Chapter 31: 30

Cooking the steaks went smoothly thanks to the metal grate that was near by the fire pit, just a quick clean, and grilling the steaks on top of it went smoothly. The sizzling of the meat and the tantalizing smell of the salt and pepper coming off them mixed wonderfully with the heat of the fire, giving relief to Nat and the wolves that lay down beside her. The three of them basked in the warmth of the fire, letting it seep into their strained and exhausted muscles. After all of the travelling and running today, mixed in with the fighting had caused them to exert themselves a lot more than they had originally expected. It was normally a four hour walk to Mountain View from Waterton, but it had taken them about six hours to get to a farm right before it. It was hard to tell time with no working clocks around.
Just as the steaks were finishing up, the coyotes walked out of the Soulscape. Smelling the food, they slowly walked up to the fire. Before they got too close, Natalie called out, "I would not get close to that, the fire will hurt. Besides, I need to check out your wounds from before." A quick yip had the three coyote pups running around the area, going to join with the wolf pups in their games. Nat and the two coyotes watched on as the wolf pups welcomed in the coyotes and started playing with them immediately. It was adorable watching the three smaller pups keeping up and playing with the bigger adolescent pups. Slowly the two coyotes came over to her and hesitantly let her check them over. Their natural aversion to humans battling them as they tried to trust this one who had saved them.
Checking them over, Nat was relieved to see that there was no sign off infection, and that the cuts across their muzzles were already healing smoothly. Letting them know that they were all good, the coyotes immediately backed up and took up their own area near the fire pit. They groomed each other for a bit, before the female looked over at Natalie. 'Don't worry. Not scared. Just cautious.' Nat let out a sigh of relief. She thought that the coyotes had backed off because they were scared of her as most animals were. Humans tended to be big and intimidating to most smaller animals.
"Thank fuck. Well, do you or you pups have names? It would make it easier to talk as it has been easier to talk with Shadow and Ash here since they got names." After going through the same song and dance that she originally did with Kali and the other wolves, she found that the coyotes did not in fact have names as well. Maybe it was a human thing. After checking which gender the pups were, she decided to give the names Edwin and Lucille to the two adult coyotes, while she gave the pups the names Bob, Joe, and Sue. They seemed pleased with the names, especially the pups who just started putting even more energy into the race they were having with the other pups. "So, do you all usually sleep during the day?" Nat asked the two adult coyotes.
'Yes. Pups may sleep at night. We will sleep during day. Keep watch at night.' Hearing this, Natalie felt like an idiot. They had been extremely lucky thus far, as all of them had been sleeping together in a closed up tent. Not once had they been attacked, but not once had they ever set up a watch for when they were sleeping. Thanking the coyotes for their offer, she made sure to stress that if they needed or wanted anything, all they had to was ask. When they mentioned they were hungry, Maia offered to hunt a couple extra hares. They were not going for an elk today as Shadow and Ash were too exhausted. When they responded kindly to the offer for a couple hares, two recently hunted hares were tossed their way out of Natalie. It was still weird for her to have dead animals being tossed out of herself, but she was slowly getting more used to it as the predators did it repeatedly.

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Taking the steaks off the grate, Nat got them stored first by Kali before digging in. She made a mental note to store the grate later, when it was not piping hot from the fire. As she bit into the steak, she found that she had left it on a little long and instead of medium rare, it was more well done. While some people really enjoyed it being cooked this much, Nat was not one of those people. She had gotten distracted by the coyotes coming out and lost track of the time. Not one to waste food, she persisted through and ate the tough steaks. Its not that she did not like the taste, she just preferred them more juicy and tender to how they currently were.
After everything from supper was cleaned up, she just sat their by the fire, enjoying the view of all of the pups playing together. It was rare for wolves to just let others into their pack easily, but there was no discrimination against the new members. The adults talked back and forth kindly, while the pups just had fun playing. When asked about it, Kali just responded, 'Alpha let them in, of course they are part of pack.' After being impressed at Kali's growth with the English language, she took what Kali had said to heart. All of them viewed her as the Alpha. Therefore, if she made a decision, all of them would follow it to the letter. This worried her more than it supported her, as she was not used to leading people, and all of the canines had faith and followed her lead without question. The stress of being responsible for all of them ate at her for a short while.
At least, it did until Kali nuzzled up against her shortly after the thought came to mind. 'Don't worry. I will question.' Hearing this, Nat was relieved. She was glad that Kali was able to pick up what she was feeling, and know that she needed support. Raising her hand, Nat scratched behind Kali's ears. How she had such a helpful second was a blessing that she would never question. After scratching her for a little while, Nat got her tent set up in the yard. Something about sleeping in someone else's home felt wrong. As She watched Kali bring it out, she noticed it already filled with pillows and blankets. Giving Kali a side eye glance, she said good night to the coyote couple and crawled into the tent. As she fell asleep, the familiar warmth of all the canines piling on top of her comforted her into a quick and restful sleep.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Coen, Adam, John, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times.

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