Cora, A Sidelines Story from Clayton

Wolves as Dragons

The Characters of Clayton, Rya, Kennedy, Dallas, and the Valentines belong to Rachelle. The character of Cora is expanded on with Permission from Rachelle, and is written for the pleasure of the International Wildflower Pack, the WhiskeyQueenn fandom. #WildflowersUnited #iwp

:This chapter has a little side adventure into the realm of Chinese myth. Enjoy.:

Wolves as Dragons

We had the whole park to ourselves, and spent the afternoon setting up a half- dozen tents in the group campground area. I had a portable kitchen set up in a screen tent. The four Tsang-Lao, three Aussies, and Clayton were showing my 11 young city wolves how to be in the forest as wolves. What to watch for, how to track game, how to use their wolves in the wild. We eat and sit around the campfire talking, laughing, telling stories of our youths in large packs. I have very few I can share after my 16th year because of the Alpha couple sitting across the fire from me. Clayton pulls out a guitar and plays, Kennedy stares at him like a lovesick girl. I am shaking with rage, so I collect all the hot cocoa cups and go to wash them. As they all carry on singing, I slip away. My wolf and I run toward the fire lookout tower. If I stay, I will say something that will get me in trouble.

I stand looking out at the starry sky turning over the forest. I hear a noise and look down, Leong's giant black wolf is looking up at me. I give him a wave, then listen as his wolf's massive weight makes the tower stairs creak. He shifts and comes to stand beside me.

"How did you find this place?" Leong asks, looking out. "It is very beautiful here."

"Yeah, I come here when I can't handle the city anymore. My landlady told me about it. The first time, I came here, my wolf ran until we couldn't move. Ranger Remy found me by the river. He said a lot of wolves who go to the city come here and do the same thing," I explain. I had wolfed out completely after 6 months of only shifting in my apartment, of not being able to run among the trees or roll in the grass. "When I first came here, I couldn't stop my wolf, she just forced a shift and ran and ran and ran... I think it was just too much... too much concrete... too much artificial light... too much city... I have a park close by but everything in it feels and smells like city. I needed the forest, the soil, the sky... the moon." His arms snakes around my waist, and he pulls me against his side.

"I am sorry you have to suffer that place, and I am sorry that weak wolf made you feel pain."

I shrug, "He was just someone to make me feel less alone, a paper moon. I was more embarrassed than hurt. I am not like those city she-wolves, I don't have their style."

"You are perfect as you are," he calls the nickname that he has always called me.

I know lang in Mandarin means wolf but the rest? "What does dah dandee zi-zang mean?"

He laughs as my tongue stumbles over the pronunciation.

'Not even close,' my wolf laughs with him.

I had heard him laugh like that only once... ever. He was always so serious, but it is what happens when your mate is murdered in front of you at age 17 by your pack's enemies attempting a coup. That was 5 years before we met.

"It means you have a bold heart, a stout heart like a dragon." He says it again affectionately.

My wolf puffs up, she really likes this wolf, if we didn't find our mate and if the world was a different place... maybe.

He turns me, his fingers trace over my tattoo. "If you failed to find your mate, I would come for you."

"Your pack will never accept a westerner as Luna after your mate was lost, and I am sworn to return to Adams when I finish school," I say, fingertips tracing his shoulder tattoo. He is so beautifully made.