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There were many things that pissed Rukj off.

The black wolf, usually imperturbable, would easily lose his temper when people were not doing what they were supposed to do. In his mind, every single Beast had a place and a purpose, and even though those purposes might have been assigned by mistake, one had to do his best to fulfill his task. Discussing and complaining about one's role took much time and energy, and it was not good for the balance of the community, which was fragile enough due to the fact that they were in war, after all.

That was what he repeated to himself each morning, when he woke up in the freezing cold and had to get out of bed in order to join the hunting party. He did not by all means dislike hunting. He was pretty good at it, actually, and when they returned to the camp with the prey and everyone was waiting for them with a delightful, hungry gleam in their eyes, he would even feel a bit proud of himself.

However, he felt his place was somewhere else, and not because of vocation, as some of his colleagues uselessly tried to explain, but because of pure pragmatism.

The watch.

Each day, when he woke up in the morning, he would look at the rickety tower in the border of their camp. There would not be anyone looking through the window, and sometimes he even doubted there was someone in the tower at all. He could not help but feel their camp was completely unguarded from any possible invasion... although his worries were not shared by the rest of the Beasts.

"You worry too much," one of the oldest hunters, whose name was Karak, had told him when he had asked about the lookout tower. "Our camp is too small and too far from the Borderline. No Human would be interested in coming here."

"Then, why do we still have guards that are supposed to be there all day?" Rukj asked, a bit irritated.

"Supposed to be there," repeated the hunter, with irony. "You know how this works. The laziest cubs from the wealthiest wolves get the comfiest jobs. I tell you, they're a bunch of useless dogs," he said, spitting to the snow.

Then, he would turn to Rukj and put an arm around his shoulders, bringing him close with a proud smile.

"You shouldn't envy them, cub. We are the real wolves! We bring meat and joy to our tribe. We are the ones who are important. If there is someone who really protects them, it is us."

Rukj would usually agree with Karak, but he would definitely feel safer if someone was there watching in case the Humans decided to appear.

His sister Laaka should have known he would not get along with Tahrik when she confessed he was in a relationship with the older grey wolf. Rukj was naturally outraged.

"It's just I can't believe from all the Beasts you could have chosen, you picked Tahrik," he complained, walking back and forth in the snow in front of his sister, who watched him with a mixture of amusement and resignation. "Even Monok would have been a better option. At least he knows how to cook!"

"Calm down, Ruki," she said. She had known his brother would not react in a good way to the announcement, but she and Tahrik had been keeping their relationship secret for a long time. "We've been together for almost two years now. He is a nice wolf."

"A nice wolf?" Rukj repeated with a tone of indignation, turning to her. "Oh, right! I can see how nicely he does absolutely nothing all day long when he is supposed to be up there in the tower! Wolves like him are not even real wolves."

"Don't say that," Laaka warned him, with a frown. "As far as I know, he has two paws, two hind paws, one tail, lots of fangs, pointy ears and the same fur as you and me."

"Well, that's just because he was born that way," Rukj replied, ironically. "If nature made us according to our behavior..."

"...then I'd like to see what you would be," the she-wolf interrupted him, sharply.

They didn't talk for a few days after that, and Rukj would look at Tahrik with irritation and contempt from then onwards.

When he was not hunting or arguing with his sister, the black wolf liked to talk with Rena. Not only because she was the only one in the camp that seemed to enjoy making her job diligently, but also because he liked how she did not speak much but managed to make him speechless from time to time.

"They've been together for a long time," Rena observed, when the black wolf finished telling her the whole story about his sister. Her paws moved skillfully over a piece of cloth, guiding a needle and thread in the necessary points to mend it. She never used more thread than was strictly necessary. "I don't think she'll change her mind thus far."

"That's why I'm worried," he said, with a long sigh. "Their ceremony will be on the next Guardian Moon. And it's not only that he is a lazy dog. He is also a jerk. Have you heard how he talks to the elder women?"

Rena nodded, but that was all she did in order to make clear she had understood and shared Rukj's opinion. As thread, no more was necessary.

