Wolves of the moon - Lost home

✧Chapter 13✧

Rain was given herbs that he was supposed to swallow while Star and Dawn left to give Alpha his and check up on Beta. Storm was sleeping and Omega was staring into the ground. Rain was disgusted at the thought of eating leaves like prey does but he knew it was good for him. So, he put them into his mouth, closed his eyes and chewed them, swallowing them quickly after. The horrible taste of the herbs stayed in his mouth for a while but it was worth it. After a while, before Star and Dawn returned, his stomach almost stopped hurting and he felt more energy in his aging body.

Swift was waiting for the two she-wolves in the den with a worried look on his face and once they came, he looked up at them, his fear shining right through his eyes. Rain noticed two chafinch feathers behind Dawn's ear.

„Are you ready?" asked Star politely. The she-wolf had a lot of patience and it seemed that expirience too.

„Y-yeah... Just, do it quickly, will you please?" he replied.

Star nodded. „I promise," she said and walked to his tail, „Sorry it took so long, we had to gather the herbs needed for this."

Dawn dropped the herbs from her mouth onto the ground and Star ordered her to give Swift some seeds. She opened a bundle made from leaves that Star previously carried in her mouth and inside it was a bunch of tiny poppy seeds. She pushed some of them toward Swift. „Eat these."

„Why?" he snarled and pulled back from them with a disgusted look.

„They will ease your pain and hopefuly your whining too," Dawn teased a bit.

„I don't whine!"

„Yes, you do. A lot," Dawn continued, „Now eat these. I tasted them and they aren't so bad," she pushed the seeds closer.

Swift took a look at them, sniffed them and put some in his mouth. Then he put the rest of them in and chewed them. He fell silent and Rain inagined it was because he didn't want to admit he was wrong.

Dawn stayed by his head, ready to calm him down if needed and Star was crouching down next to his tail. She opened her mouth and quickly sunk her teeth into the fur with dried blood on it's mangled end. Swift whined a bit but Dawn got to work, comforting him while Star ripped the tip of his tail with one quick head turn. Rain saw a few small tears burst from his eyes but the poppy seeds seemed to work.

Star dropped the piece of his tail on the ground and with her mouth filled with bloodstained teeth she turned to Dawn. „Quick, bring me leaves and cobwebs," she ordered her, to which Dawn immediatly came to the pile of herbs, picked out what she needed and gave it to Star. The white she-wolf swiftly put them to use and started covering up Swift's tail to stop the bleeding.

Some time after the operation, Rain was able to leave his nest in the den and rather give it to Swift. It was already time to eat anyway and everyone except Star and Storm, who still hasn't healed and looked maybe even worse, gathered to eat. This time there were no rats and Rain didn't have that weird taste in his mouth. Everything was going great for the rest of the day and everyone went to sleep.

The next morning, Rain woke up feeling relaxed after a whole day of not going anywhere. He walked out of the den to smell some fresh air and saw that Dawn was trotting towards him, her two feathers almost falling off from behind her ear.

„Rain, come with me, it's urgent," she said, looking really worried.

She led him into her den, where Star was sitting by Storm, trying to give her herbs. She had a calm cold expresion on her face and when Rain entered, she gazed at him and told him to come closer. He looked at his mother and began to worry.

„Rain, come here," she said with her old scrappy voice.

„Mother..."

„Listen, you are the best son I could ever have and it was a pleasure raising you. I don't regret having you, not a single minute passes by that I'm not proud of you. You grew up to be a strong hunter and fighter and I hope I did the best for you."

„No... No, no, don't leave me!" Rain whined in sadness of losing his beloved mother.

„I have grown weak and the infection in my body combined with this illness took the rest of my strength. It was great, sharing a life with you but now I have to join your father as a ghost and watch over you for the rest of your days," her voice became quieter and weaker as she spoke, „I always loved you... promise... you will remember me..." with that, she wasted her last breath and closed her eyes forever.

„You will never be forgotten, I promise," Rain crouched down to her level, licked her nose and rested his head on her motionless side. His tears sank into her fur and he layed there for a while before opening his eyes and standing up.

„Atleast she won't be a burden anymore," Alpha snarled when he saw Storm's dead body.

That was the last drop to Rain's anger, which was now overflowing. He turned to growl in the black wolf's face and the two of them circled around each other for a while.

„How, DARE you! She died and all you do is insult her? You don't even feel a bit of grief? She always followed you and was loyal to you but I guess your mother didn't teach you a bit about respect, did she?"

„I don't care about what happens to the useless ones. She was just eating our prey without doing anything for the pack. It's not my fault that she was so weak she couldn't handle a bit of food poisoning. I'm your Alpha and I should be respected the most!"

„I'm not willing to respect a jerk without any manners."

Kestrel jumped inbetween them and growled at them. „Stop it, both of you, you're being ridiculous! Useless fights are not going to solve anything."

Alpha seemed to listen only to his mate and snarled at Rain, as he walked into his den. Rain, Swift and Dawn decided to bury Storm on a clearing that they found before the sickness. Rain had an unpleasant expresion as they grabbed Storm's body and carried it out of the camp.