\n I Can't See The Forest For The Trees.

\n Written by, Wolfie Steel.

\n Part Eight.

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\n Here come the usual rules, all characters used in this story belong to their owners and are used with their kind permission. There will be references to homosexual acts and violence, you have been warned!!!!

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\n We begin our journey back through the forest and towards the cave that is now home to a fairly large pack of wolves. With our recent encounter with the human hunter still fresh in our minds we all continuously watch for signs of possible danger. It is not long into the journey when my ears catch the sound of a whimper, it seems that Jacob has heard it to and is now growling menacingly.

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\n I immediately bring the pack to a halt; my ears are now scanning for further traces of the sound. I hear it again this time it is closer and to my right, I'm now close enough to recognise the whimper to be that of a dog or another wolf, Jacob growls again until I put my paw up to his muzzle to silence him.

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\n "Jacob, I know that as pack animals we stay true to our pack and fight off all others, but think about this my friend, you and I were once in different packs, now we stand together, at least let us see what is the cause of the whimpering, if it turns out to be an ambush by a single wolf, we have more than enough might to take them down. To me though the whimper sounds like that of an injured soul, so maybe we can bring them into the pack"

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\n Jacob ceases his growling and backs off slightly, I turn towards the direction of the sound and I begin to slowly walk towards it. After a few steps I see a patch of grass that is lying down as though something is laying on top of it, I also see a pool of blood just in front of the patch of grass, my paw steps quicken until I reach the patch of grass.

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\n There in front of me, lying on the patch of grass is a young injured wolf. I turn my head and call for Rion to bring some medical supplies, Rion dutifully walks forward with the supplies. The injured wolf looks up at me with eyes filled with tears. Fearing for his life the young male tries to stand to make his getaway but he just slumps back to the ground.

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\n I take the medical supplies from Rion and kneel down beside the injured wolf, I begin to try and calm him down.

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\n "Hey there my young one, I promise you we won't hurt you, now I have medical supplies and the knowledge of how to use them, now let me examine you so that I may find your injury"

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\n The wolf lets out another whimper, then growls slightly causing Jacob to go into defence mode, instantly Jacob is standing over the injured wolf with his teeth bared and snarling as only a wolf can. The injured wolf cowers down more and I place my paw on Jacob's shoulder.

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\n "Ease back Jacob, the young wolf is obviously very frightened and fears for his life, if you were in his situation, would you not be growling and trying everything you can to get away?"

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\n Jacob backs off again and replies.

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\n "Yes I would, but Alpha Wolfie, we as a pack can't afford to be too complacent when it comes to protection, for all we know this young wolf could be a decoy being used by one of the other packs to lure us in, then when we are busy helping the wolf they could attack us and we would have no defence"

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\n At the sound of my name the injured wolf's ears perk up, he turns his head to face me and speaks.

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\n "You are Alpha Wolfie Steel? Oh thank the great wolf, I have travelled many moons and sunrises to find you, I am Kasa son of Gideon"

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\n Gideon I know that name from somewhere deep in my past. I know that I have come across that name, suddenly it hits me, when I was a pup and still living with my pack, there was a grey wolf whose name was Gideon, he and his female mate were about to give birth to a pup in fact the pup would be making his way into the world only two or three days after I was banished.

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\n I turn back to the pup and look a little more closely at him, and sure enough he has the same facial features that I remember from Gideon's face, a lump forms in my throat as I think about Gideon, he truly was a wolf among wolves, he was the only one who fought for me, he was the only one to stand at my side when things turned rough. Kasa now allows me to examine him so that I can find out where his injury lies.

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\n I find that through his misfortune that he has managed to step on a large thorn and now has it embedded in his right rear paw pad, I can tell from closer examination that it is not a poisonous thorn like the many variations of larch thorn that can be found around this forest, but regardless it needs to be removed and the wound will need to be wrapped.

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\n I look up at Jason and suddenly he knows what he must do, he kneels in front of Kasa's head and then using his strong forepaws he holds Kasa's head still. Using my sharp claws I begin to dig the thorn out from Kasa's paw pad, he howls out in pain and he tries to thrash his head around, but Jason's paws hold fast, Jason then leans close to Kasa and speaks.

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\n "Take it easy pup, Wolfie is good at healing thorn wounds, he helped me get through my ordeal in fact he saved my life, now sure it hurts like crazy right now, but be strong and very soon the pain will ease"

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\n Whilst Jason is distracting the pup I manage to remove the thorn, I then begin to wrap it with mead wrap. Kasa's pained howls begin to subside back into gentle whimpers; I turn to the pack and speak.

