From the prompt: "Eyes of ice..."
"First Blood"
The eyes of winter watched the night, watching her children play. Her gaze fell upon a lone figure, a boy walking through the trees. On the longest night of the year, the hunters would reign.
(White Paw, come play!) Long Tail yipped, bounding away from the pack cubs.
Tobias reached out and stroked her ears. (I�ll play for a while, Sister. But tonight is your first hunt.)
(Change and come play!) Short Snout added.
Tobias smiled at him and shut his eyes. He felt the change ripple over his body, and when he opened his eyes he had a new perspective of the world. He could hear things he�d never heard before, a heartbeat, a bug crawling up a tree. And the things he could smell...
Long Tail nipped at his snout playfully. He swiped back at her with a snowy white paw, yipping. His brother name was White Paw because both of his forepaws were white in sharp contrast to the rest of his gray glossy coat.
Black Fur, the alpha male, led the pack out into the trees. Even though White Paw was a young adult, he hung back with the rest of the cubs, flanked by Short Snout and Long Tail. White Paw picked up the scent of a rabbit hole, but Black Fur beat him to it, whining softly and pointing with one paw.
The pack surrounded the entrance to the den and waited. Blunt Fang, the alpha female, nudged the cubs forward with her nose. The adults would catch the rabbits and eat some of them, leaving the others for the cubs. White Paw and the other young adults would be hunting for the cubs. Black Fur and Blunt Fang set about digging into the rabbits� den. The others were poised, ready to give chase.
Blunt Fang broke through the dirt first, and white lightning exploded across the forest floor. White Paw took off after it, the smell of prey invading his senses. He could hear the rabbit�s jackhammer heart rate, see it sprinting desperately before him. He pursued it, body moving languidly, heart rate never rising, but melding, melding with the heartbeat of the rabbit, the two beats falling into each other, rising and weaving around each other to create the rhythm of the dance of the hunt. White Paw was strangely calm, running with the midnight wind. He saw the rabbit begin to tire, then leapt. He soared through the air and pounced on the rabbit, and their heartbeats were one for an instant before his jaws closed over its neck and jerked.
He turned and trotted back to where the other cubs were, the rabbit in his mouth. The cubs gathered around him eagerly, yipping. White Paw set down the food, and the cubs lunged for it, small jaws snapping.
White Paw trotted over to the adults� feeding circle. Black Fur lifted his head, fresh blood dripping from his mouth.
(Will you feed with us, White Paw brother? Your first hunt was quite well done.)
(No, brother, I must go,) White Paw answered. (I must feed on my own.)
He turned and ran, then, liquid movement the color of shadows cutting through the night.
(Ugh, I,) he muttered to himself. (My name is Tobias, I...)
It was hard to come back to the human mindset. Hard.
He trotted for the cave where his clothes were stashed. He hadn�t quite learned to shift with clothes yet � Death hadn�t explained that.
He was about to sling into the cave when he heard another person. A human.
�Oh,� she breathed. A girl was on the edge of the trees. �A wolf.�
(State the obvious,) Tobias thought.
She was gazing at him, eyes wide. He pinned her with his gaze.
�You have beautiful eyes,� she whispered.
He vanished into the cave.
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© Agent Duo 2004