Chapter 21

“Well? Aren’t you even going to turn around?”

“If ... If I do ... will you ... actually be there?”

“The fuck’s that supposed to mean?” A big brown hand clapped on his shoulder and spun him around to look into her grinning face. “Does it look like I’m here?”

Hardly could he breathe. Staring at her, his unblinking gaze took in every feature of her face. Reaching out, he gently laid his hand on her face, his thumb tracing a new scar across her snout and up her cheek before he met her golden eyes.

“Yeah,” he finally managed to breathe. “Yeah, it does.”

The joy in his chest could hold no longer. Like a firework popping overhead, Anubis threw his arms around his sister with such enthusiasm, they crashed into a cart, knocking it over. Their tails wagged so powerfully that dust and debris was blowing all around them, smashing against and through everything in their way without hindrance or regard.

Jack and many others were staring on in aghast wonder at the swirling chaos.

“It’s like a li’l ‘nado!” marveled a bystander in awe.

Jack smirked. “Naw. It’s just two real big pups real happy to see each other.” Then his eyes grew wide. “Ah, fuck. Now we got three Wogtal. That’s gonna be a lot o’ food.” Everyone who heard him nodded in agreement.

At last, the two pulled apart to arms length for he did not want to let her go. He tried to think of something, anything, to say, his mind tumbling like his words. “I ... I can hardly believe you’re here! I thought maybe you were a-a hallucination or something! What...? How...? Wh-Where have you been?”

“Oh, well, now that’s a story!” she replied with a grin that ached. “But first, I’ve got something for you! Well, for you and your Alpha.”

Perking, Anubis spun around, then noticed the mess they had made. Glancing about, he let out a little “oh” before dragging her after him to the group. “Uh, well, this is Jack! He’s the Alpha! A really great Alpha, I might add. The very best, actually.”

Blushing, Jack wagged his finger. “Now, I’ve told ye to stop suckin’ up to me, Anubis. I’m still tryin’ not to like ye.”

Grinning so wide his face might have split in half, Anubis chuckled as he continued introducing the others. “Well, uh, and this is Silver, and White Toe, and this is Fern. I think you two are really going to like each other.”

She cast him a dubious glance from the corner of her eye, but smiled warmly at them. “I, uh, remember your letter talked about him. Uh, ha, hi! I’m Terra.”

“Oh, we know,” Fern replied with a nod, his tail wagging.

Anubis perked up straight and looked at her in surprise. “My letter? Wait. Did ... did you see Caesar?”

She smiled and scratched behind her neck. “Well, yeah. He was closer when we came through the pass. You should see what he’s done with the place! All those buildings look like new, everything works, and his ladies were all real plump, and not just because most of them were pregnant! Ha! He’s got 5 of them waddling around. I had to get out of there. They, uh, ha, they were really cute.”

Raising a brow, Fern smirked. “Cute, huh? Just cute?”

Glaring down at him, Terra bared a fang in a sneer. “Yeah. I ... think all of you grassers are cute.”

His smirk only growing, Fern leaned over uncomfortably close to Jack. “Oh, I happen ta think Jack’s extra ‘dorable.”

Sucking in his breath with a pursing of his lips, Jack thought on it a moment. “Ye know, I think I could suck yer dick jist to prove a point to ‘er...” Fern’s eyes got wide, his tail wagging with his excited grin before Jack shook his head. “But, I know the two o’ ye’ll do that in time, so I ain’t in a hurry.”

His hopes dashed, Fern slumped with a snap of his fingers. “Damn! Thought I had ye this time.”

Snickering, Terra turned to her brother. “I can see why you said you were fond of him.”

Looking up at Anubis, Fern raised a brow. “Fond? Only ‘fond?’ I think at this point, fond’s a real weak word fer it!”

Laying her ears back, Terra’s eyes darted around. Her presence had not gone unnoticed, but no one stopped for long. “Oh, well, I was just trying not to, uh, yell it out, you know. It, uh, might bother some people.”

A most devious grin split Fern’s snout, and White Toe’s eyes grew wide in horror. “Ferrrn. Ye know I don’t like tha ... Fern! No, Fern! What are ye...?”

