For 3 weeks now, the Alpha had gotten missing. She was the one who had tossed me the piece of meat two years ago - and ever since, I had named her Catori - which meant spirit. She used to be so silent, so graceful and still. But now she was gone.

Every night, the beta - Ahiga, whom I named for his combat skills, would lead the pack to howl into the night, singing for their queen to return. But she never did. I would sit there, cradling Catori's youngest cub - Tanis whom she had entrusted to me ever since she was born under an eclipse, watching a dozen pair of honey-clear eyes gleam in the moonlight, her howl long, doleful and soothing.

Lying between the buttress roots of an ancient tree, I wondered about Catori - and everytime Tanis stirred, part of my heart bled. I was so much like Tanis, Catori was like a protector to me, the Mother of us all - who took care of the pack. She could have left me there to die - or she could have ripped me up and fed me to her family. But no, she took me in and kept me alive.

There were many lone wolves out there, who didn't belong to anyone - unwanted, outcasts of nature. And some of them were dangerous. I had had 1 watching me for a long time, and the day before Catori went missing - he'd lunged at me, almost tearing my neck out. But Ahiga and the tester rescued me in time. The lone wolf that attacked me was jet-black in colour, and when he managed to escape the 2 brutes' wrath - he dripped with red.

It made me wonder if Catori had been killed by him as revenge, and the thought made me sick to the stomach. If she had died under his hands - it was because of me.

I had come to recognize a wolf's howl from these years of learning. There were different songs for a wolf - some to mourne, some to summon.

For 3 weeks, they had been singing their Alpha home. But she never appeared. But the lone wolf did.

I had eyed it twice this week already, slinking between the trees, far away from us, but close enough to watch. It was unsettling - and even the mothers of cubs were restless as they rounded their children closer to them. To them, I was also a child - and although they had never watched out for me as much as Catori did, this time - they did. Ahiga and his twin sister, Meji would always keep an eye on me.

Maybe it was for Catori - in memory of their Alpha.

As the days slaved by in her absence, I felt the winter more than I ever did. The nights were traps and the days dragged on. Like a lost child, newly orphaned - I pained for the loss of my mother. Until on the 4th week, I was certain she was dead.

That night, the song became a desolate howl. I huddled close to Meji, Tanis and 3 other cubs buried in my arms, shivering in the coldness of the night and their mourning. A pack had lost its leader.

My mother was gone.

*

"Oi, get back here!" Yixing yelled angrily, rubbing the sting where the goose had pinched him on the cheek, and brandishing his fist with another. Luhan had been assigned to the bull's pen and that meant if the menace goose went AWOL, it was going to be Yixing's . And he wouldn't even care - if the entire town of Pemberly hadn't signed a restraining order against that particular goose which had an OCD tendency to be a pain in the human thyroid.

He turned his coat collar up against the wind moodily and raced after the fat irritation - which was waddling comically down the stone path to its freedom.

ZiTao, who was feeding Devor and Kira gave him an amused thumbs-up as he watched Yixing slip on a slab of frozen pebbles in his pursuit.

"Why don't you sing it to you?" ZiTao suggested unhelpfully, "like a Disney princess or something."

“Hey, did you know that the first part of the human to be formed as a fetus is the ?,” Yixing groaned as he threw himself onto the goose, flattening it with mixed emotions that excluded mercy.

“...really?”

“Yeah, so all in all, at some point of time – you were nothing but an .”

"Your point?" ZiTao cracked one eye wider open as he tossed Devor a slab of raw mutton.

"You didn't evolve," Yixing growled and tied goose up with his jacket and carrying it under his armpit as he made his way back to the pen.The other goose was staring at the wriggling coat under his arm, and evidently decided against trying to escape.

"Hey," Yixing suddenly remembered, "did you read the news this week? About Kris' case?"

ZiTao looked up, holding another slab of meat. Kira, impatient, tore it out of his hands without waiting.

"What about?"

"Apparently, Kevin filed for emancipation."

"What the hell? He's their golden boy, and an adult, why..."

"Not for him - for Kris. I live 2 blocks from their parents, and they've been screaming at each other for weeks."

"I didn't know that," ZiTao looked genuinely surprised, "I always thought Kevin was a self-concerned prick who didn't give a if his brother died."

"He still doesn't, but he wants him found," Yixing said.

