Nafarius watched with approval before deciding that it was time for Sam to show her loyalty. She may be dominant over the pack but he was their leader and she had yet to pay him homage. Sam watched him approach through narrowed eyes. He was surprised to see that while she had changed her eyes were still the same deep emerald green, unlike the yellow-gold eyes of the rest of the group. Those eyes were watching him now with suspicion. As he drew closer she started growling, the sound vibrating low in her chest and working its way up her throat until she had pulled her lips back and bared her teeth. This time Nafarius didn’t back down but instead kept advancing, his own growl turning into a snarl.
Sam recognized him as her mate and as leader he was dominant. Still she waited until he was standing over her, his body almost twice the size of hers before rolling over onto her back. Their eyes locked as he lowered his head and took her neck into his teeth.
Sam shivered; her body going tense even though she knew she had nothing to fear from Nafarius. She was hungry, she wanted to hunt and at that moment her power filled her practically to overflowing.
Nafarius sensed her struggle and releasing his grip on her neck leaned down and licked her jaw. “Let ussss huntttt.”
Sam rolled over and bound to her feet. Standing on all fours, Nafarius beside her and the rest of the pack quickly following in line, she was ready. The blood rushing through her veins, the scent of the forest filling her senses stirred something primitive in her. As if on cue, together she and Nafarius headed out of the clearing and into the woods.
Nafarius was quicker, surer of foot from years of experience yet this was her hunt and he let Sam take the lead. She broke through the trees in a blur of black power, becoming a shadow in the night and it was only through superior senses that he was able to keep up with her. He was surprised to see her making her way through the underbrush with ease; it was as if the forest simply parted, allowing her passage.
Sam immediately picked up on the scent of a doe having recently passed this way. Given the late hour the deer was sure to be bedded down for the night. All Sam needed to do was track her down and then flush her out. Lack of rain helped to keep the tracks fresh and it wasn’t long before she found an inhabited den. She slowed to a trot, Nafarius falling instep beside her. Together they had run through the forest, always in sync with one another as the rest of the pack spread out around them.
Nafarius sat back on his haunches and waited, watching as Sam explored the surrounding area. He knew the woods well but she did not and he assumed that she wanted to see what, if any, means of escape the doe might have.
One some instinctive signal from Sam the pack circled around the area and began closing in. It wasn’t long before the sleeping doe caught the scent of danger and in a burst of movement erupted through the underbrush, Sam immediately on her heels.
Nafarius and the others followed, every one of them wanting to be there when Sam brought down her first kill. The doe was in a panic at the scent of danger coming from every direction. She constantly changed direction, at one point heading straight for Nafarius. Each time Sam seemed to anticipate her movements and countered them all. It was obvious that Sam wasn’t running at her highest speed but instead was moving just enough to keep the doe constantly on the run, wearing her down.
Sam wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the doe started to falter. She stumbled but her superior agility kept her legs beneath her. Still it was enough for Sam who immediately took advantage and leapt. Her front paws landed just behind the doe’s shoulders, the long claws immediately sinking while at the same time she got a grip on the doe’s throat with her teeth.
The force with which she landed sent both Sam and the doe crashing to the ground, the frightened animal struggling to get away. Sam, unlike anything originally contemplated in nature, possessed both superior animal and human skills that helped her to bring the doe down. Within minutes the animal lay motionless on her side, blood seeping from her neck and shoulders.
Sam still had her teeth deeply embedded in the doe when Nafarius arrived. He had seen her bring the animal down and had experienced a moment of fear. Deer, even a small doe, had vicious hooves that could do fatal damage during a fight. Although Sam now possessed the animal instincts of a wolf she was still young and inexperienced and he had worried about her fight to make the kill alone. Most pack members hunted in groups of two or more, usually four so as to minimize any danger.
Nafarius approached slowly, Sam rolled her eyes up at him and growled obviously wanting to protect her kill. It wasn’t until Maddie and the other pack members arrived that she relinquished the dead animal. Immediately, everyone moved in to share in the kill all of them confident in the knowledge that their leader’s mate could provide for them.
Sam was exhausted. She lay down on her belly her head on her front paws and watched as her pack consumed her kill. There was something unexpectedly rewarding in watching them feast on what she had provided.
Nafarius joined her, after having eaten his fill, and watched with pride. She was truly his mate; Sam had proven to the pack and him that she was worthy of that position. He knew she was tired but he was anxious to move on to the rest of the night’s events. Nudging her with his head Nafarius encouraged her to get to her feet and follow him.
This time he led the way as the two of them ran through the forest. Instinctively, Sam realized that they weren’t headed home and that there was more to be done on this night. The moon had passed its zenith several hours ago and she could see the sky starting to lighten.
Some time later they passed through a thick family of trees and entered a world like nothing Sam had ever seen. Before her, bathed in the last moonlight of the night was a small lake continuously fed by a waterfall. To her right the banks of the lake were covered in soft grass that invited one to lie down and gaze out over the water, which was exactly what Nafarius had done.