Jack stopped him with a shake of his head. “Ye know he’s gonna do it. Just let ‘im.”

Leaping nimbly up onto a table, Fern turned to the crowd and got the attention of well over a hundred wolves and some deer. “Hey! Happy Hallowed Harvest, packs o’ Riinvolf! Y’all havin a great time?” There was a scattering of answers. “Excellent! Well, I got a question fer y’all! Do any o’ ye care that I’m gay?”

Terra’s ears laid flat to her head, eyes darting around in a panic, but the expressions of the other wolves seemed confused rather than angry.

Smirking, Jack called out “it’s a good thing yer gay, Fern...”

Much of the male crowd playfully picked up the motto “or none o’ us would get laid!”

Putting his hand behind his ear to hear the chorus, Fern was grinning ear to ear, striking a pose for the cooing ladies. With a laugh, he then pointed at Terra with both hands, much to her horror. “Do anybody care that she’s gay?”

All eyes turned to her. If her fur could be as pale as her flesh, she’d be mistaken for a Cha’huo right then. All the blood drained from her face, her fur bristling with the anticipation of her usual reactions. It was only Anubis’ hand still on her shoulder that held her in place.

A voice piped up that caused a collective chuckle. “Why? Is she gonna steal our bitches?”

Putting his fists on his hips, Fern leaned forward over the crowd with a wicked grin. “Well, if ye learned to lick like a lesbian, maybe ye wouldn’t need to worry ‘bout that, now would ye?”

The women in the crowd burst into laughter with agreements.

“Hey!” Called out a young man, hanging naked out the second story window of a nearby building. “Did I hear ye say yer a lesbian?”

“Yeah, she is!” Fern answered for her when she hesitated.

The man’s tail wagged. “My sister’s a lesbian!”

“What!? Fern barked with excitement. “Well, shit! Bring ‘er on down ‘ere!”

“Yeah, hang on! Think she’s makin’ out with her mate somewhere!” He zipped back inside and was gone.

Just like that, the crowd went back to what they were doing while Fern hopped down to rejoin the grinning group. Ears back, Terra looked like she had just survived a harrowing experience and wasn’t entirely sure how. Turning her wide eyes to Anubis, she was surprised to find him smiling at her.

“You’re going to love it here,” he assured her, his hand squeezing her shoulder a little.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she had a nervous grin. “Ah, well, I’ve, heh, I’ve been trying to get used to the way the Aroogar do things since I started working with Khade’grr.”

“You did what!?” Anubis barked in astonishment.

Her posture straightened up with her usual dauntless confidence. Putting her hands on her hips, she gave him one of those cocky smiles he had missed so much. “Oh yeah! Working with him was like being on a whole other planet! He looks like a wolf, he smells like a wolf, but I think he might be a god. At least an angel. Ha! He led us to total victory! We whooped those sand lickers back to the hell they came from! The last two cities unconditionally surrendered without a shot fired!”

There was an approving congratulations by those listening. With so many sensitive ears about, such a proclamation was bound to travel through a crowd.

“So that’s where you’ve been!”

He just couldn’t get enough of that grin, as grand as his own. “Absolutely! I’ve been distinguished as a war hero six times now! I saved Khade’grr three times!”

“You did not!” Anubis barked, shaking his head with a roll of his eyes.

“Alright, fine, it was only once,” she admitted with a chuckle. “How else do you think I got this?” She pointed to the fresh scar. “Jumped right in front of the blast and the glass shattered in my face! I got splayed open like one of these masks you all are running around with! Got Khade’grr to the back lines, but I blacked out. Woke up with him looking down at me, telling me we won the fight, that we’d be advancing, and he needed me. Asked me if I was ready to go. So, I stand up, and I look in the little mirror, and those medics had me sewn up like a puppet! But, I didn’t even feel it, so on we went! I was just so focused on the mission, nothing else really mattered until we were coming back through the pass. Just in time, too. The weather got nasty just as we came into the valley by Howlver Falls.

