A generous piece of bison was tossed to the small hungry wolf. The pack watched as she noticed and crept forward. It was clear that she wanted it but out of modesty, her feet heavily dragged itself closer, almost afraid that they would jump her the moment she came near. When the meat was within reach, her back legs propelled her to dash for it, snatching the chunk in a quick flash before sprinting off. She was ridiculously strong for a starving wolf.

There was more than enough left for everyone to fill their bellies until they could barely stand. They didn’t leave any leftovers, because that would be wasteful of a much needed kill. The pack rested for half an hour, passing through their mini food comas and lounging about to clean themselves—or each other.

“Sanaaaaa!” Momo cried for God knows how many times now.

The omega only giggled as usual and wagged her tail in an attempt to look innocent. It was very hard, because almost all of Momo’s shoulder fur was in . Sana yanked at it playfully, which earned her a sharp bark from Momo. That only encouraged Sana to chomp on her ear, then tugged it with the same intensity to ignite an annoying growl from the alpha. Momo inched away from her, hiding her muzzle in her paws when she’d reached a far enough distance. Sana bounced forward regardless, poked Momo’s cheek, and the older immediately shot up to seize the same paw in her jaw.

“You’re so mean~” The omega whined, extracting her paw between Momo’s teeth.

After that, the alpha had a few peaceful moments to herself. Sana had found some new entertainment in wiggling her back around in the snow, making the glistering crystal snowflakes spin and twirl in the air. Momo scratched behind her ear while Sana continued to roll around, occasionally giggling like the little weirdo that she was. Soon enough, she grew bored and was back pestering Momo. The alpha stood up and glared at her, but Sana’s tail still swung with anticipation. The omega laughed—this time more high pitch with pure mischief and satisfaction. Momo knocked her over at that with her shoulder, wrestling Sana onto the snow. The omega squirmed underneath her but eventually laid still to receive the rebuking snarl from Momo. Sana only smiled meekly, chestnut eyes mocking the older as she booped the alpha’s nose with her paw.

“Kisses!” Sana yelled before immediately wrapping her front legs around Momo’s neck.

