The Criminal

  I am not one person to be messed around with. My teeth have become blood stained by the flesh of my last victim. But, no one knows what a good person I am……I was. I am not some downer girl who tries to commit suicide every five minutes. So if you decide to see what a horrible person I am and leave this horrible story then I’m not stopping you. I have a family to protect now and I don’t need to be irritated by it. My name is Riley and this is my story.

Recap: That night, I had never loved anyone more than any one. He and I were now one. He sighed as the night ended and we fell asleep on the ground with no worries…

               I was awakened by the sound of Chinook snoring. His face was right next to my ears and it was getting irritating, but I still loved him. He was a gnaw wolf, the last and lowest rank in a pack while I was a hunter apprentice. We are not the perfect match but I still love him. Chinook twitched and turned around and was on his other side. He was off me and now I could finally get up.

               The grass was wet and cold and soaked my paws. The little place I was in was a beautiful place and was peaceful. The little pool was still steaming and the blossoms were no longer in the air, but it was still a very beautiful place.

              I looked at Chinook, who was still asleep, and thought of what happened last night. We were now mates and loved each other as any other couple would, but I wonder what my packmates will think. Emerella, my best friend, was excited about for me and Chinook the day before, but what about her mate Kolle? Some time ago, Chinook and Kolle were best friends until his brother, Kolen, sent him to the lowest rank of wolves. Kolle then became protective over him after that, but maybe he’s not my highest concern.

             Kolen was the beta wolf and had a thing for me ever since I came to the pack. What would he do to Chinook when he found out? I may have put Chinook in the big problem by being his mate.

            Chinook stirred in his sleep and woke up. He lifted his head and sat up, yawning. He opened his perfect blue eyes and smiled at me. I envied his eyes for they were perfect and unscarred. I had scar going down my eye from…well, it’s a long story.

“Morning, Riley.” He yawned. He got up and licked my nose.

I giggled and replied, “Morning.” I sighed as I yawned and nuzzled him. His fur was warm and his scent filled my nose and felt his breath hitting my ears as he spoke.

“I love you, Riley.” He whispered. I blushed and returned his statement.

“I love you, more.” I said. The sun was in the clearing and was rising. It was a good thing I didn’t have apprentice training today because I didn’t want to spoil the moment with Chinook.

***

               Around noon, we left the pool and meadow and made our way to the pack camp. Everyone was a little lazy today and were sleeping in their den, except for a blue wolf that was running up to me, laughing.

“Hey” she laughed to herself, “so how’d it go?”

             I blushed and the girly part of me, which I hated, ended up spilling everything that happened the following night. She was giggling to herself during the part when we became mates.

“So, is it official.” She asked, “You are no longer single?”

         I giggled and nodded. She hugged me and congratulated me. She was a good friend with her heart in the right place. She smiled and muttered, “Love. Isn’t it great?”

“Yeah, it is.” I said. I saw Kolle coming out of the den too and he too made his way toward me.

“So are you two mates now?” he asked but not as cheerful as I was hoping for.

         I nodded and he sighed, “Why? What’s wrong with that?”

“Well you do know what Kolen’s going to do when he finds out right?” he asked, spoiling the moment. Yes I have been thinking of that! I’m not stupid to know what the consequence of this extremely hard love is!

“I know, and I don’t care. If Kolen is going to hurt Chinook in any way… he’ll have to go through me first.” I growled under my breath. Kolle sighed again and I got my temper over the better of me, “Can’t you be happy that Chinook is no longer alone anymore?! Instead of worrying about what might happen, can’t you show a little bit of happiness toward your friend?” I paused, “I very well know what might happen but please stop worrying me about things that might happen!” I finished with a growl and Kolle put his head down and replied

“I’m sorry.” He paused, “I worry for the guy, he’s been alone all this time and to think that something will happen to him, it’s too hard. Believe me, I’m ecstatic that you two are mates now, but please try to be careful.”

I nodded gratefully at the response I was hoping for. Emerella was standing awkwardly beside me and was looking at Chinook.

“You know.” She said randomly, “If you have puppies, he’ll have to be moved up to a hunter right?”

I couldn’t believe it. Chinook might actually be made a hunter, but there was a tiny problem, I would have to be pregnant. It scared me to think of having puppies.

“Really?” I asked, excitedly, “Well maybe last night did the trick then. I wonder if I will… have… puppies.”

“Well, don’t be too scared about it. There’s nothing wrong with it, and it’s a girl’s duty here to expand the pack. Girls are not mistreated though.” She said randomly, “But it is forbidden to tell a gnaw wolf that if he fathered pups or mothered pups that they will be ranked higher.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because, then they would get desperate and well…never mind that, but just don’t tell Chinook, when his time comes, he’ll be free.”

***

         Over the next few days, Emerella had been training more to be a hunter and my time was coming to leave apprentice rank and join the hunters. I grew excited that my training is almost over and that I would be a hunter soon.

        Also, I gained a few pounds. I don’t think I have anything to worry about though. If I were having puppies, I have ten weeks till they come. I’m fine with that. I didn’t tell Chinook I could be expecting puppies because I didn’t know if I was or not.

       Jack made himself useful with the pack and built fires to warm up the dens. They started to trust him and didn’t regret letting us into the pack all those weeks ago. But there was something wrong with Jack. He was coughing a lot and was always turning red. I didn’t know if that was normal or not.

        Anyways, Emerella unexpectedly had puppies. There were two of them: one girl and one boy. She adored them and I spent time with her in the nursery.

      Also, I met the pack’s healer (doctor) Her name was Evangeline and was white s snow. She was almost an elder though and wasn’t looking to good, but she had an apprentice named Lira who was as old as I am. Evangeline told me that she was proud to have lira as her successor. 

       Emerella was lying on her side, feeding the puppies her milk that she made. I wondered if that was going to be me in a few months. The puppies were whined a lot until they opened there eyes.

“Oh look,” Emerella exclaimed, “Apollo and Kayak have opened their eyes!” she was really excited.

        I looked at all the puppies: the girl was her father’s brown and the boy, his mother’s blue. They were really cute. “They’ve all opened there eyes.” I told her which made her more excited, “Er, what are their names?”

       “The girl is Apollo and the boy is Kayak.” They were unusual names

        Kolle came to the nursery frequently and gave her fresh-kill. I loved how loving Kolle was toward his mate and couldn’t wait to see if Chinook would be this loving.

       I left that night and started to my den. Everyone was in their dens sleeping… I thought.

       A cruel and horrible scent filled my nostrils and I turned to whom I was expecting to see, Kolen.

“What do you want, Kolen?” I asked coldly, ever since I met him, I’ve hated him.

“Only to walk you home, it seems very late for a gal like you to be wandering alone in.” I rolled my eyes at him. I guess he thought that after the fight Chinook and I had made him think that there was no way that we would be together.

“I’ll have you know that I can take care of myself and don’t need you to watch over