ello peeps! I just decided to write this Scratch series called the Wolves of Obsidian and this is the next chapter. Enjoy! Cover by @squirrelflight1010! CHAPTER 31 Obsidian blinked at the sudden change of the volume of darkness as she padded out of her cave and into the Main Section of DarkPack territory. She shivered. The image of Rocksnarl, his foam-caked jaws open in a silent shriek of agony as he thrashed, writhing, his life force seeping away still haunted her memory and she was tortured by dreams of it at night... She spun around, hackles up and eyes wide as her thoughts were interrupted by the padding of pawsteps. Slowly, she slumped, instantly relaxing as Pheasant emerged from the Meeting Cave to stand beside her, licking his jaws nervously. "Greetings," Obsidian barked softly. "Anything to report, Beta?" Quietly, the shaggy cream-and-brown Beta shook his head. "Nothing apart from the fading scent of fox. The Warriors aren't worries though. One fox is no match for a whole Pack of wolves." Obsidian let her tail relax and her guarded posture slump as she licked his ear. "Good," she growled. As Pheasant turned away, Obsidian noticed something, not for the first time about the way he moved. He moved in jerky, anxious steps and stopped every few steps to sniff the air, muzzle wrinkled fretfully. He's just a little nervous after the attack from EmberPack, Obsidian told herself, but something still didn't feel quite right as she stepped out of the DarkPack Caves, her ears pricked and jaws parted to drink in the scents of the cool, calm forest air. Slowly, she bunched her haunches up below her and sprang, claws scrabbling at loose rocks for a moment before managing to hook her paw around one of the larger rocks and dragging herself up onto the roof of the Caves. She sat down, her tail drifting in the air a few seconds before floating down, curling around her haunches as she gazed out solemnly across the forest. As the minutes passed and nothing immediate happened, Obsidian felt her eyes begin to close and her head drooped forward, resting on her chest. As she was just floating on the edge of sleep, a sharp racket across the clearing alerted her. Lip wrinkled, she sprang to her paws, wide awake, eyes roving across the shadowy forest with its menacingly dark canopies. There was a flash of sleek black fur, torn and interrupted by raw looking slashes, seeping disgusting-looking foul liquid. Obsidian growled, low in her throat, narrowing her eyes to pick out the shape... Of a wolf. A burly, powerful she-wolf, her piercing green eyes seeming to hold all the secrets of DarkPack... Obsidian rocked back for a moment, shocked. That wolf isn't any DarkPack wolf! A heavy stone of dread sank into her gut, as painful as a real rock as the muscly, limping black she-wolf paused, one injured forepaw hovering off the ground. And looked straight at Obsidian. Her green-eyed, vengeful gaze pierced Obsidian's heart and Obsidian stifled a whimper of pure fear and anger. The cheek of that wolf to intrude on my Packs' territory, Obsidian thought as her terror faded to fury. She let loose a low snarl, warning the black wolf to not dare attack DarkPacks' territory. The black she-wolf's shoulders were hunched and Obsidian spotted a flicker of something other in her intelligent, luminous green eyes. Fear....? Anger....? Then, with one leaping bound, the she-wolf propelled herself from the verge of DarkPack's caves and into the forest, thick branches cracking and snapping in her heavy wake. Obsidian didn't take her eyes off the wolf's departing, lashed back until she disappeared completely. Then she stood up, her throat feeling twisted and broken as if some giant wolf had his front fangs locked around her neck and was strangling her. "That was an EmberPack wolf...." She didn't realize she'd said it aloud until Beta, who was passing by below let out a yelp of fear. "An EmberPack wolf? Alpha, how? Why? Where?" He was already leaping up the loose rocks up to join her on the top of the caves, seemingly not knowing - or caring about the cascade of pebbles he was sending tumbling down, clattering. "An EmberPack wolf," Obsidian repeated again, her throat feeling dry. "Just stopped there and STARED at me, not scared at all." Pheasant's eyes read fear and something else... Something mysteriously knowing... "What can this mean?" Beta asked worriedly, his eyes wide and fearful. "This means," Obsidian growled. "That Ember is back. He is not dead. He is here, in DarkPack forest, biding his time... Waiting to pounce. And kill." Beside her, Pheasant whimpered like a pup and Obsidian felt the same as she tilted back her head and let out a low, muffled howl of tortured pain an fear. This isn't over... she thought. Ember is coming, he is coming, and he is hungry for revenge...
Chapter 32: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/504253539/