“Speaking of,” she quickly continued before anyone could comment, “it was right about when we got back through, Khade’grr called me to his tent and said he’d heard that this town your pack’s aligned with had voted against his judgment and considered you to be free! He said he read the transcript of the proceedings and that he agreed with their decision, that he ‘hadn’t considered the full depth of his sentencing and how it could cause such a conflict of morals.’” She paused a second and shook her head. “Sure didn’t have considerations like that with our pack, so it kind of blew me away that he’d even say all of that. But, well, it all made sense to me.”

She had a proud grin for him, leaning a little closer to her brother. “So did all that stuff I read about you in the transcripts! I almost cried!”

Anubis rolled his eyes though he was smiling. He opened his mouth, but another voice spoke.

“I meant every word, but I ain’t gonna admit it.”

Terra looked down at Jack’s innocent expression before she chuckled. “You remind me of my cousin, Sampson. He’s a funny guy, too.”

Anubis sighed sadly. “I don’t even know what happened to him...”

Terra grinned. “Well, I do! I met up with him on the far side of the mountain while we were moving through. Guy got smuggled out by his mate, and he’s been living with her pack!

“Oh, speaking of family, that’s when we stopped to see Caesar since he’s right there, and Khade’grr was really impressed. He gave Caesar an official pardon so he doesn’t have to worry about being able to protect his ladies. And, well, he gave me this to present to you.” She pulled a leather scroll tube from her belt and unfurled the elegant document. “Your own official pardon! You’re a free man! You can go anywhere you like!”

Taking the paper from her to read it, he smirked with a little humorous exhale. “This is nice and all, but there’s really nowhere I’d even go.” Lowering it, he smiled at her. “I’m right where I want to be. And now, you’re here, too. It can’t get much better.”

Her grin was smug. “Oh, you sure?” Turning, she gestured for them to follow her a few streets over to a slightly quieter area where some vehicles had been parked. The four men practically needed to trot to keep up with the siblings’ lofty strides. “You see, I sort of needed a way to get out here and well, since he had way too much stuff and the humans didn’t want any of it back, Khade’grr,” she cleared her throat for effect and made as deep and somber of a voice as she could, “‘wanted to offer restitution for your donations and a tribute to your heroes of the war.’ And, uh, let’s just say we relieved those sand lickers of only some of their hoards. After having to bring back all the slaves, there literally weren’t enough trucks to haul even half of it back!”

Stopping beside a new, powerful looking truck with an unimpressive muddy green color, she grinned before pulling the thick, sandy brown camouflage canvas away and opened the largest metal chest so they could peer in. Their eyes grew wide and lit up with the myriad of glittering jewels, trinkets, and baubles.

“This is for your pack!” Terra chuckled at their expressions. “Truck included. I have the paperwork right here. As for the rest of these I’m supposed to deliver them to the other packs that donated, but guess I’ll get to that later.”

Jack’s mouth was gaping open in disbelief. “I’m a king!” he breathed, star struck.

“Naw,” Silver shook his head in awe. “That’s fit fer a emperor!”

“Uhh, s’pose we ain’t starvin’ this winter,” Fern muttered. The rest shook their heads together.

“I don’t think our great granpups’ll ‘member what starvin is by the time we get through this!” White Toe agreed.

Jack looked up at Terra with a grin. “Ye didn’t need to impress me! I were already gonna let ye join the pack!”

Terra blinked in surprise. “Oh, thank you! I ... hadn’t really thought about that, actually. I was just so excited to see you, I...” she looked at her brother and smiled. “I was just going to be anywhere you were.”

With a loving smile in return, Anubis pulled her into another hug. “Then you better start learning everyone’s names now, cuz I ain’t goin’ nowhere!”

She tittered softly at his playful accent at the end. “Well, I was kinda thinking maybe we could go live with Caesar. Be all together like we always wanted.”

Anubis snapped away to look at her in surprise, his brow furrowed deeply. He opened his mouth to say something, but the thought bounced around his head in a silence that made the others hold their breaths without them even knowing. Then he shook his head. “I ... I won’t deny I really miss him. I wish he could be closer with every fiber in me. But, I’m not going to leave.” He glanced at Jack, who let his breath out in more relief than he cared to admit. “Besides, I may not have any waddling bitches, but my blood’s in this pack. I have to watch out for all of my little... Woglings.”

