Morning came with nothing but loud gushes of wind and seven very lethargic wolves. It wasn’t like they lacked sleep. They all slept pretty well into the late morning, and it was only until noon that all of them were awake. Jihyo, surprisingly, was the last to flutter her eyes. She blinked once or twice upon hearing the roaring of the wind outside, ears twitching slightly whenever a frosty breeze slipped its way inside their small cavern. Their cave was surely little, but it wasn’t too bad. The tight spaces between them managed to trap a lot of heat, which was always a welcoming thing in this dreadful winter. Jeongyeon was really the only one who noticed that their leader had awoken. The other wolves were too occupied with lazing around to notice. The cold had made them sluggish, apathetic, and motivated to conserve as much physical energy as possible. Food was a definite rarity now, and that would only worsen as time went on.

Jihyo sat up idly, moving little but there was enough space for her front legs to rise and stretch. She let out a yawn, gaping her jaw out to its fullest and displaying the wonderfully terrifying rows of her pearly fangs. She closed only to spot Jeongyeon staring at her. Jihyo wondered how long she’d kept it up for.

“What? Do I have a beetle on my face?” The tawny alpha turned to her.

“No.” Jeongyeon shook her head. “You just look awfully tired.”

“Well, I am awfully tired.”

“Then, go back to sleep.”

“I think I had enough sleeping.”

“You don’t look like it.”

“I can’t go back to sleep even if I want to.”

“Ah…” Jeongyeon nodded slowly as if it was the most tragic thing in the world.

Jihyo hadn’t even really thought about how little she’d slept when she woke up. The feeling didn’t even hit her until Jeongyeon pointed it out, and she was even more surprised that the beta noticed it since she woke up. Yeah, she was a little sleep deprived but that had never bothered Jihyo much.

“We can’t have you tired.” Nayeon suddenly crawled her way to the leader’s side. “You’re our strength~”

Jihyo cringed as the sandy beige beta winked. Even in her weird quirky sense, she wasn’t wrong. She really was the leader of an actual pack. The feeling and the daunting responsibilities it brought still seemed as fresh and new to her as it did last night. Not that she wasn’t capable, but there was definitely a lot on her shoulders. Besides, the winter wasn’t getting any better and one wrong move—one wrong footing—could land them a spiralling avalanche to each of their demises. But dwelling wouldn’t do her good, Jihyo knew that well. Nayeon was right—as she’d always been in her mysterious ways—that Jihyo was their strength. It was all quite subtle, really, because she never recalled anyone deliberately deeming her their leader. Maybe, that was why it seemed so sudden to her. Maybe, that was why she finally became conscious that she had been leading them all along. Maybe even before Jeongyeon when it was just only her and Nayeon. And the older knew.

God, Nayeon was scary.

A scratching sound soon echoed through the cave—the sound of claws against smooth rock. Dahyun was standing up, ears completely perked and pointed directly forward. She dipped her head a little while her eyes remained narrowed and focused on whatever was in the distance. Her body was still, but the muscles in her legs were obviously tensed in visible bulges. Dahyun squinted a few times, and that was enough for Chaeyoung to glance confusingly at her.

“What are you doing?” The younger wolf asked.

“I think I saw something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

It was pretty hard to see whatever was outside—well, at least to Chaeyoung—because not only were they up at a certain height, the whirlwinds were splattering flakes of white everywhere. It was extremely stormy outside.

“Maybe, you’re seeing things.”

“I have doubts about a lot of things but never about my eyesight, Chaeyoung.”

“Maybe…”

“It’s brown.”

“Hm?”

“Whatever it is, it’s brown.”

“Maybe, it’s a rock.”

“Or maybe, it’s a bear.” The fawny beta turned around. “Rocks are either gray or white around here, not brown.”

“I’ve had enough fun with bears.” Sana shivered, nuzzling herself deeper into Momo’s fur. The omega had tucked herself underneath the older, literally gluing her back to the alpha’s belly. Momo could protest but hey, at least it kept her from whining.

“Are you sure you saw something?” Jeongyeon was starting to stand up as well.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t miss it amidst the snow.”

“Where did you see it?”

“There.” Dahyun pointed her muzzle forth. “In the middle but a little bit above. You have to really see through the snow, though.”

Momo pushed herself up, earning a grunt from Sana, but the omega seemed equally intrigued as the rest of the pack. “I think I see it.”

