Little Wolf

I stopped  in an area that had a bit of s.p.a.ce and a few cracks that let in slivers of sunlight. Dad stopped behind me, his head hanging low.

"Unacceptable," rumbled out of me. The word was a combination of human and wolf, the man"s upset disapproval spoken  without volition, wolf thought expressed using a human word.

He started to slink lower, stopping at my growl.

I instinctually lifted my snout in a commanding gesture.

"Maybe I should call you my beta," I teased. The sound of the words was coa.r.s.e, rumbling from the back of my throat. The words themselves were spoken possessively, yet full of respect and love. I lowered my snout, motioning him to my side.

He came closer, carefully. He was practically instinctual wolf, giving me a huffy little growl that was barely more than a deep breath. I was close to being completely wolf myself; my humanity hanging in there by a thread.

My snout nodded into his ruff. I sniffed him, checking for permanent damage. I found only traces of blood by his feet. He"d have sore paws for awhile. I felt a grin work its way through me. He stood there, waiting.

My tongue went in his ear. He pulled away, his growl sounding under his breath. I huffed, b.u.mping his shoulder. What was it he had told me? It takes family to keep you human? He b.u.mped me back. I b.u.mped him, swinging down to snap at a front paw, not fiercely but playfully.

He moved, but not much. I chuckled, reaching, shifting shoulder and paw, wriggling my fingers around his ears.

"Stop it, Little Wolf!" Like me, his words were roughly growled out.

It was hard finding the balance between being his alpha and being his son. Right now, I was opting for a little of both. I shifted to half.

"Later, when my pack is safe, stay with me while I sleep. I need you, Dad."

He shifted himself then, as if he needed me to show him the way. His brow scrunched, another slight growl coming out of him. I shifted to full human, letting him look at me in light enough for wolf eyes to see. My step forward was instinctual as I put my arms out and hugged him. I held him in the hug until I felt him completely shift back to human and hug me back.

"Little Wolf." Human words, sobbed out and spoken with love. All of his fears and worries for me came out in the sound of my name.

I let out a contented sigh, resting my head on his shoulder. "I"m fine Dad, just tired. We still have to get back to Derrick and get out of here. You good?" I asked, taking in the condition of his hands.

"I"m good, better than you by the looks of it."

I huffed in disagreement. "Let"s go on two feet for awhile while we can."

Dad only grunted when I started walking again. I was much more at peace, having him at my side. We worked our way in silence until we came to a spot easier to get through as wolves.

"Remind me never to go spelunking," Dad said with a touch of humor.

"You just need to do it right," I replied. "Caves are fun when you go in prepared. We"ll have to come back some time so I can show you the den I found."

"Den?"

"Hang on, there"s another section good for two feet further up, I"ll tell you then."

We shifted to four, making our way back toward Derrick, sometimes howling for the wolves above, sometimes talking. Both fed my soul.

When we got closer, I stayed wolf, moving fast, my nose closer to the ground. I had not forgotten my hunt for my wounded pack-mate. I came upon Derrick sitting on the ground, his back leaning against a wall, one of our phones lighting up the area.

I stuck my cold nose up against his neck. He woke with a start, his hands coming up defensively, blinking rapidly.

"Rick?"

A growl from behind me had Derrick reaching for the pistol.

"Honestly Derrick," I said rising up and shifting, "how many wolves do you know?"

"Well, why the s.h.i.t is he growling?"

Dad just huffed, raising his lips into a snarl even though no sound came out.

"Oh stop Dad, it isn"t Derrick"s fault we almost got killed. John told his crew to kill me so I wouldn"t sniff out their drugs. Who knew a story to explain a sense of smell would turn deadly? How close are the wolves?"

Dad made an annoyed huff and I pointed in the direction he should take. He moved off at a trot with his nose down low.

I checked Derrick. He had a low-grade fever now, and looked like he was going to pa.s.s out again.

"Help came," I told him. "Mac"s even here. They have what they need to get us out, we just have to figure the best way to do it. Hang in there a little longer."

He nodded and I helped him to his feet.

"You remember that spot you said would be easy to blow? We need to get there."

"I also said it"s too high to climb out of. It was twenty feet up!"

"I"m sure Mac brought rope. Come on, help me find it."

Derrick was exhausted. He was having trouble keeping his balance, which had me worried he might have a concussion.

"How much did you dip?" I asked.

He shook his head. "None lately, am I that bad?"

"I"m just wondering about that possible concussion you mentioned."

"I hope not. Come on, let"s get this done! If I remember correctly, we had that cutoff we marked top and bottom. That long one, on the right? It was what, two or three openings past that one?"

"Lets go see."

It was slow going, supporting Derrick as he stumbled along. I could hear Dad ahead of us.

It took more time for us to find the spot, longer for those above to decide exactly where and how much of whatever they brought to use.

Anna dropped down a few bottles of tea and a small sack through one of the other small openings they had widened with a small test charge. "Need a first aid kit?" she asked as she kept dropping things through the borrow-sized opening. Trust Anna to come prepared by bringing everything!

I looked through the sack and laughed. "No, you beautiful cousin of mine, I managed a rough splint on Derrick"s arm. We can check it once we"re up."

