Chapter 5
Isabelle
I woke up to see stern red eyes staring at me. I jumped, screaming, clawing at the intruder, who dodged me easily, pinning me to my sleeping bag. “Really?” The male said calmly, hiding whatever emotions he felt so well I couldn’t discern them. I thrashed, kicking my legs to no avail. My legs were in the sleeping bag… and my arms were pinned above my head with one clawed hand.
“It’s me sis.” He chuckled. I opened them, to see a small smirk on my brother’s face. Dad and my Uncle Conner both had stern eyes, arms crossed.
I had been in the wild one day, and I would already be dead. Caleb let me go, and retracted his claws. Dad walked up to me, and I already had an idea as to what he had to say.
“Izzy, I cannot stop you from looking for your mate, but you need to either be more careful, or come home.” He said sternly.
“Dad nobody is going to bother me, I’m stronger than most wolves in the pack, except for you three and my cousins.” I say flatly. He hummed in agreement, but he still seemed unconvinced.
“You still shouldn’t sleep that hard, what if your brother was a Rouge with his friends? They’d kill you for something as simple as your bedroll.” He glared at me, as if to see if I understood the danger. I knew the risk. If I didn’t accept it, I wouldn’t have gone.
“Dad, I was called by the Lady herself for this journey. I will be fine, so come over here and share some soup with me.” I said with a smile, opening my backpack to pull out the 3 cans of chicken noodle soup and my largest pan. It wouldn’t nearly be enough for wolves so large, but it was the fact I was offering to share with them was the point. We were still pack members, not just family.
Dad decided to drop it, and we shared with all the spare pots, cups, and other things I had on hand. It was silent, but they were content enough. Afterwards, they helped me undo my tent and repack my backpack. I decided to keep the cans, because I could maybe use them for something.
“How far did I actually get?” I ask, picking up daisy and rubbing her on Caleb, to his surprise.
“We only ran for 30 minutes.” Laughed Uncle Connor.
“Give me that Izzy.” Commanded dad, who proceeded to put my precious unicorn under his armpit!
“GIVE ME DAISY YOU BRUTE!” I growl at the top of my lungs, but he tossed it to Uncle Connor before I could get it, and he proceeded to do the same, and tossed it back to Caleb. He hesitated, while looking at me mischievously. Anyone else wouldn’t be able to read that stoic face of his, but I always could. I was tossed back my old toy, that now stunk. I frowned staring at her little distressed body, cursing my shortness. Dear Lady, may my mate be a god damned boulder to avenge my poor baby. I thought to myself in my anger. I wish for a strong male, not a rock. Said Glitter, causing me to facepalm. They snickered.
“That’s a good idea Izzy, now with that, you can mark your spot with the scent of Alphas.” Said Dad impressed, and I just glared at him. I wanted Daisy to keep smelling like home a little longer… not stink of man. I just didn’t have the heart to tell him, since he sounded so proud. I had to fight the urge to facepalm again.
“I know it’s still day, but do you want to travel unshifted?” mentioned dad casually.
“Why not.” I grumbled… and I’m washing Daisy. I think to myself with a frown.
We would walk as humans in case they still wanted to visit. I could feel they were distraught, because we all knew that I might be gone a long time. There was also the possibility that I might never live in the pack anymore if my mate was an Alpha, or if I became one. When I get my powers in a hundred years or so, I would be more than strong enough to lead a pack.
It wouldn’t matter that I was a female; dad taught me every management duty an Alpha could do, and wolves follow the strongest. I could be that if I got lucky, especially since I had plenty of practice. They did with all of us, because of this very moment being a possibility. The only thing I didn’t have right now, was the raw brute strength like my brother.
Suddenly I got lightly elbowed as we walked, and I realized that I was spaced out in thought. There were howls in the near distance, and they were responded by my family before I could even try. “Hey, who’s the one going on the life changing journey ‘round here?” I question, seeing the wolves slowly approach, heads bowed. It looked to be about 5 of them, and their silver furred leader was in front, bowed the lowest. He was showing as much respect as possible, and I could understand why, they smelled only as strong as a regular pack member.
Caleb’s eyes became glazed. He had linked them, and they curled their tails between their legs. The leader shifted and kneeled, shielding his nakedness as best as he could. Caleb shielded me behind himself, and I frowned. I could handle myself I thought.
“Alpha Kaiden.” The man stumbled over his words. “We thought we were hunting off your lands, forgive us sir.” He said, sneaking a glance at me. He earned a growl from all three of them.
“I meant no offence.” He stammered over his words harder. “We will leave while we still have the ability to do so Sir.” He said shifting and running away before he got an answer.
“You should come home.” Said dad sternly, looking in the direction they all ran off to.
“No. Also those Rouges would have left me alone, because of daisy on my bag anyway.” I complain, because every breeze wafted her new scent into my nose. Dad patted me on the head.
“Ok, well travel as a human one more day, just in case. I can still reach you if you call.” He said pointing to my phone in my pocket. I nodded, but honestly if I could help it, I wanted to do this without their help. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this. We were pretty quiet after that.
We walked together, chatting and enjoying each other’s company until the sun looked about ready to set. I hugged them, and we said our goodbyes. They walked off a good ways before shifting and running off howling. I howled back as loud as I could, because little did they know that when I couldn’t hear them anymore, I would shift myself.
I walked about an hour, enjoying the world become twilight, then dark. I should have taken that hour to set up a fire, but I didn’t intend on making camp. I was cold, and the wind nipped my bare body aggressively, but I shoved my clothes in my bag as best as I could before shifting. I shook my fur and stretched my legs a bit, because my forms were so dramatically different.
My black wolf was impressive, it was just the human form that was lacking. People often thought that I was weak because the average female is almost a foot taller than me, but my wolf was almost as big as my aunt. I howled my most deathly rumble, and I heard no challenge. It made my chest swell with pride to know that at the moment, I was the biggest wolf in the area.
I put the straps in my mouth and ran as fast as I could until I was tired, then slowed to a trot. The crescent moon was setting when I decided to stop and get some sleep. When I shifted, I pulled out my phone and put on some pajamas. My phone didn’t need to be charged, it still had 80% since I didn’t use it at all today, and it was only 3am. I took the opportunity to just pull out my bed roll and go to sleep.
I woke up with the sun at 7am, and I was still tired, but it didn’t stop me from packing and running as my wolf again. But I felt followed.