Stars flashed before Kira's eyes as she woke with a yelp. The Alpha's teeth were still lodged in her shoulder, growling fiercely at her with his bright amber eyes locked on her surprised face. He sat back as she whimpered in pain.

"You're late, Omega" he snarled, licking his blood stained fangs. Kira looked up at him miserably "Sorry Alpha" she whined, tail curled around her flank. Alpha Grey snarled again "You really do want to be punished, don't you mongrel?" He asked, voice furious. He raked his claws along her side in one rage-fuelled swipe and she howled in pain, which resulted in a harsh bite to her leg, followed by a further swipe from his claws.

A sweet scent cut the air and even as she lay in agony Kira felt reassured by it. A loud, angry howl came from the edge of camp. "Stupid wolves, I could kill you all in one paw swipe" it said. Alpha Grey loosened his hold on Kira, then dashed from the den.

Kira stood and limped after him, leaving a dark red trail in her wake. At the edge of the clearing, two intense blue eyes glared at the alpha, holding enough fury within them for ten wolves combined. The rest of the pack had gathered, snarling, in the middle of the camp, awaiting the Alpha's order.

They all waited in their wolf forms, ears flicked back, tails out straight behind them in a show of confidence and aggression. Kira whined as she recognised the scent, the eyes. Then she fell silent, not wanting the Beta now standing to her right to read her thoughts.

Alpha Grey bared his fangs "Show yourself mutt, I command you" he barked, his alpha voice causing Kira to lower her chest to the ground in submission.

The eyes never even blinked. If anything they looked even more outraged than before "You think that you can command me?" It growled, blinking slowly.

Grey looked shocked. No wolf could ignore an Alpha, sometimes not even other Alphas. He took a step backwards in his shock. Then, seemingly regaining his confidence, took two forwards "Get him!" He howled, charging at the bush, the rest of the assembled pack at his heels. The camp clearing became a blur of paws and dust, angry snarls and snapping teeth as the pack launched into battle. Kira stayed where she was, not wanting to attack the White wolf.

'He saved me' she thought, a low whine escaping her throat at the thought. Why did he come? Was he looking for a fight? Or... for me? She wondered. Narlo came into her mind "He definitely came for you" Narlo said softly, "We should go find him!" Her wolf seemed taken by the mysterious white wolf.

Kira huffed at him "We can't just leave to chase him, we'll get caught" she hissed aloud, shocked to realise just how much she wanted to go after him too. "Who cares! It's worth it!" Narlo barked in her mind. Suddenly her legs were moving, suddenly she was heading through the forest, tongue lolling at the thought of seeing the white wolf again.

Kira followed the scent of the wolf, realising with growing joy that she was getting closer, that he seemed to be coming towards her. She skidded to a halt as the scent appeared in front of her, in all it's glory. His stark blue eyes softened when he saw her. Kira felt her breath lodge in her throat, she found her voice and spoke "H..hi" she stuttered.

He didn't answer, just came right up to her and touched her muzzle with his own. The feeling was unbelievable. As if a warm gust of air had flown through her body, strengthening her with that single touch. She gasped audibly and repeated the gesture to him, overawed. She knew she couldn't go with him, no matter how much she wanted to. The pack would only chase after her.

