Chapter 46
Going through and doing check ups on a bunch of animals may seem easy, but when there are twenty that are bigger than you and another nine smaller variants that have a hundred percent more energy, it becomes quite time consuming. By the time that every warg was checked, the sun had already started making a bee line towards the mountains. The assumed Alpha of the group had the most heinous injuries of all them, with the next runner up for wounds being just a couple bruises. Otherwise the only other shared problem they had was slight malnutrition, but that was remedied easily with getting the pups to spend their time showing off their hunting skills they had been honing. Hares flowed out of the Soulscape, each feeding a warg. Almost as if they were the lollipop given out for good behaviour. The lack of injuries helped make the process of checking each and every warg go by a bit faster, but twenty-nine patients is a lot to get through in one sitting. The main upside though was that Nat got to pet that many really large and really fluffy wolves. Her heart felt like everything balanced out in the end. Her work was paid for with fluff and giant adorableness.
Turning to face the now fully reassembled pack, tears of joy started to flood up from her eyes. The pups were bouncing around in the park, enjoying running in the open space. Meanwhile a majority of the older canines were lounging out on their backs, relaxing in the sun without worrying for one another's safety for the first time in a long while. The moment easily became one of the top three most joyous things that Nat had ever seen. While they would be slow to trust others, they were now free to make that call themselves, not worrying how much they may be tortured or beat the next day. Seeing that they were all content to just wait around and hang out enjoying the sun, Nat sat down beside where Kali had sat for the entire procedure and joined them. All of the other wolves got up and came and sat around her, all just enjoying the sun and peace together. It had been a hectic past week, and taking a moment to just relax felt really good.
All of them just relaxed or played for a short while before the Alpha warg barked out a short hoof, and then turned towards Natalie and her pack and barked a few more times. Without having to take her eyes off the warg or gesture, Kali filled her in, 'He wishes to say thanks for all that you have done, and wishes for your hunts to be as prosperous as the furs on your head.'
"It was my pleasure to help you all. We do not have to part ways here though, if you or any of yours wish, I will welcome all to our pack and to join our hunts, so they may be even more bountiful than the leaves on the trees." While she had to hold back giggling at the way she responded, she felt it was only right to respond to the warg as it had spoken. This was all while pushing aside her surprise at how quickly Kali had gotten a handle on the English language. No matter how often she had seen it in the past, you can never assume how smart someone's pet or a wild animal may be. They will always far out shine whatever expectations you may have made before hand.
The warg however seemed please with her response, whether that was because it was in similar kind or due to the nature of it however, was entirely up to ones own discretion. He huffed out a few more low sounding barks, while his tail swayed gently back and forth behind him. 'Thank you for the offer, but I doubt any will take you up on it. I will still ask, but most of us are family, and we wish to stay that way, free to make our own choices.' Kali translated again, enjoying the thanks sent her way by scratches right behind her ears. Together they watched the Alpha warg group up all of the now free canines and started conversing amongst one another. In the end, almost all of the wargs ended up heading off together, sending a goodbye to Nat and her pack by way of a large group howl. Appreciating the gesture, they all howled back, including Natalie. They only managed to hold onto the howl for a few seconds before breaking down laughing, finding Natalie's horrible howl too bad and humorous to continue.
Three of the wargs ended up staying behind however, and sauntered up towards the group of wolves laughing at the human that helped them. When Nat looked their direction, pouting at the mockery that her family was giving her, she noticed that the three that had stayed behind were the three she had seen the night before in her dream. In an attempt to change the topic, Nat addressed the three approaching canines, "Welcome, I am surprised that any of you decided they wanted to join us, but you are gladly accepted in." Hearing that there was no issue with them wanting to join up with them, the wargs ears shot straight up and their tail's speed increased drastically. They ran forward and nuzzled against Nat and the other wolves in the group, saying there hellos back and forth while starting to get to know one another. Within no time it devolved into a dog pile on top of Nat once again, which was tougher for her to get out of as these wargs were far larger, and thereby heavier than the wolves she was used to laying on top of her. This definitely helped prove and set in stone the old adage that she had always heard as a kid. No matter how big a dog is, it will always believe that it is a lap dog.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Ty, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!