2

The snow was heavy the next day, it came down in troves covering the forest in a blanket if white. The two siblings were out of their hollow, hunting for whatever prey they could find. "I can't see anything," Kate said shaking the snow off of her fur. "Well now you know how I feel, but it is hard to hear. The snow is muffling everything." Oli replied and his sister nodded. "Let's go home for the day. We aren't going to find any prey in this snowfall." Kate said and watched as their brother nodded.

As they moved through the snow, the winds began to blow harder, making it hard for Kate to see anything but white. She looked back at her brother and looked towards the trees there she saw a fallen log that was hollow on the inside. "Grab my tail and follow me!" Kate shouted to her brother, who followed the order and gently bit down on her tail. Together they made their way into the hollowed log and were relieved to find that it was warm. "We'll stay here for the night and make our way home tomorrow." Kate said and watched as her brother nodded, letting out a yawn as he curled up and fell into a light sleep. Kate watched their brother before looking outside relieved that they had found shelter from the storm, "This winter is hard but we'll survive." She whispered to herself before curling up next to her brother and falling into a light slumber.

The next morning had come as the two siblings slept through the blizzard. Kate had awakened first, blinking away the sleepiness from her eyes as the morning sun cast the surrounding woods in a warm glow. She drowsily sat up and let out a yawn as she opened her eyes to find that the surrounding woods were cast in a sparkling white.

She stared in awe and poked their brother until he began to stir. "What do you want?" He asked with a yawn blinking away sleepiness from his blind eyes. "I know you can't see but the forest is a sparkling white. I also figured that we could go hunt before returning to the hollow, we might actually find something today." She said and her brother nodded, eager to hunt something that would fill both him and his sister. "That sounds great." He replied and together the two left the hollowed log, grateful that it provided them shelter from the snowstorm.

They walked through the glistening forest, their paw steps light as they walked through the snow. "Let's split up, we'll have more luck finding prey that way." Kate said and Oli nodded listening as their sister walked in a direction, getting farther and farther away from him but he didn't worry knowing that his sister was more than capable of taking care of herself.

He stood for a moment before walking in a different direction. He walked for a few moments before a noise caught his attention it wasn't a mouse or a sparrow but it was bigger and smelled sweet and savory, deer. A prey much too large for him or his sibling to take on but something was off. The deer was being hunted.

He decided then to duck beneath the roots of a nearby tree, he had found it a year ago when he was still learning how to sneak up on his sibling, but now it would serve as his hiding place from the sound that was hunting the deer.

It was large and there was a multitude of it as they tackled the deer to the ground. It's once-beating heart fell silent as one of those beasts snapped the deer's neck with a loud sickening snap. He winced at that sound but remained still and silent as he heard voices that were not his own or his sister's. "This will feed the pack for the rest of this month." a voice that sounded confident said and the rest of the beasts gave a howl of agreement.

Oli was still hiding when something else approached the group of beasts, silencing them with its approach. "You all have made a fine catch today. Aliz, Nomina, Todd, and Quinn take the deer back to the pack. Weaver, I need to talk to you." The voice said his voice stern yet calm and thankful. "Yes, Alpha." The beasts all said in unison.

Oli was tensing up, his fight or flight instincts were beginning to kick in as he began to feel cornered, trapped. "When I was walking through the forest, I caught the scent of two other shifters." The Alpha said and Oli heard the other one, Weaver the Aloha called him, taking in a deep breath before asking, "Wolves or something else?" "Something else, they smelt of fox." The Alpha replied. "They?" Weaver asked, "Yes, 'they', there were two scents. One a male and one a female." The Alpha replied. "Do you think they're going to be a problem?" Weaver asked and the Alpha let out a sigh, "No, but we should at least track them down and talk to them. They've probably called these woods home long before we arrived, I'm sure they wouldn't like a pack of wolves invading it."

Oli was overwhelmed with fear, his sister once told him when they were younger to not go near wolves, shifter or not. "Oli, there are many predators in this forest. Predators for bigger and stronger than us, they could also be shifters so we must be wary but we must especially be wary of wolves. They are bigger, stronger, and meaner than us. They are territorial beasts that kill anything and anyone that invades their space. So be careful if you ever encounter one run. Run with all your life." He remembered her words and without any thought, he darted out of the roots of the tree.

* * *

Alex watched in calm as Weaver opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when the motion of a red blur shot out from underneath the slightly uprooted roots of a tree. Weaver was about to give chase but was stopped by Alex, who gently bit down on his tail. "Do not give chase." Alex said firmly and Weaver pulled his ears to his head but nodded while looking into the direction the red blur had run in. 

"Was that a fox or something else?" Weaver asked once he regained himself and the urge to chase had died down. Alex nodded before saying, "I believe so. It could be one of the resident foxes that call this forest home." Weaver nodded and said no more. "We should return home and tell the pack of our finding. Let's keep the finding of two foxes a secret, I don't want anyone to give them trouble." Alex continued and Weaver nodded, standing up and walking beside Alex as they headed to the place they called home for now.

* * *

Oli's heart was pounding as he ran through the snow, his breaths came out in puffs, and prey that could have filled his belly ran in all directions. He hadn't stopped for a minute not until the scent of his sister caught his attention, he made a swift turn and headed in the direction that his sister's scent was coming from.

Kate had pounced on a squirrel killing it with a swift snap to its neck when all of a sudden she was tackled from behind. She was startled, her fur bristling as she stood up only to realize that it was her brother. She was about to say something rude but instead looked him over the scent of fear came off of him in troves. "What happened?" She asked Oli, worry lining her voice as she waited for her brother to catch his breath. "Wolves." Oli replied, still trying to catch his breath. "Wolves?" She asked curiously. "There are wolves, here in the forest. When we parted ways to hunt, I had taken the forest trail and then I heard running and decided to hide beneath the roots of the old oak tree. They were hunting a deer but then when they were done some of them took the deer back to where ever they are staying but two stayed behind." He stopped, took a deep breath in, and continued, "The one named Weaver had called the other Alpha. They sat and talked and I overheard them wanting to find me and you to talk, I would have stayed but I started feeling trapped so I ran until I scented you." Oli finished with a huff and Kate sat wide-eyed.

Fear pulsed through her body at the thought of wolves, not normal ones but rather those that could shift. She had been warned many times by her elders that wolf shifters were the most dangerous amongst the shifter community. They were territorial and didn't take too kindly to unwanted guests in their territory. "What should we do?" Her brother asked her, pulling Kate from her thoughts. "I think we should talk to them but I don't think we should return home quite yet. I don't want them to find our hollow." She said and her brother nodded, his fur finally lying flat. "Why should we talk to them?" Oli asked curiosity lining his voice." Kate looked at him and replied, "Because it's unusual for wolves to want to talk to other shifters, they could be nomadic or they could be wanting to settle themselves a home here." Her brother nodded in understanding.

"Are we gonna stay in that hollowed-out log from before?" Oli asked and he watched as his sister shook her head, "No, we'll stay in the cave near the cliffs. They'll be more protection from the weather and from unwanted guests." she replied. Oli nodded once more before his stomach began to growl with hunger. His sister smiled before offering him the squirrel that she had caught. "We can share, it's not much but it's all I could catch since our prey is either buried in the frozen ground or high in the trees." She said and Oli nodded. Together they shared the squirrels, burying the bones. Once they were done they made their way to the cliffs.