Ever so softly

She had been at the school less than a month and she could already say with certainty that, among her favorite places to be, other than her room (which was pretty nice, but getting used to a bed was rough after living most of your life living in the wilderness) was the great forest that seemed to surround the school.

After class she could be seen frequently fleeing into the forest with a pair of wolves at her side, one blacker than night, and the other whiter than the whitest snow. They had appeared with her on the island one, half dead and mumbling incoherently. They would not allow her to leave their sight, nor would she leave them, so that when they finally come to, they were together on the island they had been trying to get for the last thirteen years.

Now she ran through the woods, Zephyr and Valor never far behind whenever she could. The changing of the seasons always brought to her, a sense of melancholy as she loved the chill bite of winter that seemed to waken her, the moment she stepped outside, however so too, did she long for spring when the world came alive again.

Though it was still cold, the chill did not bother her as it did others. As evidenced by the jeans, over the knee black boots, and dark blue tank top she wore for protection against the chill.

She loved running, the wind and her wolves her constant companions. The freedom it gave her as her legs pumped beneath her, carrying her wherever her heart desired, the scent of nature returning to her, but another scent stopped her dead in her tracks, her wolves beside her, before she was able to finish taking a breath.

"Someone is coming," Zephyr snarled, black lips curling over ivory fangs.

Zephyr and Valor stood up beside their girl, though if one were to look very closely at her, they would see she was in no way human, though she had lived among some during her travels. She stood next to them, she would not leave them to face this possible thread alone.

Zephyr felt his pack brother bristle, this wolf was a King among his kind, yet he was no ruler that he, Valor, or his precious young one would recognize as their ruler.

Speaking up, he growled, "We have no quarrel with you, what is it you seek from us?"

Valor snorted, their forest, last time he had checked, which had been yesterday, the forest belonged to the school, not to some lame wolf like this guy, and was about to say so, when Zephyr gave him a stern look, warning him to be quiet.

Kukri saw the other girl and felt herself being studied and she didn't like it, she didn't want humans, she just wanted her wolves, but this girl, she looked like she had lived them all her life too, or at least part of it, she trusted that one enough. With a grace belonging to the fey, she stepped forward and smiled saying something in Irish, and her wolves whined.

"My name is Kukri Wolfchild, these are my brothers, Zephyr Bloodking, and Valor Farseer. I must beg your pardon, we were led to believe that these forests were ruled by the school, that they had no Alpha," yet she opened her green eyes, daring the wolf she stood before to challenge her, she showed no fear of the wolf, that had he the desire, could kill her in an instant.

"As the borders of these lands bear no marking, it can only be assumed that they are either free for the taking or that they are free to all, the latter seeming the more likely of the two. We bear you no ill will, nor your kin or kith."

She looked at the girl trying to decide if she was a friend or a foe. She had never had a friend before, she had lived with her wolves her entire life, its why she came out here every chance she got, because here was where she was most at home, here with Zephyr and Valor in the wilds was the only home she had ever known.

She would not be driven from here, and the determination, the will, and the sheer stubbornness and defiance shone in the emerald depths of her eyes. She would not be chased away again, never again. Not after she had come this far, not when she had finally reached the place she had spent most of her life trying to reach.

Zephyr had recognized the other male as an Alpha, that much was clear, but he had been an Alpha too once, a long time ago, in a different land. "I know the feeling, I was an Alpha once, long long ago."

Through his one good and remaining eye he studied the girl, she was young, yet she had bonded with the wolf, that now stood before them. What had she meant when she said, 'like her?' What was she? He looked at his own charge, his pack sister, his and Valor's reason for living.

Retuning hers and the wolf's gaze he nodded his head, "Thank you, we, again, mean you no harm. We are merely running," he said gesturing to the girl who stood beside him.

Kukri nodded, resting her hand on her wolf and turning back to the girl, she smiled, her green eyes warm, though they were still guarded. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you, Claire and Attel."

Kukri nodded, "We live at the school, we arrived here not long ago," she said in response. The girl had doubt in her eyes, she knew what that was like, most her life had been spent running from the people who wanted her dead, every shadow, every person she met was someone she didn't know was friend or foe. It was why she had been raised in the wilds of the world.

At the girls question to running she nodded, "Getting used to this place is something that is not easy, running in the woods is one of the few things that calms me down, so I come out here with Valor and Zephyr whenever I can."