The Bitten.

Alpha Calls.

"Aamon?" I lurched from my nest of furs, eyes scanning our room. It had been days since we went outside much. The nasty storms kept brewing, and everything outside this cabin was cold and soggy. The skies were gray, and the grass was more mud than anything yesterday. I went out here and there to use the restroom and straight back in as quickly as I could.

Aamon was stir crazy. Boredom had gotten the best of him. He had solved each word search puzzle, eaten an alarming amount of food, and had wallowed and wrestled me until I worried my skin would fall off. So much wrestling, massaging, groomiing.
I slumped back against the wall. I was
almost afraid to seek him out. I was
exhausted from having to entertain him,
and it seemed he wanted more than I was willingly to accommodate still. I groomed him and reciprocated his actions, but we had not kissed since he nearly drowned me then had his fit. But it was becoming more evident that the beast within the man was making demands of him, and he'd cover
himself or disappear a moment to get his
bearings. And that's what I suspected he'd went to do now.

"A-"

"Fawn. You come here. I am busy and
cannot come to you." I scrunched my nose.
It was dusty in here. That was abnormal
surprisingly.

"Why is there dust?"

"Because, Fawn, I'm digging." Iritation laced his voice.

"Whaaa? Why? What are you digging?"

"More tunnels, Fawn. We need more.'' I was afraid to question. I ducked through the hide flap that was our room door to find Aamon's feet sticking out from a giant hole against a far wall.

"What is this for? Are you ok?" Had he lost his mind?

"Why would I not be? It is a hole, Fawn.
Not the maw of a animal." He was the type to be snippy while he worked.

"Have you eaten?"

"I will come out and eat with you." He
backed out of his little hole and shook his head out. His ears perked when he noticed me spreading our meal fur out. I opened our door to try to clear out the dust. It was making me cough and sneeze.

"This will a good place for pups to play
when it rains or is too cold. If you think
we are stuffy, they will be worse shut up in here.  My brothers, sisters and I hid in our den like this in a tunnel father dug. We'd surface long enough to swipe food, and go back in. It made mother crazy."

"How many siblings did you have?"

"Nine lived. I'm not sure how many passed. I was young."

"That's quite a few. I hate that some
passed. I'm sorry for your losses."

"That's why father made more tunnels. It's not always safe to play outside when you are young. Rogues or other pack wolves will sometimes kill them if they know nobody is around. Other predators will too. Ours, later, won't roam as we did before the tunnels."

"That's terrible." It was ghastly to me that this was a thing. With animals, I could see it. But from others like him, us, it was barbaric to me.

"Is that why you look after Owen?"

"He is vermin." Aamon face palmed with a gritty hand. "But he has attached himself to me. Before you, he and Ivor were my only company: Alpha distanced himself to keep peace with Isabeth. I was too much trouble to anyone but Owen. To Owen, I was an alpha. He wanted to make me happy, and he did." Aamon's eyes settled on me with warmth. "He found you. So now I owe him protection. Anywhere he goes, if far, I'd follow. Since you came home, he's stayed at his home to heed my warning. I can't get you settled and go chasing him
too."

"Where are your siblings now?"

"I don't know. They strayed after father
passed, and some left to find mates. Is it
not what humans do?" He was curious.