MOST HAVE LEARNED

THAT THOSE WHO PLAY WITH FIRE

SPEND THEIR LIVES ICING BURNS

After days of single handedly dogging the sick bull elk, there was no way Dessa was going to walk away from this without the meal she had justly earned. As she edged down into the waters where the beast had died, her good ear flicked back towards the shore as she heard other wolves begin to make their way towards the river. But she did not hear much of what was said, her movements through the water making it harder for her single good audit to catch their words. She made a single glance back at the banks to make sure she was not being pursued, that she would not have to fight for the carcass that was rightfully hers. It was then that she caught sight of two wolves that she recognized from the crags – the chocolate and tan hued male that had tormented the mouse, and the silent grey female. Her nostrils flared and she rolled her eyes at the grey female’s warning. Of course the beast was sick, it was why she had been working so hard to tire him to the brink of death for the past days.

As more wolves began to creep closer to the river, whispering their worries, Dessa wasted no more time. She sunk her teeth into the bull’s abdomen, ripping it open savagely and spilling its inner fluids into the river. Quickly she made a grab for the best bits of innards, a meal she hadn’t had since Maddox had brought her and Berke such bits when they were pups. Sick or not, the beast tasted delicious, and swallowing one bite she heaved away as much as she could carry. Blood washed down the grey cape that stretched down to her chest, and she carried the pieces, dangling from her mouth as she lifted her head as high as possible to keep them from being washed away in the river.

When she gained the river bank, she made once last sweeping glance around to make sure no one was going to try and steal her meal. There was plenty more down in the river, if they were smart enough to grab some and get the hell out of dodge before someone bigger and hungrier came along. For a moment her eyes of honey flecked through with green settled on the mismatched irises of a boy – one a bright mahogany brown and the other a deep teal. A sharp sensation ran down her spine and her nostrils flared, but she ignored it and turned away from the growing gathering with her prize in tow. She fled a good twenty feet before she stopped, a trickling trail of blood telling the tale of where she had gone. She settled behind a large tussock bush that still poked free from the snow, lying down and beginning to feast hungrily upon the meat. Eyes flashed up every so often, ears pulled back and hackles bristling to ward of anyone who thought they were going to get a taste of her meal.

Dessa

three | maddox x elowen | diveen