recognition.

----------------------------------------------------------

Kiba ran and ran until he found Sheba sitting high on a rock. He joined her. Instantly, she got up to leave.

"Sheba! Wait!"

She stopped and looked at him.

"Now what?"

Kiba took a deep breath and looked into her lime eyes.

"Sheba, will you come with me and my friends? Please?"

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Ch. 8

"Like a Virgin"

Sheba wagged her tail. Like when they first met, her tongue flicked out and traveled up Kiba’s face. Now, he wagged his tail.

"I’ll take that as a yes?" He stuttered out.

She nodded, licked him again, and then walked away, flicking her tail seductively. Kiba’s tongue lolled out.

"Okay. I’ll take that as a hell yes!"

She took off towards where is friends waited. He followed close behind.

"That was a stupid suggestion, Toboe. Asking her to 'please come with us'. Women are a very complicated animal, runt." Hige grunted.

"Well, the way I figure it, no matter how complicated or simple a creature is, they all recognize the word ‘please’, right?" Toboe stated innocently.

Hige rolled his eyes.

"Women aren’t that easy to 'please'." Hige said.

"Then she must be more then a woman, Hige. Look." Tsume said, gazing at the 2-returning wolves.

Hige couldn’t believe his eyes. Kiba was returning with Sheba at his side. She wasn’t hog tied, drugged or

hypnotized. She followed of her own free will.

"Well, I’ll be." Hige gasped out.

"See?" Toboe laughed. "I told you so!"

Kiba stood proudly, his mate at his side.

"Everyone, this is Sheba."

Sheba wagged her tail in greeting.

"It’s nice to meet you Tsume, Hige, and Toboe."

------------------------------------------------------------

Cheza paced around with Blue and Shiloh at her side. They came across a lunar flower.

"Wasn’t that dead yesterday?" Blue asked.

"And that one." Shiloh pointed out.

Cheza smiled brightly.

"Kiba did it. He found Sheba. Paradise is saved, and This One will live!"

Blue and Shiloh threw their heads back and howled.

Tsume, Hige and Toboe perked up their ears.

"That’s Blue!" Hige said happily.

"And Shiloh!" Toboe and Tsume cheered.

Kiba turned to Sheba.

"Do you hear that, Sheba? Cheza’s going to be okay!"

The five wolves answered Blue and Shiloh’s calls. Kiba looked at his friends.

"C’mon, guys. Let’s go home."

-----------------------------------------------------

Tsume and Hige sat on a grassy knoll, their girls at their sides.

"Well, everything turned out pretty well." Hige laughed.

"Yeah." Tsume said. "As long as Kiba’s happy, Paradise will prosper."

"Where is Kiba anyway?" Hige asked.

"Sheba said she needed to show him something." Tsume answered.

All of a sudden, the ground rumbled and quaked. Lunar flowers exploded from the ground, carpeting almost every corner of their territory. A loud, happy howl echoed throughout the valley. Tsume and Hige looked at each other and grinned.

"YEAH, KIBA!" Hige cheered.

"RIGHT ON!" Tsume added.

The boys looked over at their own mates, who had a strange, lusty look in their eyes.

"You know," Shiloh said in a low voice. "The earth vibrating like this is getting me all frisky."

Tsume’s eyes widened.

"C’mere!" Shiloh shouted, tackling Tsume to the ground. Hige laughed.

"What’re you laughin’ at?" Blue said in an alluring voice.

"Uh…" Hige stuttered out before Blue pinned him to the ground.

That night, Paradise echoed with very happy wolf songs.

----------------------------------------------------

Epilogue-One Year Later

Hige, Kiba and Tsume paced around their dens. All three males were very nervous. Atali poked his head out of Hige’s den. Hige greeted the old wolf with a happy tail wag.

"Well?" He asked eagerly. "How is she?"

"Blue will be fine. Hige, you have 3 beautiful sons." Atali said proudly.

Hige leapt for joy.

"Can I see them?" He asked eagerly.

"Come on in, Hige." Blue said tiredly.

Hige crept inside the den to see 3 healthy puppies nursing off their exhausted mother. 2 were black, one was yellow.

Hige couldn't be more proud.

Toboe poked his nose from Tsume’s den.

"How’s Shiloh?" Tsume asked.

"She’s doing great!" Toboe said.

"Touch me again, and I’ll rip you into so many pieces, the buzzards won’t find you!" Shiloh shouted from the den.

Toboe giggled.

"It was a tough labor, but you’ve got 4 boys and a girl!"

Tsume peeked inside the den, despite Shiloh’s snarling threats. 3 of the pups were gray and white, one was a solid gray. Tsume sighed in relief. They all looked like him!

Cheza crawled out from Kiba’s den. Kiba greeted her with a lick on the cheek. Cheza hugged him.

"Oh, Kiba! You have 7 beautiful daughters."

Kiba whimpered as his tail whipped back and forth uncontrollably.

"Come in here, Kiba." Sheba shouted from the den. "Come see your daughters."

Kiba crept inside his den and rubbed his head on Sheba’s.

"Oh, they’re beautiful." Kiba said happily.

The pups were all white. One of them, the biggest, was already starting to snarl and bare her gums. Kiba laughed at the tough little she-wolf.

"She’s gonna be as tough as her daddy." Sheba said.

"And as stubborn and beautiful as her mother." Kiba added.

While the fathers all got aquatinted with their puppies, Toboe trotted away. He stopped on top of a hill, where he looked down at everything.

I guess I’m the only one left without a family.

He turned and trotted back to the canyon. Back to the stallion. Back to watch the horses dance. Watch them dance; alone.

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