He seemed to understand this as he stepped back slowly, sharpened grey claws gripping the ground fiercely. Then he was gone in a streak of white, back behind her, towards camp.

~~~~~~

About an hour later the pack returned, snarling and nipping each other in their outrage. They were unable to believe that the trail had gone stale, that they - an entire pack - had lost one lone wolf. It was embarrassing, something that would destroy their already unstable reputation amongst the neighbouring packs.

Kira was the only one who didn't look disheartened. She'd never felt as happy as she did then. He'd escaped! How he'd done it, she didn't know, but he'd gotten away from a pack, somehow miraculously disguised his scent and vanished into thin air. She fought to keep her tail steady. The last thing she wanted was to alert the rest of the pack to her joy.

That wouldn't turn out very well, it never did.

She slipped into her small den and shifted back to her human form, picking up the various supplies she'd need for her next job; Mushroom Hunting.

Kira loved forest jobs. They gave her time to think.

Under normal circumstances, she would have been banned from going into the forest because of what had just happened. Today however, was different. It was one of the Beta's birthdays and Alpha Grey would always insist that they be served a special meal of their choosing.

The Beta had chosen Mushroom Loaf. Why anyone liked that, Kira would never understand. It was tart, bitter and unpleasant, seasoned with so many herbs that you could still taste them days after it had been eaten. She'd never been able to stomach more than a few mouthfuls of the vile thing.

Today however, she was happy that the Beta had chosen it, it meant she had a reason to go into the forest again and mull over what had happened in the last few days.

She picked up her backpack, swung it over her shoulder, and headed out of her den and into the forest once again.

------

The silence was always a joy to Kira. She loved being able to think things over, escape her pack for a few hours. It was hard to handle it all sometimes, she felt glad for this escape. It was a small slice of happiness injected into her sad, lonely life.

She bent down, picking up a very round, chestnut coloured mushroom and placing it into her satchel where it joined a growing mound of the fungi.

The Loaf required a very specific type of mushroom in large quantities and in varying degrees of ripeness.

The omega turned to the right, subconsciously following the path she usually took for finding herbs.

"Hi"

Kira froze, turning in all directions to find the source of the voice.

Then, suddenly, laughter. Bright, golden laughter that rang through the trees around her.

"Up here!" She could almost hear the grin behind the words as she looked up at the lowest branch of the pine to her left.

A boy sat, one leg dangling from the branch he was seated upon, the other propped up beside him. He had cool blue eyed and a shock of blonde hair. "I'm Aspen," he said with a smile, "Recognise me?" There was such amusement in her tone, Kira was caught up in it for a few seconds before she could reply.

"You're.. you're the white wolf, the wolf they were all chasing earlier." She eventually responded simply, even though she was internally screaming. How could she not know him? How could she not know that scent?

It didn't matter that she'd only come across him a few times, she could never forget that smell. There was something about it, something so ridiculously amazing that she doubted it would be possible to ever get it out of her mind.

Aspen nodded slowly, sliding off of his branch and landing beside her. He held himself differently as a human than he had as wolf.

Gone was the confidence and easy elegance he'd had as the white wolf. Instead, he seemed quick, nervous maybe. Did he feel the same as she did? Maybe, she couldn't really tell very much about him, not yet.

"Yeah, that's me, wanted by your pack, black wolf." He said with a smile, leaning against the tree, possibly to try and relax himself. It didn't seem to be working out very well. She could tell he was still on edge, even if just from the way his eyes shifted left to right, the way his fingers were twitching every couple of seconds.

Kira didn't realise she was staring until she told him her name. "I'm Kira, and I'm here to get mushrooms." It sounded stupid even to her own ears.

"Oh, Cool! Think I could help?" He pushed himself off of the tree again, taking a step towards her, that brilliant smile still painted across his face like the sun itself.

How could she say no? Her wolf was nagging at the back of her mind, urging her to agree to it, agree to let him help, she had little choice. "Sure, if you want, I'm looking for Chanterelles and Oysters."

It took a lot of her willpower to remain calm, but she managed it. Years of pulling her feelings back into herself in that pack had made her stronger, better at hiding how she was really feeling and replacing it all instead with a mask. Still, that didn't stop her heart hammering at her ribs, it didn't stop her breathing from speeding up as soon as he turned those amazing eyes on her once more.

It seemed to do the job. Aspen nodded gleefully, "Great! Let's go!"

Kira was extremely hesitant to follow once he started walking. What if she led him into danger? What if they were caught out here? She didn't know this wolf at all. She wouldn't get to know him if she stood here deciding though, either. So, she started forwards, and walked a little distance away with him to search for the mushrooms, her mind bursting with questions and emotions she didn't have words for, her actions showing only calm and indifference, neither of which she could shift.