Chapter 23

    A huge feast was being prepared to feed all the Wolf People gathering at Mr. Black’s Village. Many deer and elk were brought down by hunting Wolf People and brought to the Village where a group of male Wolf People were preparing the meat.

    Several large fires were burning in the center of the Village and the Wolf People were gathering around these to talk and eat.

    Despite the seriousness of the situation there was still laughter and excited chatter amongst the Wolf People.

    Packs gathering together for any reason had been unheard of until recently and the change had been do to Mr. Black’s Mate Louise.

    She had become very popular in the World of the Wolf People and found herself the center of attention during this time as Mr. Black’s, Mr. Stonevalley’s, Mr. Redwood’s and Mr. Whitewater’s Pack Members made special efforts to get to know everyone.

     Each Pack Leader had also sent out a large number of Wolf People to fan across the forest looking for signs of the Others, mainly on the lookout for a sickening scent and feel to an area that would alert them to Magic being used to conceal Others from the Wolf People.

    Miss Starfire and Mr. Hunter sat together close to one of the huge fires sharing a meal of raw freshly killed elk meat in cubes from a wooden bowl.

    Armand sat nearby with Quetzal and Mr. Thunder. Miss Fern was with them.

    Miss Starfire and Mr. Hunter watched Mr. Thunder and Quetzal working to keep Miss Fern’s attention but the twins easily noticed Miss Fern was interested only in Armand, who was also the Pack Leader’s Son.

    Miss Starfire giggled as she chewed a piece of meat. “Armand is trying very hard not to notice Miss Fern.”

    “Yup. He doesn’t want to notice her and she doesn’t like that.” said Mr. Hunter.

    “She must know about Miss Feather.”

    “Miss Feather isn’t here; maybe she never will be again so Miss Fern is trying to stake her claim. I noticed several other unmated females looking Armand over.” said Mr. Hunter.

     “Well, he’s not really available. I’m sure Miss Feather will be found.”

    “And Kyle torn into bloody slices of flesh.” said Mr. Hunter.

    “All of the Others will be torn to bloody slices of flesh.” Miss Starfire glanced in the direction of the building where Mandie and Joshie were currently locked up in. It was the same building Michar, Miss Snow’s Mate, had been locked up in while waiting for his execution for when he had betrayed the Wolf People by bringing humans into the Wolf People’s World. These humans in turn had killed several Wolf People.

    Michar had had his reason but for a while it didn’t look like his getting revenge for his Mate being raped and killed by other Wolf People would matter.

    Louise had changed Mr. Black’s Mind which had resulted in Mr. Black’s Pack and Mr. Stonevalley’s Pack becoming friendly. And that had had far reaching effects on all Wolf People Packs.

    Isolation from each other was no longer the normal anymore for Wolf People and their Packs.

    “Hello Miss Starfire.” said a masculine voice.

    Making a little startled cry Miss Starfire looked up.

    Mr. Redwood stood beside her, looking down at her out of his radiant dark brown eyes and smiling in a very friendly way.

    He held a wooden bowl containing his meal of freshly raw cubed meat that was still steaming and a glass of cold fresh water.

    “Oh, hi Mr. Redwood.” Miss Starfire replied.

    “Mr. Hunter.” Mr. Redwood greeted.

    “Hi Mr. Redwood.” Mr. Hunter said.

    “May I join you two?” Mr. Redwood asked.

    “Sure, of course.” Miss Starfire said. She felt a wave of nerves hit her and felt uncomfortable and flustered.

    Mr. Redwood sat beside her, keeping his smile in place. “I’m glad we’ve had this opportunity to meet but it’s unfortunate the circumstances are so negative.”

    “If it weren’t for these circumstances none of us would be meeting right now.” Mr. Hunter said. He noticed Mr. Thunder watching Mr. Redwood with a frown.

    Oh no! Mr. Hunter thought. My twin Wolf Sister has two males interested in her. Mr. Hunter kept a smile off his face. It took some effort.

     “It’s a tragedy Miss Feather has been kidnapped by this Kyle, this Other.” Miss Starfire said, working hard at calming herself. She didn’t like this unpleasant way she felt.

    “Yes. I feel deeply for your Wolf Brother Miss Starfire.” Mr. Redwood said. He took a bite of raw meat and chewed carefully. “But I’m sure we will flush out these Others and drive them from our forest.”

     “I sure hope so. They’ll probably want to kidnap more Wolf People.” Miss Starfire’s eyes strayed toward the building where the Other Twins were being held again.

    Mr. Redwood noticed. “Ah, yes. Those two young ones your Pack brought to show us. Quite effective.”

    “We thought it would work.” Miss Starfire said with a smile. She was getting her emotions under control. She glanced at Mr. Redwood briefly and then looked just as quickly away. “What better way to explain what we were trying to warn you about?”

    “I’d say it worked.” Mr. Hunter said. He had the feeling he was intruding in a private conversation, at least he figured Mr. Redwood wanted it private.

    Mr. Hunter looked in Mr. Thunder’s direction. He did smirk a little this time. Mr. Thunder looked angry. Mr. Hunter wondered how long it would be before Mr. Thunder forced himself into Mr. Redwood’s chasing after Miss Starfire. Perhaps Mr. Thunder had waited too long to let Miss Starfire know how he felt about her.

     Armand looked like he was lost in his own tragic world but it was obvious Miss Fern wasn’t giving up on him. Nor was Quetzal going to give up yet on Miss Fern.

    Miss Starfire wondered why Mr. Redwood was paying her any attention. She was still immature, hadn’t even shape shifted yet and Mr. Redwood was a very very mature Wolf Person Male.

     What could he possibly see in me, she wondered? But she was the Pack Leader’s Daughter and she would behave in a way to make her Wolf Parent’s and Pack Leader proud. At least Miss Starfire thought she would.

   

Reviews

[Black Cat Fever]

There are all kinds and sorts of goings on mixed in with their preparations for war. Makes for a very engaging storyline.

[Wicahpi]

Triangles abound.
I was thinking they are being way too calm for my liking! lol
A party when they should be searching none stop til Miss
Feather is found; not slacking off. That's me :)
I'm continuing on.

A nice 'calm before the storm' so to speak.

[Eric Cox]

A cool chapter in a very cool series. Great job.

[trish420]

Nice break from all the stress :-) It's nice to see everyone (well, almost everyone) together and spending time even if for a tragic reason it's nice to see the fruits of Louise's labors pay off on such a grand scale :-)

[Star Wolf]

Still hoping for Miss Feather but now we see there is something going on with Mr. Redwood and his interest in Miss Starfire and maybe Mr. Thunder is too late in his desire for Miss Starfire. Awesome chapter.