"If he ever talks to my mother that way, I swear I'll punch him in the face," Rukj promised, his face red with anger.

"If he ever talks to your mother that way, your mother will punch him in the face," Rena corrected him, bringing a smile to the black wolf's muzzle. "But if your sister finally becomes Tahrik's partner, it'll be good for me."

Rukj's smile froze in his face, as he looked at the copper-furred she-wolf without understanding what she meant. As a response, she rose the piece of cloth in the air and waved it.

"Oh, the ceremonial costume," he muttered, after a few seconds.

"Right. The old one is so worn out that it's not very ceremonial anymore. So I'll have to make a new one."

"They let you do that?" Rukj asked, truly impressed. The ceremonial costume was a special garment that belonged to the whole tribe; a relic that was usually kept for centuries and that all wolves had to wear in their mating ceremonies. Creating a new one was an enormous responsibility, one that few people could aspire to.

Rena, however, only shrugged.

"We are practical people," she said. "The old one would be better if we turned it into blankets and patches."

Saying this, she left the piece of cloth by her side and stood up.

"Where are you going?" asked Rukj, feeling a bit confused.

"If I'm going to make the costume, I'll need some dye," Rena replied, heading towards the door of her tent. "And if they're having the ceremony on the next Guardian Moon, I don't have much time. I'll start looking now."

If there was someone more pragmatic and practical than Rukj, that was Rena.

Both left the camp and headed straight to the small mountain that rose not far from there. Close to the Borderline, mountains were a rare occurrence and so settling a camp at the foot of them was seen as a strategic advantage that not many could afford. Rukj's camp was small, but they knew they could always shelter in the mountains in case they were attacked.

They passed another lookout tower and Rukj frowned, but this time he made no comment about it. They soon got to a part of the mountain's slope in which solid rock prevented the snow from accumulating. Rena started looking for a specific rock, as if she already knew what she was supposed to search. After a few minutes walking in no apparent direction, she kneeled before a particular rock and started examining it with close attention. Rukj stood behind her, curiously. He had never seen her doing that.

"Moss and lichen grow in these rocks," she said, as if she had guessed what the black wolf was thinking. "It's been a while since the last time I came here, so we might be lucky and find some flowers too."

"Flowers? Here?" Rukj asked, puzzled.

The she-wolf smiled. Then, she leaned closer and introduced one of her paws in a big crack between two rocks. She struggled for a while, unable to see what she was doing with her paw and with her body in a weird position. However, Rukj could tell that was not the first time she was doing that.

After a while, she took out her paw and turned to Rukj, opening it in front of the black wolf's muzzle.

Purple flowers. Little, tiny purple flowers that almost looked too fragile to be there. And they were, Rukj realized. That's why they were hiding between the rocks after all.

"Red dye," Rena told him, still with a faint smile in her face. "Basic, but necessary. And there are a bunch of them. Which means I will also find bugs if I look carefully."

"You make dye out of bugs?" Rukj asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I make dye out of anything. You'd be surprised. In fact, I should ask you hunters to show me what you bring to the camp from now on. I could use some parts of those minor Beasts, too."

"You're incredible," the black wolf muttered, positively surprised.

"I know."

She stood up and the red twilight seemed to make her copper-colored fur sparkle. Something strange happened then, as Rukj saw his own reflection in her blue eyes, and suddenly, before he could even react, she leaned forward, closing the distance between them and kissing him softly. It was simply a touch, a caress of their muzzles, but it seemed to send electricity down Rukj's spine, making his black fur stand on end.

When she moved away with a faint smile in her lips and looked at him curiously, he just remained there, totally shocked and with his eyes wide open.

"Did you like it?" she asked, after a long silence.

"Uh... y-yeah..." the wolf managed to answer, trying to recover his dignity. "A lot..."

"Good," was all she said, as she turned her back at him and kneeled down again in order to collect more flowers. "That's good to know."

Rukj simply stood there, embarrassed and with a faint blush in his cheeks, as he looked at the she-wolf from behind. She had gone back to picking flowers diligently, and even though there were many thoughts going fast through his mind that he would have liked to share with her, he somehow felt it was not the moment. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm the intense beats of his heart and to wipe that uncomfortable blush out of his cheeks.

