she'd follow him. And during the battle a while ago, she had saved him from Nayati as well. She just thought it was because he was her alpha. She never felt this way before...but then again she never had an alpha before either. Then why did Achak jump in front of the bullet in the first place? Was that because he liked her the way she did him? Or...was that merely because he's her leader?

            No, no, something was different about him. Those feelings were so overwhelming, so powerful. To take a bullet for someone, this was no random act. Something inside Achak had provoked him enough to take a bullet for her—a hybrid. No one had ever accepted her, but him. She was always fighting for a place, each night not knowing if this was the last, if she would go further, but he had given her that chance! Kiona’s heart fluttered, her tail began to twitch, the begging reflex of a wag—her dog side. She swallowed, biting back the urge to show emotion, afraid of what he would think. Would he feel the same? Did she really love him?

            The silence was driving the hybrid insane, so to speak. She waited a few more moments to collect herself, before she dared to speak. "Um...thank you for saving my life...again."

            Achak looked at her, but she didn't look at him to see the perplexed expression on his face. He remembered hearing her thank him before while he was recuperating, but she didn't know he was away. Actually, he wasn't really sure if he was awake then... He wondered if he thanked her for saving his life. "It was nothing, Kiona." he said, smiling. "I would've done the same for any member of my pack."

            The hybrid, still not facing the wolf, lost her breath for an instant. She quickly recollected that he would have truly done anything to protect them. It did not surprise her because he was just so noble; however, his innocent response still hurt her. Kiona spoke, without thinking about disguising the sadness in her voice. "Yes...any member."

            Icy blue eyes changed from kind to concern. It was very slight, but Achak could sense the unhappiness in Kiona's voice, and how she wouldn't look at him. What was wrong? Did he say something to hurt her feelings? He didn't want her to be sad again. Seeing and hearing her cry over him nearly broke his heart. Though, she had saved his life before too... It appeared that he owed her as well, he thought, smiling to himself. "Though..." he started, only continuing when he noticed Kiona's ears twitching in acknowledgment.”I should be thanking you." The red wolf-dog faced him, surprise making itself known on her face. "You've saved me many times--"

            "I hardly think I did anything, really," Kiona said. Anyone would've done it for him. She just happened to be there, she thought to herself, modestly.

            "Well...you saved me from Nayati and his pack. And you took care of me while I was injured by that gun." Achak continued to smile at her, which made her delightfully nervous. "Surely, that's something worth thanking you for." Kiona's expression softened as she stared at him, then nodded. There was a comfortable silence between them as they stared at each other for what seemed like a long time (at least until Ayashi decided to come back).

~~~

            A storm was approaching, Achak cold smell it in the air. The air was damp and ice cold as it blew against his face. The snow that had been falling softly earlier in the day had hardened and flew through the air by the lashing winds that were still picking up. Frowning, the black and silver wolf stood at his lookout post near the caves where his packed resigned. And with winter fast approaching, it would only get worse.

            "It's getting hard to see, hunting in this weather would be dangerous..." Achak thought as he stood on the cliff, the quickly harshening wings blowing at his long coat. But luckily, to his pack at least, with the dark coat, he was easier to find. We can't hunt in this...

            Meanwhile, Kiona looked outside of the cave where she and the rest of the pack (with the exception of their alpha) dwelled. The weather was getting pretty bad and she was hoping that Achak was okay. She shivered, making her fur stand on end. She wasn't cold, she was just nervous. The weather didn't bother her, she was just concerned--

            "You worried about my brother?"

            Kiona turned her head back. It was Ayashi, but if Kiona didn't know any better she'd say it was Olathe. She was a very nice person, and they talked to each other, but not that often. "Um..." Kiona was a tad embarrassed to answer, but Aya knew she was. The silver wolf shook her head and smiled.

            "He'll be alright." Ayashi assured. Kiona looked ahead and saw the black and silver wolf coming towards the cave, his fur blowing harshly in the wind. Kiona's heart lifted.

            Stepping into the cave, Achak's fur was half damp with the snow that had clung to and melted with his body heat. The specks of frozen water that hadn't melted yet, dotted his dark fur with white. Once inside, the wolf shook himself off briefly, trying not to send too much moisture everywhere onto his pack mates. Glancing around, they were all waiting for him to speak. Achak sighed, the look of discouragement.

            "The weather conditions are too harsh, and are just getting worse. It's going to be a bad storm, and go on all day by the looks of it. We won't be able to hunt in this until it dies down." he saw the looks of disappointment and worry spread across the other wolves' faces. Judging by the severity of the snow storm blowing just outside, they might not eat at all today.

            Kiona sighed, a bit frustrated. This would be the second day she wouldn't get food. They couldn't get a kill yesterday and today the weather was bad. She hoped she could hold out until tomorrow at least. She barely made it without eating after 3 days. Achak gave some words of encouragement to the entire pack to try an raise the spirits again. After his pep talk, the entire pack crowded into the back of the cave to keep warm. It was later in the day, so hardly anyone slept. Kiona tried sleeping, but she couldn't, so she walked to the edge of the pile of wolves and laid down, staring out at the snow storm outside, cursing it secretly.

            Her thoughts were interrupted when her stomach growled very loudly, louder than all of the conversation going on within the cave. A few stopped to look at Kiona; the rest tried carrying on with what they were already doing. Kiona snorted embarrassingly and put her head down, still noticeably awake.

            Having been talking with Kanook, Achak's sharp hearing picked up the hungry growl coming from the entrance and turned his head along with a few others'. Seeing it to be coming from the red female, the silver and black wolf frowned, remembering how she wasn't as accustomed to not eating for over a day or two. No doubt now that Kiona felt embarrassed over it. Excusing himself from Kanook a moment, the alpha padded over to the hybrid, his claws making only the slightest noise on the hard rocky ground of the cave.

            "Kiona?" seeing her head turn to him at that, the wolf continued. "I know you're hungry, and the storm should pass by tomorrow..." He couldn't help but worry over her, especially since her first deprivation of food over an extended period of time. Achak didn't want that happening again. Perhaps, while the storm was still not at its worst, he could go out and catch her something quick to hold her over. Glancing into the brewing storm outside, the large wolf nodded to himself. "I'll be right back..."

            Not really thinking, Kiona stood up and grabbed the furred tip of his tail and kept her ground. No you won't! She thought to herself. He looked back at her in surprise. Kiona let go of his tail and bowed her head, as a way to apologize for doing such a stupid thing to the highest-ranked wolf. Then she looked up at him.

            "Don't go." She said. "Don't treat me special. I'll be fine." Kiona knew that she needed to adapt to this lifestyle, she couldn't have Achak fetching her food all of the time, it wasn't fair to the others. And it wouldn't be fair to her if something bad happened to him in the storm.

            Her move had taken him by surprise. No wolf had ever done that to him before, save for when he and his family played when he and his siblings were