“You do?” Dahyun’s head snapped towards the grayscale alpha.

“Yeah.” Momo nodded and padded to the mouth of the cave.

Jihyo instantly jumped up. “Wait.”

“I can go take a look.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go with you.” Jeongyeon took a step.

“Are you sure? I’ll be quick. I saw where it is.”

“Are you sure?” Nayeon joined in.

“Yes.” Momo nodded firmly at her.

She was capable, honestly. Aside from her fearless attitude, Momo was really all scars and muscles and ready for literally anything. She was built for it, mentally and physically. But the final verdict would have to come elsewhere, and Jihyo found herself suddenly in the center as all the wolves turned their eyes to her. The pressure was immense.

“I’ll go with you.” The leader decided.

She stepped up to where Momo stood waiting at the entrance, and the other alpha stared at her with wide eyes. Jeongyeon tensed up almost instantly. Losing two alphas wasn’t a very good thing. Then again, it wasn’t their place to say anything about it anymore. They had given her the authority and because of that, the decision had been made. So with slight hesitation, Momo allowed Jihyo to lead her down the cave.

They were immediately batted relentlessly by the howling wind and its ridiculous speed. The two alphas did their best to remain on their feet, but it was hard. They were trying not to get knocked down by the fierce wind and keep their hides intact at the same time. It was also freezing, because the wind was practically ripping their thick fur coats with every swing of its wrath. They needed to hurry. Momo was leading since she’d seen the object of their curiosity, and Jihyo tailed quickly behind, afraid that she would lose the older alpha in this whirlwind of white.

“Can you still see it?” The tawny alpha asked just to make sure. Her voice was half cut off by the horrendous weather, but Momo seemed to understand by picking up the chopped syllables.

“No, but I can smell it.” Came the equally inaudible reply.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. I just smell blood.”

They pressed on for what seemed like two eternities before a little patch of brown finally emerged from the completely white scenery around them. The alphas half-ran towards it, letting their excitement go against the screeching wind. Jihyo began to smell it too. They closed in on it, and Momo stopped so abruptly that the tawny alpha nearly ran into her.

“It’s frozen.” The older said.

Jihyo looked down. It was the carcass of a dead marmot. It definitely looked frozen with the little pieces of ice that glistered throughout its body.

“Let’s take it.” The leader nudged forward.

She reached down and locked her jaw into the neck of the carcass, wincing when some of the ice broke and pierced into her gums. She withdrew, her chops and tasted the iron. It was only a little bit, and she decided to continue dragging the corpse back. Usually, a marmot wouldn’t need two wolves to bring back, but this was different. It was cold, the wind didn’t ease, and the frozen state of the carcass made it quite heavy. Jihyo was wobbling once she managed to heave it up fully. Momo came in to help, of course, taking the back of the marmot with her own jaw. They moved quickly, balancing the weight between their muzzles as they fought against the forceful wind . Even through the wild gushing of snow, Jihyo could tell that Jeongyeon was waiting for them at the entrance. And the beta was doing just that, perking up her head when Momo and Jihyo came close. She reached down and offered to help them with an open jaw. Jihyo let her have the neck she’d been holding on, and Momo let go also. In pure strength and agility, Jeongyeon leaped up in one fluid motion with the carcass still in . Jihyo followed.

