when you wake up on your own.

Summer didn't know what to make of Ferdie's disappearance and Amekaze's rise to leadership. In truth, he saw no better wolf to take the man's place than the dark she-wolf except for perhaps Jace. But still, the only alpha he had known at the Spire was Ferdie. But now he was gone, and the pack was left to deal with the choices he had made for them.

The boy had not yet met the one called Hawkeye yet, but already he felt terrible for her. She had come to them wearing her heart on her sleeve, only to be greeted with the news that their leader had abandoned them all. There was Erika and her children to think of as well. He had taken them in and claimed the pups as his own, but now he was just as absent as their true sire and so the kids were fatherless once more.

He wanted to be angry at Ferdie for leaving them, but couldn't find it in himself. Little Levi was a constant swirl of emotions, but anger was not one he typically felt. Not towards others, at least. Besides, he was rather used to important wolves in his life leaving. It was one of the reasons he was so reluctant to feel attached to any of his packmates beyond them just being friendly acquaintances, even though if he allowed himself he would see both Jace and Amekaze as something akin to his brother and sister, closer to him than anyone besides his father had ever been.

The dark wolf shook his head to get the thoughts away. It had been a long day of patrolling and marking their borders and he had no desire to succumb to his depression that day. Lowering his nose to the ground, he took a deep breath. He wasn't expecting to find anything of interest, as was typical of his patrolling. But this time was different. The recent scent of some sort of animal was thick upon the grass he had sniffed at.

Summer immediately felt his nerves begin to tingle as he lifted his head to gaze out into the woods. He breathed again, licking his lips to taste the air and spinning his ears upon his head to listen, trying to absorb any trace of the beast he could. It was a scent his father had made sure to teach him well, having had his own run-in with one of its kind that had changed his life forever. The boy turned to gaze back towards his packlands, the desire to run straight to Jace or Ame and tell them of the scent he had caught strong enough to cause his legs to ache. He stayed still, though, trying to force his brain to relax. Just because a cougar had been there recently did not mean that he needed to cause the pack to riot in panic.

Uncertain that he was making a wise choice, Summer lifted his paws and began to pad off towards the Vale, following the invisible path left by the predator. It was very rare that the Ostrega ever left his home, but a mission with a purpose in protecting that home was a good enough reason to leave it then.

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Jace was angry, and he was hurt. Angry and hurt Jace made for a very unpleasant creature, but he kept to himself mostly. Keeping track of his pack mates like a man obsessed. He wanted to rip into Ferdie, wanted to tear him apart for hurting them like this. Ferdie had promised them a home, had promised them so much and now he was missing. There was Hawkeye who was now alone again. Erika and her children who were already abandoned once, only to be abandoned again. He was angry and he wanted to talk to someone, but he didn't know who. He thought of Njal, but he had told the male he would not come near his home again. Maybe he could go around neutral territory that way and run into him maybe? After all he had to search for the blasted man, he should have listened, should have listened and now he was betrayed.

He shook his head and continued following behind Summer. He was never far from the youth, enjoying watching him grow into his own. making sure he didn't know he was watching him, it was not because he expected him to do anything wrong. It was rather just to make sure he was safe. He was going to be a welcome addition to their adult ranks, if he could just get rid of his anxiety.

Jace saw the youth as a little brother and would tear anyone apart who messed with him. Just as he would for anyone else in the pack, but the youth held a little more of his heart than most. Jace stayed a ways back and watched him. He had been marking the borders tirelessly. He watched as it seemed that he got a scent and was distressed. Jace studied him, and then off he went. Jace frowned, heading to the spot where summer had been he sniffed at the smell and the hairs rose across the ridge of his neck and shoulders. Sighing he took off at an easy lope, he was still hurt so he needed to be careful, but he wasn't about to let Summer knowingly go near a cougar. SUmmer! he called to him, hoping the boy was still in ear shot, because now the dark angel was worried.

Summer didn't get very far before he heard his name being called out somewhere behind him. He jumped in surprise and spun around to watch Jace approaching. Immediately, he felt the hot sting of guilt wash over him. Jace was not going to be pleased that he was leaving the territory on his own and probably even more so because he was following the scent of a mountain lion. The boy swallowed hard the knot in his throat, lowering his gaze and his posture submissively as the beta came to him.

"Hi Jace," Summer started, lifting his gaze to peer seriously at the older man's face, "Did you catch the scent? There's been a mountain lion near here." He felt foolish even as he said it, but there was nothing for it he supposed.

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Jace didn't say anything just looked at him. He did smile though and spoke softly Well if you're going after a mountain lion, you need a buddy. Lead the way. Don't bother it, just track it. Then Jace stood waiting, he was not exactly thrilled to be going after a mountain lion. But if Summer wanted to track it, he wasn't letting him go alone. And it was a good thing to do anyway, they needed to know if it would come after them.


