Before the first drizzle of light from the sun could wake us, we were scared awake by two long, deep, howls. Even being an outsider, I immediately recognized the howls as an intruder warning. Two wolves had come across us, and clearly word had already traveled to their alpha. I stood up first, the hair on my main pricked up to make me look more intimidating. My sister got up just as quickly, not really needing to perch her mane up, but she did so anyway. In front of us stood a lanky, rusty-ash brown wolf with a dark muzzle to match his deep set eyes. Next to him was a much smaller counterpart, thought bulkier in build. He was a dark grey wolf, borderline black, with light hairs around his eyes and muzzle that traveled down his chest. They both stood side by side, showing us their gums and sharp canines, and occasionally snarling at us.
This wasn't our place to fight, and the obvious answer would be to turn around and head another way. I began to do so but the shorter one lunged at me, handing square on my back and locking his jaw on the crest of my neck. I yelped in surprise and my sister immediately launched herself at the lanky partner. It was easier to defend myself alone than drag my sister in and create a bigger mess, and she knew this. I flipped my body over and rolled over the dark male, slamming my backbone into his stomach as hard as I could. He let go of me in a dry gasp, heaving when I propped myself back up. I turned around and saw my sister and the brown wolf collide. They formed an ash blur as they flipped and spun and nipped at each other.
I turned back around to finish the mini war that was started, only to find the shadowy wolf propped up on his side, staring intently at me.
His aggressive demeanor hadn't left his body, but he wasn't in any position to lunge at me.
I turned around to look at my sister only to find that the brown wolf had also backed away from her. He looked over at his shrimpy partner and gave him a whispered 'yip!'.
My sister sighed and stood up to come back towards me.
"Korra, let's get moving." She said as she glared back at the wolf she was fighting just a few seconds ago, before bumping my side to push me towards the closing of the forest again.
The dark wolf then stood up and puffed his chest out giving us a menacing glare.
"Stay where you are, we need to take you to our Alpha. You know the rules of the wolf territories. Once you engage a fight, you must finish it." His voice was deep and shook through my ribs, but there was no anger laced in his words.
"Kyungsoo, just let them go. They clearly weren't here for trouble." The brown wolf added to the conversation, but before he could say another word, a third wolf appeared, and then a fourth.
"What's the problem here? Who are you and why are you sleeping in our territory? Jongdae? Kyungsoo?" The wolf spoke in a strict tone but you could tell he also didn't seem very upset. His coat was rusted brown, a good amount of shades lighter than the wolf presumably named 'Jongdae'.
"Nothing, they're alone. They just fell asleep here, they didn't realize it wasn't a free to roam area." Kyungsoo replied dryly. The wolf seemed tired and overall done with the situation.
"I see...where are you two coming from?" The question was directed at us, though he only stared at my sister. The wolf behind him had yet to say a word, and I assumed he was only there for show rather than negotiation. I stepped forward and spoke. "Were just traveling, passing through. We didn't mean to intrude into your territory, were not looking for a fight." I nudged my sister before she could even open her mouth. My sister was mouthy and I knew if she would've replied then we would be fighting again. I continued.."We just needed a place to rest, we were leaving in early morning. I'm sorry for causing you trouble. We'll be on our way if you let us..". He sighed. I took a looked around us, all four of them seemed tired and stressed. None really looked like they wanted to cause us any more trouble, and I know the feeling was mutual.
"If I don't bring you back to the alpha then we will all get in trouble. He won't hurt you or anything, he just wants to give you an earful...really it's not that bad, just sit through it and then leave.." he spoke with an almost regretful tone in his voice but a bit of humor and sympathy leaked into it. I exhaled and before my sister could protest, I hurriedly agreed.
Their den wasn't far from our location, and now that I've seen it, i can't believe we didn't notice it when we were walking. The wolf I was speaking to earlier introduced himself as Junmyeon and then proceeded to introduce the quiet one as Jongin. Now looking at Jongin, I noticed just how young he seemed next to the other three. Although young, he towered over the others, his chest was broad and his body was covered in muscle. I assumed he was a warrior at first glance, and later found out that my assumption was correct.
My sister stayed quiet during the small trip to their den, ignoring the pestering questions that Jongdae seem to have a list of. She was clearly still tired, and not in the mood to make chit-chat with an annoyingly persistent wolf. Junmyeon looked just as ticked as she did, but he have her a look of humored-sympathy. I chuckled lightly at the situation, shutting my muzzle when my sister gave me a side eye glance. The questions from Jongdae stopped as soon as we made it past the door, only to start again but this time being asked by a big, jet black wolf, by the name of Yifan.
Yifan was the Alpha, and no doubt an amazing one at that. I didn't have to know him to figure out the kind of leader he was. Even from an outsiders point of view, his natural born leader aura clearly radiated from his body. I bowed respectfully to him when we entered and my sister stayed standing with a bored and bothered expression on her face.
"Audra. Bow.....Now..." I whispered, only to have her snicker and puff her chest up, completely ignoring me.
I rolled my eyes and stood back up. The four wolves that escorted us found this to be very amusing until their alpha cleared his throat, shutting them all up instantly.
He gave us a nice long lecture. Starting with "Do you realize what you have done?" And ending with "What are we to do now? " with a lot of 'who's? What's? Where's? and Whys?' in between. He seemed exasperated at the situation. Jongdae peeped up, clearly this one isn't very filtered and just as cheeky as my sister. He suggested having us stay and work for their pack for three weeks, helping them prepare for their winter migration up north, as a way of apologizing and dropping all charges of our stupidity.
I hurriedly agreed once again before my sister could protest. She knew it was better to compensate with this than to have to declare this pack an enemy. Two rogue wolves don't exactly want to be making enemies with a pack of wolves that are clearly at a member advantage.