The alpha had no time to react when Sana pulled her in. She could only grimace in disgust when Sana attacked her with random on the face. Momo gave up as always, flopping onto the snow while the omega assaulted her with waves after waves of kisses and overwhelmingly affectionate nuzzles. Yet, a part of her liked it—Sana knew she did.

~~~***~~~

They wandered for two more days before the rocky cliffs at the foot of the mountain greeted them. The weather was just a little cloudy and with the exception of a light snowfall, the pack traveled in a relatively calm atmosphere. The big bison meal gave them new strength as they drew closer, taking fewer breaks now. Nayeon’s leg was much stronger, patches of fur were growing back finely to cover up where the wound used to be. They followed the rocky barrier until they could seek out an entrance. There was none so far. Nayeon could not guide them anymore with her limited knowledge of the Beartooth Range. Even if she didn’t say anything, everyone could tell that Jihyo was starting to become skeptical about the whole search.

Somewhere along the way, Nayeon suddenly started sprinting. She darted past them—past Jeongyeon who nearly fell backwards in shock. Their oldest had targeted something a few feet away from them, engaging it at such a speed it concerned Jeongyeon. She really had no reason to be worried, because Nayeon’s injury had healed way better than she thought. Still, there was a brooding fear within Jeongyeon that she couldn’t shake off. Her muscles tensed as if she was the one pursuing whatever Nayeon had running, and a certain wave of emotion crashed over her that left her running after the older. It was very overprotective of her—she knew—but Jeongyeon really couldn’t help it.

When she came closer, it appeared to her that the white spot Nayeon was chasing after was a rabbit. Although she very much wanted it to be over soon, Jeongyeon didn’t interfere with the hunt. She simply stayed behind, far enough to stay out of the way but close enough to come help if anything were to happen. She watched as Nayeon came within killing range, mesmerized by her every movement. She shouldn’t really be this surprised. It wasn’t like she didn’t know Nayeon could hunt, but she never thought Nayeon was actually really good. Maybe Jeongyeon was the only one who noticed, but Nayeon sure looked cool as hell dashing through the snow like that.

Nayeon didn’t waste another second before leaping forward, locking the rabbit in her jaw. Apparently, she collided with it a little too hard and tumbled down with the prey in . From afar, it looked as if she had tripped, which seriously freaked Jeongyeon out. The younger beta bolted right to her side, panic fueling her strides. Nayeon stood right up when she arrived, a good thing though it did make Jeongyeon a little embarrassed. There was a bloody smear across her muzzle as she grinned, golden eyes shining and tail wagging. Jeongyeon chuckled as she followed the older back to the rest of the pack. Sana wagged her own tail in accordance as the two betas returned, and Nayeon shot her the usual wink. It was a small kill, even smaller when they tried to divide it up among five wolves. It was more like a snack, yet they savoured every bite of it.

They kept moving until the afternoon. There were still no signs of any entrance, but the interesting smells along the cliffs surely stirred a lot of talking among the wolves. Most of it was about mountain goats, shrews, cougars, and a lot of describing for the clueless Jeongyeon. Even Momo added a little something to the conversation. Sana was in the midst of exaggerating her and Momo’s encounter with a cougar when Jihyo suddenly stopped. She was leading them this entire time, and they only realized something was wrong when she lagged behind. Their leader was sniffing the air, a perplexed look on her face. Jeongyeon was about to question her, but a familiar scent filled her nostrils, and she understood exactly what was wrong.

It was the same wolf—a delta it seemed—that they’d given a piece of the bison to, except she was super close this time. And sure enough, she was standing ahead, watching them again. Her ears were tucked back as well as her tail, but her same fierce glare remained, maybe a little more intense this time. On the corner of her eyes, Jihyo saw Momo and Jeongyeon tense up at the same time. Their back fur rose, and it wasn’t a very good sign. The tawny alpha shifted herself closer to Nayeon, nudging the beta’s shoulder with her cheek.

“Tell her that we’re just passing or something. She might think we’re threatening her.” Jihyo whispered.

Nayeon affirmed her with a nod and stepped forward. She didn’t get far before the delta wolf snarled, and Jeongyeon immediately gravitated to Nayeon’s side.

“We’re just passing. We wish to continue if you don’t mind.” The older beta felt a rush of confidence, and she was sure—somewhat—it wasn’t because of Jeongyeon.

The delta wolf hid her teeth. She took a good look at all of them, then at the ground, then moved herself aside. Her posture was still defensive and her eyes still challenged them daringly, but she cleared a nice path for them. Nayeon began leading the rest through, her paws gripping the snow uneasily.

“Chaeyoung!” A voice echoed inside one of the cliffs.

A second wolf appeared from what looked like a small cavern on top of a short rocky platform. She wasn’t very far away from them, if not directly across from where they were. She was a beta, about two years of age at most. She had bright lemon-colored eyes and a fawn coat mixed with a bit of white and light brown. The color patterns made her look a little calico-like. Her presence certainly made the Chaeyoung wolf even more distressed.

“Stay inside, Dahyun.” The delta warned.

“What are you doing?” Dahyun stepped forward anyway, unfortunately tripping on a rock and came sliding down right next to Chaeyoung.

The younger wasn’t impressed. Up close, Dahyun seemed to be recovering from some wounds. It was obvious from the ruffled patch of fur behind her ear along with the bits of uneven hair along her neck. She wasn’t as threatened by them as her younger companion and cocked her head upon seeing the pack of five.

“Who are your friends?” She asked.

“They aren’t my friends.” Chaeyoung replied.

“Oh.” Dahyun eyed the pack, but her gaze never shifted into anything else but pure curiosity. “Well, hello there!”

The fawny beta stepped closer and Chaeyoung blocked her path with a frightful expression. “What are you doing?!”

“Saying hi to them.” Dahyun answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“We don’t know them!” Chaeyoung hissed. “They were the wolves I got the meat from the other day. They could be coming back to—”

