11: Eli's Return

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Marcus twiddled his thumbs nervously as he walked up to the alpha's den.

The alpha had arranged for his best warriors to find Eli and bring him back no matter how they had to.

Marcus now stood in front of the massive wooden door that lead to the alpha's den that he shared with the luna.

He reached for the knocker and struck it against the door twice.

"State your name and rank." A gruff voice sounded from within.

"Marcus Colt, beta of the Yellow Moon Pack, father of Eli Colt." Marcus stiffly replied.

"You may enter." The voice spoke again as Marcus slowly swung open the heavy door and closed it behind him, shutting out the biting cold.

"State your purpose, Marcus." The alpha said, not looking up from a pile of papers piled on his desk.

"I-I wish to join the hunting party in search of my son." Marcus stammered.

The alpha looked up from his paperwork and sat up a bit straighter. "Normally I would love for you to join, but I already have all positions filled for a raid."

"Raid?!" Marcus shouted, "what do you mean raid?"

"Well surely you don't expect whoever has him will let him just up and leave without a fight did you?" The alpha spat, "most certainly not the rouges." His voice dropped at the word as to indicate urgency.

Marcus almost blurted that the rouges didn't have Eli, the bears did, but he decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut and simply nodded.

"It will no doubt be much more difficult to find Eli with the snow," the alpha stroked his chin and looked at Marcus, "do you think you will be up to the task Marcus?"

"Yes alpha." Marcus straightened his back and turned to leave.

"Well good luck." the alpha spoke to Marcus's retreating back before the heavy wooden door thudded loudly shut again.

~~~

"Goodbye!" Novara called to Aka's grandmother and grandfather, "see you around!"

Eli, Aka, Calypso, Arios, and Duncan all waved their goodbyes beside Novara.

Arios and Duncan both had bits of snow embedded in their hair and they were sneaking in punches to the others arm while no one was looking.

"Your grandparents are pleasant." Eli said to Aka once the backs of her grandparents had long since slipped out of view.

"Glad you think so." Aka chuckled, "because they will be visiting a lot once we have cubs."

Eli's face went red once Aka said this. "When?" he asked.

"Well yeah." Aka said, "I love cubs! Especially when they first start shifting. I remember when my brothers were cubs, Arios sneezed and shifted into his bear! It startled Duncan so badly that he also shifted." Aka began to chuckle at the fond memory, thinking also about what great uncles they would be to her and Eli's cubs.

Eli grinned at Aka. "You'll be a great mother bear."

"And you a great papa wolf." Aka gathered Eli into a tight hug that lifted him off of his feet.

Eli then leaned in to kiss Aka on the cheek. This made her blush a deep crimson and bury her face into Eli's chest.

"Do you hear that?" Eli suddenly perked his ears up to hear the faint rumbling coming from the woods.

"Yes." Aka's voice abruptly turned serious, "we'd better warn my mother and Calypso."

By the time they had rushed into the main den area, Novara and Calypso were already there. They each passed a silent nod and rushed outside, the bear shifters morphing into their bears as quickly as they could.

In the distance, Eli could see the rippling silhouette of a hunting party hurtling towards the den. The bears took a defensive stance as the werewolves neared ever closer by the second. Eli instantly recognized it as a raid.

What could they be raiding for? Eli asked himself, but then the reality struck him. Unless these were rouges, they were raiding for him.

As they plowed forward, Eli could now pick up their scent. These were not rouges, they were the alpha of the Yellow Moon Pack's hunting party.

Aka reared up on her hind legs and let out a mighty warning roar. They faltered for a split second but continued almost instantly.

"STOP!" Eli's voice rang out, almost drowned by Aka's roar.

All at once, the raid party stopped in their tracks and the three bears froze in place.

Aka abruptly ceased roaring and lowered herself back onto all fours. She swung her broad brown head towards Eli and fixed him with a confused gaze.

"Those are members of the Yellow Moon Pack, and my father is with them."

A man with pale dirty blonde hair and a scruffy short beard stepped in front of of the crowd. "Eli?" He breathed.

"Hi dad." Eli calmly spoke to the group of stunned werewolves.

"H-how did he?" Another member with jet black hair uttered in awe at Eli, "how did he get that bear to stop?"

Eli chuckled at the black-haired werewolf. "This bear," he said, resting an arm against Aka's broad forearm, "is my mate."

The hunting party gasped at Eli's statement and Eli's father began to walk forward. He placed both hands on his son's shoulders before he hugged him tightly. "I'm happy for you son." He said before hoisting him onto his own shoulders.

"My son has a bear for a mate!" Marcus proclaimed proudly, turning back to the group of stunned werewolves.

At first there was a tense silence, but the black haired wolf stood up and clapped. Soon, Eli was surrounded by ecstatic yipping werewolves, each giving him a compliment like "Good job kid." Or simply clapping him on the shoulder or ruffling his hair.

Marcus felt a nudge to his shoulders and turned around to see a grizzly nudging his back. "You must be my son's mate." He said, "may I know you're name?"

Aka shifted back into her human form and held out a hand. "Name's Aka. Nice to meet you."

"Well Aka," Marcus said, "you've made Eli one happy wolf."

••••••••••••••••••••

~Jas

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