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\n "Kasa has lost a lot of blood which will alert the other blood thirsty packs so we need to head back to the cave as fast as possible"

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\n I turn back to Jason and continue.

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\n "Jason, put Kasa onto my back, then I want you and Jacob to stay either side of me to make sure that he doesn't fall off, and I would like Rion to follow me and keep an eye on Kasa's condition"

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\n Jason lifts the pup up onto my back and then stands at my side, Jacob and Rion both take up their positions, whilst the rest of the pack fall in behind Rion, with everyone ready I begin to head back towards the cave and certain safety.

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\n After a walk of about an hour we make it back to the cave, Jason lifts the pup off my back and lays him down on the soft bed of leaves and brush. With Kasa now off my back I turn to the pack and speak.

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\n "Now then everyone, carrying Kasa has taken a lot of strength from me, so I will take this time to get a little sleep, I would however like the ten rucksacks of supplies emptied and stored away, and I want a two wolf guard placed at the entrance of the cave, the other packs will probably try and attack us while we are resting so be ever vigilant"

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\n Without any further question everyone went about their tasks whilst Jacob selected two guard wolves. I head towards where Kasa is sleeping and then I lay down on the cave floor in front of him.

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\n It has now been many hours since I began my sleep, I wake up again still a little weak but rested all the same. Kasa begins to stir from his own slumber, he slowly comes to and the shoots bolt upright quivering with fear.

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\n "Kasa, relax young pup, you are back at our den and you are safe"

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\n I can tell that Kasa is still unsure of his safety, so I step aside and continue to speak.

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\n "You can see the entrance to the cave right in front of you, there are two guarding wolves stationed at the entrance, but their orders are merely to stop attacking packs from coming in, not to stop pack members leaving, go ahead, if you need proof try and leave the cave"

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\n Kasa slowly heads towards the mouth of the cave, looking around all the time making sure that no one is following him. He makes it passed the two wolf guards and out into the forest, I stand at the mouth of the cave and watch him as fear of an imminent attack builds deep within me.

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\n The young pup now stops at the first tree and then turns to look at me, he then returns to the mouth of the cave and speaks.

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\n "Alpha Wolfie, I am glad that my father's belief in you wasn't a lie, he has told me of the many times how you and he would play together as pups, he also told me that if the worst happened and I either lost my parents or I was banished from my pack, I should seek you out, well, now I'm in real trouble, you see I have suffered both losing my parents and being kicked out of the pack"

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\n I let out a gasp as I hear his words, and he continues.

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\n "My mother died whilst she was giving birth to me, I was able to be saved, though most of the pack including the elders blamed me for killing her. My father though, he knew the truth and though his mate had died he still loved me as a son. But fifteen maybe sixteen moons ago there was a pack meeting held by the elders, they decided that I should be banished from the pack, my father went wild and began to fight, he was taken down by two of the elders guards and brutally killed. They then started on me, but I managed to run. Then two moons ago I ran into the part of the forest where you found me, a thorn jammed into my paw pad which normally I would have been able to deal with, but I had been constantly running for thirteen moons and so weakness took hold"

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\n The news that my old pack still hadn't changed was not so much of a surprise to me, but the fact that they had killed Gideon for standing up for his innocent son made me want to round the pack up and head back to my old pack and do some killing of our own, but Kasa had seen the look of distaste on my face and had heard my low throaty growl.

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\n "Alpha Wolfie, there is nothing that can be done to bring back my father, I would however ask that I become a member of your pack"

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\n I convene a pack meeting, we all sit in a circle with Kasa remaining sat in the centre.

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\n "Now then pack members, I'm sure that you have all heard what young Kasa has had to say, you can also see that he is badly emaciated and in need of food and water and so I ask for a show of paws. So, all those in favour of allowing young Kasa to join the pack, please raise your paws now"

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\n I look around the group as each one raises their paw in agreement; I bring an end to the proceedings and turn to face Kasa.

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\n "I hereby accept you, Kasa son of Gideon, into the Steel Pack. Now you will be fed and given water until you are back up to full fitness"

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\n I lead the young wolf down into the caverns where all the food and water is kept and allow him to pick his first meal in what I can only guess has been fifteen moons. I know that it will take a little time for the young wolf to get back to full fitness, and I also know that it will be quite a while before he fully trusts us, but for now I see that Kasa is just happy that he can get a decent meal.

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