Jack barked a laugh. “Ye know what? With all this, the more the merrier! We’re all part Wogtal today, so let’s go eat like it!”

Grinning, the others agreed, closing the chest. After it was locked up and covered again, the four men strutted back to the party with grand grins. Anubis lagged behind with Terra, just smiling at her.

“What?” she smirked. “You see a ghost?”

His grin stretched to his ears, taking a swipe at her. “Yeah! You, bitch! You didn’t write to me!”

She barked out laughing, easily dodging him. “I just really wanted to see that look on your face!”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course you enjoyed that.”

“Yeah, as much as I enjoyed Caesar’s expression!” She guffawed with the memory. “He nearly fainted!”

Chuckling with the thought, he shook his head a little at her. “I hope you left him with some of this!”

She quieted suddenly, her demeanor more serious. “Of course! He ended up getting even more! He, uh, well...” she took a pensive breath, making Anubis concerned. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Honored Free, they haven’t been ... integrating well. There were over 300 who got to go home, but there’s only about a couple dozen left.” Anubis’ jaw dropped, but she continued. “As soon as Caesar heard, he begged Khade’grr to give him the names of all the packs that took them and wrote letters to them all, calling the Honored Free to live with him. All of them wanted to come, so Khade’grr said he’d work out getting them over there once he’d dealt with placing all the pups we rescued, and Caesar took a few of them, too. I think they just need some sense of ... what was normal to them.”

Anubis shook his head sadly, looking at the ground. “There was nothing normal about that place, Ter-Ter. They got broken, and I think ... I just think we’re the only ones who understand that.”

Nodding her head, Terra leaned a little closer, her voice hushed. “Is ... is Veka okay?”

His head snapped up. “Of course! Well, as okay as she can be. She doesn’t come out of the den much. Some days I see her, she’s almost a person. I’ve seen her wag her tail, all on her own!” He turned to put his hands on her shoulders with a warm smile. “She’s going to be so happy to see you. Sometimes, I catch her looking out towards the mountains, and I know she’s thinking about you.”

A joyful smile pulled up one side of her snout, but she changed the subject. “You remember all those paintings you made of the slaves?”

He nodded slowly. “How could I forget? There were dozens of them. I’m sure they’re all destroyed by now.”

She shook her head. “No, they weren’t. The place was abandoned for months. Not a soul, not even a scavenger, at least according to the Thorgal pack. They’re the new top pack since they were the first to ally with Khade’grr. They presented your art to Khade’grr as a show of peace and good will. They’re going to be on display at the Monument of Remembrance. The thing is going to be huge! I got to see the draft! It’s going to have statues, and a stone wall with all the names of the women, and a whole area with just your paintings. Khade’grr’s going to want you to show up at the opening next summer. I hope your mouth closes by then!”

Her grin had only gotten wider the further his jaw had dropped. “My ... paintings? They’re going to show my work?”

“Try not to faint!” She put a hand on his shoulder when he rocked a little. “And here I thought you’d be happy!” she teased.

“Are you kidding? I’m overjoyed! I kept them hidden all the time. I’m ... proud beyond words! I can hardly wait to see it! I...”

“TERRA!”

She had just enough time to turn before Nova leapt into the other woman’s arms with a squeal of joy, hugging her tightly around the neck. Lifting her right off her paws, Terra gladly squeezed her close with a nuzzle.

“Aww, hi, little Nova! I’m so happy to see you!” Setting her down, Terra smiled and ruffled her between the ears. “You look as cute as ever!”

Utterly beaming with joy, Nova’s whole body was wiggling with her wagging. Unable to contain herself, she took Terra’s enormous hand with both of her own and tugged the much larger woman along eagerly like a child tugging on a parent. “Ye gotta come meet everyone! C’mon! C’mon! Ye came at such a great time!”

Once back at the crowded town square, the others looked up at her in wonder and excitement while Nova introduced her sister and cousins.

“Wow!” breathed Denver, his tail wagging. “She’s as tall as ye are, Anubis!”

Smiling, Anubis looked at his sister with adulation again. “Yeah, she is. I can finally talk to someone without kinking my neck!”

