Blue

Eli continued to stare at the door that Mama had so quickly hurried out of, with the double barreled gun in her hand.

“You… think we should follow her? She might get herself in trouble…” Eli asked tentatively. Ashton snorted.

“She seems the type, doesn’t she? And I don’t know. She said for you to stay here. I figure there’s trouble, which would be better if you didn’t get involved in.”

“But still…” Eli wasn’t going to give up so easily, torn between wanting to follow right after her, or stay with Ashton.

“You want me to go see what she’s up to?”

Eli grimaced. He really didn’t want to be alone, but he also didn’t want Mama to get herself hurt. After a moments thought, he finally nodded. Mama was much more important than his own personal needs.

Soon after, Ashton followed after Mama leaving Eli all on his lonesome, with only Ashton telling him not to leave the house until he got back.

He sighed, opting to sit down for a little while instead of standing.

What to do, what to do?

The red wolf got back up, walking to the window. No sign of them yet.

He huffed. There was nothing to do! It was the main reason he did his best to keep out of trouble, so that he didn’t get confined to the house.

Maybe it would be alright if he just stood outside? Then he could run back in easily if he saw something suspicious.

But, right when he was about to step out of the cottage, a loud bang went off, and the sudden fright sent him to the floor.

When it finally got through that it was a gun shot that went off, farther into the forest, worry struck him hard, and he didn’t even think as he took off running through the forest, towards where he heard the shot originate.

What if Mama… if Ashton! If they got shot? What if they ended up like the brown wolf? Eli wouldn’t be able to handle it. Not with his puppies on the way. He needed both of them.

Soon he caught a scent on the air, Mama’s, and Ashton’s, along with what he was sure was the man he’d encountered before.

He slowed to a walk when he began to see figures past the trees, recognizing them easily once he was close enough.

It was as he thought, Mama, Ashton, and the man, though, the scene was a little odd.

Ashton stood off a little behind Mama, who had her gun trained on the man, who himself had his gun and his empty hand pointed to the sky, and backed up against a tree. A little above his head was a flurry of holes

Ashton noticed him immediately, his movement to his smaller mate alerting the others that he had arrived.

The look on Mama’s face made him want to turn straight around and go home, but he stood his ground.

She barely looked at him for more than a few seconds, before turning back to the man that had only done so much to turn his head to look at him.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Mama said, anger deep in her voice. Eli licked his lips, but kept his mouth shut. Mama wouldn’t like any answer he could give her. At least not any truthful ones.

And Mama didn’t look like she was in the mood to be lied to.

Ashton moved closer to him, shielding Eli with his body and making him step back.

Despite that, Eli was still able to look around his side, and met the man’s eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Mama asked again, but this time it wasn’t towards Eli. The man seemed hard-pressed to turn his eyes back to Mama, but he finally did.

“I…” The man trialed off, not having caught the question, too caught on Eli. “El… What…”

His words where disjointed, but his confusion was quickly turning to anger.

“I asked you what you were doing here.” Mama snapped, keeping the attention on her.

“I heard that there were…” The man trailed off, looking at Eli again.

Mama snorted, and all eyes turned to her. “What? That there were wolves up here, too? Thought you’d take it upon yourself to take care of them?”

Ashton’s hand went behind him, catching on Eli, and pushed him back another step.

When the man didn’t answer, Mama urged him on. “No… that wasn’t what I came here for.”

Mama stiffened, as he gave her a pointed look.

“It’s been a long time, El.”

Eli cocked his head to the side, calling out from behind Ashton. “Mama? What’s he mean?”

Mama’s head tilted slightly, as if she wanted to look back at him, but decided against it, rather to keep watching the man in front of her.

“Jack, if you want to keep your life, I’d suggest you get right on out of here.”

Her voice was firm as she cocked the gun, her gun aimed straight at the man, Jack.

Whoever he was, knew better than to mess with Mama when ticked off. Even Eli could easily say that she would follow through with her threat.

The man’s arm, that still held the gun aimed at the sky, lowered until it was pointed to the ground.

His sigh was sad, giving the woman a longing look before turning his back on them.

Mama watched him leave, not looking away even after he was completely out of sight. She finally lowered the gun, and Eli stepped up to her.

“Mama?” He questioned, touching her arm slightly.

“Go home, Eli.” She said quietly, not even waiting for him to say anything as she walked off towards the way of the cottage.

He moved to follow her, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Turning back, he saw Ashton, shaking his head slightly, before pulling towards their own home.

