Ribbon.

On the morning of the fourth day, Kel'luknar was woken abruptly by a shouting Layer.
"Lucky! Lucky! LUUUUCKYYYY! Lucky, wake up!"
Hands fiercely shook the young wolfe, followed by a short lick to the face. Begrudgingly, Kel'luknar rolled over and blinked sleepy eyes at the Layer. The sun coming in from the entrance to the cave illuminated wisps of Sodre's curly chestnut hair, lighting it up like a halo around his head. Lucky was tempted, briefly, to reach out and touch the little half-wolfe, to draw him close and press his nose into that hair, to lay his scent down over that lithe body. Instead, he grunted and pointedly refused to wake up.
"What is it, RooRoo?"
A soft sepia tail slapped gently against Lucky's bare human thigh, tickling the skin pleasantly. Tendrils of a sweet scent spilled across from Sodre's direction, and the wolfe pulled away a little.
"Outside! Come look!" Sodre dashed to the brightly lit mouth of the cave, then back to the makeshift bed of hay, furs, and leaf litter, then back to the cave mouth. "Lucky! Come look! Footprints!"
This woke Kel'luknar up entirely. He leapt to his feet.
"Footprints? Whose? Roo, get back from the door! Come here!"
the Layer obeyed, but with barely restrained excitement.
"I don't know whose! But there's just one set, so nothing scary."
Kel'luknar glanced skeptically at the Layer as he braided his dark hair back from his face.
"Just one set can be scary, if you don't know who it belongs to." the wolfe's eyes narrowed. "Stay here. I'm going to go investigate."
Sodre sighed dramatically, but plunked himself down onto the ground by their bed. When Lucky went to move past him, however, he gasped, pointed, and giggled.
"Hey! You sleep without a tail on!"
Kel'luknar frowned and lifted a hand to check his rear. True enough, he had faded into a full shift in his sleep, and his thick black wolfish tail was gone. He glared indignantly at Sodre.
"I don't always. It just happens sometimes." he frowned. "I cannot control my sleep, Sodre."
The Layer squealed in delight.
"You look like your badi!"
As any wolfe of 19 would, Kel'luknar took full offense to that, and stalked irritably out of the cave, purposely not shifting his tail back out again.

A few minutes later, the wolfe returned, shaking his head.
"Don't know who it was. Not our pack - probably not even a wolfe. No markings anywhere. Maybe humans? But didn't smell like humans. Didn't smell like Louts either." Lucky paced into the center of the cave and frowned. "Don't know who it was."
Sodre shrugged and beat his tail against the floor.
"Well, we just need more clues! Whoever it was, they're gone now, if you didn't smell them. So we can both investigate!"
The Layer got to his feet and made to dash past the wolfe; Kel'luknar stopped him with one arm, then dropped him just as suddenly.
"Ac'thal!"
Sodre paled and jerked away.
"What?"
Lucky shook his head, then squeezed his eyes shut and opened them several times.
"OK." he said, recovering. "Time to go home."
"What was it?!" Sodre demanded, worried. Lucky squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"The smell again. Your smell. Stronger." he looked up at the Layer. "You have to go. Come on. Let's get you home. Three days are up. We're leaving."
Kel'luknar turned to collect the supplies they'd brought, but Sodre stayed in place and tucked his tail beneath his thigh.
"I can't go, Lucky." he said, quietly. The wolfe turned back to face him.
"Why not?" Kel'luknar asked, cautiously.
Sodre exhaled, scrunched his brows together, and lifted his shirt to reveal his torso to Kel'luknar.
"Egg still hasn't regenerated yet." he tried to meet the wolfe's eyes, but Lucky seemed to be transfixed by the swath of tan skin that was exposed before him. Eventually, he shook himself out of it.
"Don't care, Layer. You have to go back."
Sodre looked desperately up at Kel'luknar.
"No, please! My badi will be mad! I'll get in trouble! You'll get in trouble!"
Lucky shook his head.
"We'll get in more trouble if you stay here. Believe me. You have to go."
The Layer whined wildly.
"Lucky, why?!"
Kel'luknar, fed up with Sodre's protesting antics, turned and lunged at the smaller youth, knocking him backwards onto the ground.
"BECAUSE, Sodre," he snapped, "I think this is my heat."
Kelluk just let those words sink in for the Layer for a few seconds before he backed off and let the younger one up. Sodre looked surprised, and his glossy brown curls were mussed.
"OK." he said. "So I have to go home."
Lucky nodded.
"So you have to go home."
The Layer sniffed.
"OK. Fine. Will you go back with me?"
Kel'luknar, suddenly feeling bad for the harsh display, reached out and squeezed the Layer's hand.
"Of course I will go back with you. You think I'd let you travel alone? You get into enough trouble as it is."
Sodre forced a smile.
"OK. Then maybe I guess we're going home now?"
Lucky nodded.
"I think that would be best."
Sodre bit his lip.
"OK. OK. I'll help get the rest of the stuff, I guess." he glanced towards the cave mouth. "I gotta go out first, though."
Lucky grunted.
"I'll be here."
Sodre nodded.
"OK. I'll be right back."

The next sound that Kel'luknar heard was the Layer's scream echoing through the trees. He ran outside without shifting, panicked, heart pounding, just in time to see the Layer being dragged, unconscious, into the center of the clearing, a dart protruding from his thigh. Kel'luknar counted six humans, but before he could shift, move, or so much as growl, the wolfe felt a pinprick at the back of his neck, and the world turned upside down and went out.

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