes forward, still in wolf form.

I can hear Kani, Rika, and Bastion’s inhaled breaths, none of them having seen the Gray Wolf Alpha yet. He stands there, eyes going from Dirk to me. The gaze is intent as the black and white wolf makes his way to his Alpha.

Once next to him, I take a couple steps forward myself. Unsure what I'm doing, but feeling the need to. Yellow-green eyes take in those behind me before coming back to mine.

"Run for backup?"

Shaking my head, I whisper back. His direct line makes it just between he and I, leaving the others clueless.

"No, just left a fucked-up situation before I made things worse between you and your wolves. It was on the way here that the others showed up. Not one for games, I called them out, but none wanted to play."

The snow is still dancing around me, so I let it go to fall at my feet.

"Mine came out when I became noisy."

He nods, looking over each of them again.

"Quite the ragtag group you have. All of them would be living with you?"

Looking back to see who all came out, I nod.

"Aside from Ava and her daughter of course."

Flicking my tail to call his attention back to me, I ask the big nagging question.

"Why are they mad at me? It can't be from the misunderstanding from earlier."

Eyes dilate as his head dips down a little, keeping eye contact while ears quirk. Keeping silent for a good minute before answering.

"Those upset are the ones who were close to Joshua."

Oh. Well, they can stuff it then. If they want to be close to a rapist then that's on them, they can stay away from me and mine.

"I see. We're going to have to figure something out. Even if I don't get along with you, I don't want to cause unease amongst yours."

Doing so will just create problems for mine. Considering we need the new place, something needs to be done. He shakes his head, his own tail moving in agitation.

"They will come to terms eventually. I wouldn't suggest making another challenge unless you want the whole pack on you. Some of mine don't know what the Silver Wolf is to the rest of us and will treat you as any other feral rogue."

Biting my tongue, I nod. His head rises back up, then he turns and walks back the way he came. Just as I'm doing the same, he looks back.

"You will submit to me."

Snorting, my tail flies high as I turn away. Seems I can't resist causing trouble in one way or another. One of these days it'll backfire, I know it will, it doesn't stop me though.