A white wolf watched the large group of vampires as they moved through the dead and around the demolished wagon. They were looking at the situation as she was. A problem.
She could see the vampire with raven black hair riding upon the large black horse was the leader among the vampires and she smelled the air. It was him…
She looked intently at the vampire willing him to come at her but as she laid there upon the ledge she sighed That's not who I am anymore. I should go to the Clan instead of spying on them.
However she didn't leave her spot upon the ledge, but instead continued to watch the vampires look through the damage. This wasn't her people's anger but another's, but she was sure it was to be blamed on her people. It always was. She looked back at Him only to suddenly see he was gazing around the mountain ledges, she was sure he had felt her gaze and she knew the best course of action with any predator was to remain calm and still.
It was then that the vampire was with raven black hair suddenly locked his violet eyes with hers, and she couldn't help but gaze back. She couldn't help but begin to hear the distant clatter of steel against steel and the sound of flesh being cut by the sword when she was startled back to the present, as she suddenly felt the air begin to get heavy.
She looked into his violet eyes and she could have sworn he was trying to goad her into a battle, while she would have greeted it eagerly years ago, she did not now. She wasn't anything other than a wolf part of the Petra Clan. She could not put them in danger for her own means.
She sighed again as he continued to stare, she had faced many things and even though she was looking at the face of death in that angular beautiful face she interestingly felt at ease. She could die she knew, because if he told the others of her presence they would hunt her down and kill her without another thought. But that was the easy bit about death. It was final, absolute. Whereas life was continual and unknown.
She watched his violet eyes for a sign of notifying others when suddenly his eyes seemed to shift lower to her chest and she went rigid. He's looking at the scar. He knows who I am.
Though she felt panic sweep through her body as she could distantly hear the screams and howls of a distant battlefield, she couldn't help but begin to smell the tang of blood upon iron when he suddenly whispered "Mors Alba"
The smell and noise faded as she felt her ears perk, she had not heard it for so long it seemed foreign to her own ears, yet she knew it wasn't as foreign as she wished it was.
He watched her for a moment longer and his eyes softened slightly catching her off guard, soften?
She wasn't sure it was a good thing until he nodded to her in respect. She smiled to herself as she looked into those old violet eyes. They were both old war dogs and though their people were at war under the surface, they as souls were no longer vengeful for past debts. She supposed it had something to do with age, as even her past elders did not hate the enemy after a war had ended even if they had lost a loved one.
She nodded in respect to him and he turned his horse away to trot upon the path leading off the mountains of Somar. She sat up slowly, stretched and she began to travel along the ledge leaving the vampires to deal with their dead.
We shall see where this road leads. as She smelled the air and a musky scent one she recognized to be the others came to her. She hated the smell of stone and dust but it beat being alone, and she never wished to be that again. It's harder to not think about something when you're alone than with others, and not thinking was a blessing.
It was a musky scent one she recognized to be the others. She hated the smell of stone and dust but it beat being alone, and she never wished to be that again. Its harder to not think about something when your alone than with others, and not thinking was a blessing.
She walked through the snow which came belly deep before slowly dwindling a foot above the ground, and eventually she saw why. She had come upon a ravine that made the winds blow the snow from side to side of the ravine walls that stretch into high stone outcrops. The outcrops towered over the trees that resided between them and she sighed as the cold wind blew through her fur giving them chill.
She walked through the deep ravine with the towering walls on either side of her before came to the end of the ravine to see the path lining the deep vally walls before coming to the valley floor where pine trees and a few birch trees had taken root. The large clearing had been in fact a volcano hundreds of years past but now it was called home to the Petra Clan.
Just as she began her decent down into the clearing a small brown wolf came barreling towards her "Sabina!"
She smiled when the small wolf face planted after tripping over a log "Omaris, you're too old to be calling me by my name."
Omaris unburied his face and sat up as he cocked his head to the side, making Sabina wonder of his age not for the first time "Of course Beta, but it's just us and it's not for a few days. Can't I still call you by your name?"
Sabina sighed "Fine. But only until your coming of age ceremony"
Omaris jumped to his feet and raced to her, making her raise her eyebrow at the sudden energy. She always forgot how old she was until she found one only being alive for a few years showing their undying energy.
"Good!" He began walking down the path leading her into the heavy smell of pine causing her to sneeze.
"You always do that." laughed Omaris
Sabina shook her head as she sneezed again "It's the pine."
Omaris sniffed the air for a second "But I don't smell it."
Sabina looked at Omaris and smiled "I just have to get used to it"
"Don't worry. You will." He said
"Let's hope so." She sighed as she thought about the nineteen years she had resided in the Petra Clan, and not once had she ever begun to get used to the smell.
