“But how did you wind up in the river in the first place? I mean, surely Rayne would have followed you in, right?” Krystal asked, giving Rallan a confused look when he laughed.

“I jumped off a waterfall, that’s how…” Rallan explained coolly, raising his paw to stop Krystal as she went to speak, “I know, it was crazy and stupid, but it spared my life… Although I did kinda leave Kalgorn hanging… I’ll have to tell him what happened as well…”

“Who’s Kalgorn?”

“That wolf I told you who was so kind and friendly to me…” Rallan answered, closing his eyes and letting the memories rush back to him, “But yeah, that was my life… Wander, happiness, tragedy… wander, happiness, tragedy…”

“Well, maybe the wandering and the tragedy is over now…” Krystal suggested, “I mean, the summer’s almost over and if Rayne can’t find you all the way out here, then perhaps she’ll give up when winter comes around…”

“I highly doubt that!” Rallan said with a slight chuckle, “Rayne pursued me like her life depended on it for nearly two years! It would take some kind of extreme length to convince her I’m innocent and that I didn’t intend to kill Typhoon!”

“Well, you never know what will happen, Rallan…” Krystal said softly, rolling onto her back once again and staring up at the clouds as the sun began to sink past the point of mid-day.

“Krystal?” Rallan asked, looking over at the wolf lying a few feet away from him, “Why did you follow me out here? You could’ve been in another pack easily by now… Why did you risk your life to track me down?” Krystal gasped softly, heart racing and her mind frantically searching for an excuse to tell him.

“Well, I just thought that maybe since we’re close friends and all, we’d maybe last longer if we were together…” Krystal said, praying that Rallan would accept that as the truth. He seemed satisfied with that answer and went back to watching the could roll by.

“Krystal… Thank you…” Rallan said softly, smiling happily. Once more, Rallan felt truly happy and content. Now, despite all logical thinking, he prayed that Rayne would give up and leave him alone to live life with his best friend…

            Rayne raced across the forest, Drake, Hunter, and Valley close behind her. Her ice-like eyes darted left and right as she scanned for some trace of Rallan, but nothing could seem to be found or picked up. Even his scent seemed nonexistent. Almost as if he’d vanished from the face of the Earth… No, don’t think that way! You know that’s impossible, so keep searching for him! Your family has to be avenged! Rayne thought to herself.

She skidded to a halt in yet another clearing. As was her routine, she sniffed about for anything that had Rallan’s scent on it. Nothing again… Drake sighed and shook his head.

“You know Rayne, just a thought, but what if we all split up? We could all search different directions and meet back every so often…” Drake suggested, looking at Rayne. She thought for a long moment, then sighed and nodded.

“Alright… That’s probably better than what we’re doing now…” Rayne said in a low voice, looking back at her team, “Alright, I’ll head northwest, Drake you keep going west, Hunter you head southwest, and Valley you head south… We’ll meet back here at the beginning of winter… Listen, make sure Rallan doesn’t know you see him and he’ll stay where he is… Then we can move in on him, understood?”

“Yes, Lady Rayne!” all three wolves said in unison. Rayne nodded.

“Great. Move out!” Rayne ordered. The group then split up, shooting off in their given directions. The hunt for Rallan had just expanded and gotten more extensive…

Chapter 3

            Soon the air had gotten slightly cooler, summer ending and autumn moving in to take its place. Rallan and Krystal got closer and closer to one another with each passing day, their relationship growing and strengthening with every sunrise and sunset. The lack of Rayne’s group’s appearance settled Rallan’s ever-uneasy nerves and he began to adjust to his new life again. For the rest of summer he’d been waking up thinking ‘this’ll be the day they appear’, but when they didn’t and autumn came he was nearly certain Krystal had been right about Rayne.

It was now mid-autumn. Since the moment she’d found Rallan unconscious on the bank of that river, she’d tried to think of the perfect way to confess her deep feelings for him to him. Now she knew her chance would be coming up… Krystal’s eyes opened slowly as she woke up, the morning sunlight shining into her den. Rallan lay fast asleep, murring softly as he dreamt on. She smiled and nuzzled him gently like she did whenever she woke up before him. It just felt so right to be nuzzling him, even if she did have to sneak it every so often.

Krystal sighed softly, a small smile on her muzzle as she walked out into the bright, warm sunlight. The day was warm for autumn, which meant the night would be warmer as well. That worked just perfectly with her plan… Tonight was a full moon and she was determined to tell Rallan tonight, by the sea. She’d been too shy to tell him before, but now she knew she had to before anything else happened.

Krystal walked toward the west, to where the ocean was. Tonight was going to go smoothly; it had to. She had put so much thought and planning into this, everything just had to go right! Please God… Please let everything go the way I want it to… she mentally prayed, looking up at the sky as she pleaded to the heavens. Without even knowing it, the soft sounds of the waves came into earshot. She’d arrived at the ocean.

Krystal smiled as she walked across the soft grass up the hill to a cliff that looked out over the clear cerulean sea. At the top of the cliff was a various medley of sweet-fragranced wildflowers. She and Rallan had been up here once before, during the summer. Krystal was about to tell him then, but she’d shied out of it. But this time would be different… Things would go right… Smiling in satisfaction with the setting, she turned and began walking back, not wanting to worry Rallan with an extended absence.

Rallan murred softly again as he began to wake from his sleep. He blinked several times to allow his vision to adjust to the new light streaming gently into the den. He stretched and stood up, groaning lowly as he cracked his back and glanced over to see Krystal was gone. He walked out into the warm morning air and smiled as he took a deep breath. The day was going to be great in terms of weather, and probably better in terms of events! Krystal had come back just a few moments ago and grinned as she saw Rallan standing out in the open, guard down. She silently snuck up close to him and pounced, taking Rallan by surprise and pinning him down to the ground.

“Gotcha! Are you sure your father trained you well enough, because I’m getting too good at sneaking up on you?” Krystal asked teasingly. Rallan chuckled humorously.

“Wanna see what my father taught me to do?” Rallan asked playfully in return, placing a rear leg outside of hers and swinging it sideways swiftly, tripping Krystal and causing her to collapse on top of his body. A second or two later, Rallan had rolled over and was now on top, using his superior strength to keep Krystal held down firmly. A conquering grin slid onto his muzzle as the gray female beneath him struggled for a few moments, and then lay still in defeat, smiling back up into his gaze.

“See? You can’t even get up again! I’ve just perfectly immobilized you… and if you were a hostile threat to me…” Rallan said, lowering his voice slightly as he placed his muzzle near Krystal’s neck, “… then I could have killed you and won the fight…”

He smirked, then lightly licked her chin before climbing off of her. Krystal felt her heart speed up slightly from that simple lick and at having Rallan that close to her again. She swallowed slightly, knowing that tonight would be the night she’d confess her love before anything happened that she’d regret forever. Rallan walked off to the stream to get a drink, Krystal following beside him all the way.

Rallan watched her once he began returning to the den, smirking at the way she followed in near-perfect step with him. He decided to test if she was doing this intentionally or not. He took two quick sidesteps to the right, watching with amusement as Krystal repeated his pattern.