Rena put all the flowers in a small basket she had brought with her, wiped her paws with her clothes and then stood up again.

"I think we've finished here," she said, picking the basket with flowers and turning to Rukj. "It's such a shame that we did not find a clearer dye. White, or yellow..."

"Red is okay," the wolf said, shrugging.

"It is. But it doesn't go well with your eyes," answered Rena. "Someday you'll find your mate and put that costume on, and if I have to choose between you and Tahrik, I'd like you to look more handsome." She shook her head. "I wish I could do more than just one costume."

"Oh," Rukj mumbled, taken off guard. To be honest, that was the first time he had even considered the possibility of mating as the rest of his clan did.

Rena seemed to smile. She got closer and kissed him again, closing her eyes, and this time she let her lips remain for a bit longer on Rukj's. However, the black wolf wanted the kiss to last more, and found himself longing for a new kiss as soon as the she-wolf stepped back and, shaking her head, started to walk towards the camp with the basket of flowers under her arm. He looked at her as he walked, with a perfect mixture of happiness and confusion, and then started following her in the way back to the camp.

That night, Rukj had trouble trying to sleep. He could not help but ask himself if he had liked what had happened with the she-wolf up in the mountains, and what exactly it was supposed to mean. He had never thought about kissing other living thing in his whole life; the mere thought of it had always escaped his mind. He knew that wolves mated and had cubs, but that was as far as he had ever got when thinking of male-female relationships.

Suddenly, Rukj felt too young to understand what was going on, and he still was not completely sure if he liked that or not. Rena was a couple of years older, so in a way he envied her confidence and knowledge. He, on the opposite, was walking on unknown territory.

One thing was true: he wanted more. And he wanted it from Rena.

Their encounters started to be more frequent than usual. The copper-furred she-wolf would usually be waiting for the hunting party at the entrance of the camp, and would go through an exhaustive revision of all the hunters had brought to the camp. The other hunters would marvel at her as she easily split the prey open right before the camp's butcher came and introduced her bare arms in the minor Beasts' guts without hesitation, looking for something specific. Sometimes, she would take a little gland or a particular organ; others, she would not find what she was looking for and sigh, turning to the hunters and asking them to find a particular prey next time.

"We do what we can, lady," Karak would say, with a smirk.

Rukj's admiration for her kept on growing, especially when he saw her like that. She was so committed to her task of finishing the new ceremony garment that she would take long walks every single day in order to find new dyes and materials that were useful for her. She even travelled to a neighbor camp in order to exchange some of her thread for wool, which she needed for the costume. Rukj usually accompanied her wherever she went, and they would share a moment of intimacy in the way back. She would usually be the one to take the initiative, but after several kisses, Rukj dared to make the first move too. He found himself growing so attached to her that he would spend the days of hunt only thinking of her, of her curvy body under his paws as they kissed.

And between kissing and hunting, dyed threads and bloody guts, time passed and the night of the Guardian Moon approached. Rukj knew they would have to get ready for the celebration, and that meant a lot of hunting the day before the banquet. The wolves usually celebrated for three nights when their kind mated together: the night right before the Guardian Moon, the night when the Guardian Moon was completely full, and the night immediately after that. Since those celebrations were sometimes announced on short notice and there was not enough time to store food in advance, the practical tradition of the wolves dictated that hunters should go hunting at dawn, under the vigilant gaze of the fading Guardian Moon and return with new supplies on the third day. That meant that, between the second and the third day of celebration, Rukj would have to be out hunting with the rest of the party.

The first day of celebration was usually a bit calmer than the previous days. The camp would gather around a huge fire and have dinner together. The family of those that were about to mate had to sit at the front of the circle and were usually given the best parts of the roasted meat. Rukj enjoyed the privilege of the food, but missed sitting next to Rena and regretted having to listen to Tahrik during the whole dinner, telling them embarrassing anecdotes about how and when Laaka and him had started their relationship.

