Chapter 2

Chapter 2- The Hunt
Alesana awoke to a gentle tapping on the side of her neck.  She peeked open one eye to see Silver,
"Alesana."  She tapped Alesana again in the neck, "You awake?"  Like she didn't know she was waking her up.  "It's our turn on the hunting squad for this morning since the boys are busy training for whatever the heck they need to train for."  Silver stood up, "We have one female staying back to watch the pups, so they'll be fine."  Alesana yawned and looked at Silver, "Okay then…"  She stood up and shook herself out of her comfy nest, "Lets go and show the boys how much better girls are."  She winked at Silver.  Alesana was in a surprisingly amazing mood this morning.  Perhaps because she showed Clay off yesterday.  Alesana followed Silver to the main area of the den.  The soil was moist and wet.  It must have rained after she fell asleep last night.  Two other females were sitting in the main den area waiting for Silver and Alesana to arrive.  Alesana didn't really know either of them very well.  One of them was brown and the other was a dark grey.  
"Ready?" The dark brown female stood up.  She shook out her fur and gave a nod to the female who sat beside her.
"I heard there's more food to the south of the territory."  The grey female said, motioning towards the south.  The south of the territory was more lush than the north, and especially more than the east.  Alesana and Silver both nodded and headed off outside the den with the other two females who, very rudely, never introduced themselves.  The outside of the den was somewhat surrounded by trees.  Rain was rolling off the leaves and landing on the 4 wolves.  The two other wolves were a little older and more experienced than Silver and Alesana.  Alesana sniffed the morning air for a prey scent.  She sniffed harder as they approached the southern part of the territory.  They needed something big, something that the whole pack could share…otherwise there would be fighting over food, and not enough to feed the pack, since prey was moving to the ForestWard's territory in search of more food.  The pack didn't know when they would get their next meal.  
"Sh…" The brown female stopped and perked her ears.  Alesana pointed her ears forwards to catch whatever sound she could.  A rustling in the leaves ahead might just be something to eat.  The 4 wolves spread around the rustling, surrounding it.  They couldn't smell the moving creature, due to the overpowering odor of the muddy, rainy, forest floor.  But the 4 were desperate for any food at all.
The four of the wolves slowly crept in on the hidden creature.  The tall grass concealed both the hunter, and the prey very well.  Alesana kept her ears perked, and made sure her paw steps were silent.  Her muscles were all tense, ready to sprint once she heard one of the older wolves make a move.  She stood still, listening for the rustling, or her hunting group.  She heard nothing except for silence.  
Rapid footsteps came in from the right as the dark grey female leapt onto the creature.  Instinctively, Alesana jumped too and so did the others.  Alesana landed on top of the poor creature.  The animal bucked her off and kicked her right hind leg.  She was thrown into the grass, landing uncomfortably on a stick.  The others fought with all their might, but the creature outdid them, and got away after a couple minutes of fighting.  Alesana could feel her hind leg sting with pain.  She staggered up, holding her right hind leg up high so she wouldn't have to walk with it.  Her body ached.  The landing she had was a real hard one.  She hobbled out of the grass to see the other wolves, exhausted.  
"You alright?"  Silver ran over to Alesana, nuzzling her neck.  "What happened to your leg?"  She looked at Alesana's leg, horrified.  
"I got kicked when that thing bucked me off."  Alesana looked at her hind leg.  It was bleeding heavily, and she couldn't tell how bad it actually was due to how much blood was all over her leg.  The other two wolves started,
"Buck elk are the hardest to catch."  The brown one panted and laid down.  "And he was a young one too, they never run out of steam."  Silver began licking Alesana's wound.  Alesana quickly yelped and pulled away, it stung badly with every tongue stroke Silver made.
"Just let Alpha take care of it."  The grey wolf stepped forwards a bit.  "He's good with this stuff."