THE MALE EPSILON of Andere Seite was quite pleased to be returning to the land he was beginning to find comfort in calling home. He had taken a leave, as he had to every now and then, to report back in his home land. And of course, he only ever had good things to say about his service in the foreign Blossom Forest. He had left before Eclipse went missing, and Kimani took the throne beside her sister, so no doubt there would need to be some filling in. But even with him expecting some sort of news to be waiting, the first thing he wanted was to see his family, Firestorm and now an adopted son Esper. Perhaps they could all go for a family swim at the lake, then he could take Esper hunting … just some father and son type of bonding as they did back in his home land. And after the meal, maybe someone would pupsit Esper so he and his beautiful lady could get away for some alone time. Ah yes, plans for spending time with his two favorite wolves were practically writing themselves as his quick pace held. He only stopped a couple times along the way to take a quick gulp from a near by stream, or once to catch a chipmunk for a little snack.

SINCE USUALLY, THE total trip took about two and a half days, give or take, the male normally would stop for the night or nights, depending, and continue the next morning. But this time was different … this time Beowulf was more anxious to return than ever, and so kept on through the evening. And because of this messed up timing, he ended up returning in the middle of the night. The wind had picked up some in the last hour or so of traveling, and since he had been using scent mostly to lead him back, it being night and all, he was lucky that Andere Seite had such a strong, familiar smell to him. And a sigh escaped his mouth as his paws finally crossed the border, and expression like a duty was fulfilled crossed his features.

HIS SNOUT ROSE to the sky to try and sniff out his family, though it was useless. The wind was scattering the scents so wildly, it would not be until the gust calmed that he would be able to find them efficiently. Until then, well, he would simply do some guess work. So, he started down a random trail, one of many, and began walking once more. His pelt, which was dark brown with some places of early graying, was whipped about, and the cool sensation of the wind running across his skin gave him chills. A few times he had to squint his light blue - grey eyes to keep them from hurting from the stinging wind. He hoped that his mate and pup were keeping warm, and he smiled thinking that if he found them soon enough, he could help with that.

AS HE MADE his way, suddenly, some fifty yards up, something scampered from one side of the trail to the other. He was not sure what it was … probably just a new pack member or something, and he shrugged it off mentally. After a while, it seemed as though he would never find another living soul within the boundaries of the pack land. As he went, he finally noticed two figures in the distance. Both seemed quite low to the ground, probably lying down, though he could not yet tell. Hell, if he had not just guessing, he would even realize that they were wolves. So, he sped up a bit, hoping to catch them before they decided to move on. When he was close enough to notice it was a pup and adult, he even had raised hopes they might even be Firestorm and Esper.

AS BEOWULF ENDED up at the very edge of the clearing, he was able to see it was his queen as well as a pup that she curled herself up to. Had the monarchs had an heir? He smiled, and took one step forward, on his way to congratulate Nephthys, when suddenly a horrible shrieking sound cut through the silent night. It made him freeze at first, not sure if something was being killed or what, but when he looked not even two seconds later towards where the sound had come from, he saw the large lynx leaping out towards the other two wolves. It probably had not seen him, since he was still at the edge of the clearing. The moonlight twinkled for a moment of the extended claws of the rather out of place beast, and the loyal male’s hackles began to rise. He jumped right into action, his first objective to get the creature away from his queen and the young pup. As the feline flew out towards them, he braced himself, and then rushed out.

HE JUMPED UP into the animal’s path as it began to lower towards the queen, and their bodies collided, causing them to land almost clear to the other side of the small clearing. He could already feel claws slicing into his front legs, though luckily it was only for grip and the lynx had not begun to try and shred him to pieces. When they actually crash landed, his first thoughts were to get to his feet. Ass they hit the ground, the impact caused the cat to release him, and he sprang up as she did the same. Though as he lunged upward, his jaws opened, hoping to snap shut like a vice on her throat. A lot of hissing and snarling and yelping and growling were being released into the air, and if he had not been trying to save the other two from being attacked, Beowulf would have felt guilty for creating such a disturbance on such a peaceful night. As his jaws came to a close, he felt a mouthful of fur … but she had twisted around and he had a firm grasp on the side of her neck. Not high enough to try and crack the spine, but not low enough to try for any part of the throat. Though he refused to release her, he growled in frustration for missing the mark, and then winced as he felt a horrible pain ripping into his side. She had gotten a paw around and got three claws deep into his flesh. Then the lynx managed to rip up, from the far side of his rib cage up to the start of his shoulder. So, Beowulf simply went limp, all except for his jaws, which held onto the lynx’s flesh. A sickening ripping sound was heard as her skin began to separate from his weight pulling down.

SHE THEN LEAPT back, at least, meaning her claws came unattached from him. While neither moved, he lifted his leg up, to release the pressure a bit on that side, though his face was in a snarl. The lynx’s ears were back, and she shook her head, causing blood from her neck to splatter on the ground and a nearby tree or two. His side oozed steadily, and on his other side where there were just puncture wounds they dripped, all making pools of scarlet paint on the ground at his feet. He panted for a moment, and tensed himself, ready for her to make the next move. The pain was put aside, as any good soldier was trained to do in the heat of battle. The male was only concentrating on keeping himself between the lynx and the other wolves, which so far he had succeeded in.