After the first banquet, the whole camp would go to sleep and prepare for the next night, since they were supposed to remain asleep until dawn in order to honor the Guardian Moon. The hunters, especially, needed to go to sleep sooner since they would not be able to get any sleep in the following days. Rukj barely managed to talk to Rena before he was forced to enter his tent by his impatient mother, who argued a hunter had to be "rested and fresh" for the night of the Guardian Moon. He resigned and decided he would have enough time to talk with Rena on the following night. Thinking about it, he quickly fell asleep.

The night of the Guardian Moon was always wilder than the previous one. Under the vigilant moonlight and the golden sparkles of the flames, those that wanted to mate would announce their intentions to the whole camp, dressed with the ceremony costume. That time, exclamations of surprise and admiration rose when Tahrik and Laaka appeared in front of all the wolves, wearing the costumes that Rena had been weaving for the past weeks. The male's garment usually consisted of a long wool skirt that almost brushed the ground and covered their whole legs, and then a shawl richly embroidered on their shoulders. The females, however, wore a different kind of skirt that left their flanks uncovered, and a rich veil on their heads covered with tiny pieces of metal, jewels or other ornaments.

Rena had changed slightly the previous design. She had made the male's skirt shorter, so that Tahrik's legs were visible from his knee to his hind paws. Then, she had dyed the wool in orange, brown and red, which highlighted the wolf's grey fur. The shawl, too, was slightly shorter this time and instead it looked more like a short cape or a mantle; she had used the same colors and weaved spiraling patterns that seemed to reflect the flames of the fire. Laaka's costume was different from her predecessor too: her skirt was not as uncomfortable to move with as the previous one had been, and the veil did not completely cover her face, so that she could eat with it on easily.

"Many people told me about that problem," Rena had explained Rukj a few days earlier. "The veil is beautiful, but quite unpractical, especially when you're having dinner in front of the whole camp. Many took it off when eating, which is a shame because that's the only night you'll be wearing it. I want to fix that."

The colors Rena had used in Laaka's costume were different from Tahrik's. Instead of using the warm colors that seemed to mirror the fire, the female's garment was dyed in blue and grey, which matched better with her jet black fur, similar to Rukj's. The veil was decorated with small crystals, although not even the black wolf knew exactly where Rena had taken them from.

Some of the elder wolves in the camp quickly approached Rena and started giving her their opinions on her costumes. The she-wolf nodded from time to time, listening carefully to their advice. Rukj was a bit worried that the elders might be too critical with her, but he also knew that unless their complaints were legitimate Rena would probably never consider them seriously.

"Rena, my dear, the costumes look wonderful. They are beautiful," Rukj heard one of the eldest women from the camp say. "But... don't you think they are a bit specific?"

"What do you mean, grandma?" Rena asked. By the tone of her voice, Rukj guessed that she only wanted the elder woman to express herself properly; she already had an answer prepared.

"Don't get me wrong, the colors and patterns are gorgeous, but... if a male wolf with a darker fur wears the costume, for instance, don't you think it won't look as good?"

Rena smiled and whispered something to the elder she-wolf; something that Rukj could not hear but that seemed to satisfy Rena's grandmother. At that time, some other wolves appeared bringing with them the dinner, which triggered cheers from all over the camp.

Again, the black wolf was forced to sit with his family against his will, which only managed to increase his impatience. He wanted so bad to be with Rena that he did not even finish his pork before he stood up and, apologizing to his mother and the couple, walked towards Rena and his father.

"You ate quickly," she observed, devouring her own boar leg.

"I wanted to talk with you," he told her, with a gentle smile.

"That's a shame. I cannot talk properly with my mouth full."

"I'll wait then. I just want to be with you."

"Good. I'll reward you for your patience after dinner, then," she assured, with a promising smile.

He did not have to wait for long, though. After dinner, the real celebration started. Big buckets of earth were thrown onto the fire in order to extinguish it. Then, with the full moon being the only light that shone over the camp, drums and flutes started to sound, and the pack soon started dancing around the ashes, their shadows dancing too under the silver moonlight. Rukj was dragged to the center of the camp by Rena, who was more energetic than usual. The black wolf had never danced before, let alone with a female, but after the initial embarrassment that it supposed to him, he started to enjoy moving his body with Rena's with the rhythm of the drums.

