Roleplaying

Sora's ears started to droop. Justin thought she still wanted to be with Gabriel after all this. As Sora padded away sadly, towards the entrance, her ears were on the sides of her head. Sora waited at the opening of the cave for a while and ended up leaving shortly thereafter with her tail and ears dropping. The blizzard had stopped for the most part. Sora didn't even feel the snowflakes land on her fur.

A couple hours passed and Sora returned with a freshly killed buck. There was enough food for all of them for now. Her heart felt like it was shattering for the second time in her life. She needed to set things right between Justin, Gabriel and herself. She got her chance when Gabriel followed her outside and started bugging her, telling her that Justin had given up on winning her over.

Something in Sora snapped when Gabriel brushed up against her. She spun around and snarled at Gabriel, catching him off-guard. She growled and snarled at him, telling him to back off and that they were not mates anymore. She also snarled that he could not pretend that they were still mates, that it was over and she refused to be his mate again. Both wolves were seen storming off, away from each other. Sora hoped that she drove her point home. She was not his mate and would never be his mate ever again.

Sora noticed Justin walking away from Veronica's den. He looked so sad, so heartbroken. Sora calmed down a bit and raced towards Justin. Sora wanted to jump on him and lick him all over, but restrained herself. Justin would not understand why she was behaving that way. Justin still thought that she loved Gabriel after all they had been through.

Sora panted when she reached Justin. She had so much to tell him. Hopefully he would listen to her. It was going to take a while to explain it all to Justin. Sora also hoped that Justin heard some of her conversation with Gabriel. Before he turned around, Sora put her head down and began to wag her tail softly back and forth. It was a submissive posture, and somewhat embarrassing for a former Alpha like Sora to do, but Sora wanted to tell him that it was alright now, that she had sorted things out between Gabriel and herself.

When Justin turned around, Sora looked into his eyes saying, "Justin, I know that I have a lot to explain, but I'd like to start, if you will let me. I think it's time that I told you about my past. I should have told you a long time ago and I regret not telling you sooner. My past," Sora broke off sadly then continued. "My past is very painful and it is hard for me to talk about it even now, but I would gladly share it with you if it will help you understand." Sora paused, wondering if she should continue. Sora walked a little in front of Justin, praying that he would walk with her.

Sora was shocked. "Gabriel is dead?! No! It can't be! I just saw him not too long ago, next to the forest! He just talked to Justin and me a few minutes ago!" Sora cried out but Veronica wasn't lying, Sora could tell by the look on Veronica's face. She told the truth. Sora slumped down to the ground in her wolf form, tears starting to fall down her face. She felt the rest of the pack around her, but it gave her little comfort at all, if any. Sora was faintly aware of Justin trying to comfort her. "I didn't even get a chance to apologize or say goodbye. The last thing that I told him was that I did not want to be his mate anymore," Sora cryed into Justin's fur.

Sora, along with Axel and Veronica, was lost. Not only did she lose her packmate, she lost her former mate, her childhood pal, her best friend. Now Sora just sobbed into Justin's dark brown fur. Sora raised her head and sadly, softly spoke the words,"I'm sorry." Justin only seemed to pull her closer. The whole pack was sufferring this pain, this loss together.

The following day, Sora was still grieving for Gabriel and hardly ate anything. Any prey that she caught was given to the rest of the pack. Sora could only be seen lying down at the front of Veronica's cave with her head on her paws when she wasn't out hunting. Even when Lillian came close to her and tried to snuggle up to her, Sora felt nothing. Her heart felt like it had turned into ice and would shatter any moment. Only when she saw Justin did she perk her ears up and raise her head to look at him.

Three days later, Sora was almost back to her own self. Sora missed Gabriel, but even she knew that she could not dwell on the fact that he died forever. Now, all of Sora's spare energy was spent on hunting and guarding the cave. It was because of this and the fact that she had not eaten hardly anything in the past three days that Sora fell onto her side. Sora had exhausted herself from hunting all of the time and taking few breaks in between. A gentle breeze hinted at the start of a snow storm, but Sora just let it brush against her fur. She shut her eyes and fell asleep somewhere in the forest next to her cave, hoping to regain her strength soon.

Sora's ears twitched. She heard the snow crunching as a wolf curled up next to her. It didn't smell like any of her pack mates. This scent was different. Sora opened one of her eyes to see a small gray wolf pup lying next to her. To say that Sora had been surprised would have been an understatement.

"Where did this wolf pup come from and how did they survive this long?" Sora asked herself as she straightened up. Sora rose to her paws. She could not leave this poor pup out in the cold and if these two wolves stayed outside in this weather, they would freeze to death. Another storm was blowing in and it would not take long before visibility reached zero. Sora sniffed at the pup. It hardly looked old enough to be alone. Sora guessed that the pup was only a few months old, but it was hard to tell since they were so small. This pup looked like it was starving and cold.

After a while, Sora knew what she should do. Sora licked the small pup, trying to get them warm. These cold winds could kill a pup, especially a small one like the one next to Sora's paws. Once Sora felt like they had warmed up a bit, she gently picked up this pup by their scruff and trotted towards Veronica's den.

Sora hoped that her sharp fangs were not digging into the pup's scruff. Sora picked her up as though the pup was a delicate flower. Sora walked into Veronica's cave, hoping that her pack would accept this pup like they had accepted Lillian.

Sora placed the pup down softly. The rest of her pack gave her questioning glances, but did not say anything. Sora nodded at the small pup at her paws and told her pack, "I found this pup out in the cold while I was out hunting. She would have died without my help." Sora's voice was a little rough around the edges though she did not mean for it to be. Sora was still tired after hunting and guarding almost nonstop, not to mention that she needed to take care of this lone pup.

The snow storm was blowing by the cave outside, so hunting would have to wait. For now, at least, Sora picked up the pup and found herself a warm spot, near the entrance. It was tucked out of the way, in a large corner. Sora set down the frail pup next to her. After yawning, Sora curled up and wrapped her tail firmly around the pup that Sora found in the snowstorm. As she lay her head down besides the pup, Sora wondered what Justin would do now that Gabriel was gone from the world forrever. Would he lay down beside Sora, or would he ignore her?

Sora had busied herself with hunting and helping Veronica treat wounds during the following days. For whatever reason, Justin appeared to be keeping his distance from Sora. Sora still had not found a chance to really talk to him about everything she needed to. He always looked distant or lost in thought now. Unfortunately, Sora had to take care of the pup that she found and hardly had a chance to say anything to him these days. Unless someone took care of this pup for her, Sora would not have much of a chance of talking with Justin and straightening things out between them.

Sora found her chance about a week later when the other pack members' wounds were healing well and the little pups were sleeping inside the cave. Veronica was finishing up sorting some herbs. Sora waited until she was done before she asked her question. "Veronica," Sora started, "Would you do a favor for me? I need you to take care of these pups for a while. I really just need to straighten things out between Justin right now. Please, would you watch them until I get back?" Sora pleaded softly. She knew that this was a lot to ask of Veronica but she was the only wolf Sora could ask this favor of. Sora only hoped that Veronica would agree.