The pack followed Cyan as he returned to town, they had lost their collars when the shrank, so they received quite a few uncomfortable stares as they walked through the village. The villagers only mildly calmed down when Cyan spoke to them, his familiar "voice" entering their minds slightly comforted them, though the did not take their eyes off of the wolf pack.
His mother had built a dog door into the house, and as much as Cyan found it demeaning he used it often to enter and exit the house. Today was no exception as he entered the small cottage his mother raised him in. Inside he could see his siblings crawling on the floor. His mother looked stressed as she looked over her young, stressed but content. She looked at those children in a way she had never looked at him. But that was good, that made things easy.
"Mother" said after he had watched her for awhile, she was so absorbed in the crawling children she had not noticed his entrance. She jumped as she looked up, seeing the blood that fur, and the pack of wolves behind him.
"I see that you made some friends while you were out today, they look to be around your age."
"We won't be staying long mom. I did something bad today, I was attacked by the coyote brothers and their crew. I did not attack nor hurt them, but they ended up dying. It's not safe for me here. The beast men see me as nothing more than a beast."
His mother remained silent. Listening to the words her son was saying. Her eyes eventually wandered to her other children, the children who still needed her. She nodded after a while, thinking of the danger he would put them in. "Where will you go?"
"I have four months until the dragon wants me to go to him. I want to become strong before them, strong enough to protect my pack. Strong enough to protect myself. "
His mother nodded, looking at the blood that covered his fur. "Perhaps that is for the best. I get the feeling that the dragon has much bigger plans for you than this tiny village." She paused before continuing " it is probably best If you do not come back, it will only scare your siblings... they are too young to understand what is going on."
Cyan nodded as he turned to go. "I understand Vivi. From this moment on you only had a litter of 5. You can forget I ever existed."
Behind him his mother had tears in her eyes as she watched him go, she could not bring herself to say anything, because it was truly what was best for the other five. Her eyes soon rested on the five crawling babies, a bitter smile on her face as she watched them.
Cyan left the village behind him, once again heading towards the desert. For the next four months this would be the packs home. The four pups followed behind him. It was strange, they were undoubtedly older than him, and yet their mentality had gone back to what fit the ages of their bodies. They were easily distracted when was not giving them orders. For example bloopers was currently barking at a butterfly that had flown out of his reach, and daisy was running in circles around the pack, she seemed to have an inexhaustible tank of energy.
Chica was different than the others, she was a lot smaller than the others, barely half their size, and yet her eyes held an intelligence that the others did not. She looked at the world around her and seemed to question what made it tick.
Puglsy liked to eat, he ate everything. Sticks, rocks, shit. Anything that could enter his mouth did. There was no stopping it, he was like a doggy garbage disposal. And what came out the other end, it could clear a room in half a second.
They each had their own personalities, their own strengths and weaknesses. They were unique. It amazed Cyan that anyone could think these beasts were simply stupid animals. They all had intelligence. As long as he nurtured them all of them would grow to be smarter than the average beast man, and chica had a chance to be the smarter than a 5th grader.. I mean smarter than humans. He would not be satisfied until they reached at least this level of intelligence.
The desert held his answers for this, he did not need to kill any more sand gators, his constitution was high enough, he had four months to grow, there should be no problem maxing it out through natural growth. No, he needed to find things to raise his other stats, to raise their other stats.
The desert was cold at night, far colder than it was in the woods. Thankfully the wolves had a coat of fur that separated them from the bitter wind. Sand pelted them as the wolves walked through the desert, Cyan could see steam from the breath of his pack, showing just how cold it was. He felt fine though, he was finally thankful for the canine body that he possessed. His four paws squishing in the sand as he walked.
They camped for the night on their trusty stone slab, the remainder of the bodies of the gators were gone, a blood trail could be seen dragging them into the sand. Something, likely another gator, had taken them away. That was fine. Fresh meat was so much better than day old stuff.
The night passed peacefully, and the wolves moved further into the desert, past the edges, truly into its depths.