Allan leapt, grabbing the deer's haunches and between the two of them, brought the prey down. Doc ended its life quickly, as humanely as he could, lapping the blood from the deer's throat.
Allan tore at the haunches.
I growled softly and the others gave way as I stalked forward. Though I hadn't intended to push Allan off the kill, he made it clear he offered me the first bite, other than the blood Doc had already consumed.
Could I do it?
I let the wolf decide. Hesitantly, I licked at the bloody haunch. Coppery, delicious.
My teeth closed on the warm meat and I pulled. A chunk came away and I chewed, swallowed. I didn't think, just took another hunk of flesh.
That seemed to be the signal. The others dove in. Allan and Ed, well used to feasting on fresh deer, fell in with relish. Ash and Nikolai were more hesitant, but soon joined me, gorging on the steaming meat. Doc licked the blood and we made use of this feast that nature had provided.
With five full grown wolves tearing at the meat, there wasn't much of the deer left by the time we had gorged ourselves. Even Doc acted content, though I wondered how deer blood compared to human. Maybe in this form it was just as good for him.
Once we finished, we licked our lips and cleaned our paws and the sudden urge to howl came over me. I'd never heard the guys howl before, outside of the one time they had rescued me from the Andersons, and I wondered why.
As if sensing where my thoughts were headed, Ed huffed a wolfy sigh and shook his head like a human would.
I tilted mine, wondering why we couldn't howl.
The knowledge came to me. Too close to people.
I flopped on the ground and grunted. That was lame.
The other brown wolf in our group snorted and blue motes of energy rose from him. Apparently, I could still sense, and probably even use my magic, like Nikolai was. He was making a barrier.
Satisfaction came across the pack bond as he tilted his muzzle to the sky and let loose with a wailing cry.
Ed and Allan perked their ears, almost quivering with excitement. They couldn't take it any longer and both added their yipping call to Nikolai's song.
Doc and then Ash joined the song and finally I added my higher pitched call to theirs.
Though there weren't exactly words, we were communicating. While we knew no one else should be able to hear us, we sang that this was our territory, our pack, and we would defend it.
The howl vibrated through us, binding us even more tightly, until I couldn't tell where one of us ended and the other started.
We called our togetherness to the heavens until we came to a rightful end of the song and fell silent.
Ed and Allan especially, were still nearly vibrating with excitement at being able to make noise. It felt right. It was what pack did.
Ed got up from where he sat and pounced Nikolai, mock wrestling with him, to thank him for letting us experience this.
Nikolai, though new to wolf form, was still a better fighter and had Ed pinned in short order.
Doc got in on it, tackling Nikolai off of Ed and they scuffled for a while, more evenly matched. Nikolai had more skill, but Doc was far stronger, even in wolf form. Ed finally settled the matter, darting in at the last minute and pinning Nikolai to the ground.
Allan woofed slightly in laughter and Ash came and sat next to me, shoulders touching, while we watched the others roughhouse.
Finally, tiredness dragged at us, and we sensed it was time to return to our den. This time Allan led the way, and we all trotted around the edge of the property, taking a lightly roundabout way back to the yurt, marking the edges of our territory with all of our scents before heading through the woods back to where we could sleep.
I was too tired to attempt to change back on my own, and I guessed that I would shift just like the guys did, in my sleep. I nosed my way into the yurt and launched myself onto the bed. Ed, Allan, Doc, and Nikolai did the same, but Ash went over to the cot where he had been sleeping.
Allan yipped at him sharply and Ed jumped off the bed and shoved Ash toward us.
For a minute the white wolf stared, as if uncertain, but another push from Ed got him to jump on the bed and join us in one large pile of puppies.
As Ed had said at least a few times, pack should sleep together, and Ash was part of our pack.
We all curled up in a tangle of limbs, resting on each other, comfortable and falling easily into sleep.
Chapter 15
Ed
Waking up in a pile of naked men would have been weird if it weren't his pack, Ed reflected the next morning, feeling more content than he had in a long time. Someone was jabbing him in the back with some morning wood, but he didn't really care. His head rested on Sofia's thigh, and her scent intoxicated him.
He tilted his head so he could look at more than her hip. Ash had curled up around Sofia, his platinum blond hair draped over her chest, covering one breast almost completely. Doc lay curled around Ash. Nikolai was curled up on the other side of Sofia and was the one pressed into Ed's back. Allan had squeezed in and was using her other hip as a pillow.
Judging by the breathing, he was the first one to wake up. He recalled that Doc tended to sleep longer after running with him and Allan and he guessed the other three would, too. It was not something their bodies were used to, and they would probably feel a little hung over today.
He hoped that they wanted to run again. He hoped taking the deer hadn't turned any