Then his eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind and his smirk grew devious. Stepping beside Denver, he slipped his arm around his pet and drew him close. “If you read my letter to Caesar, then you should recognize this good boy. One of my favorite Woglings.” Tail wagging, Denver snuggled close, nuzzling deep into the thick black pelt through his open vest.

Terra raised a brow, glancing around. “Well, yeah, I did read about him. I, uh, was kind of surprised.” Then a little smile pulled up one side of her face. “Though, I’ll admit, Annie, I’m liking your taste in men so far. Guess that part shouldn’t surprise me. This one’s adorable.”

“Hey! Anubis! Don’t ye be hoggin’ my good boy to yerself!” Fern yelled from the ale barrels.

Standing beside him and starkly well dressed compared to the rest now that his spars were over, Baxter glared down at him. “‘xcuse me? Yer good boy?”

Fern bared his teeth in a playful snarl. “Ye gonna fight me fer ‘im?”

The stag grinned wickedly behind his lupine skull mask, the lights from the torches giving him as predatory a look as any hungry Wogtal. “I’m a ragin’ mass o’ hormones, right now, short snack. I’ll shove my antlers so far up yer ass, I’ll poke out yer eyeballs an’ wear ya like an ornament ‘til I shed! Yer balls can hang right here in my face, I’ll love it.”

Fern’s tail was irrepressible as he grabbed Baxter’s fine vest, pressing himself close. “Oh I’m ‘bout ta put my balls right there in yer face, buck boy!”

Glancing around to see if anyone was going to pull the two apart, Terra chuckled and looked at her brother. “Are they usually like that?”

Anubis laughed while Denver was nodding fervently. “Always. You’d know that if you’d been here sooner!”

“Ha! Wish I could’ve been! It took me 3 solid days of driving to get here, and I only stayed with Caesar for a week!

Nova gasped happily, then paused as she thought. “Wait. Then, what was ye doin’ all this time?”

“Well, I was working with Khade’grr!”

The others joined Nova in a gasp. “Ye did what? How’d ye even meet ‘im?”

Finding herself surrounded by many expectant faces, including her brother’s, Terra glanced around and smiled. “Alright, fine, gather around. Though, uh, my throat’s gotten real dry by now.”

A near dozen mugs were held up towards her in an instant. After picking one, she drained it with ease and smirked at her eager audience.

“Alright. So, there I was...”

“So, there ye were,” Jack teased her.

“Oh right, you guys talk funny. So, there I were...”

Jack chuckled with the rest. “Yeah, I already like this bitch.”

“ ... out there alone in the forest for a few weeks, dodging soldiers and the other packs, working my way deeper into the mountains. I found this ridge and decided to stay there for a while since there were a few animals in the area but no one else’s smell. Then, one day, as I’m hunting, I hear a bunch of noise, head back to my camp, and there’s a whole damn army camping below me! I could see plenty of our people down there, and everything seemed real friendly, you know, mostly. I realized they must be using this pass to get into the desert.

“Well, there’s no mistaking the general. He’s got a miniature army that follows him literally everywhere. Even his outhouse gets surrounded! So, I decided to, uh, stroll on in! Most of our people recognized me almost immediately, but they didn’t say anything, just parted until I was looking down at the guy, and he’s just standing there, watching me walk right up to him. So, I say, ‘I’m Terra Zaroff, and I’d like to join you.’ And can you even believe this guy? He just nods real solemnly and says all stately ‘I know. I was waiting for you.’ I dang near fell flat on my arse! Might as well’ve taken me out by the knees! He was really something else. Ha, this one time...”

Tale after harrowing tale she told that night, more and more of the crowd hearing her and becoming interested. Every time she tried to stop, her mug was refilled and more faces had turned to her, ears all forward to hang on her every word.

The cool, cloudy morning brought an extended, collective groan as folks stirred awake. The pups, joined by half as many fawn, were already fed by their guardians and were now giggling, yapping, yipping and shouting through the town in an irrepressible mass that slithered through every clear space like ants through a maze.

The sound caused Anubis to blink awake, peering around. Nova had fallen asleep snuggled up on his lap. He certainly hadn’t thought he’d fall asleep, but he had leaned back, and could recall no more.