Luna caught Alpha’s scent when he was still over a mile away, the iron sweet smell of the kill mixed with his like a beacon. He was bringing something back for her. She licked away the globules of saliva that began to form at the corners of her muzzle in anticipation of her upcoming meal. The pain of hunger, a dormant fire mountain, exploded within her. She let go an almost imperceptible whine that escaped along the soft currents of wind; a breeze that caused the surrounding forest sentinels to spring into a green dance that seemed to reflect the hunger boiling within her.
Sensing that something was happening, the pups began to yip excitedly. One particularly brave and precocious youngster began a clumsy climb to sit on her back, then began to nip playfully at Luna’s ear leaving the others to paw at her from below. They were hungry, too, and some of them began biting painfully at her nipples, even though her milk had dried up several turning of the moons ago. Luna barely noticed. She was in hunger.
Alpha dropped his prize with obvious pride at her feet and nuzzled her muzzle. Love for her mate briefly edged out her hunger. He was still the same proud, bold pup she had fallen for. She let his nuzzle linger for a moment in deference to his pride before her hunger began tearing into the fresh meat with gusto. Her stomach growled in warning to any would be scavengers.
Knowing that it was their time to feed as well, the cubs began running over to Alpha as well. The ball of fluff perched on Luna’s back leapt down, and did a slight tumble before joining her sisters and brothers who were pawing frantically at their father. The excited pups began to lick at Alpha’s muzzle as he opened wide, like a nesting mother robin, letting loose the extra food he had prepared for them into their hungry mouths.
Sated, Luna looked warmly at her family; she carefully worried some of the kill’s pelt from flesh, fashioning a toy for her pups. By the time she was done, the pups had finished their meal, and were eager to play.
The rest of the pack had returned from eating their fill—leaving the rest to the scavengers, birds, and insects—and everyone joined in playing with the little wolves; lighthearted tug-of-wars that the older wolves would lose, much to the delight of the young ones as they tumbled back, victorious.
The pack’s play was a palpable shield of happiness and sheer joy that encompassed their beloved home . A substance that was both soft and powerful, like the feathers of an enormous bird. The forest echoed with their joy.
Sound shattered the calm. It was like a nest of angry hornets being amplified to such an incredible volume that Luna saw the skies blackened out by clouds of angry insects in her mind’s eye, the pack’s joy suddenly shadowed in a shroud of buzzing. She cast her gaze up, actually seeing a swarm of hornets blanketing the sky before her vision caught up to her fear, and she saw only open sky. It wasn’t a swarm, it was a single creature shredding the forest’s calm.
The roaring buzz stung her ears, and she howled in pain along with the rest of the pack. Their play forgotten, the pups shivered in fear behind the comforting wall of their mother and father.
One of the older wolves threw herself into the ground, wriggling and pushing her head against the hard dirt floor, trying to block out the painful sounds. More wolves began writhing against the ground and snapping at the roaring torment of sound.
Luna jumped at a crash that shook the earth. Whatever was making the evil roar of sound was so large and powerful that it could rip the very trees from the earth. She had once seen a bear bending a tree over to get at a hive of bees higher up, but that was a fairly small tree, and once the bear had snagged his prize, the tree snapped right back up to stand guard over the forest.
The sound of buzzing and giant trees falling to forest floor continued until the sun started to hang low in the sky. The pack whined in relief as the creature terrorizing the forest finally fell into a silent rest.
The empty quiet slowly gave way to the peaceful sounds of the forest. Luna, her mate, their pups, and the pack huddled close together in the cave as they fell into an uneasy rest of their own, certain that the creature would soon begin its violent buzzing again.