Welcome to Gaia! ::

Blaze sat outside the camp, letting the wind blow over him, and he didn't move when he smelled Ana coming toward him. He had an idea what the healer wanted to talk about, but he wanted to give her a chance to speak first. His ears twitched when he heard May's voice from the forest, and from the sound of it, she was quite a ways into the trees. He smiled as he listened to the words of her song, recognizing the language as Irish, and although he didn't speak it, himself, he'd been around a few lycans from other packs that spoke Irish. He didn't recognize the song, but it had a calming effect.

Blaze smiled when Ana spoke, accepting the cup of tea she handed to him. "Yes, I'm well, thank you, Ana," he said. He took a drink of the tea, smiling at the taste. "Don't tell Mama, but you make tea that no one else can," he said. "I'm not sure even Mama can make it taste like you do, Ana." As he drank, he could still hear May's voice, and not for the first time, he wondered where she went when she went off on her own. "It seems May has found solace when she wanders into the forest every now and then," he commented.

Blaze smiled when Ana chuckled, nodding at her words. He knew she was right about May's disappearing into the forest, but when Ana stopped talking suddenly, he listened, and immediately picked up what sounded like a skirmish. He could smell May's blood on the wind, but he could also smell the blood of another being, one that wasn't a werewolf. He quickly rose, intercepting Ana as the healer made for the trees. "Ana, no!" he said. "If you go after her, whatever attacked her may target you, as well! Let me go. Rally the pack and send them after me!" Shifting to his wolf form, he dropped to all fours and took off for the forest.

Once he was within the trees, he paused, sniffing the air for May's scent, and he quickly picked it up, then followed it. A few moments later, he found her, and from the look of her, she'd been attacked by something with sharp claws. He was about to meet her when he heard a low growling noise from above, and he looked up just in time to see a cougar leaping down from a tree above May's head. Thinking quickly, Blaze lunged forward, grabbing May and pulling her out of harm's way just as the cougar hit the ground where she'd been standing a moment before. "Stay here!" he said, keeping his eyes on the cougar as it began to circle the two of them.

Being in his wolf form, Blaze could see quite well in the dark, and it looked like the cougar was injured. He realized this was the second blood scent he'd smelled, and he could see that one of its eyes had been torn out. He moved a short distance away from May, then started circling the cougar to get behind it. "Kitty doesn't look very good," he said, his voice taunting. The cougar sprang at May, but Blaze caught its tail, dragging it backward. He let it go as it turned and swiped at him with outstretched claws, a devilish grin on his face. "Kitty looks mad, does kitty want a ball to play with?" he taunted. The cougar swiped at him again, and Blaze backed off. He could smell a hint of metal behind him, and he realized there was a trap somewhere nearby. As he continued backing off, his right hind paw brushed up against metal, and he smiled a bit. The cougar lunged for him then, and he quickly dodged out of the way. The cougar hit the ground where he'd been standing, and immediately screamed in pain as the trap closed on its leg. Blaze shook his head and returned to where he'd left May.

Blaze watched as some of the pack joined him in the forest, and he pointed them in the direction of the cougar. "Make sure you take care of the cougar," he said. Two of the hunters nodded, heading in the direction the cougar was in. A moment later, he heard the cougar scream a second time, followed by silence. A moment after that, the two hunters returned, nodding once to show that the cougar was dead. He nodded once in return, then turned his attention back to May. The young she-wolf had a look in her eyes that was beyond fear of the cougar, and his ears twitched when May said to make sure they found 'its' master. By 'it,' he assumed she meant the cougar, and he wondered what she meant. Walking toward her and Ana, who was hugging the young she-wolf and trying to wipe the blood from her face, he knelt down next to May. "What do you mean, May?" he asked, his voice gentle. "Whose master should we search for?"

Blaze caught the worried expression on May's face when she looked up at him, and he looked at Ana when she spoke. He nodded when the healer asked if they could speak in her tent, and he followed them to Ana's tent. Once they were in the safety of the tent, he shifted back to his human form again, then sat down just inside the doorway of the tent. "Now what's all the secrecy?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

Blaze listened as Ana spoke to May, then turned his attention to May as the young she-wolf started to speak, explaining how she had come to be found by Ana. Blaze was intrigued when May said that one of her birth pack had shared words with some humans outside the pack about her, and it made him growl in anger. None of his pack members would dare make a stupid mistake like that while he was alpha. He kept quiet until May had finished speaking, then shook his head when she apologized for not sharing this news with the pack sooner. "May, don't blame yourself for what happened," he said quietly. "It's not your fault that someone in your birth pack was so stupid as to try and make a deal with humans. Most wolves know to steer clear of humans because of how dangerous humans are.

As far as these humans and their beasts are concerned, should they ever set foot within our lands again, we will show them the error of their ways, and see to it that they don't make the same mistake again." He paused for a moment, then spoke again. "I am glad that the pack does not know this now," he said. "It is common knowledge that most wolves are afraid of albino wolves, because it is believed that albinos bring misfortune on those around them. Telling the pack this would only fuel that fire, and that is something I would rather avoid. Granted, not all the pack believes that, but the younger members are easily swayed by what they hear, or have been taught. The elders, however, are not so superstitious, and that could work to our advantage."