It was daybreak, and the sun was just peeking over the treetops. Lion rose and stretched. Then the events of the day before came flooding back to him. Squirrel. Dove. Scorpion. Lion spat on the ground as he thought of the fox. Then, noticing that Dove had not yet woken, he went off in search of prey. As he did, he thought of his previous life.
He had been born into SleetPack, a place many miles away from SnowPack. The wolves there were different in some ways. Many were half-dog or half-coyote. A few were friendly with humans. The game there was plentiful, much more so than in this place.
As a pup, his mother had often taken him and his three brothers and sisters to see May, an elderly woman who lived in a small cottage in the woods. She would feed them cooked chicken, turkey, and ham out of bowls. Although May often attempted to, Lion's mother would never let May touch her or her pups.
Lion's father was never around when he was growing up. His mother told him that his father had gone to war, once and had never come back. But Lion learned the true story later.
Lion's father had killed the pups of a fox once during a battle with a fox tribe. The fox was furious and demanded that he pay for his deed with the life of his mate and pups - Lion and his mother, brothers and sisters. The wolf refused, but the fox came up with an Agreement: Lion's father could pay with his own life, and the fox and his tribe would not harm his family. But Lion's father was a coward and ran away, afraid of being killed.
When Lion grew to be a young, headstrong, adult wolf, he left SleetPack for an adventure. After weeks of simply enjoying himself in the forest, he found IcePack - and Dove, a gorgeous young she-wolf who also longed for adventure. They became mates and left IcePack.
After a few weeks, they settled down together in a place called RainPack. That was when he met Scorpion the fox for the first time.
Scorpion was the son of the fox whose first litter had been killed by Lion's father. Scorpion's father had never been able to carry out the Agreement, and now Scorpion was bloodthirsty and eager to carry out it. So he sought out Lion and explained this to him: because of what Lion's father owed to Scorpion's family, Lion had to pay it back. Scorpion really didn't care about the dead litter of kits; he was a brute and was only eager to kill a wolf.
Lion tried to ignore the fox, but everywhere he went he was tracked down and spoken to again. Lion knew he couldn't hold onto this staring contest much longer. Sooner or later, he was going to blink. And the time was getting sooner.
Around the time that Dove became pregnant, RainPack had an outbreak of heartworm. As soon as the first two wolves caught it, Lion sent Dove away so she wouldn't catch it, also. He readied himself to leave after her, but soon before he had decided to depart, he found himself sick.
How he survived the disease, he did not know. But when he had finally been able to drag himself away from the Pack, he was the only survivor.
For months afterwards he tried to survive in the wilderness with his weak health. Finally, when almost three months had passed, he arrived at SnowPack.
And now here he was, with his wife and son, but still with Scorpion. The fox was like a deadly parasite that hung on until Lion was dead.
Lion caught a turkey hen, killed it, and brought it back to Dove, who was just rising.
(I g2g)