Omaris stopped in his tracks as he looked at Sabina. She walked past him, but seeing he wasn't following stopped as well. She looked over her shoulder to see the question cross his mind, but she quickly interjected before he could voice it.
"When's your coming of age ceremony?"
Omaris's ears perked up "In two days!"
"Really?" Said Sabina as she continued to step on the crunching snow, she hadn't forgotten but he didn't need to know that.
"I can't wait till I get to meet my true mate!" Shouted Omaris to the world.
The coming of age ceremony occurred at the age of eighteen and while it was a ceremony of placement in the pack, it also allowed the new adults to find their true mate. The finding if one's true mate was more instantaneous, as most members of the pack had their mates within the pack.
Now it is not to be said that a wolf could not choose another to be their mate, this happened more often than said. However if the true mate were to find one another the bond would be stronger than a chosen mate, yet a true mate can reject one another and choose a chosen mate over the bond.
However as a true mate bond is true it will always be a tie that cannot be broken, in pain and happiness as they are meant for one another. A chosen mate may stifle this feeling but it is not enough to make the true mate not feel it. The only sword that can cut this tie is death, and most times the counter part will die not too long later of a heartbreak.
"Yes. I will be happy for whomever is your true mate." Said Sabina.
"I honestly hope it's you." Whispered Omaris as though if anyone would hear they would tell him he was fool. To be honest he was, to think he would be her true mate.
Sabina stopped in her tracks and Omaris said quickly "Is that wrong?"
Sabina felt her heart jump into her stomach "No. Your fine."
She continued to walk and the young wolf followed but feeling his depression she said "Why not think of someone younger?"
Omaris cocked his head "Your not young?"
She looked at him in surprise "I was old when you were born."
Omaris had been born in a litter of six and she had arrived in the clan two years before then, so it was kind of odd for her to hear a wolf she had raised for six months of his life, want her to be his true mate.
Omaris narrowed his eyes in disbelief "I don't believe you"
"You should. I am over fifty years old." Sabina said a matter of factly.
His eyes went wide as if he couldn't believe she was so old but she just laughed as she walked.
"So have you… already found your true mate?" Asked Omaris nervously as he leaned to the side to look at her face.
Sabina smiled as she looked back at Omaris "Not telling"
Omaris growled "That's not fair!"
Sabina just laughed "When has it ever been."
She went to take another step when Omaris asked "If not a true mate, what about a chosen mate?"
She sighed as she stopped walking and Omaris gasped "You have?!"
She looked back at him rolling her eyes "We should be going back"
"Sabina! Tell me!" Whined Omaris as he laid upon his belly next to her.
"Not telling." She teased as she sat down letting the cold snow hit her hunches as he laid upon his back looking at her.
He quickly stood and laid with his front paws on the ground while his butt stuck up in the air wagging his tail "Please?"
She stuck her black nose in the air "Nope"
He let his butt fall on the ground as he rolled over again exposing his belly "Pleeeeaaassse?!"
Sabina looked down at him teasingly "You're not very dignified for a wolf about to come of age."
"I happen to agree" Sabina looked away from Omaris to see a young black wolf with a singular white spot in the middle of his chest coming around a large pine tree.
"Hello Sakara" Said Sabina with a smile.
Sakara gave her a nod as he walked up. Sabina noticed Omaris had sat up next to her glaring at the wolf, she just shook her head. He was a head shorter than she was and she couldn't help but notice that though Sakara was a few inches taller than Omaris, he was also shorter than her.
"Now what were you whining about?" Sakara's sarcastic tone make Omaris's fur stand on end, Sabina just chuckled.
"I wasn't whining if you must know. Besides this conversation-" Omaris stood and flopped in front of Sabina, blocking Sakara's view of her "-is between Sabina and me"
Sabina laughed and knocked Omaris down with her paw, pinning him with his belly exposed "Stop irritating your brother"
Omaris stared at Sabina in horror "You would side with him?"
Sabina smiled "I didn't side with anyone"
"I take it back. I don't want you to be my true mate." Pouted Omaris.
"Okay." Sabina shrugged and Omaris stared at her in horror.
"Okay?! What kind of response is that!" he raged.
"Well what do you want me to do? Roll over and beg for forgiveness?" asked Sabina sarcastically
"Well….Kind of." Omaris said in embarrassment.
"Ah, so that's what you guys were talking about" Sakara interjected at this point as he laid down in front of Sabina with Omaris between them, who turned away from Sakara to look at Sabina with his baby blue puppy eyes. Which would have worked if she had looked at him but she refused to even glance that way.
"Yes" said Sabina.
"Omaris you should give others a chance to be your true mate and not just settle for what you see now." Said Sakara as he looked at Omaris.