Then, after an hour, maybe two, maybe three, dancing around the ashes, Rukj noticed Rena had stopped and was looking at him with a smile in her face.

"Aren't you tired?" she asked, grabbing his arm affectionately and pulling him towards a particular tent. "Let's get something to drink. We can continue later. There's still plenty of time before dawn."

Rukj followed her, unable to say 'no' to her. At that moment, he thought he would have agreed to anything she would have asked him.

It was the first time both of them were having a drink, and the alcohol burned their throats and made them cough, then laugh. Rukj was unfamiliar with the weird tingle that started in her head and seemed to spread all over his body, but he did not dislike it and at the time he was feeling better than he never had. He kissed Rena, and she kissed him back, and both danced again around the ashes. In the mists of the alcohol and the dance, Rukj could not see the approving look that Rena's grandmother gave them when they walked by her side, or the curious gazes of his mother and Laaka, who would have sworn the black wolf was having fun for the first time since he was a child.

At that moment, Rukj only had eyes for Rena, for her energy and her enthusiasm, that seemed to have flourished like one of the purple flowers she had picked in order to make red dye: sheltered by rocks and shadows. They were dancing for a long time, until their feet could no longer find their place and they somehow stumbled towards Rena's tent.

"Rukj," she whispered, looking intensely into his eyes. "I want you to make love to me."

He was so shocked at first that he could not speak for a few seconds, and that even the mists in his mind seemed to fade.

"But..." he managed to say, a bit embarrassed. "I'm... younger than..."

"You have fourteen winters," Rena interrupted him, with an encouraging smile. "I know. I have sixteen. We are both adults according to our traditions. And I do really, really want you to make love to me. Or at least, to make love to you."

Rukj gulped, feeling too warm all of a sudden. But there was an impulse inside him, a primal force that guided him in the darkness, a burning desire that would not extinguish unless satisfied. He needed to be there with Rena, he wanted to feel her between her arms until he thought her body had melted with his. He needed to smell her fur, taste her lips and get lost into her eyes, over and over and over.

He nodded, determinedly.

The dawn saw them naked in her tent, hugging each other as if their bodies were about to disappear. Rena was already getting a bit sleepy and Rukj, who was terribly exhausted from the previous night, somehow managed to gather enough strength to break their hug and sit up, with a long sigh.

"Mmmr... are you leaving already?" she asked in a whisper, with her eyes closed.

"It's dawn," was all that Rukj answered. Nothing would have made him happier than spending the whole day there with Rena, but he was a hunter, and he had to do what hunters were supposed to do. Even though his whole body screamed that he should just lay there and rest for a while.

Rena did not precisely seem to envy him. She just turned her back on him and, with a soft snore, whispered:

"Good luck out there. I'll be keeping the bed warm for you..."

Rukj smiled and, leaning forward, he licked her forehead. She seemed to smile in her sleep.

The bitter cold cleared Rukj's thoughts and woke him enough to feel at least a bit more prepared to go hunting. The rest of the hunters were already gathering at the entrance of the camp and he stepped up in their direction, shaking his head.

"Oh, look at you," Karak said, once he reached the point where the hunting party was getting ready to leave. "I've been told you were particularly lucky last night."

Some of the other hunters laughed at those words and whistled teasingly. At first Rukj felt embarrassed. Even though he and Rena had never tried to hide their affection from others, they had never wanted it to be absolutely public, either. However, after a few seconds, he discerned that the rest of the hunters were just joking, and that their intentions were good.

"I guess I am," he answered, with a smile. "I'm really lucky."

After Karak gave a short monologue about how good it was to love and feel loved by others, which Rukj suspected was highly influenced by Karak's love for rum, they left the camp and started looking for prey, as usual. They divided themselves into two groups and covered different areas, trying to spot as many minor Beasts as possible, for they all knew they were not at their best and wanted to get at least something to eat that night.