Today was Summer's turn to lead ,Jace would follow him. He didn't know what the boy aspired to be trade wise, but if this was part of it. Jace was glad to help, he just waited patiently, his tail swishing behind him.

Summer's teeth dug gently into his lower lip as he listened to Jace. He was relieved to find he was not going to be lectured for the poor judgement he had been about to express by going after the cat himself, but not so relieved when Jace encouraged him to go in the lead. Summer was not a leader. At least, not that he believed. The prospect made his stomach tighten painfully with anxiety. He swallowed his feelings and gave a nervous yawn.

"Are you well enough?" he asked. It had been a while since the beta's confrontation with the Creek wolf. He did not seem to carry the burden of his injuries any longer, but Summer was smart enough to know that his friend was a wolf who preferred not to let all of his hurts be known.

Jace did not consider it poor judgement. He considered it survival, he was tracking potential dangers to them. A cougar would think nothing of killing babies for food, and no matter what, even if they were not theirs by blood. The puppies in the pack were their future.

Summer may not be a leader, but he was a respected member of this pack. And jace would make sure he would give him a little confidence. So this couldn't go wrong, he wouldn't let it. I am well enough to track as long as we stay down wind and away from it, and I am well enough to protect myself if needed as well.

*manipulates time like a god* Some minor PP in assuming Jace will just follow quietly for a while, hope you don't mind... :D

Summer nodded as his friend spoke and assured him that he was strong enough for this adventure. The boy was not about to argue with that or the man's determination to join him. He would be glad for the company. He had no intention of facing off against the cougar, if they even found it at all. His only desire was to make sure it was denning far from their pack and that the rest of its tracks showed it heading North, and its journey to Sunspire had been nothing more than a fluke.

Without a word, Summer turned and began to follow the trail. All senses were employed as he moved, his father's words again in his ears. Nose, ears, eyes... He slung his head low exploring the ground and low-lying brush as he went, searching, making sure that he did not stray from the trail. The ground they walked upon was covered in debris--old fallen leaves, small twigs, and undergrowth scattered beneath the trees that loomed like giant stalks overhead.

The trail was a meandering one. It seemed this creature moved without much purpose other than to explore. It didn't move with the purposeful direction of a creature on the hunt--at least not one who had yet found quarry. When a while into the venture they came upon a stream about as wide as a wolf, Summer hesitated. Suddenly the scent seemed to fade into the new onslaught of smells that came with water, sand, and aquatic flora and fauna. He glanced to Jace uncertainly and bit his lip, his mind racing to remember the lessons his father had taught him.

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[size=x-small]that's fine. I believe we are to find some blood remnants of Ferdie in this thread I'll send you the message sent to me is that okay?[/size]

Jace allowed Summer to take the lead. He kept a weather eye on everything and kept track of the smells and tracks as well. In this case four eyes were always better than two. Occasionally Jace would blow some of the debris and fallen leaves about, sniffing at it for any critters or signs of life from other such things.

Jace waited patiently, he imagined the cougar had jumped the stream. He looked up at the trees to see if it could get across that way. He would help if it was needed, but he wanted to wait and see if Summer could figure it out on his own.

Feel free to find some Ferdie-bits in your next post if you want ^_^

Jace wasn't offering him any help, and suddenly Summer was highly aware that he was being tested somehow. His nerves prickled painfully in his heart as he stepped forward towards the stream and lowered his nose, now more determined than ever to pick the scent back up. He paced along one side of the stream before hopping across and continuing the search. The land sloped down towards the creek on the opposite shore before dropping a foot to the level ground the faded from mud into flowing water. After pacing the area above the creek for a little while, he turned his attention back to the stream to put his eyes now to the test and see what they could find.

It took him a few minutes, but finally he found the beast again. Further upstream from where the pair had started, pressed into the mud were tracks that smelled strongly of cat. Summer whuffed gently to Jace to bring his attention to the imprints and the story they suggested. "Here we go," he said softly as his friend approached, his gaze drifting back down with concern, "It's hunting now." An involuntary shiver ran down his spine as he said the words.

"It wasn't before. It was searching before, but it's found something here by this stream. The tracks," Summer said as he gestured with his nose, "It's watching it's steps, placing it's back paws in the same spots as it's front paws. Trying to leave less of a trace, and trying to keep quieter by stepping where the ground has already shifted from it's weight."

An ominous feeling fell over the boy as he looked back to his friend. Summer's bright eyes drifted off towards the woods and he took a deep breath, now able to focus on the faded scent of the cougar since he had found the trail again. He stepped forward again finally, his heart thumping from a feeling of dread that he couldn't seem to shake.

