<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic">“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.”</span><br/>~Bertrand Russell</div><br/><br/>That is what they were in, though a war for what they had yet to figure out. Was it merely for their pack lands, their territory….their home?<br/><br/>Or, was it for something greater?<br/><br/>What that something greater was eluded Aidan for the moment, which was fine for her because she was more caught up in the nightmare that continued to plague her sleep. It had been over a month now since the attack, more than a month since the death of her family and still it felt like just yesterday. Funny, how before this attack, before this<span style="font-style: italic">event</span>in her life she had not fully understood when people spoke about the freshness of trauma. How one could wake up each and every day to feel as if something had just happened to them. That had been most of her nights since the attack and there was no sign of it getting better.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"> Embers rose from the fire as they were all gathered about it fire before the den. Soon they would all turn in for the night and Sherman once again stressed the importance of the watch.<br/><br/>“The Claws are up to something; their latest antics have me worried so everyone has to be on guard and be prepared to defend our land and the pack. Understood?” <br/><br/>Around the fire the group all nodded and Sherman smiled. “Good, now let’s get to bed. We have that hunt in the morning and a run into town for supplies to organize.” <br/><br/>The group began to break up and head off to bed, though Aidan stayed behind to talk with Sherman for a moment. <br/><br/>“You really think they are going to do something?” <br/><br/>With a slight frown he nodded, his arms crossed over his barrel of a chest while his eyes gazed out into the darkened woods that surrounded them. “There is no other choice for them. Their Alpha would not unite with our pack and refuses peaceful existence. A fight will come and it will be ugly, but as long as we are united it will be a fight he will surely regret,” the confidence in his voice did not match the look of worry in his eyes, but Aidan nodded determined to have faith in his words. <br/><br/>“You coming to bed, Aderol?” her voice asked the concealed figure. <br/><br/>“I’ll be there in a moment, just want to talk to Sherman for a second,” the southern twang in his voice just the barest of hints as he stepped from the shadows and into the light of the fire. <br/><br/>Aidan merely shrugged and continued into their den and to her sleeping area. <br/><br/>“What’s on your mind, Aderol?” <br/><br/>“I was wondering if I could take the last watch instead of Thomas? He is new and while he is capable I would feel better with him on the second to last shift and not the last shift,” he pleaded his case. “I do have some more experience in the area of fighting…” <br/><br/>The older wolf eyed the younger with some suspicion; though Aderol was that he always felt had other plans or motives. He could never prove this of course, but it was a gut feeling he never could shake. Still, there was a point to his claims and he could not think of a true reason to not allow the shift change, besides some gut feeling. With the barest of sighs, he nodded. <br/><br/>“Alright. Let Thomas know before he goes to bed and make sure that Natalie to wake up Thomas and not you at the end of her shift,” he directed. <br/><br/>“Sure thing, boss.” <br/><br/>His tone was either mocking or playful, Sherman could not tell which and he was honestly too tired to dwell on it for long. The mantle of Alpha is a heavy burden to bear and Sherman began to feel the age in his bones far sooner than he thought he would. With hope and luck the plans for tomorrow would raise some of their spirits, including his own. <br/><br/>Silence…<br/><br/>It was the silence that woke her up. <br/><br/>The unnatural sound as the whole world stilled and the familiar sounds of life ceased to be replaced by complete, total and unnatural silence. <br/><br/>Slowly Aidan sat up in her bed, eyes no longer heavy with sleep, but wide awake peered into the darkness of their den in hopes to find the cause of this sudden change in nature. Shadows, tall and menacing crept through the den among her slumbering companions; their scents strange and foreign though she knew without a doubt who they were and what they were up too. <br/><br/> The howl she loosed done at the same time she leapt from her bed to tackle the one that loomed over Sherman. From there the night was nothing but a blur of blood, sweat, tears and fur. What she did remember was the sensation as Sherman was stabbed in the back by Aderol and the feeling of their pack bond as it died around them. <br/><br/>“SHERMAN!” </span><br/><br/>With a start she sat up in her bed. The cool furs clung to the cold sweat that covered her body and it took several blinks of her eyes to rid them of the Claws shadowy forms from that fateful night. The others still slumbered or at least appeared to be doing so and Aidan did her best to slink out of Den without much noise. A brief pause was spent at the small pool in front of the Den, where she splashed her face with the cool water and took a small drink before she went for a light jog through the woods.<br/><br/>It was a miracle she had not lost her mind yet from the lack of sleep she had experienced; Whatever the reason she felt tired constantly and as if she were about to just shatter into a thousand pieces. If just one more thing happened, she was not sure what any of them would do. To top it all off, the damn Heat was coming and there was little that any of them could do about it save brace for impact and hope for the best.<br/><br/>With so few of them left now and an actual desire to perhaps strengthen their numbers, but would they want to bring child into such a world? Filled with pain, misery and death…Aidan was not sure and she doubted she would make up her mind before the heat. Right now she needed to do something, anything to get her mind off of everything.<br/><br/>She needed a distraction.<br/><br/>Just then a rabbit still in its white winter coat darted across her path and into the brush. There was no hesitation as both woman and wolf committed to the sudden hunt and the chase was on.  Boot covered feet pounded through the now slick terrain as snow melted and the ground thawed from the long winter. Occasionally she would hit a patch of ice and slide for a moment, only to regain her footing to once more continue the chase. Vision now tunneled; there was only the rabbit and her, the predator and its prey. The rabbit darted under a log and Aidan vaulted it easily and without a thought in the world; which was unfortunate for her.<br/><br/>Air met Aidan, a lot of cold air as she leapt right over the log and out into the air that just happened to be at the top of the waterfall. Perhaps, if she had paid more attention more closely she would have recognized the familiar terrain and remembered just where she was. Now, she got to enjoy the sensation as she plummeted toward the cold water below. Followed of course by the shock that came when she did eventually impact with the water. There beneath the otherwise still and pure water she finally got the peace of mind she had desired while regarding the way the world looked from beneath the surface of the water.<br/><br/>When at last she made it to shore it was in her normal wolf form, as she would rather trot home in soggy fur than cold clothing. A brief shake of her coat and she took off at a run back to the Den to get warm by the fire she hoped would be going by the time she returned. That rabbit would live at least today, but much like an elephant, Aidan would not be forgetting this moment.