Xael Thunder Wolf has had enough of living in the city. She yearns for the quiet life she remembers when living with her grandmother on tribal land deep in the forested reserve. Leaving it all behind and taking only her trusted pups and what she can...
Xael called her boys and walked out into the living area in a bathrobe and headed to the front door.
"Where are you going hun?" Her grams was in her chair doing her beadwork again for the powwow. She loved working on her regalia. Xael turned to her grams.
"To run."
The two exchanged a warm smile. Walking out into the crisp night air, she inhaled deeply. The cold ground felt familiar under her bare feet. She looked down at her boys and removed their collars. In the distance she heard Shado's bronco slowly make its way down the dirt road.
"Let's run boys."
Xael removed the robe and stood in the night air. The moon illuminated her flesh into dark glistening obsidian. All three walked towards the edge of the tree line and entered. With a shake she had shifted into a large jet black wolf, her grams only able to catch the sparkle of her eyes through the trees. Xael glanced back at her grams who was standing in the glass doorway. Turning, the three took off into the night.
She could feel her muscles come alive. Faster and faster they went. Her boys kept up with her nicely. It was their first time running together as wolves. Xael took the lead. Her paws thundered on the ground as she tore through the forest. With a loud and commanding howl, the others heard her.
Soon, the wild wolves that heard her call were running alongside them. She towered over them and her boys. Xael was no normal wolf, she was a Dire wolf or Thunder Wolf, large and imposing. Only a few of the old Elders knew of their existence, which had been forgotten as there were so few of them.
She quickened her pace, her pups keeping up. She ran for herself; she ran for those she had lost in her unit; she ran for her parents and she ran for those who couldn't. She smelled the exhaust from Shado's bronco; he was still creeping down the dirt road that they would cross shortly. With a growl she communicated to her boys to lead the wild ones as they crossed the road.
It was rare, very rare for wild wolves to allow Wolfen to run alongside them, but Xael was different. It was like her grams had told her; 'The forest loves you.'
Leaping she landed in the middle of the road causing the vehicle to stop, she turned, her piercing eyes now red, she squared herself up against the vehicle, blocking it. The man inside moved, causing her to bare her teeth as she snarled at him, warning him to stay inside. Soon the largest pack of wolves he'd ever seen ran across the road. All he could do was marvel at them. When the last wolf had crossed, she turned towards the forest. Glancing once more at the man, she disappeared into the night.
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Deputy Shado started down the dirt road, the warm container of food next to him. He had to smile at the thought that maybe, just maybe, the dark-skinned beauty was warming up to him. He was shocked to find out she was ex-military like himself. He also wondered why she had no scent. One thing he knew for sure, she could cook.
Driving along the road he could make out the full moon. Shado couldn't wait to see her dance or in full regalia at the powwow, maybe she would even braid his hair for him. He kept his long hair pulled back and tied up in the back. Now that he was no longer with the LAPD, he was glad that he could grow his hair out being on the Tribal Police force. He even threw his clippers away the day he found out they hired him. He had a job in the nearby city after he moved from L.A. as an officer but things happened and it was best that he leave.
He missed being tribal land; he didn't have the option when he was younger to grow up here. He was mixed as well, but his mom who is white, was from an affluent family in the city, wanted him to attend private schools. He never knew why his parents mated in the first place, neither one seemed to care what the other did. They separated when he was young, occasionally his mom would let him spend summers with his dad. When he did, he tried to learn all that he could.
When he was a sophomore in high school, his mom left one day and never returned. The school called his dad who ended up taking Adam to live with him. By then his dad had moved to the city. Trips back to tribal land were less and less.
But now he was back on sacred ground as he liked to call it. It wasn't his tribe but it was Native soil and the town had welcomed him with open arms. Besides, he had a cousin here who he was still waiting to see as they were off living in the city.
He rolled the window down to enjoy the night air. That's when he heard it. Off in the distance, a low sound that he couldn't make out, but it was getting closer. Suddenly he heard the howl of a wolf, he figured it must've been one of the wild ones out enjoying the night. He drove cautiously as they liked to roam the roads at night, another reason he was surprised last night to see someone out walking along them.
The sound became louder, like the distant rumble of thunder but that was impossible, the night sky was clear. Continuing further, the sound became louder, he looked out into the brush to see if he could pick out anything but nothing. Now it was if the sounds were coming right at him. It sounded like something was thumping the ground, but he didn't know of anything that could make that sound. Figuring it was maybe wolf or deer, he drove on until something in the road made him slam on brakes.
It was the largest and fiercest wolf he'd ever seen in his life. He wasn't sure it was real because it was so huge. It stood and glared at him, eyes red with fire. He moved to roll his window up but it bared its teeth and snarled as if it was going to attack so he simply sat there. Just then the biggest pack of wild wolves ran across the road. He thought he recognized the two at the front but brushed it off.
As the last of the wolves darted across the road the large one still stood, looking at him. It's fur was black as night, it was so black that the creature seemed to mix in with the darkness around it. Turning towards the woods, the creature looked at him once more and disappeared into the night.
Shado shook it off as the moonlight playing tricks on his eyes and increased his speed just a little. Finally reaching the paved road, he gunned it and headed home.