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Jace hadn't meant to upset the youth that stood before him. He just wanted to give him the confidence he needed, because Jace knew he could do this, Summer just needed to know he could. Jace watched as Summer traced from one end to the other, he had laid his own sniffer to the cause hunting down the cat.

He found the tracks just a few moments before Summer did. Jace froze when the boy said it was hunting. He jumped up and sniffed around Cougar's are dangerous if you become inbetween their prey and them. He sniffed under a nearby bush and his body shook involuntarily.

He took a step back and sneezed a few times and then returned his nose to the ground. There were bits of fur and dander, nothing paramount, but it smelled a lot like Ferdie to Jace. Summer come here quietly and tell me what do these bits of fur and such smell like to you?

Anxiety threatened to tighten its grip on Summer's heart, but found to its surprise that it couldn't get past the urgency and sense of duty that had overwhelmed the boy. The pack was in danger and he and Jace were on the trail of the creature causing it. There was no time to fret about how he looked when he searched for a scent or other such trivial matters. There was something far more important to focus on.

And it just became even more important.

"Him," was all the response Little Levi could muster for he was too far chilled to his core to say much else. He turned his gaze to the distance where he knew the trail would take them. Somewhere along that path was his alpha, any by the look of it, the man was not in the best of shape. "We need to hurry," he said, completely oblivious to the way his tone and the way he carried himself had changed. It was beyond his place in the pack to act in such a way, but there was no time for him to worry about that as he picked up his pace and hurried off along the trail.

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Jace's eyes went wide and he shook his head, they needed to find the creature and if possible chase it away or kill it. Especially with babies in their midst now, cougars could make a snack out of them like it was nothing. He sniffed at the ground again and searched around for a trail to follow, his heart beating up a notch.

Though the situation was dire, Jace found himself smiling slightly at the boys obvious change in attitude. If he could keep this confidence always, he would do well. yes it does sound like him and yes we should. He followed behind Summer, his limp hindering him slightly, but not enough that he couldn't keep up.

Jace agreed, sending needles shooting through the boy's heart. His hackles lifted along his spine as he padded swiftly along the trail, employing all of his senses now to find the wolf that had been their leader from the beginning. Here and there as they went were more signs of both the cougar and Ferdie--a tuft of fur, an imprint in the dirt of a paw, a marking upon a leaf. Wherever they were going, it seemed oddly like both creatures were hunting, although who was hunting who, Summer found he could not tell. The scents became muddled, either by design or the rising dread that tried so desperately to seer through the Ostrega's determined concentration towards finding the missing alpha.

It was a while later that Summer slowed to a stop in a clearing. He stared fearfully at the ground, which was littered with broken branches, torn foliage and prints that made it quite clear that there was been some sort of scuffle here. The place stank of blood and cat and wolf and the visual evidence left no doubt in Summer's mind that this was where the hunt had come to an end.

"I don't understand," Summer whined softly, coming down from his surge of un-Summer-like behavior to the anxious youth he often was. He turned to Jace, worry in his eyes. "They were definitely here, but.. where did they go?" And who in the end had become the prey?

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An involuntarily shudder worked it's way up Jace's back and into his neck fur. His hackles stood on end and he suppressed a growl of distaste. There were different markers and for every marker, the more the feeling of dread worked it's way down into Jace's guts. To sit there like a rock sinking in a pond, going deeper and deeper and leaving an ache behind it.

All too soon they came to the one thing that Jace had feared. Clearly a battle had taken place, and there was no real winner. He sighed as he sniffed at the branches and the blood, growling low in his throat in angst. He lifted black head and looked around with bright blue eyes.

I don't know where they went, and we can's continue on. Especially now that is clear that the cougar knows he was being followed. We have to go back tell Amekaze and get a bigger party of trackers. Come Summer, I'm sorry you have done well and I wish we could continue, but it is too dangerous for just the two of us and Ferdie was foolish for taking it on himself. this was largely contradictory as Jace would have done the same thing, but he would have at least howled ot let someone know. Ferdie didn't even do that.

Last post for me! *hi5*

Summer gazed off in the distance as Jace made his statements on the matter. He felt conflicted on exactly how to feel about the situation. Part of him was worried for Ferdie, another angry with the man for so stupidly trying to take on a cougar on his own. Then again, it was foolish for Summer to have tried to go track the creature down on his own, wasn't it? So he too was rather a hypocrite, wasn't he?

The dark youth nodded and turned his sunlit eyes to the beta's face. He didn't want to go--wanted to continue and find his likely injured and maybe even dying alpha, but now was not the time. He agreed that it was too dangerous for the two of them to go alone, and he did not like the thought of Jace, still struggling with his injury, coming to confrontation with the feline who had caused this mess. So, Summer followed obediently as the beta turned and directed their path back to the Sunspire, his mind moving to begin plotting how they were going to find Ferdie as opposed to what state they would find him in.

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