Word Count: 410
Nathaniel had no knowledge that the smell of wolf clung to his body; as far as he knew, he was as coyote as Hybrid and the rest of Inferni. He didn’t even know what wolf smelled like…or, at least, he thought he didn’t. In fact, he was beginning to think that the girl trying to push him into the river was actually an intruder, not a member of his pack. Why else would she try to harm him like this? It wasn’t like play-fighting with his sister, where it was all fun and pretend. This was real, with actual malice in this pup’s intentions. Still, she smelled familiar, like she wasn’t from the caves, but maybe from the mansion or some other place in the territory that Nathaniel had yet to go to.
It took a moment for him to figure out what the girl was referring to. And he certainly wasn’t happy with being called “it.” “My name is Nafaniel,” he told the girl firmly (he still had some trouble pronouncing the “th” sound in his name). “An’ I don’ stink.” He didn’t smell, did he? He and the adults he lived with always managed to keep his hygiene reasonable, and with the exception of his muddy paws from climbing up and down the banks, all the dirt on him had been washed off with the stream.
He had thought the push would be enough for the girl to leave him alone, so he yelped in surprise when she got back up and once again tried to push him in. She managed to push him a few steps backwards, but the larger pup stood his ground, digging into the muddy soil with his paws and preventing himself from tumbling over the ledge. He loved jumping into the river, but only on his own accord; he wasn’t going to be embarrassingly pushed into it like a doll by some she-pup he had just met. “I told you, my name is Nafaniel, not Stinky,” he repeated. “I live wiff Auntie Tow-iffa and Auntie Vow-caw-rie in da caves. I da son of Hybwid,” he added quickly, as though that would somehow make whatever body odor the girl was smelling stink less. His father was well-known in Inferni, wasn’t he? In the red-furred pup’s opinion, he was the greatest warrior the clan had ever seen…but then again, Nat hadn’t met Halo yet. Or any of the other warriors and fighters in the pack.
Image courtesy of Staura@Flickr; table by the Mentors!
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