"Huh?"

"Mrs. Wu told the police to close Kris' case by calling off the search. Since they're the immediate parents, they have the right to do that. Kevin's filing for Kris to be released from their legal binding, and make him the immediate kin so that he can call for the search to continue."

"Can he do that?"

"Apparently he can, he filed for it this morning."

"What kind of parents wouldn't want their kids back?"

Yixing kept quiet.

*

Kevin sat in the solicitor's office, hands on his folder as his lawyer - Hyoyeon finished saving his dictation.

"Right, I'll send this up to court, and we'll expect a reply by Monday," she finally saved it and smiled at him, "go home and rest."

"I'm not tired."

"Still," Hyoyeon gestured towards her office, "you can't stay here, I have clients coming in all the time."

"Have you ever won an emancipation case?"

"4."

"So you'll make it a 5 for me, right."

"To be honest," Hyoyeon pulled her chair forwards and leaned against it with her elbow, "this case is a bit of a long shot, but I'm willing to give it a go. So all you have to do is go through the Q&A sheet you have in there," she pointed at his folder with a manicured finger, "and come to trial. Leave the rest to me."

Kevin sighed and got up.

"Kevin," Hyoyeon called as his fingers touched the knob, "you do know that this is going to tear your parents apart, right?"

He froze, and left.

*

I hadn't heard this song in a long time.

The last time I heard it was when one of the adult wolves died, and they sang for a lone wolf to join the family. Today, they were doing it again - this time, they were howling for a new Alpha.

Tanis was whimpering, and I felt like crying myself. Two more of Catori's cubs - Achak and Adahy were asleep under my coat. Meji led the howl tonight, and Ahiga stayed unnaturally close to me. Then, I could feel it.

A stranger's presence.

Ahiga obviously felt it before I did, and to my surprise, suddenly turned to me and snapped his incisors, hackles up. I twisted my face away - a sign of submission which I had learnt to do the hard way. He didn't seem satisfied with my respect this time, instead he snapped at my heels. Unconsciously, I flinched and scrambled to all fours, fear starting to spread throughout my nerves.

Catori was gone, he had no use for me here now.

Ahiga knew that banishing me would lead to my death, but I pleaded with my eyes. His anger heightened... and he grabbed my neck with his teeth. I winced as his teeth dug deeper and deeper into my throat, just waiting for that sudden jerk for death.

It was true. Without Catori, I am but an unwelcome stray lingering in a pack - and Ahiga was going to kill me for it.

Then, he threw me in between two shrubs. Tanis was cowering in my arms, evidently as alarmed as I was. Ahiga barred his incisors again.

Stay here, his eyes seemed to say, stay and be still.

Immediately after, the lone wolf which had attacked me slinked into view. I sank my head below the foliage, trying to calm my racing heart. Meji had summoned the lone wolf who had killed Catori to be their Alpha, and Ahiga was protecting me from it.

You can never track a lone wolf - but you can call it to you to welcome it to your pack.

As I sat there, wondering why Meji could have done this to me, I saw the black lone wolf's eyes gleam in my direction. Wolves sensed fear like no other animals - and it sensed me, along with the Alpha's cubs. It was still far away, but Meji was still howling for it to join us. To join our pack.

Slowly, and warily, it slinked forwards - keeping an eye on beta Ahiga and the tester.

When, Ahiga looked to the ground, it got bolder and its pace faster - every footprint it left in snow closer and closer to us. It felt as though my heart was about to beat from my chest - but the other wolves were welcoming it, summoning it.

All the sudden, Catori leapt out from between the bushes almost next to me and ambushed the lone wolf. Ahiga and Meji followed suit immediately, tearing at the lone wolf's limbs and torso. 3 more joined in, fast as lightning  and there was the terrible sound of fangs tearing at flesh, and murderous gnarles.

It had all been a trap - a trap to lure in the lone wolf, who had attacked me, proving to the pack that it was a danger to one of the family - me. I watched the murder with wide eyes, so afraid that tears began to fall.

It was all for me.

Then, it was over.

You call it murder - they call it protection.

Inspired by Jodi Picoult's The Lone Wolf, which is where I read about wolf hierachy. All credits to her for my knowledge of wolves. Some of them were pure bull, which I made up, but hey.

Hope you liked the chapter!