Luhan gave the small puddle a couple of , feeling the taste of the dirt under it as he did, and then pulled away. He was still thirsty, but the others needed to drink as well and there wasn’t much left.

Their leader, Kris, always refused drinking from the little they found, but the white wolves always left a couple of for him before the water dried completely.

Their land was always very cold and not really abundant in food or water, but it used to be easier to live there than now. Year by year the water was drying out and, consequently, they were running out of food as well.

Kris thought about going up north and maybe making a deal with the brown wolves, or even fighting them for their land, if that was necessary, but he knew he couldn’t. Since the beginning their clans had been enemies, their ancestors fought for the tree of life for a long time and, ever since they won the land, the white wolves had been the protectors of the tree. Kris’ parents had been protectors, as well as their own parents and so on, and Kris wouldn’t be the first white leader to abandon his duty because of the hardships he found in his way.

His pack supported him, knowing that going north was never a good choice, and when they sat around the fire at night, they usually talked about how things would get better when summer came back to their land and gave strength to each other, so no one would feel like giving up. But it was getting harder with each passing day and the wolves felt the effects of the hunger on their skin.

Luhan walked away from the small puddle, turning into a human again, and approached Xiumin, who leaned against a tree nearby. The man handed him his clothes and, when Luhan was dressed, the brunette raised a hand to caress his soft cheeks.

-Did you ask him? – Luhan allowed Xiumin to caress him, but he didn’t return the gesture in any other way.

-I’ll ask him today, as soon as we get to the dens.

Luhan nodded and hugged him, allowing his head to fall to Xiumin’s shoulder.              

-Thank you. – He muttered.

-No problem. –