TWOBH CH1: New Life

Smoke gives birth to a litter of pups, adding to the number of mouths to feed. As winter approaches, prey becomes scarce and wolves are fighting over kill.

THE WOLVES OF BLACKBLOOD HOLLOW

Falcon stood outside the den. He was guarding the precious items inside from danger. The den was in Blackblood Hollow, so you could never be too careful. Mysterious figures lurked everywhere. It seemed at every turning point something would jump out at you.

Inside Smoke was equally aware of the danger. She was Falcon's mate, and also the Beta female. The reason for this awarness? Pups. The mating pair had recently performed the process of mating and their pups were almost there. Just a little longer. Smoke scratched at her silky grey fur. A bug had decided to crawl in. But then she felt something going on in her belly. Smoke let out a moan. "It's okay, Smoke dear. The pups are almost here, that's all." A creamy figure had been sitting in the corner. It was Smoke's mother, Carnation. Smoke sighed. "I just wish I could have a breath of fresh air," she said sadly, almost whining. "It's musky being in here for so long. As soon as the pups are old enough, I'm moving dens." Carnation shook her head. Smoke had to stay in the den until the pups opened their eyes.

The breeze battered Falcon's face and ruffled his black fur. He was tempted to check on his mate but knew he couldn't, or he would risk her safety. He was getting hungry. Where is Ginger? She said she would bring me something from the kill pile, Falcon said angrily to himself. Finally he saw a reddish-brown figure trotting over to him. It was Ginger. She had a rabbit clenched in her jaws. "It's about time," Falcon growled even louder than his stomach had just a few moments ago. Ginger looked down. She was young, and by orders had to cater to the Alphas and Betas of the pack when necessary. "I'm sorry, Falcon. I had some... things in my way." Falcon thought that sounded suspicious, but he decided not to mention it. He felt bad not having Ginger bring Smoke a nice pheasant or a few mice. But Carnation gave him orders not to let Smoke eat anything. Even though he was a Beta, he had to listen to the wise words of the elders. Suddenly he heard a ear-piercing scream. "It's all right," he heard Carnation say comfortingly.

Back inside the den the pups were coming. Actually, the first pup had already made its way out into the world. After a while of uncomfortable pushing, there were six pups. Smoke licked them from head to toe and noticed something wrong with one. Falcon and Carnation did as well. It wasn't breathing. Smoke tried everything- licking it, keeping it warm, prying open its jaws and breathing into it. Nothing worked. Carnation came to a decision. "I'm sorry dear," she said softly. "I believe it's stillborn."

A fight was ensuing. Ginger took a mouse from the kill pile, for there was no variety left. Snowcap leaped in front of her, white fur bristled, pink eyes glaring. "Give that to me, now!" he snapped. Ginger was truly terrified, but she wouldn't let fear stand in the way of survival. "No! I deserve it, because I serve the highest ranks!" There was a new fierceness in her eyes. "You serve them as a punishment," Snowcap snickered. "Alpha Robin was just going easy on you. But that will change one day, oh yes..." Ginger was puzzled trying to decipher what he meant. Snowcap saw the opportunity to snatch the food and run.

Falcon plodded over to the kill pile to fetch something for Smoke. She needed to eat so she could produce milk for her pups. He saw Ginger sitting by the pile, head down. He cocked his head and walked over to her. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Ginger turned her head towards him. "Snowcap insulted me and stole my food," she sighed. "But the strangest thing was, he made me very suspicious. He said 'Alpha Robin was just going easy on you, but that will change one day, oh yes...' I wonder what he meant?" Falcon had to agree, that was suspicious. He told her not to worry about it, and pushed her another mouse. Ginger looked up at him thankfully. Then he picked up a new one and dashed back to the den.

"Oh, you're finally here! I was waiting!" Smoke was clearly annoyed by the delay. Falcon looked very sorry. "Ginger was upset. Snowcap stole her food. I was just telling her not to worry." Smoke didn't seem to hear Falcon. She was too busy wolfing up her mouse. "It's getting dark- don't you think we should all get some sleep?" Carnation appeared to be drowsy. But Falcon and smoke nodded their heads. Smoke pulled the five living pups toward her and dozed off.

The next morning it was time to name the pups. They still hadn't open their eyes, it would take nine more days. Two pups were grey and cream, two pups were grey. But the fifth was jet-black. Falcon seemed very happy about this. The only thing he thought was "wrong" with this pup was that it was a female. Smoke was offended.

"Okay. I think the two cream-grey ones should be named Dragonfly and Pansy. As you can guess, Pansy's the female." Smoke named the first two.

"And the grey ones are Rosemary and Basil. Basil has the splotch." Carnation named the second two.

"And the black one is definitely Eagle." Falcon was confident in his decision. "Well, it's decided then," Smoke said happily. "Hey, Falcon, dear, why don't you go get me some kill? Basil looks hungry, I'm sure the rest will soon." Falcon shook his head. "No, I'm taking Hawthorn hunting. Sorry." Hawthorn was the only survivor of Falcon and Smoke's last litter. "You know, I think the kill pile is low anyways," Carnation remarked. "So, why don't you bring something back for my daughter?" Smoke felt special when her mother said that. All her life, she never thought Carnation cared about her. Falcon's eyes lit up. "That's a great idea. I'll see you two when I get back!"

Hawthorn was standing by the edge of the camp, his dark grey fur rustling in the cool breeze. Peering into the distance he saw Falcon coming his way. Hawthorn lived with his soon-to-be mate Thunder. He was covered in brown fur. If his father saw that, he would be dead. Falcon didn't know he was in love. He didn't want his son mating until he was one year old. Hawthorn was only nine months. He washed the fur off by licking himself and sat, waiting.

When Falcon got over to Hawthorn there was no brown fur. "Hello, son. Are you ready?" Falcon was clearly eager to go. "Yeah... I'm ready," Hawthorn replied not so eagerly. It's not that Hawthorn didn't want to go hunting. He was just afraid his father would smell Thunder on him. Falcon knew he shared a den with Thunder. But he didn't think Hawthorn would be close to her.

They trotted into the forest together. "So father, how are the new pups doing?" Hawthorn asked. Falcon had been focusing on a rabbit. "Shhh," he warned. "You'll scare it away. Now watch." Hawthorn watched as his father crept up on his prey and leaped. With one swift bite the rabbit was dead. Hawthorn was amazed. His father was great at hunting.

 

Author's Note

Please ignore grammar problems.

Reviews

[MagicWriter]

Great story hun, except its a little choppy. I love the plot and idea of it but maybe you could work on sentence structure. Here i'll give you an example. Lets take your first paragraph:

"Falcon stood outside the den. He was guarding the precious items inside from danger. The den was in Blackblood Hollow, so you could never be too careful. Mysterious figures lurked everywhere. It seemed at every turning point something would jump out at you".

Whereas if you did something like this, it might sound a little better:

Falcon stood outside the den since he was guarding the precious items inside from danger. The den was located in Blackblood Hollow so you could never be too careful. Mysterious figures lurked everywhere and it seemed that at every turn something would jump out at you.

And im not saying blend all of your sentences together, just throughout the story you might want to do this. Hope this was some help. Keep writing, you'll be really good!!

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Black Snow]

Great story!Can't wait until you finish Chapter 2!