Dawn had relaxed after Sunlight was found, though a thought at the edge of her mind still lingered, stopping her from calming down fully. Where was Dusk? He had been the one to organise the event anyway, why wasn’t he here?

She sighed and strolled over to the Bloody-prey pile, in which the Lambda and Kappas had restocked just that day. They had a Dried-prey pile for old food and back-up human food, but the Bloody-prey pile was the life of the party, the one they shared every night while gathering, in which the best prey is kept.

She picked out a small rabbit for herself, not wanting to intrude on others, letting those in need take it first. She saw Melanie pick out a majestic, crystallised deer and took out her holo to record the following things as Mellie was famous for being a huge, spoiled troublemaker. She started recording just as Mellie took a few bites from it. Mel left the clearing for a while, and brought back a tuft of wolf fur. It was… No… Merlina’s fur! She must have known the deer was for the celebration and the celebration alone, and wanted to trick the pack to get Merlina in trouble. Dawn quickly hurried over and hissed at Mellie, “What do you think you’re doing?”

She glanced at Dawn, her gaze hardening, “You and Merlina don’t deserve to be where you are, I do. I should be the one in Dusk’s eyes!”

Dawn headed after her, yapping, “Mellie! See reason! I don’t even like Dusk and you shouldn’t blame Merlina!”

“Oh, do you don’t like Dusk, eh?” Mellie glared at Dawn angrily. 

“I… I…” Dawn’s desperate stammers faded off into nothingness. 

Mellie glared at her, and stormed off, calling out from her storm, “You’ll remember this! You will!”

Dawn gazed despairingly after her, her brows creased with worry. What was Mellie going to do? And more importantly, what did she mention about Dusk?

The festivities continued on, mostly normal, but she couldn’t stand the two small bites at the deer’s flank. From before her training with Merlina, she had been an excellent hunter, what of she… No, she couldn’t! But should she?

She prowled off to the corner, and muttered to the prey-pile guards, “I’m going to freshen up and prep the deer,” They looked surprised, as it was unusual for the Beta to do such a task, but nodded respectfully and moved aside to let her pass.

She ventured out into the woods with the carcass, quickly burying it and setting off to find a new one. Finally, a scent hit her nose, and she immediately recognised it. She shifted quickly, shaking off her clothes and memorising the area quickly. Tensing, she crept to the edge of a bramble bush and peered out, looking out in case for another wolf.

She ventured out into the middle of the path, and looked straight into the eyes of Dusk. Uh oh! She barely had time to think before he crashed into her. 

“Oops! Sorry!” Dusk panted from on top of her. “I just realised the time and was rushing to the celebration!”

“No, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going!” Dawn exclaimed, apologising over and over. “I’ll be off again, bye!” It was then she realised she had accidentally transformed into her human form from the shock, blushed and shifted back. She bounded off into the woods, thoroughly embarrassed and ready to start hunting. She caught the scent trail, and headed off after it.

After running for a while, she found the deer, and to her delight, discovered it was a stag, a larger and bulkier one than the original stag. She licked her lips at that point, imagining how good it would be for the pack celebration.

She stalked towards it, keeping her hunting stance perfect, and at the best moment, as she had been well trained, she broke into a run, her muscles rippling underneath her silvery-red pelt. She pounced on the deer, knocking it over and stood over it, her necklace glimmering proudly. For a second, it transformed into Mellie, who was screaming and kicking, killing any wolf who touched her, trying to murder Dawn. Suddenly, she got knocked out of her trance, she quickly bent over and gave it a quick bite on the right jugular. That was the normally the best and painless death for the prey. ‘Respect your prey, for you are taking their lives to feed your own’ , the Great Lupa had said.

She dragged it back to her clothes, luckily, she hadn’t taken too long, just a typical length for a deep freshen and prep. She slipped into her clothes, and did a brief freshen up for both her and the deer. She cleaned and prepared the deer once again, making sure it looked awesome.

She dragged it back into the clearing, making up her excuse that ‘it took a longer time’. She hated lying to her pack-mates, but she didn’t dare expose anyone, she was still loyal to them!

After a long, long time of waiting, pacing, and pacing again, the Main Event finally arrived. Dusk had gathered all the folk, or as they were mostly in their half or full-wolf forms, they should be called wolves, around in a tight bundle around the Great Moon Oak as Dusk stood up on a rock. As the pups’ main babysitter and tutor, he was given the honourifics of giving the young pups their first Moon necklace, also known as the ones they would wear for the rest of their lives. 

She looked up into Dusk’s beautifully shimmering eyes, and felt content. She twitched her ears as he started speaking, trying to catch as much of his voice as she could. He proclaimed to the pack, loudly and proudly, “Thanks to the Lunar-sky wolves, our pups have lived to see another moon. During this time, they have studied diligently to learn more about the life they were born into, and to understand it as a privilege. To you, my fellow pack-mates, I welcome, Sunlight, our smallest, but most whole hearted pup; Sunny, our bright beaming tiny sun; Woof, a ball of fluffy playfulness; Sniff, a tiny but curious wolf who never stops using her nose; Grumble, a somewhat cranky but good-hearted strong warrior who will defend us all; and Fluff, last but not least, the ball of fluff that leads us to defend our Pack’s grounds. It is here I finish, my dear pack-mates, in hope we can celebrate this event together.”

After his extremely long speech, though somehow it wasn’t irritating and excruciatingly elongated like her professors’ speeches. She was happy, and bounded up to congratulate him, when Mellie shoved into him, hissing into Dawn’s ear, “You said you didn’t care… So he’s gonna be mine!”

Dawn growled softly, she shouldn’t have said that to Mellie earlier, that she didn’t care, because she did. Oh, how she did.

She settled down on a soft pelt of sorts and began tearing her chunk of her stag apart. The original, meagre one had been taken down by a group of the best hunters, but even Dawn, as the Beta and the second Sorceress was better at hunting than them. Well, to be honest, she was mostly better at everyone at most things, but still, an entire hunting patrol shouldn’t only be able to bring down that deer.

While she was lost in thought, she barely noticed the event that was going on in front of her. Dusk had stepped up to her, asking if she’d mind sitting with him, she had shaken her tail absent-mindedly, agreeing silently and he had settled. Now, him and Mellie were having a rough fight about how he should only share prey with her, and she felt her bones shook to their cores by the audacity and obnoxiousness of Mellie. When their spat was over, Dusk hissed at Mellie, and stomped over to sit with Alpha Lily, complaining about how Mellie was trying to stop him from sitting with his friends. But the Alpha simply said, “You’re mates! Why shouldn’t she get a say in the she-wolves you’re seeing?”

And that moment had been when Mellie had really lost all chance of being Dusk’s mate. She had been yelled at for an hour, spreading rumours about how they were ‘mates’. 

Dawn sat on the side silently, knowing all of her pack-mates were enjoying putting the entitled Mellie down too, but she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling about how Mellie and Veronica were so… similar. She was slightly anxious, but somewhat sure with a tiny part of her wolf, that everything would be okay in the end. Dusk had stormed out about some time ago, but Dawn was still swimming in the entitled Mellie’s first breakdown. But little did she know, there would be more to come.