Omaris wiggled under Sabina's paw but seeing he couldn't escape objected "Your not just anyone Sabina."
Sabina too looked at Omaris with an eyebrow raised and he sighed in recognition in his defeat "I know, but what's so wrong about me wanting Sabina to be my true mate?"
Sakara sighed but Sabina smiled "You should be looking to your pack members for your true mate. Not me. Otherwise you will be sorely disappointed"
Sakara's eyes held pity but Sabina ignored him "You know that true mates are mostly to be found within your pack lineages. How likely is it that it would be me?"
Omaris sighed again "I know, Sabina. I just don't want to see you so lonesome all the time"
Sabina scoffed but glanced to the side avoiding Sakara's eyes "Me? Lonesome?"
Omaris nodded "Yeah. You always seem to be watching the mated pairs in our pack."
"I have seen this as well" testified Sakara making Sabina's tail twitch. This wasn't a council, this was a normal conversation at the start.
Sabina shook her head as she removed her paw from Omaris's belly to stand "Your imagining things."
Sabina began making her way to the packs camp and the two followed not too far behind, but they never mentioned her loneliness again and she was relieved.
She wasn't alone. She couldn't be. She lived with the Petra Clan for the last twenty years practically raising two generations. She had the packs total loyalty and had even been granted the title of Beta. Which had only been granted after the Betas had been killed when a band of rogues attempted to take their homes.
She denied it verbally but she knew she had been looking at the pairs but she refused to think about it. It just hurt too much to even look at them, yet she always found herself staring.
She wasn't lonely. She wasn't lost.
Her thoughts came to a halt when suddenly a shout of protest came from behind her.
She quickly looked back prepared to fight when she stopped short and laughed. Sakara's face was completely covered in snow by a red wolf, that had slid across the snow sending it spraying at Sakara.
He just blinked several times when a red furred wolf let her ears droop as she whispered "Sakara?"
Sakara's unamused face turned so he could glare at her with his yellow eyes as he growled "Abby"
She gave him an embarrassed smile as she used her paw to brush off the snow "Sorry"
He growled but let her remove the snow as Sabina smiled at Abby "It's alright Abby. He needs to act more his age anyways."
Sakara glared at Sabina in disbelief "I thought you said you were on my side of things"
Sabina smiled and shrugged "No, I said I don't take sides"
Sabina looked passed Abby to see Omaris crouched not to far out of Abby's sight. Sakara looked at Sabina confused as she looked past him, when something brown barreled past him. Abby laughed giddily as Omaris tackled her sending snow flying at Sakara, who quickly evacuated their new found play zone.
"Hey!" Shouted Sakara but the two wolves continued to bark and yip as they played, ignoring his protests.
"Beta Nix" Sabina looked for the owner of the call to find a grey and white wolf standing next to a tree.
"Coming." The wolf nodded and left her once more to watch the wolves play as Sakara had been dragged into the fight. They didn't notice her absence until she had disappeared further into the forest and by then she could only barely hear a whisper of Omaris asking loudly "Where's Sabina?"
As she walked closer to the center of the valley she found more and more large holes appearing before she came to a small clearing where she could see a small pile of food left from this mornings hunt. Each den lining her way to the clearing was given to a mated pair and as soon as a mated pair were too old to not be watched, they were moved to the Elder Den. But that had remained empty for the last hundred years or so as no wolf was too old to hunt.
Sabina passed dens at a trot making any passing wolf bark a reply or puppies to follow her shouting "Sabina!"
She just smiled as the parents scolded them for calling her by her name instead of her title of Beta Nix.
She came to a large pile of rocks where she could see ancient writing engraved on the face of the rock and she smiled. The Petra Clan had found this rock face years ago but had never been able to read it.
She looked at the letters for a long time when a grey wolf just barely shorter than her exited the cave "Beta"
She nodded to the wolf "Renmar"
Renmar looked to the cave with his yellow eyes before turning his gaze upon her "Alpha is asking for you."
Sabina nodded "Thank you Renmar."
"It does not baod well for you." He growled
Sabina smiled "Renmar, it is fine."
He sighed "I thought you did fine with the hunt, But I'm not Alpha."
Sabina smiled sadly "If it were easy for anyone to be alpha more Clans would have been made"
He looked at her for a long time before sighing again "Always making excuses for others."
Sabina shrugged "Its in my nature"
His gaze bore into her as though if he wished to ask a question when suddenly a voice filled both their minds "Beta, are you done talking outside my door?"
She smiled at Renmar sadly and walked into the den only to hear behind her "See you tonight Beta!"
She swished her tail in response as she headed deeper into the dark cave to await her punishment.