FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cryo hesitated only for a second before touching the shoulders of her hunters. She was sure of them, knowing that they were the faster wolves, the ones finding it best to hunt. They were gone in a smoky flash- their feet were swift, their movements sure-footed and confident as they began to work the branch-horns, clustered in small packs of no more than five. Cryo, hidden within the treeline watched out, her eyes keen and intent as she tried to find the male branch-horn, the pack leader.

When she didn't see the male, she stepped out herself and let out a low growl which nevertheless carried across the plains and dragged the three hunters into one group. Without needing to stop, they fixed their gazes on one single branch-horn. Not as large as the others, she was slightly excluded from her pack. Cryo watched as the keen hunters split once again, separating the pack up and then bunching once more to drive that same branch-horn towards the trees.

She made ready, hunching her body and baring her teeth. She could already feel the others around her making the same movements. She was almost quivering with need and the second that the branch-horn was close enough, she launched herself into its path. Her teeth were snapping at the nose and throat of the branch-horn, blood spilling into the air when one of the others caught hold of her shoulders. Between them all, they drove the branch-horn through the trees, their bodies locked in a hunting craze.

Teeth slashed and snapped, the branch-horn screaming in fear as she hurtled through the branches. Her horns were a problem, pulling her back whenever she tried to force her way through. The wolves found it easier to hunt like this, their body's just small enough to hurtle the smaller logs and fallen trees but agile enough to use those as leaping pads.

As was natural, it was Cryo who took the kill. It was her teeth that snapped shut on the branch-horn's throat and literally tore the life right from her. The smaller pack stepped towards the kill, only to freeze when Cryo's blood-stained muzzle lifted in triumphant song. Kill has been made, feed and feast. Hunt well and run free, branch-horn. Your sacrifice was not without courage!

_ _

The others joined in, though their voices spoke nothing of the ritual words. They offered wordless support to their fearless leader, who had once again got them through a hunt without a single injury. Her tail wagged before she shook herself, twisting to the kill with nothing but blood on her mind and the taste of meat in her drooling muzzle.

Her teeth began to tear into the carcass, splitting meat from bone as she gulped down huge chunks of meat. One at a time, the others approached her, their bellies to the ground as they grovelled for their share. She allowed them in only by not snapping at them whenever they passed her. She carried on feeding, long beyond the point of being full. She gorged herself on that first winter kill, until the moment she felt as though another bite would lose her what she had already had in her stomach.

The others carried on feeding when she backed away, her eyes half-closed as she relaxed and kept her ears keen for the sounds of triumph from her pack, split into two more parts. The branch-horn was larger than four of them as one, which meant they were fed well for the better part of a week. The howls rang out as though on cue, the pack instantly settling. Cryo's selection stepped back, leaving the remains of the branch-horn to the unseen, mini-predators who lingered for such a thing.

Cryo stood, triumphant and yet, oddly shaken as some as yet unseen voice cried out imperiously. Instantly, her hackles rose, her eyes glinted and she snarled. The pack rose as one, their eyes fixed on the point at which the howl had risen. She set off first, her muscles and speed powered by meat in her stomach. Her pack fell in behind her, full of righteous anger that their boundaries had been breached. Cryo herself was lost to the thoughts of what she would do to the trespasser, whether it involved running them off or attacking them in order to gain back her territory.

She plunged through the forest, suddenly aware in the depths of her mind that the pack was swelling, growing to its full strength as the others joined her in the run. They were all single-minded, running along at the heels of their brave leader as she led them towards a point that would either make them stronger as a pack...or break them down utterly.

The air was still as the complete pack swept to a halt, gathered around their agitated Alpha. In response their anxiety, she gathered up the mighty muscles in her legs and uttered the softest sound of anger she was able to before leaping in one smooth movement to the top of a rocky protuberance.

Her claws scrabbled at first before proving they were long enough and sharp enough to keep her on the slippery, snow-covered rock, thrusting her high above the others and far enough up that the instant the dozen furry shapes broke free of the trees. Again her muscles gathered, the she-wolf using the rock to leap down in front of the lead wolf and snarl clearly into his face.

