Chapter 6 - The hope

After seeing my own mother killed right in front of my eyes, and watching the Sun pack being torn apart, I never thought I’d be able to smile again. But no matter how devastating and tough things were for us all, we’d managed to find our own way to survive, and bit by bit, we had begun to see brighter days ahead of us.

After six months of endless trips back and forth, putting together new homes, adjusting to our new, simple way of living, our new territory was beginning to thrive with laughter and hope.

We had several homes built now, and even though they looked more like shacks compared to what we used to live in, it never stopped everyone celebrating with applause each time one was finished and ready for its new owners. So far, all the homes had been given to the older members and the couples with children. But the sleeping area for the rest of us was slightly upgraded with more privacy, each bed sectioned off with curtains we pulled from the windows in the village and more sheeting we had found. We used the barbed wire all around the edge of our territory to mark where no one was allowed to wander off on their own. We had large buckets and containers to store water so that we didn’t have to keep lugging litres of it back and forth from the stream. We spent many nights talking and dancing around the camp fires, and every meal time we ate together.

We felt like close-knit community now, having bonded as all the pack members gradually started to eagerly pitch in with all the chores and duties to keep everything flowing nicely and practically.

Long gone were the moans and disagreements over rationed food and our way of living. The negativity had been replaced by the security we now felt being further away from Sun pack lands, and even though we were cut off from the rest of the world, we felt safe and hopeful of our future.

Three months ago, when I knew the food wouldn’t last much longer, I had everyone including myself learn how to hunt and set traps. We trained for combat after three rogues tried to steal our food and nearly attacked one of our guards. Luckily we fought them off easily, but it only emphasised how much we had slacked in the comfort of being protected by our strong alpha and his pack guards.

The more we trained, and I saw our improvement, the more I had thoughts of going back to Sun pack and freeing any survivors kept in captivity. The more I wanted to walk up to the man, tell him who I was then killing him with a smile on my face! I wasn’t training hard just to protect our new home, I was doing it for revenge, to take back what was stolen from us, getting justice for all the lives that were lost and reclaiming our lands proudly before I could ever truly call myself a Luna.

“FASTER!” The guard Rex instructed through mind link as he continued to train in our wolf forms.

I charged at him just as he expected, and as he prepared to knock me back, he stood on his hind legs. I dropped to the ground and skidded into him, knocking his paws from underneath him, causing him to tumble to the floor.

“Was that fast enough?”  I teased as we both got back onto our feet.

“Clever!” He replied with an amused tone. “But are you capable of taking me by surprise twice?” He challenged and I glared at him playfully as I got into position.

I sped at him again and he lifted his front leg to swipe at me, but I quickly turned around with my rear facing him and kicked him forcefully in the face with my back legs. Knocking him off of his feet, as he flung back and landed flush on his back with a thud.

“Ready for round three?” I chuckled as he got back up, shaking the dry mud off his fur.

“Oh, I can go again!” He chuckled in return. “But now, we’re going to fight in close combat”. He said, and without any warning, he stormed at me, and we locked into a fight, swiping at each other but without our claws. We attacked each other’s legs and necks with our mouths, careful to not draw blood with our canines, and knocked each other about as we tumbled and rolled all over the ground. Our growls and panting mixed with the sounds of our bodies shuffling and hitting the dirt. Some of the members watched on, waiting to see which one of us could dominate the fight first, but our guards were strong and had spent years in training before they earned the status to patrol. With another hard whack to my face, I fell to the floor, and he locked his mouth around my neck to show that he had won. I felt disappointed that I still couldn’t beat any of the guards, but it only made me more determined to try harder next time, trusting that each time I trained the stronger I’d become so that I could match my father’s skill against any threat.

I retreated to the washing area and shifted back into my human form as I scrubbed off the dirt that was smeared all over my skin and hair and pouted to myself for losing the fight. If we didn’t have to travel back to the village again tomorrow, then I’d happily train again first thing in the morning. This wasn’t about just proving myself to them anymore, I had to prove it to myself and for my mother. She may have been killed but she never shied away from training with the guards. I’d watch her all the time when I was a child, mesmerised and proud every time she knocked them down with ease. She was a true Luna in every way, and I wanted so much to see in myself what I always saw in her.