Walking out of the tent, she noticed that Sophie was over with the coyotes. She wasn't petting them or anything, just spending time with them, watching as they interacted as one massive family. She didn't have a look of jealousy in her eyes, but that was most likely due to the fact that Lucille was sitting beside her. She was keeping the little girl company, while maintaining her usual lack of speech. Despite the quiet that surrounded the two, neither seemed uncomfortable or distressed. If anything, it was like two sisters who were just relaxing nearby one another, just enjoying the other's presence. As Natalie walked up to them, Sophie held her arms out to be picked up. Deciding to humour her, Nat picked her up before sitting in the exact same spot she had been. Only once she had seated, Nat lowered Sophie down so that she was now seated in her lap. It was still quite early in the morning, so Shannon would not wake for a while yet. They then spent the next while just enjoying the sight of the other three mature coyotes go around trying to teach the pups how to stand and walk around while in the shifted forms.

It took a while longer for Shannon to finally get up, enough time for Sophie to start to nod off in comfort. She did however, wake up immediately upon seeing Shannon up and moving about. After all, she was in charge of food decisions for the day, so no one had breakfast until she rose. Of course they could have just pulled food out of Natalie's Soulscape, as all meals were stored there as well. However, it was more of a thing of respect that was observed more than anything. That, and if she was in the mood to make something new, it was always delicious. None of the pack wanted to miss out on that. Today did not happen to be one of those days though. She just had eggs, sausage and bacon taken out of the Soulscapes of her and her partner to feed all of the slowly waking canines around the camp. They may have had numbers over fifty when it came to the bodies in the pack, but the only one other than Nat who would wake up easily first thing in the morning seemed to be Sophie. Everyone else had a severe case of not being a morning person.

Breakfast went by pretty quickly, and nothing of interest really happened. The only thing that the group thought as notable was the fact that Ash yet again scarfed down food and did not choke on any of it. The speed and quantity she had was just ridiculous, almost as much as the fact that she did not put on any of the weight either. That meant that either she was burning a ridiculous amount of calories, using energy to keep her fit form, or food did not affect the physicality of the bonded. That last idea stuck itself into Nat's mind, and it seemed to have a number of supporting theories. The fast regeneration of their wounds was one thing, as they regenerated at a rate that should have depleted their bodies natural stores much faster. They might have kept eating at first due to habit, but continued because it all tasted good. Then the question remained, why would some get stuffed and be unable to eat anymore sooner than others?

Leaving that question for later, Nat started going through the camp getting things cleaned up. She dragged Sophie in to help her, while discretely passing the paper off to Shannon. She did her best to keep Sophie distracted while Shannon read up on what had happened overnight. After all, Shannon would be the one looking after Sophie today while Nat worked out on their trek northwards. The info could prove to help her dodge around any potential issues, or confront them head on depending on the situation. Neither of them had dealt with a kid before, especially not in this fashion. Not only had they adopted a daughter basically out in the middle of an apocalypse, but they were doing so right after trauma were her previous parents had clearly not made it out. Despite how much they wanted to help, they knew that trying to force her to work through it would only have the adverse effects to what they were wanting. Shannon knew this more clearly, given how she was still working through her own, and probably would be for months, if not years.

Thankfully, cleaning the area they camped took a bit longer than it did for Shannon to finish reading the note and store it away in her Soulscape. She could have used pockets, but there was a chance that Sophie may come across it while they walked today. She did not feel what they were doing was the wrong course of action, but she was worried about what would occur should she realize that the two new people in her life were talking about her behind her back. Even if it was for her sake, and so they could potentially be better equipped to help her, those reasons may not even make sense, nor stick. What would was the fact that they were secretly talking about her. Shannon was glad that Nat didn't seem to be blunt and crass this time, and actually seemed to be sensitive towards others. She loved the idea of paper notes back and forth, especially due to the nature of their life and the proximity that Sophie would always have to the two of them. It was probably the only way for them to communicate back and forth on their own for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully, Sophie did not notice that Shannon had not assisted in the clean-up, but that might have been because Natalie was doing her best to keep her involved in the whole ordeal. Passing items to the canines that were going in and out of Nat, she was running all over the place. So much, that all of the pups able to run joined her. Eventually, it was a race to see who could get the most items in the camp. Spirit would have been the easy contender, except for the small fact that he ended up forgetting to grab something half the time, enjoying the running too much and getting lost in it. Thanks to that, Artemis easily beat everyone, thanks to the tally that the adults had done. Sophie got an impressive third, which when going against the more fit wolves was impressive. Apparently, they didn't even go easy on her. The looks the pups gave her caused her to puff her chest out in pride. Once everything was stored and people were good to go, the pack hit the road, continuing their trip up to Edmonton and beyond.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Viktor, Saganatsu, Eeleater, John, Hades, Onean, Neal, Sebastian, Sir Hellington, Adam, 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 50 patrons, which I will then spend more time each month writing some side stories and shorts that show other perspectives throughout my stories!

 

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