Very early the susunod morning, I was woken rather abruptly sa pamamagitan ng Scar as she tossed and turned under the blankets. For a moment, I sinabi and did nothing, hoping it would cease on its own. It didn't. After a few minutes, I reached out and gently rubbed her head, hoping to calm her down. Instead, what happened was her eyes snapped open and her jaws clamped down on my hand almost hard enough to puncture the skin. Fortunately, it didn't, and once she had come to, she released my hand with an apologetic whine.
I took my newly liberated hand and scratched behind her ears. Her eyes closed and a smile stretched across her face as I scratched.

"Babe?" she sinabi out of the blue.
"Mhm?" I replied.
"Wanna hear a story?"
This took me a bit sa pamamagitan ng surprise. I suspected the offer had something to do with Candu's kamakailan demise.
"Sure, hon. I'd pag-ibig to hear a story."

* * *

*Jasper, 2 years ago*

A lone red lobo crouched at the edge of the clearing. Its eyes were locked onto a lone caribou grazing out in the middle of the field. It seemed entirely oblivious to its impending doom as the red-furred lobo crept silently closer. Even when she stepped upon a branch and broke it, her quarry didn't respond. Then, with a flash of movement, the lobo broke from hiding and sprinted towards the huge animal. But, instead of fleeing as would have been expected, the caribou, a large buck, turned towards the onslaught, lowering its antlers and charging.
The lobo noticed this definitive change from the norm and did her best to change course, but to no avail. The buck caught her in the side with his antlers, scooping her up into the bowl formed sa pamamagitan ng the points. She did her best to balutin her paws around the antlers, but the caribou bucked and reared, throwing her down to the ground. She slumped to the ground, apparently defeated. Her eyes closed, resigned to her fate.
They snapped back open at the sound of another lobo barking and snarling at the caribou, attempting to drive it away. With the added insistence of a hard bite to a foreleg, the animal relented and cantered away. The newcomer, a short, stocky gray balahibo with light colored eyes, stood over her, checking to see if she was alright.
Seeing that she was not, he crouched down and pulled the red balahibo onto his back for the trip back to her home, her den. The she lobo passed out from the pain of the attack, and when she woke, she was tahanan in her personal den, alone. From that araw on, whenever the two came together, there were tender smiles and kind looks and gestures exchanged.

* * *

*My home, present time*

The conclusion of the story left my eyes slightly glazed with tears. It was a surprising story, for I had never known that she had known Candu as madami than a hunting rival.
I hugged her, feeling the soft balahibo on her belly and the slightly coarser balahibo on her back. She put her paw on my chest and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. In them, I could see that she was going to be okay.