Free Web NovelChapter 30: The Alpha Wants to Show Off
Nuan crouched beside the pit and poked a piece of the bison with a wooden stick. The meat no longer felt soft and raw. Its surface had turned a beautiful, dark golden-brown, with beads of melted fat glistening on top under the firelight.
Using two forked branches like makeshift tongs, she carefully lifted the sizzling meat from the branch rack.
Hot grease dripped onto the stones below with a sharp, aggressive hiss. She laid the roasted slabs on a clean, flat stone and let them rest for a few minutes before cutting them into thick, juicy chunks.
"Everyone, let’s dig in!!!" Nuan chirped.
The wolves didn’t need to be told twice. Everyone grabbed their share of the feast, filling the den with the sound of happy chewing.
Nuan took one big, prime chunk of meat and walked over to Kael’s mother, offering it respectfully. "Please, have some."
The older wolf took it from her hands. Nuan didn’t leave immediately; instead, she stood there, anxiously staring at her as the matriarch took a slow, deliberate munch.
"What?" Kael’s mother asked, her sharp eyes cutting to Nuan.
"Uh, um... ah... what’s your name?" Nuan asked, realizing she’d been calling her ’Kael’s mother’ in her head this whole time.
"Selka," she replied before taking another big bite.
"Right. Uhm, Miss Selka... you haven’t really been talking to me since that night in the cave," Nuan said, shifting her weight onto her good leg. "Like... have I done something wrong? Is my survival logistics throwing off the pack?"
"No," Selka said calmly. "I am just observing you. You are a quite unique creature... I never thought witches were real."
"Eh, uh, haha..." Nuan let out a deeply awkward laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Selka continued, her tone blunt and grounded. "Kael went out to find a mate so he could bring her into the pack and form an Alpha pair. He did this even though he knows the younger ones will soon leave the pack to find their own territories. Well... when you finally leave, take him with you."
"Hn?" Nuan blinked.
"I am only going to guide the youngest ones until they are old enough to leave. After that, I will become a lone wolf again. I have done enough babysitting for one lifetime."
"Eh! But I’m not planning to, you know, take Kael with me!" Nuan clarified quickly, her hands flying up in panic. "I am strictly going on a solo journey! This is a one-woman survival show!"
Selka swallowed her last bite of bison, looking at Nuan with a gaze that carried way too much ancient wisdom. "He is already addicted to your scent," she murmured. "Good luck with that."
With that ominous parting phrase, she stood up, shook out her fur, and headed back toward her private den.
"What the—" Nuan stared after her, completely dumbfounded.
.
.
.
A couple of hours later, inside Kael’s den, the camp outside had finally quieted down.
Nuan sat on the smooth stone floor and opened her system screen. Inventory, extract elephant blanket. With a flash of blue pixels, the massive bundle of fabric materialized in her lap.
"I’ll sleep on the ground tonight," Nuan muttered to herself. "After all, this is more than a blanket now—it’s practically a whole giant mattress."
However, as Nuan started to unfold it, her jaw dropped. She realized it wasn’t actually anywhere near as monstrously big as she had expected when looking at it in the tent.
"It really was made for an elephant baby, I guess..." Nuan murmured, clutching the fabric as a realization hit her. "That damn trickster fox! We definitely paid extra for a standard-sized blanket! The marketing logistics completely scammed us!"
"You don’t like it?" Kael asked, walking into the den and seeing her disappointed face.
"No, it’s pretty. It’s nice..." Nuan sighed, running her hands over the plush material. "And even though it’s technically for a baby elephant, it’s still big enough for me. It works."
Wanting to test it out, Nuan lay down, wrapped one edge tightly around her torso, and started rolling herself up like a human burrito.
She flopped completely onto the ground and began wiggling around on the floor—that pure, unadulterated blanket happiness striking her hard as she snuggled into the premium warmth.
"You are moving like a worm," Kael observed, tilting his head as he watched her struggle against the fabric. "If it were day under the open sky, the big birds would pick you up to feed the kids in their nest."
"Oi! I’m just being happy inside the blanket!" Nuan hissed from within her plush cocoon, giving one last defensive wiggle.
"Blanket is good?" he asked, stepping closer and looking a bit slighted. "Better than me?"
"Well, you are warm too, but being inside a blanket is just... I can’t even express it. Have you ever actually been inside one?"
"No. I am not furless."
"Oi, I’m pretty because I’m furless! Now stop talking, I want to sleep!" Nuan snapped, pulling the edge of the elephant blanket over her ears.
"Wake up early tomorrow," Kael stated, ignoring her attempt to shut down the conversation.
"Huh, why?"
"I will take you for the hunt! I’ll show you exactly how an Alpha hunts big prey!" Kael declared, puffing out his chest even in the dim light of the cave.
"Ohh!!!!" Nuan’s head popped right out of the top of her blanket burrito, her professional interest instantly piqued. "I wanted to come! That’s great, show me around the territory, okay?"
After all, she thought, her survival host instincts completely taking over, that way I’ll finally get to map out this territory and identify the local prey behavior. I have to gather all the biological and environmental info I can before stepping out for my solo journey.
"I will show you why I am the Alpha!" Kael insisted, his voice deep and vibrating through the thick fabric as he dragged her blanket-roll closer to his chest.
He locked his heavy arms around her, his golden eyes blazing with determination. "I can hunt the biggest prey in the territory all by myself. Tomorrow, you will watch me."
Aww, his alpha ego seems to be genuinely hurt, Nuan thought, realizing how deeply her comments about the young wolves’ solo bison hunt had affected him.
"Come on, Kael, I was praising the pack’s growth, not disrespecting you," she said, trying to soothe his ruffled fur.
Kael just leaned closer to her, but because of the massive, heavy roll of the elephant blanket, she couldn’t feel the weight of his upper body at all.
"No. I want to show you everything i can do," he rumbled stubbornly.
"Hmm?" Nuan looked up at his intense expression.
But as she shifted to get some breathing room within her cocoon, her lower body bumped into something below the line of the fabric. Her eyes instantly went wide.
Even through the multiple thick layers of the baby elephant blanket, she could feel a very distinct, very rigid pressure pressed firmly against her wrapped torso.
His asset was completely raring to go, working overtime just from having her pinned under him.
Nuan let out a slow, trembling breath, staring up at the cave ceiling in sheer relief.
Oh, thank the heavens. Bless the gods and bless that scammer fox for this ultimate protection, Nuan murmured internally, clutching the edges of her cocoon like a literal shield. If I didn’t have five layers of royal elephant padding between us right now, I would be in serious structural danger.
"Okay, okay! I will watch you hunt tomorrow, I promise!" Nuan said quickly, trying to defuse his overwhelming energy before he figured out a way to unwrap her. "Now go to sleep, you giant horn-dog! Save your tracking energy for the big game tomorrow!"
