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“Yes. The ones nearest to the pack’s den were stripped of parts and items and filled in decades ago. This one is among the last remaining on our current land. Long ago, the pack was spread over much of the Woods.”
We strode toward the boulders, and Ivaylo guided me behind him as we approached. I didn’t protest; if something was waiting inside the abandoned den, I didn’t want to be the one it lunged for.
“It’s safe. It isn’t sealed, so I would hear and smell anything inside,” he assured me, squeezing my hand lightly.
His words didn’t calm me much, but I nodded anyway.
He stepped beneath the stone outcropping, and I followed him under it. We had to walk while crouched for a minute, but soon enough, we emerged in a large, open cave.
Though there were no huvim floating around, I could see fairly well. Ivaylo’s magic wasdefinitelychanging me.
The room was similar to our den, though much larger. The living space was expansive, the kitchen was more open, and the bathroom seemed bigger too. There were a few pieces of furniture around, each of them covered by what looked like thick tarps to protect them from the elements.
A chunk of the wall near the entryway had been taken apart much like the one in our den, and there were many pieces lying around it.
I noticed Ivaylo’s attention lingering on me, and looked at him curiously.
“Do you prefer the larger space?” he asked.
I blinked at the question.
Though I supposed it was valid, it had caught me off guard.
“I don’t need more space,” I told him with a shrug. “I think our den is cozy. I like it the way it is.”
He looked satisfied by the answer. “Many wolves feel wild in large dens.”
Huh. “Are you one of them?”
“Yes. I feel trapped in small dens, and my fur itches in large ones. Fate wouldn’t have matched us if our comfort levels weren’t compatible, from what I know.”
“So you asked me to make sure that was still true?”
He flashed me a small grin. “Can you blame me?”
I couldn’t stop my lips from curving upward. “Guess not.”
He bent down in front of the parts, his gaze sweeping the cluster slowly. “There isn’t much here.”
While he poked through everything remaining inside the wall, I roamed around the room, peeking beneath the tarps to get a better look at things.
Though I wasn’t a wolf, I could tell what he meant about feeling wilder in the larger den. My weird desire to run was growing fiercer the longer we remained in the large space. Because it wasn’t comfortable, I yearned for the freedom of… the forest?
I didn’t know.
The feelings were still bizarre to me, and I didn’t understand why they were there at all.
So, I did my best to ignore them.
But by the time we left the den, I was relieved to go.
We ranfor a few more minutes before stopping again. The next den was through a crack in the ground, and it was smaller than ours. It made me feel slightly claustrophobic, but I tried to remain calm as we poked around in there for a few minutes before leaving again.
Two dens later,we slipped out from inside another tree, and I shook my head a bit, trying to shake off the anxious energy in my chest that made me want to run.
I was starting to think there was more to the feeling than I wanted to admit, but I wasn’t ready to ask Ivaylo about it, so I stayed quiet.
“We’ll have to get the rest tomorrow,” he said, his gaze scanning the silent forest around us.
