Wolf's Rain Two: Part 3

Cave of Suprises

Toboe opened an amber eye, shivering from the sudden rush of warm air instead of cold wind. Just about everything was spinning, even though he was lying on his side on the ground.

He saw cave walls surrounding him, and expected to be a hostage on the cold floor. Instead, Toboe was on a nest made by other wolves to keep him from getting cold. A wierd way to treat a hostage, but he wouldn't complain.

Flicking an ear, Toboe heard the howling wind from the entrance of the cave. The red wolf had been found just in time for a blizzard. Trying not to move, Toboe listened for anything and found a few voices talking in the back of the cave. It took effort for him not to fall asleep and to stay awake so he could hear.

"...we just can't keep him much longer than we should," One of them snarled lowly. That voice...it sounded familiar, but Toboe was too tired to sort it out.

Another growled, Toboe could imagine it's eyes narrowing at the first wolf. This voice was a female's, but not familiar like the first."That's not fair! He was nearly dead when we found him, can't we wait for him to get better, or until winter is passed?"

 So I'm not a hostage, Toboe thought. Well that's a relief. But who the hell are these wolves?

The first wolf could be heard jumping to it's paws. "Until he's better, then we must make him leave. I'm sorry, we can't afford another mouth to feed." The sound of paws hitting the ground and leaving bounced off the walls.

Toboe quickly tried to look asleep when the female wolf made a move towards him. She must have watched him for quite a while, Toboe was about near to snapping at her.

Finally she was called away and he sighed. Finally...I thought she'd never leave. However a part of him yelled out for her not to go. The wolf's scent was sweet...

Trying to rid his head of these thoughts, Toboe went back to sleep since there wasn't much else for him to do.

"Wake up, runt, wake UP!" He felt a bite on his ear, and nearly jumped from the ground.

Toboe shook his head and regretted it the second afterwards. He hadn't realized the massive headache until now. Gritting his teeth, the wolf  blinked his eyes open and looked up sleepily. "wha?" was all he could manage.

An older large grey wolf stood above him, amber-yellow eyes narrowed. He shoved a rabbit towards Toboe with his muzzle. "Think you can manage that," The wolf growled, and turned to leave.

Flattening an ear, Toboe dipped his head and pulled the rabbit towards him with a paw, beginning to eat. Occasionally he'd realize that a whole pack was staring at him from time to time, but he ignored them as best as he could.

Suddenly the sweet scent of the female wolf who watched over him before came into the cave, but he couldn't sort out which wolf it belonged to. Holding back a sigh, Toboe put his head on his paws and tried to sleep.

Again Toboe was woken up by the same wolf, but this time it was questioning him. The amber gaze was harsh and a bit terrifying. The red wolf was pulled to his paws, on which he stood on very tenderly.

"So what in the hell where you thinking, charging out into the winter without a pack, and when you were sick?" Toboe narrowed his eyes at the angry wolf. What did he care?

When the red wolf didn't come up with an answer, he was yelled at again. "Well? Are you deaf or mute, boy?"

"I can speak, thanks, and I can hear." Toboe growled hoarsly. He hadn't used his voice in a long time now, it hurt a bit.

"Then I suggest you actually answer my questions," the grey one curled his lip, revealing sharp yellow-white fangs. A few other wolves around the grey were growling also. They are the beta, and he is the leader, Toboe decided.

The red wolf lowered his gaze slightly. "I'm looking for my friends I haven't seen in a long time."

 A few wolves were circling him a bit, trying to get a good look. Toboe was a little embarassed, considering the fact that over half of them were female.

"Your name." The grey wolf spat.

Pondering whether he should use his real name or not, Toboe didn't speak for a moment. If these wolves had heard of Paradise, Toboe could get lucky and they would recognize him. If not and he got into a scrap with them...he could be tracked down.

"We have no time for waiting, say you goddamn name before I send you into the snow!" The grey's temper was rising steadily. He was an impatient leader, which was dangerous.

Toboe lifted his gaze, trying not to growl the answer. "Toboe."

The leader lifted his head slightly and stopped growling, and some of the pack members halted. Suddenly the grey began laughing harshly. "You expect us to believe that you, such as a runt like you, could travel to the place where Paradise is?! What a laugh." Half of his pack laughed along with him, but Toboe turned to face them and only spotted one who wasn't.

A stunning blue-grey wolf had her ice blue eyes narrowed at the leader, fur bristling. Toboe flattened an ear and felt his heart skip a beat for some reason, and he didn't even realize that half the pack was laughing at him until seconds later.

Some wolf did come to his defense, but it wasn't the female. A wolf that had been lying in the shadows suddenly lunged out with wide amber eyes and broke the laughing. "What, Toboe?!"

Every wolf turned their gazes to a grey that almost looked the same as the leader, yet a bit lighter framed. "Tsume?" Toboe tipped his head slightly, and the leader went beserk.

"You mean he IS that wolf? Tsume you must be joking," he snarled. The leader turned to the wolves around him. "Do you believe that, a runt traveled with my higher beta to Paradise!"

Tsume narrowed his eyes at the leader, fur starting to bristle. "Yeah, he's the one, believe it or not."

The grey-blue female still hadn't moved, and was glaring at the leader in the same way. "You don't believe him? I'm sure there is some scrap of evidence."

"Yeah, there is." Toboe pricked his ears, remembering something Blue said weeks ago. Sitting down and turning his back to the crowd, he blinked. "Where I was shot, I still have a mark where the bullet went through. And the bullet went through the exact place where it would have gone through the real Toboe."

He turned around to face them. "There's not a likely chance I would have been shot in that same place, and it would have healed so quickly like it happened a life time ago."

The grey leader growled, close to loss of words. The grey-blue female looked satisfied and Tsume was watching his leader smugly.

"Fine, you have convinced me. Now over the next day, decide what you want to do. Stay, or go." The pissed off Alpha stalked away from the pack, his beta following.

"So how the hell did you wind up here, runt?" Tsume's eyes narrowed.

"Well..."

The grey-blue female had joined the two on a walk through the cave tunnels, and introduced herself as Rain. She was quite the funny one, and a bit younger than even Toboe.

Rain ran into random wolves purposely and took off before they could realize it was her. Toboe had a laugh out of that, but it was Tsume who had to apologize to the others and then cuff Rain's ears.

Finally after they both ran, or Toboe limped, into strangers, Tsume caught up with them growling. "Ok, enough or I'll have to bite you."

"Hey, how did you get back in your old pack anyway?" Toboe wondered in boredom.

Tsume shrugged and snarled. "When they found out I had made the trip to find Paradise they thought that having me in the pack would make it invincible. I was even made beta and offered to fight for becoming an Alpha."

"Did you win?" The red wolf flicked an ear, but Rain answered his question.

"Yeah, of course he did."

"Wait...then how is he still a beta?" Toboe narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Laughing slightly, Tsume moved forward and Rain followed with a grin.

 Toboe tipped his head and ran after them. "Hey, I'm confused, wait up!"