Runt In The Wild

Chapter Nine

I stepped cautiously through the caves of the school until I came to a hole in the wall. I stood outside the doorway that was covered in a thin sheet of moss for privacy while I made quick, rasping breaths.

"Come in," a voice called from inside. I walked gingerly, pushing past the moss into a brightly lit room with moonstones embedded into the wall.

Stacy was sitting in front of Captain Mace as she stared at me with narrowed eyes. "Kate, come sit next to Stacy." Captain Mace said as he continued to look at me. I sat down with my tail wrapped around me tightly.

"Now, why did you two try to attack each other after the games? Just because you were competing against each other, doesn't mean you should continue to fight. We need strong Alphas for the pack that are willing to work with others. But if you two can't seem to get along, I will have no other choice but to expel you both from Alpha school."

"What?!" Stacy cried out, jumping up onto all four paws. "You can't do that!"

Captain Mace leaped up and snapped back at her. "Yes, I can, and I plan to do just that if you don't sit down and calm yourself!"

Stacy immediately sat back down with a look of horror on her face. I sat there silently while the tension in the air dissipated.

"Now as I was saying," Captain Mace continued at last, "why was there a fight?"

Stacy hesitated for a second before she answered. "Well, she's a runt." Stacy let a hint of disgust creep into her voice when she said it. "She doesn't deserve to be an Alpha. She barely deserves to be in the pack. Runts are just another mouth to feed."

"It doesn't matter if someone is smaller or younger than others. We all live in the same pack. And we all need to work together to make this a functional pack. Our Alphas are our role models and leaders of the pack. If you cannot be just that, then there is no need to make you an Alpha. Am I clear?"

Stacy looked unhappy with his decision at first, but she finally gave him a quick nod of her head. I did the same as Captain Mace dismissed us with a simple nod in return.

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As I walked alone through the forest towards the Hot Springs, a million thoughts swirled around my mind, making me unaware of my surroundings. So, of course, I wasn't able to smell or hear the sound of several paws crashing through the undergrowth.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when something landed on my lower back with a wham! I yelped and ran a few feet away with my tail between my legs. Man, I must look like a coward.

I turned around to face my attacks while I crouched down on the ground. I couldn't see them, but I could hear their laughter echo through the trees.

I growled quietly, and leaped at them with my jaws wide, letting out a hostile bark mixed snarl. Several wolves screamed and dashed off in different directions except for one which I hit with a hard blow to the side. The wolf yelped as it flew a little ways away.

I stalked up to it as it got up and shook itself.

It was a wolf pup!

I growled at the pup, and it looked up at me wide-eyed. "Please don't hurt me," it said as it began to tremble.

I waited there for a couple of moments before asking, "Why did you jump on me?"

"I-I didn't. My friends did." He replied stammering.

"Why did they do that?"

The little pup shrugged.

"Dusty, come on! Let's go play!" A dark gray puppy with bright yellow eyes ran out of the trees toward the light brown pup. The dark pup looked up to see me staring at them. The pup immediately dropped into a fighting stance.

"Is this one of them, Dusty?" I asked. The dark gray pup looked puzzled for a moment as I continued to glare at her.

"Yes," Dusty replied, his head hanging.
I turned back to the dark gray pup.

"Why did you attack me?" I flashed my teeth at the pup making her flinch slightly.

At that moment, five more wolf pups came dashing from deeper parts of the forest. They all stopped as soon as they saw me.

Among them was a familiar black pup who looked just as surprised at seeing me as I was at seeing her.

"Um, guys. Do you know who this is?"

The black pup asked her friends.

"Um, no. Why would we?" One of the other pups asked.

The black pup cleared her throat and whispered, "That's Kate. The captain of the winning team of the Wolf Games."
Five of the other pups went wide-eyed in amazement, but the dark gray pup just kept on looking at me as if she wanted to bite my head off.

I snarled again. "Why did you attack me?"

The pups looked at each other, and a brown wolf pup stepped forward. "We didn't mean to hurt anyone. We were just playing." All of the wolf pups looked ashamed for what they did, except for the dark gray she-pup.

"You should never have done that, and there could be punishments in the future if you keep it up."

The black pup trotted up to me and laid on the ground in front of me. "We're sorry, Kate."

I licked the top of her little head. "It's okay, Midnight. Just don't let it happen again."

"Yes, Kate," all the pups replied in unison, but once again, the dark gray pup just stared at me.

Suddenly, a voice came calling through the trees. "Midnight, Dusty, Ridge, Moon, Sky, Leaf, Dart! Come on, you guys! It's time to go home!" A silvery omega emerged several yards away.

"Coming, Luna! Bye, Kate." Midnight said as she trotted off to join her sister.
All of the pups, except for the dark gray pup, followed yipping with excitement. Dusty, the brown pup who must be Ridge, and a gray pup with a white leaf-shaped spot who must be Leaf ran off into the woods. A pure white wolf who had to be Moon and a white wolf with soft gray patches here and there who must have been Sky followed Midnight towards Luna.

The four wolves watched Dart for a moment before they started to walk away.

The dark gray pup started to walk off in the opposite direction but stopped to look back and narrow her eyes at me.
She looked kind of familiar, and I was about to just forget about trying to figure it out when I suddenly knew where I had seen her before.

Stacy.

She was an exact replica of Stacy except that she was smaller. Dart must be Stacy's little sister. No wonder she hated me.

I was just hoping that I didn't have to worry about her like I had to worry about Stacy.

I continued on my way to join my friends at the Hot Springs with Dart stuck on my mind. I just couldn't stop thinking of her bright yellow eyes staring at me like she was the hunter, and I was the prey.

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Hey, guys! So, this wasn't one of my better chapters. Kind of boring, I understand. Well, ask questions and comment. :)