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I know that we also need to remove the bodies of the lion and the lionesses. I cannot just leave them here, because their blood, flesh, fat, and bones will eventually affect the ground they lay on once they start to decompose.
It is also a big fucking waste of meat and skin and bone,I think to myself as I consider how we’re going to remove the bodies.
When I turn to the pack, I see that they are sitting in a row behind me, and it is clear that they are waiting for instructions.
I growl to get their attention and jerk my head toward the bodies.
They stand up one by one and carry the bodies of the lionesses off.
None of them touches the lion’s body.
I sigh. I should have seen that coming.
I turn to Kian – he’ll have to carry the lion’s body.
“They won’t touch the lion’s body out of respect for you. They saw you kill it, and they know that it is the biggest prey we’ve hunted today.”
Kian grins again, and my heart trips over itself as it pounds frantically.
I bite my lip to stop myself from smiling right back and pray that my face isn’t as red as I think it is.
“So does that mean they acknowledge my presence in the pack?” he asks me with child-like enthusiasm.
I cannot help but smile then. Kian’s eagerness to become part of the pack is warming to see.
Even if he isn’t going to stay? Even if this is just temporary?My smile dims as these thoughts tumble through my head.
I shrug and try to continue smiling.
“We still have a long way to go,” I tell him. “Wolves are tricky creatures. They’re suspicious by nature, but once they become loyal, they become deeply loyal. You just have to give it some time.”
Kian bends and picks up the lion’s body then. I watch, swallowing slightly, as his muscles strain as he lifts the heavy body.
He lifts the body with ease, even though the creature must be close to 600 pounds in weight.
Why do you find his strength so captivating? What the fuck is wrong with you? You do this every day, and you don’t get all warm and fuzzy when you drag large creatures back home!
“So,” Kian huffs slightly as we start to walk back to our hideout. “That just means that I’ll have to catch more and more prey. Until they respect me? Right?”
He really does seem to enjoy the challenge of being accepted by the pack. And as we walk back to our hideout which is about a mile away, I cannot help but wonder if my days of existing alone are over.
Is that really what you want? And anyway, you aren’t really alone, are you? You have the pack.
It takes us slightly longer to get to the hideout with the extra weight of the bodies.
As we walk, I plan how I am going to skin and preserve the meat from the bodies. Preservation is always necessary with wild animals, because there is no telling what diseases they have, and it also helps the meat to last longer.
And with winter coming, hunting will be more difficult. It will be too damn cold, for one thing. And most prey will be hibernating or just laying low, to not burn off precious reserves of energy.
It will probably take me several days to skin all the bodies, cut up each body, and then wash and salt each cut of meat.
At least you’ll be able to sell the skins at the settlement’s trading post. You can get some more supplies in exchange. The less you need to leave the shack in winter the better.
I urge Kian to walk faster because I’ll need to work extra hard over the coming days. The sun is rising later and later every morning and sinking faster and faster every afternoon.
The nights are frigid, and I have already seen frost stretching across the treetops.
“Maybe,” I murmur to myself when we finally get to the hideout and Kian goes off to join the wolves where they have dumped the bodies. “Maybe I should make some warm clothes with the skins. I don’t have much in the way of winter clothing.”