"Here," I told Derrick, holding out a packet of pain killers. Anna had thrown down a small packet of travel wipes and a few bottles of plain water to freshen up with, as she put it. There were also two pair of shorts, a high-intensity flashlight so we could turn our phones off, drinks to replenish electrolytes, and...

"Anna, I"m gonna kiss you when we get up there!"

We moved back up the tunnel to be out of the way and sat and feasted while we waited. My wonderful cousin had sent half a dozen sandwiches down. Dad started to decline so I told him about the slithering meal I"d caught. I tried to hide my amus.e.m.e.nt at Derrick"s reaction.

"You ate a snake? Raw? Man, you should have eaten a few more granola bars. Heck, even an energy bar would have been better!"

"Derrick, you do realize that when I hunt as a wolf I don"t stop to cook my dinner? It actually wasn"t too bad, and held a bonus dessert in it."

Derrick"s confused look had Dad chuckling.

"What did it have in it?"

"A mouse."

"s.h.i.t Rick, you need a new definition of dessert. Tell me you didn"t eat the mouse from inside the snake!"

"I learned to hunt on mice, and rabbits."

"And what would you have done if the snake managed to bite you?" asked Dad.

"Wasn"t thinking, just heard dinner. I wasn"t totally without caution," I a.s.sured him.

Dad and I exchanged looks. We knew what we saw in each other- the wolf closer to the surface than usual.

"Think its the drive to survive?" I asked Dad.

"The wolf protects its own. When it comes to survival, and the logical man agrees, I"d say there is no inner conflict. The wolf dominates."

I nodded with a sigh as I finished off my first sandwich. Dad was waiting to make sure I had enough, and I was waiting on Derrick. He was finishing off his third sandwich. I had eaten better than he had during our ordeal.

The boom from the attempt at our rescue had us all holding still. Derrick started to get up. Dad put out a hand to stop him at the same time I did.

"Wait for the dust to settle. Finish eating. How many granola bars are left?" I asked.

"Two. I finished off the last of the energy bars when I stopped to rest. Still got one of those small bags of chips though. Now that would make something you could decently call a dessert!"

Dad and I both laughed as I reached for what was left of our supplies.

"Let"s celebrate our last meal down here in style then," I said grinning. I had a feeling Derrick had purposely saved what was left in case I came back in defeat, so we could share a last meal.

By the time we were done with the chips, and Derrick and I had split the last sandwich, Dad came back to say they were ready for us. He was supporting Derrick and was surprised when I grabbed our bags.

"Leave it, son."

I shook my head no. "I nabbed some of their ammo and a brick of their drugs for evidence in case we needed it; plus the pistol that came off of one of their guys is in here. Not anything I want to leave behind."

Dad nodded but looked at me like he was going to drag this story out of me as soon as he feasibly could. He was concerned, but it was done now. The wolf had survived.

They hoisted Derrick up first. I helped him fasten the harness Mac had brought. I had antic.i.p.ated having to tie a rope around Derrick. I wondered what all Mac had brought on this rescue operation.

Dad insisted I go next. I could hear the vehicle that pulled us up. Mac"s steady hand easily pulled me up over the edge of the opening they had widened. They had used as little explosive as possible. If Mac had been down there I don"t know if he would have squeezed through.

"Once more for Dad," I told him when he let me go. Looked like the big man was starting to get in the habit of giving out hugs.

"Yer dad? How the h.e.l.l did he end up down there?"

I laughed a little as I leaned against Mac"s shoulder before I pushed off him. "Just send it down."

I was surprised when Dad shifted to a wolf as soon as he worked his way out of the harness. He pushed against my leg. His focus was on the wolves around us. I could only smile at seeing so many good friends.

The smile slid from my face as I registered the situation around me. Arctic and his clan, as well as Cherokee and his, were positioned around the four-wheelers and bikes, which were grouped together. They were all facing wolves I didn"t know.

Mac had brought Eddie and Doc. Doc was focused on Derrick, which I was glad to see. Running Elk was there with Anna. Lone Wolf was on two legs with them, sitting on a four-wheeler with a rifle across his lap. It wasn"t sitting casually either, it was aimed in the general direction of those unknown wolves. There were two other people on four-wheelers I didn"t know, and two more I was very familiar with.

I smiled and waved to old Michael, whose gun looked different than his hunting rifle. Sitting on an another old Indian bike next to him was Grandfather. I only nodded slightly to him, surprised to see him and unsure of why he"d come. I hadn"t forgiven either him or Auntie yet.

Later, I told myself. This wasn"t the time or the place.

I took in the gathering of wolves. I had to smile when I saw the she-wolf next to Businessman, giving her a respectful nod. The barely grown she-wolf nodded back. There were four wolves pacing around her.

A yap sent my attention the other way to a small family over by Lobo. His friend, I figured. An alpha couple with one other big older wolf and a very young girl-pup. I immediately knew it was the family I had seen the night of my first vision.

I chuckled and repeated my fierce growling bark I had before, laughing afterward. The pup sat back on her haunches in surprise. There were a few other wolves that moved uneasily, hearing the wolf sound from my human-looking throat.

A few paced their way toward me, stiff-legged and obviously stalking. Dad took up a more aggressive stance. His growl didn"t stop them.

I was tired and achy, but the food and tea had helped. I didn"t want to deal with what looked like an explosive situation, but I had a feeling it wasn"t going to wait.