At first, Rukj's thought were still in that tent where he had left Rena, and whenever he reminded what had happened in the previous night, a gentle blush would cover his cheeks and his heart would beat a bit faster. However, he soon got focused on the hunting, and before midday, they had already caught two boars and several small salamanders, which were not as tasty but would make good snacks.

However, the group was not as efficient as they usually were, and when they reunited again and compared what they had hunted, they agreed that it was not as much as they had expected.

"There are still some leftovers from last night," argued one of the hunters. "We have enough for a few days. I suggest we leave it for today."

After a brief discussion, everyone seemed to agree that their best option was to return to the camp and make do with what they had caught. They were tired and they had spent most of the day hunting out in the wilderness: it would be no use to continue wandering there.

They picked what they had hunted and started making their way back towards the camp at a slow pace. At that moment, Rukj dragging his feet and he did not mind whether Rena was keeping her bed warm or not: he just wanted to sleep in a bed, no matter where or whose it was. After a long hour of walk back home, they turned around the mountain that guarded their camp, joking about their inexistent intentions to attend the celebration of that night. Karak mentioned he could almost smell the fire in which the others would cook the pork.

But there was no fire.

When they saw the camp in the distance, it seemed to be empty. Quiet.

Almost as if everyone had left.

A heavy confusion fell on the shoulders of the group. Someone mentioned it had to be a joke, or that they might still be sleeping. No one answered. They just kept walking.

When they spotted the first corpse, their confusion turned into despair. They threw the prey to the ground and started running towards the camp, screaming names and trying to hold the tears in their eyes. Rukj followed them, too shocked in order to speak, too frightened in order not to run after them. With a knot in his stomach, he witnessed how a terrified father hugged the dead bodies of her two daughters, no older than eight. Karak fell to the ground next to his wife, crying and howling uncontrollably.

Rukj saw the celebration costume, and under the body it hid, a big stain of fresh blood. Her head was turned to one side so her veil covered her face, and the black wolf decided it was better not to look. If he did not look, it had not happened. If he did not look...

His knees trembled and he fell to the ground, realizing only then that he was sobbing. Warm tears ran down his cheeks as he echoed the howls and laments of all the hunters of his camp, who had returned to find all their relatives dead.

Murdered.

His eyes burned and his fingers tingled, the rage and sorrow inside him roared like a flame, like a wild fire. He threw back his head and howled as loud as he could, clenching his fists around the dirt, shivering violently. Everyone... every single wolf he had ever known...

Maybe not. Maybe not everyone.

Rena.

With what little strength he had left, he managed to crawl towards her tent, still sobbing and trembling, and falling to the ground a few times in the process. His fur got dirty with mud and blood but he did not mind and simply kept crawling.

"Re... Rena...?" he asked, once he reached the tent, not daring to cross the door out of fear of what he could find at the other side.

There was no answer.

He let out a cry of pain, holding his head with his paws as someone next to him started hitting the ground in fury.

He needed to see it. He needed to know that she was... alright.

He pulled the cloth of the door aside as he crawled inside the tent, gasping. There was a motionless shape on the back of the tent.

"Rena...?"

There was not enough light for him to see, and he let out another cry as he got closer. The way until he reached the inert body seemed to take hours, and as soon as he finally managed to see her lifeless face, he realized he had made a terrible mistake.

Rukj let out another howl of pain as new tears flowed from his eyes and he let himself fall by her side, crying uncontrollably. Unable to do anything else, he hugged her, feeling the sticky blood on her back, the open wound that had drained her life forever. He shivered, but did not let go, and instead held her closer.

...she held something between her paws.

At first, Rukj could not recognize it, and it took him a while to release it from Rena's cold paws.

It was a piece of cloth. Dyed in white and orange and amber. It looked like the celebration costume the male wolves had to wear, instead it was totally different from what Tahrik had been wearing that night. Was it the same? Had Rena dyed it again?

I wish I could do more than one costume, she had said. White or yellow, she had said, would go well with your eyes.

"Rena..." the wolf whispered, holding her closer, as he felt the soft cloth creasing when his paw clinched around it. "Oh, Rena..."