She got halfway up the rocky stairs to their cavern before a wrong placement of her back foot sent her sliding downwards. She attempted to grip on something with her front paws but because it was all slippery icy rocks, she didn’t find much luck in doing that. It simply just made her even more unbalanced. She yelped and Jeongyeon could definitely hear her had it not been for Momo. The grayscale alpha caught her leader before she could slide down completely, breaking her fall with her back. Jeongyeon came running. Her rapid footsteps audible by the sound of her claws clicking against the rocks. She looked down but instead of seeing the awful sight she’d expected all day, she saw Momo carefully pushing Jihyo back up to ascend the rocks again. Eventually, the both alphas made it back inside unharmed and without another accident. Before they settled down to distribute their shares of the kill, Jihyo made sure to nod a quiet “thank you” at Momo. The grayscale alpha only smiled, and jeez it was a rare and magical thing when Momo smiled.

~~~***~~~

Later into the night, the temperature had dropped dramatically. It was scary to think that it could be even more freezing than before. But by now, the weather outside was nearly unspeakable. It was as if Mother Nature had an extremely bad day and was taking it out on the entirety of living life. The wolves were hunched up against each other, staying as far as they could away from the mouth of the cavern. The marmot wasn’t much, and they were only partially full if not still hungry. But it was better than nothing, and they probably wouldn’t be able to leave the cave again after that. The blizzard seemed to only accumulate by the hour.

Midnight came and swept over the area with nothing but darkness. Nothing changed. Nothing was likely to change. Nothing but a faint scraping noise that caught nobody else’s ears but Chaeyoung. The delta didn’t mean to wake up completely because of it. She didn’t even realize she had woken up in the middle of the night at all. She woke up squinting to adjust to the blackness of the night, and her ears twitched almost uncontrollably. The noise was really bothering her. It rang and drummed into her ears with increasing intensity. She wondered if the others heard it too but glancing around, she saw that they were all soundly asleep. The scraping grew closer. Her heartbeat escalated. She heard a small huff. The hair on her back rose until they appeared like spikes along her neck. This wasn’t good.

There was a moment of silence as the scraping stopped. Chaeyoung allowed herself to take a deep breath. She might be seeing things. Yes, she must be seeing things. She must be so hungry that she’d started to hallucinate and maybe all she needed now was a good sleep. Yes, she should probably go back to sleep. Perhaps, it was just the wind. Rocks fell and scraped against each other all the time. They were lodged within a cliff after all. Yes, it must be just that. The delta lowered her head back onto her paws, closing her eyes as she took another big inhale. She should sleep. But she did not get to sleep. She quickly reopened her eyes shortly after ten seconds had passed. She smelled something.

Something like a wolf.

She hesitated and didn’t really trust her senses at that point. Well, she was here with six other wolves, of course it would smell like wolves. But something was definitely off about this scent. The scent of a female delta. She was sure that she couldn’t be smelling herself. Could she? Maybe, she was going crazy after all. Chaeyoung was about to ignore it altogether when the scrapping returned. Then, a big black blob covered the mouth of the entrance. Mossy green eyes peered back at her, wide and glowing. Chaeyoung instinctively stood up and snarled. Her tail rose up to curl in a hostile stand, and she made a bold leap forward. The intruder seemed surprised enough to step back. Fear was still rushing through Chaeyoung’s bloodstream and heading up to her brain, but her natural instinct was quick to translate it into utter aggression. Behind her, she heard the rustling of fur, and she knew the pack was waking up.

“Chaeyoung?” Dahyun’s raspy sleepy voice called.

The delta took another daring step and again, the intruder retreated as she advanced. The stranger was now pushed back into the open ledge. Chaeyoung snarled a second time and snapped her jaw. The intruder, despite her large frame, was struggling as the wind ripped and tore at her coat. She gripped her claws into the rock to try and steady herself. With what little moonlight that managed to shine through amidst the blizzard’s clouds, Chaeyoung made out that her coat was a dark gray. Well predominantly gray, because there was certainly little hints of white and black. Something stood out to the delta, though. It was glistering and silver and appeared to be attached on the intruder’s left ear. It was an ear cuff, but not that Chaeyoung would ever know that. The cave bustled with commotion as the other wolves woke up. There was a growl that seemed to belong to Jeongyeon.

“Chaeyoung!” Dahyun yelled this time. She was right behind her because the younger could hear her so clearly.

The intruder was now in a very submissive position, or at least she was trying to while holding against the wind. Her ears were tucked back, her tail was between her legs, and she was shaking—both from the cold and the wolves.

“Who is this?” Dahyun asked, and the younger shook her head.

“How on Earth would I know?”

“What are you doing here?” Dahyun stepped forward, standing side by side with Chaeyoung.

“W-what?” The intruder croaked.