---

Eli hated it when Mama was sad. It didn’t happen a lot, and it took a while until she got out of her funk, but even this was too much. It had been over a week since the incident with Jack. He’d gone to see Mama the night after, but each time he went, the door would be locked. Even the garden was suffering, weeds popping up and overtaking the plants.

He didn’t like this at all. Ashton only told him to give Mama time, and he tried, but he couldn’t stand when he wasn’t able to see her. This was supposed to be a happy time. She was supposed to be happy that she was going to be getting little pups to spoil rotten.

But today, Eli wasn’t going to give up. He wasn’t going to leave until he got to talk to Mama.

Though, maybe he should have thought of a different plan, other than standing in front of the door for hours on end. Ashton had come to see if he’d made any progress a few times, even stayed a bit, before leaving again.

Still, nothing.

And he knew that Mama knew he was out there. He made enough commotion to be extremely annoying. It was starting to worry him a little, but since he couldn’t smell death, he was positive Mama had at least been keeping herself looked after.

It was getting hot, though. He would have been fine dealing with it, and would have stayed out there even longer, but now that he had pups, the last thing he needed was to do something that would end up harming them.

Eli stood up from where he was sitting, leaning against the wall next to the door, and was about to take his leave, when he heard a noise come from the door behind him.

When he turned around, he saw it was open a crack.

He didn’t even hesitate as he walked through the door, immediately spotting Mama sitting in a chair around the table.

“Mama?” He walked to the table, and sitting himself in the other chair.

She didn’t look too well. Not sickly, but sad.

For a while, it was completely quiet. Finally, with a dry voice, she spoke.

“He was the son of the farmer who took me in after I ran away from my pack.” She started off, her eyes on her hands, that were clasped together on top of the table. “He had his own place, close to the far, and stopped by to help his mother. She was a sickly woman, and the farmer was out in the fields all day. Jack… lived in the town, not far from the farm. Hunted for a living.”

Her voice shook, and she exhaled, calming herself down.

“I always knew that if I ever told him what I was, he’d hate me. They feared what I am, what we are, but I was so stupid. I thought I knew everything. I thought that, if he didn’t know, nothing bad would ever happen. Eventually I got to the point that I just knew that even if he had found out, he’d accept me.

Either way, I did everything to make myself appear more human. I didn’t let my urges get a hold of me. They never knew a thing.

One night, he told me… he had plans for his future. Plans for the two of us. Being a hunter didn’t get him any money, so he started working the odd job here and there, and I was… happy.”

Her body trembled again, and Eli had to force himself to keep himself in his chair, as the urge to hug her became almost unbearable.

“Then, one night, I’d caught word that the boys were planning something. I didn’t bother about it. I had no idea what it was, nor did I care. If I’d known…”

“Mama?” He urged when she trailed off again. She finally looked up at him, swallowing thickly.

“A day after that, I was heading to the local inn, to pick something up from the innkeepers wife. They came in soon after. Some were covered in wounds and blood, some where unscathed, but what really caught my attention, was Jack. The smell of my pack was all over them, and I knew immediately what they done.

I… I heard what they were talking about, but I still couldn’t believe…”

Mama looked Eli in the eye, the saddest look in her eye he’d ever seen, even more so then what he’d seen a week before, after Jack left.

“He had you, Eli. Had you by the scruff of your neck. They were talking about a mounting you like a trophy. They were going too…

As I said when I told you before, I have no idea what happened next. I could barely bring myself to care. The next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the forest, with you in my arms. Hell, I didn’t even know you were Ester and Ira’s babe, despite you were covered in their blood.

I got as far away as I could, and I found this place. Made us a home far away from everything…”

Mama finally seemed finished with her story, and Eli took the time to take it all in.

He wasn’t sure what to think about it. He had no idea Mama had ever gone through something like that. That he had.

He was torn between being glad he was so young, and wishing that he was older. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to remember something like that, but then, he also wanted to see for himself what had happened.

He’d known for a long time that Mama wasn’t his mother, he still loved her the same, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to know what his real family was.

Eli opened his mouth, to say something, anything to make Mama happier, but his mind was completely blank. Mama stood up suddenly, moving around the table quickly and surprised Eli when she threw her arms around his neck, her face nuzzling into hair.

He didn’t need to say anything at all.

---

I suppose I should point out that the next chapter is the epilogue.

Don‘t forget to review, then. :)