Heron Lake Plateau Drive there, then drive back again

WC: 878

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With the drearily early onset of winter came a soft dusting of snow that was wet and cool, but at least it came without the harrowing wind. With the temperature being on the slightly warmer side, the snowflakes that fell were massive- sticking together as they fell. Only an hour later into the day, those snowflakes had turned to freezing rain which had intensified, and Niamh had gotten caught in the middle of it while she had been out patrolling and calling out for her brother. Ice pellets fell from the sky- and they were slightly wet, so they had a bit of an impact when they hit, and then would melt on Niamh’s soft golden fur. The ground underfoot did not take long to get covered in an inch of ice pellets, and Niamh knew that if the temperature dropped they’d all be walking on a bottle. She had seen freezing rain before, and knew that it caused even more problems than snow did. Especially if snow came after the layer of ice pellets on the ground had frozen solid; then they’d be walking on a bottle without knowing it.

Niamh detested it, but couldn’t move too fast in the ice storm as even walking was difficult with the ground covered in ice pellets. It was similar to walking on sand, but even more unstable as the ice pellets were smoothe and moved away from her feet as she walked, sometimes twisting one of her feet sideways if she didn’t slow down enough. In this kind of weather, they risked having members wipe out or twist an ankle, so she called out warning the pack that the footing was dicey. But with the downpour of ice pellets, her voice only carried so far, and its message was perhaps a bit skewed by the white noise that surrounded her on all sides. She sighed gently, and resolved that she would just return to the den she shared with Colt, dry herself off, and nap until it was all over.

There was no point in hunting in this kind of weather either, so she decided to hit a cache later on in the day, in case the ice had begun to freeze. She was starting to get a bit hungry, but she didn’t want to be scuffling around in the ice and dirt to find a meal on her way back to the den. Truth be told, she was only hungry because she hadn’t eaten the day prior, and couldn’t remember if she’d even eaten the day before that. She’d tried to take care of herself, and Colt was keeping an eye on her too. While he was handling Ceara’s disappearance relatively well, Niamh could only think that the worst had happened to Ambrose. A lone wolf against a cougar wouldn’t stand a chance. Though no body had been found, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d only made it so much further away before the cougar had taken him down and possibly eaten him.

It frustrated her that she was not allowed to go searching for him the same way that several wolves had gone searching for Ceara. It seemed like the fiery woman had gotten special treatment, and that was treatment that was not on the table whatsoever for Ambrose. She had been jealous of Ceara before- after all, would the pack have moved so much to find her, if she’d gone missing? Or was Ceara simply a case that tugged on everyone’s heartstrings? She was the sort to be over-dramatic and blow things out of proportion so naturally, the others would want to see that she was safe. But what if Niamh had been kidnapped? Would they have gone searching for her, too? Colt would have- as he didn’t give a damn about what anyone else thought...But what about the others? She couldn’t help but doubt that any other wolves would care so much about her, as they cared about Ceara’s disappearance- especially now, when Ambrose’s injuries and disappearance were more or less being shuffled under the carpet.

Having been jealous of Ceara already didn’t help her at all in this current situation. Denied any right to search for him, Niamh had prowled the area endlessly, searching for any sign of either Ambrose or the cougar, but had found none. She was not allowed to go any further than that...And she found herself yearning to break free of those constraints. She wasn’t even allowed to send anyone else out looking for him, which damn near drove her crazy. Ceara’s special treatment had turned Niamh firmly against the fiery woman, who she was not sure she could accept if she came back. The little bit of progress they had made was disappearing like sidewalk chalk under the pressure of a heavy downpour. She knew that life allegedly wasn’t fair- but this amount of injustice was just beyond tolerance.

Still, she would abide by Quixote’s law even though it was beginning to turn her sour. Colt’s words resonated inside her in her mind, and she began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t been right. Perhaps their alphas were corrupt, and had been doing things wrong. But would she ever be able to do better?

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