“Why are you here?” Dahyun tried again.

“I-I…” The stranger was struggling intensely because her feet looked like they might crash into each other any minute.

“She’s not going to fight us, let’s let her inside and talk.” Nayeon suggested.

One of the intruder’s foot nearly slipped, and she let out a low whine. Chaeyoung withdrew. Dahyun invited her in. The stranger didn’t need to be told twice. She happily darted inside with the rest. When she was far enough away from the vicious assaults and invisible claws of the wind, she sat down exhaustedly. She panted so hard that Chaeyoung was afraid she might swallow all the air inside the cave. Her tail curled neatly beside her, and the delta noticed that there was a small pale scar near its base. She was also a huge wolf, maybe even bigger than Jeongyeon, because her head seemed to be touching the ceiling of the cave.

“Why are you here?” Dahyun popped the question again.

The intruder collected herself, then replied. “I was looking for a place to escape the blizzard. I didn’t know it was already occupied.”

Dahyun hummed. A long string of silence dragged across them. They couldn’t possibly throw her back out there. They could, but Jihyo probably wouldn’t let that happen. Their pack was built on hospitality after all, and she knew better than to let a dangerous force in, except the intruder didn’t seem dangerous at all. She was even younger than Chaeyoung. Aside from her towering size and peculiar ear cuff, she didn’t appear to want any trouble. She simply wanted a place to escape the frozen hell that was going on outside. That was reasonable enough. Jihyo thought it was reasonable. The tawny alpha turned to their oldest for some assurance. Nayeon only blinked idly at her. The beta knew what she was asking for but refused to give it. The alpha was the one making decisions after all. When Nayeon proved to be no help, Jihyo turned to Jeongyeon. The black and white beta only looked back at her, positively confused.

“You may stay with us if you wish.” The leader announced after some very intense critical thinking. It was mainly her doubting the entire situation, but that was a bad habit, so she disregarded everything and just went for it.

“Really?” The intruder eyed her uneasily.

“Really.”

The youngest glanced around, wrapping her tail closer to her body as she looked nervously at the rest of the wolves. One was planning on ripping her skin out, after all. She gulped and murmured. “I’m Tzuyu.”

Jihyo started the introduction and the rest followed. The conversation just flowed after that.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here.” Nayeon began after failing to control her curiosity.

“I’m from Hesterdale.”

The other wolves cocked their heads, but Nayeon's eyes seemed to light up. “The city??!”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never met a wolf from the city. I’ve always wanted to go there myself.”

“You wouldn’t want to go there alone.”

“No?”

Tzuyu shook her head. “Wolves usually come by with big packs. If you go alone, you probably won’t make it out alive.”

Dahyun laid down on her belly. “Why? Is it because of the humans?”

“No. The dogs won’t leave you alone. They’re very territorial.”

“Dogs...” Nayeon nodded. “But you don’t have a pack.”

“I used to be the leader of a stray dog gang.”

The rest of the wolves were impressed alright. Nayeon let out a hum and continued asking. “Then why are you here in the middle of the blizzard?”

“Stray dogs aren’t very loyal creatures, you see. They wanted to overthrow me or something. I didn’t stay to find out. I went back to the forest but as you can see, I’m struggling quite a lot.”

“It’s not just you. This winter is really something else.” Jihyo assured.

Tzuyu nodded. Sana let out a rather loud yawn, and Nayeon chuckled. Jihyo decided that they should get some rest. The night had been very hectic after all. First the venture outside of the cavern and now this. It was funny how things could change so rapidly in a matter of minutes. One moment Tzuyu was some enemy wolf and now, she was huddled at the back of their cavern with the rest. It was funny how Jihyo was roaming the plains all by herself a few weeks ago, and now she was the leader of this ever-growing pack. Even if she couldn’t properly grasp it, time was a fascinating concept.

Tzuyu lodged herself in one of the corners, careful not to bump her head on the ceiling as she crawled down. She laid next to Chaeyoung, mumbling a small “sorry” when she accidentally kicked the older lightly on the shin. It was awfully cramped in here, and it didn’t help that Tzuyu was trying to share this little corner with another wolf. Chaeyoung was small enough, but the space was smaller. After some shuffling and more accidental kicking, Tzuyu finally settled down. The other delta moved herself to allow their youngest some space, and Tzuyu was very grateful for that. So much that she nearly forgot how Chaeyoung was just about to rip out moments before. They squished together pretty closely, and Tzuyu began to wonder what would happen if the older did attack her. She stared at Chaeyoung’s muzzle and wondered what would happen if she was caught in the fangs under it. She was much bigger than the hickory delta, yes. Still, she didn’t think she would stand a chance. There was just something so intimidating about the way the older stood and the fierce glow of her silvery eyes. But suddenly, Chaeyoung curved her lips and beamed in her direction before closing her eyes.

Chaeyoung definitely looked better with a smile. Tzuyu thought it was a very nice smile.

AN: I’ve been away from home but now I am back!