She was instantly surrounded by his small pack, her own growls stifling those of her sister. She was in charge, controlling the others even when they couldn't see her. The male in front of her was astounding to see. Almost as white as the snow surrounding them, he had a faint grey streak up his muzzle, then a muddied mark crossing over his back- but it was his eyes that drew her in.

They weren't golden or amber, but a mixture of gold and green that caught her attention and held it long enough for one of his pack to catch her leg and worry it. She snarled, the spell broke, the trance forgotten as she savaged the wolf. Her teeth tore into its face, tearing furrows into the skin and ripping through the flesh savagely. Her nose was filled with blood, the metal smell stopping her from smelling anything else. Her tongue was bursting with fur and the salt of blood, her eyes closed to stop the small sprays hitting her.

"Stop it! Right now! Release him, you vicious bitch!" The voice broke through the fugue the attack had spilled her into. She quivered slightly before dropping the tattered head to the ground in shock. The pack around her broke apart and she went to step backwards before her leg crumbled beneath her. A yelp of pain echoed through the forest before two familiar shapes rounded her side. Shil hovered in front of her, his bulk protecting her from view as Skyler helped her up.

It had taken a nose under her stomach to help her stand, her leg too weak to bare her weight. She soon limped past Shil, her hind-leg dangling a little. She growled as she made her way to the white wolf again, her ears perked and her lips wrinkled back uncertainly.

"Me? Let go of him? He attacked me first, you worthless piece of branch-horn dung!" Her voice was a snarl, gravelly because of the anger. "Look what your fool of a pack-mate did to me!"

She turned herself side on, letting him see the multiple bite wounds to the dangling appendage. When he had stared for long enough, she backed away into the safety of her pack. They spread out either side of her, dwarfing the other pack clearly. Cryo was astonished when he dropped his head and ripped at the throat of the prone wolf.

He had attacked with such speed and aggression that blood only lightly splattered his chest, though one drip had the misfortune to appear on his muzzle as a tear. He snarled before twisting himself round to his pack and speaking with aggression clear in his tone.

"You never attack a female, do you hear me?! You are wolves, not idiots! You know when we try to find somewhere to call home; we treat any existing packs with respect. The next wolf to attack this pack...will find themselves on the ground, dying. Do I make myself clear?"

The words were barked from him, the pack cringing down around their fallen comrade. Without a single sound otherwise, he spun back to the astonished Cryo. Her head was tilted to the side as the anger in his unusual eyes faded to contrition before dropping her own head down in a gesture of respect. She growled once before reciprocating the gesture, though adding in the softest of growls to ring through the air.

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding then, miss..." His voice was seeking her name, though Cryo didn't answer instantly and he carried on speaking, his words coming faster and faster. "I just wondered whether you were looking to expand your pack, though of course, I'd rather talk to your mate, as males should puzzle these things out." His words sent annoyance through the pack. He stepped back when growls met the still winter air, his head dropping uncertainly. And still he stood there. The growls faded into a single, sustained snarl, Cryo's lips curled back from her sharp teeth.

"There is no mate here, no male to stand beside me. All I see is an old, weak fool who thinks to confuse and confound my pack. I'm not going to let that happen, you low-down dirty sneak!" A growl rumbled his throat, but before Cryo could step forwards, Shil was there. His teeth flashed shut on the white male's throat, and a savage shake broke his neck with an audible crunch.

Cryo blinked a little as her hackles meshed back in with the rest of her fur, her lips covering her teeth as she looked at the two limp bodies. One was bloodied, the other merely broken and now there were just under a dozen wolves milling about in front of her. The longer she watched them, the more something began to build in the back of her mind. Her head tipped to the side before she sat down, flummoxed slightly.

What kind of Alpha dragged four mated pairs out of their own territory and mixed them with unmated ones? Even within her own pack there were more mated wolves than unmated, with new bonds now being formed with winter upon them. There were three males that seemed to be alone out there, a dark grey, a silver grey and a tan. They were beginning to fight now, their teeth snapping together in anger as the pairs battled for dominance.