The Moon Wolf

Chapter 6 (1st Draft)

Penn managed to sleep for a couple of hours before some unfamiliar wolf scents woke her up. her eyes flew open and she put her nose to the wind. Several wolves were coming there way. She felt anxious and agitated at the same time.

Penn knew all to well that the one thing rogues had in common was that they smelt wild to pack wolves. That scent was how a pack wolf knew whether she'd come across another pack wolf, on or off her territory, or something dangerous. The wild smell alerted any pack wolf that they were dealing with a troublemaker, maybe a deserter, or a renegade wolf. In other words, a rogue.

Penn knew she was in a tight situation. She could smell at least 4 distinct wolves, two male and two female, coming their way and if they caught wind of her wild scent that could spell certain disaster. Not just for her but for the pups as well. 

That wild smell put most adult wolves on edge - male or female - and in some cases could even set them right off. Especially, if they had bad history with rogues. After all, pack wolves were trained to hate, kill and destroy the wild thing - the rogue.

Since Penn was the most dominant wolf in the group all of pups scents would be a strange mixture of her scent and their own. So, a misinformed pack-wolf, who leapt first and asked questions later, might think that the pups were rogue as well, which would place all the children in harm's way.

She couldn't predict how these adult wolves would react to her and she couldn't foresee if the children would be safe or not if things went sour. The uncertainty was nerve-racking for Penn. Of course, she was quite prepared to rip all the encroaching wolves throats out before they ever laid a single claw on any of her charges.

However, even she knew it would be better if things never got to that stage. So, Penn transformed into her human form, put on some clothes and spent as much time in the smoke of the fire as she could while the children quietly waited around. The smoke would help mask her strong wild scent from the approaching wolves and this would buy everyone time - especially the pups - to make a good first impression.

This behaviour of Penn's was so unusual though that she could see it made the children nervous. They knew she preferred wolf-form when they were not moving. They also knew she generally stayed a distance away from the fire too. It would have been rare for them to see her in her skin and soaking up the heat of the fire along with them.

She wasn't surprised when they gave each other looks and began to whisper quietly among themselves. She watched, feeling amused, as they pounced on Cassidy to find out what was different today.

The teen got up a bit hesitantly, brushed her pants off and slowly found her way to Penn's side. The girl choked a bit on the smoke because Penn was practically standing in it. But, after a moment, she found her voice and asked, "Is something wrong Penn?"

Penn having had enough of the smoke by now, stepped away from it and over to Cassidy. In a loud voice, that all the children could hear, Penn said, "We are about to have company."

A collective gasp was heard and all the children came at once to stand by Penn and Cassidy. They were excited but also afraid. Strange adult wolves could be very dangerous. A wolf, especially a pup, could not be sure of a warm welcome from adult wolves that belonged to another pack. The danger increased 100 fold when a pup was on another pack's territory and uninvited no less.