“Ah, you guys were the one who killed the bison?” Dahyun interrupted her. No one really knew how to properly respond, so Nayeon took it upon herself to nod slightly.

“Thank you, it really helped us out.” The fawny beta smiled.

“What are you saying?!”

“They could provide us with some help, Chaeng, you never know.”

“We don’t need any help.”

“Says the wolf who took their kill the other day.” Chaeyoung scowled but allowed Dahyun to come closer to Nayeon. “Are we in your territory by any chance?”

Nayeon shook her head. “No. We...uhm...don’t really have one.”

“Ah, that’s good. I thought for sure the valley didn’t belong to anyone.”

“The Noura Valley???” Nayeon jolted and her face lit up. “The one within these mountains?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve seen it?”

“Yeah, we’ve been in there for the past two weeks.”

The glow in Nayeon’s eyes and her rapid tail movements were enough to decipher how happy she was. “So, you know how to get inside? Like an entrance?”

“Of course, it’s not that far away actually.”

The oldest of their pack swung around gleefully as if making sure that everyone heard it. Jihyo shot her a smile but in the back of her mind, she knew Nayeon would never stop nagging about how she knew it all along.

“Can you show us?” Nayeon asked hopefully.

“Sure.”

Yet, none of them moved. It was getting dark, but the smoky clouds above them made it nearly pitch black. Only a little orange sunray speckled the horizon enough that it showed somewhat of a transition, but all of them knew nightfall was quickly approaching. Nayeon actually didn’t mind. As long as such an entrance existed, she didn’t care how long it would take them to get there.

“Why don’t you guys come in?” Dahyun invited.

Chaeyoung wore a blank expression, and everyone turned to Jihyo. Their leader simply shrugged. By the time everyone made it up the stony steps to the little cavern, they didn’t seem like strangers anymore. Dahyun was relaxed and had a friendliness that matched theirs, but it felt more like a repayment than anything. Their share of bison was much needed, because it didn’t look like Dahyun was able to hunt and Chaeyoung didn’t seem like she had any luck doing so. The pack entered the small cave with Nayeon introducing every single one of them as they entered. In the far back corner of the rocky space, a large bed of alpine moss and turf lined the cold floor. Across from it was a little pile jumbled with mountain flowers and plants. Jeongyeon stared at it without realizing how long she’d been doing so, confused but intrigued nevertheless.

“Chaeng used to be the apprentice of our pack’s medic.” Dahyun explained, studying Jeongyeon’s face.

The black and white beta nodded. Chaeyoung sat near her medicine heap, tail swaying peacefully. She didn’t seem to mind now and instead listened with her ears slightly twitching as Nayeon explained their situation. Dahyun nodded, especially at the part about their ambition of establishing a home within the valley.

“We stumbled on it by accident, but it is a nice place.” The fawny beta commented. “We would have stayed if we weren’t haunted by the fact that it belonged to someone else. We also weren’t aware that it had such a history.”

“Where’s your pack?” Sana asked.

“Oh, somewhere on the other side of the mountains.”

“So, you guys are runaways?” Nayeon assumed.

“Kind of.”

“We were outlaws.” Chaeyoung corrected her.

Dahyun rolled her eyes. “We were considered outlaws. I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

“What did you do?” Sana stared at her with round eyes.

“A right thing that was misunderstood.” Dahyun huffed.

Chaeyoung sighed. “My parents—the alphas—were assassinated by some of my cousins. But because I was a beta, I couldn’t take over. It also wasn’t right to let the murderers take over, so Dahyun and I got into a very complicated quarrel with the rest of the pack.”

“I knew who did it all along.” Dahyun held her head up in a sense of pride. “I saw it through them—their guilt, our leaders’ blood between their teeth. I pointed out the culprit with my own two eyes, yet no one believed me. But I knew...I knew that one day everyo—”

“You’re making it way too dramatic.” The delta cringed when Dahyun’s voice lowered.

“Well, thank you, Chaeyoung. I am a very good storyteller.” The fawny beta then continued. “I promised Chaeyoung to punish those who’d done such crimes. But then on one fateful night, just as I was about to ambush them, they discovered me and then we engaged in a gory brutal comba—”

“They beat her up.”

“Chaeyoung!” Dahyun growled and the younger laughed with not a hint of regret.

“You shouldn’t have done it by yourself. There were plenty of other wolves who were on our side, you know.”

“This is my storytelling time, child.” Dahyun glared at her.

“We’re literally half a year apart.”

“I did fight for your sake, you know.”

“Yeah, and got yourself stomped so badly, I had to drag you out of there in the darkness.”

“That’s how much I love you, midget.”

“Hey!” Chaeyoung prowled closer to nip at her tail. Dahyun yelped and swung around while Chaeyoung snickered.

As storytime came to an end, the night wrapped the wolves in a heavy blanket of drowsiness, and they dozed off one by one. When midnight drew closer, Jihyo was the last one still awake. She laid on her back, eyes studying the little cracks within the rocks above them. She was contemplating way too many things at the same time, and it was becoming a little too immense. Most of these thoughts were about the future. She looked at the wolves around her and assured herself that everything was fine. She was doing fine. That her pack—funny how she even got to call them hers—was doing fine. Yet, a small part of her still worried. Because with all the stories Sana, Momo, Dahyun, and Chaeyoung brought to them, she didn’t know how to feel about her own leadership. She wanted to be someone better that they could trust, someone that didn’t remind them about the past they’d left behind. And as their leader, she saw fulfilling that her goal, otherwise she might have to deal with the terrible disasters that occurred in a pack without good leadership. Heck, she didn’t know what good leadership really meant. At the same time, she knew she couldn’t disappoint Nayeon or any one of them. Yet, the insecurities whirled around her head, occupying her thoughts until she knocked out from all the overthinking. Jihyo blamed both the silence of the night and fate for putting her in such a mindset.

AN: a shorter chap with a bit of cannibalism bc apparently Nayeon ate a bunny

Before everyone riots about Mina, it’ll all be worth the wait, I promise

Also a samo fic is up!