wolves in the enchanted forest.

"It's nothing, m'dear. Just the twilight of the forest making me feel overly paranoid, like usual. It's nothing honestly."

Somewhere deep within his mind came a deep howl, the memory of it made the fine hairs against his skin stand on end. Shadows... shadows moving by quickly, shadows moving between the shadows....

Shaking his head, he turned to face Ayasha, licking her on the nose, "Rest. You need it."

Ayasha looked at him, but did not argue. Closing her eyes, she rested, but did not sleep.

As Ayasha slept, Geralt remained alert, something just didn't feel right and he knew it.

But what he didn't know was that he wasn't the only wolf to pass through the veil of death and return to the land of the living. He had inadvertently joined the ranks of the Guardians. Creatures blessed and cursed with immortality, his 'life force' was that of the forest. He WAS the forest now. And something was threatening it.

Ayasha wouldn't be able to feel it, she had yet to pass through the Veil.

Geralt nuzzled her side and gently licked the pups.

He had no idea what he had done...

Ayasha muzzled Geralt back. She kept her eyes closed, but felt like something was bothering her mate.

Geralt sighed; he couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he decided just to leave it alone. He had a mate and pups to take care of, he couldn't be distracted.

Ayasha opened her eyes, and stood up to stretch her legs. The pups lay sleeping under her. Walking to the mouth of the cave, she breathed in the fresh cool air of the outside. Sitting down, she began to groom herself.

Geralt stayed beside the pups, 'Good morning, m'dear. How was your sleep?'

Ayasha looked back at him, and shook her head. Turning away, she dropped her head, and made a strangled noise in her throat.

'What's wrong?'

Ayasha stayed silent as she sat at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly she began to cry silently. Nightmares of her past still haunted her dreams.

Quietly, he nuzzled her neck, 'Troubled rest, like me?'

Ayasha looked at him, her eyes filled with pain and sadness. Nodding her head, she started to shake.

Putting a paw on Ayasha's right paw, he sighed. It would seem that they both had their fair share of problems.

Walking back to the sleeping pups, he said, 'Want to talk about it?'

Ayasha followed Geralt. Laying down beside the pups, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'It happened when I was only a few months old. My brothers had been killed by humans, and my sister, killed by another male.' Tears rolled down her muzzle as the memories coursed through her. 'My parents and I were out hunting, when humans came upon us. I was hiding in a bush, but they were in plain view.' Taking a gasping breath, her words became quiet. 'They were both killed, and their bodies taken by the humans. Leaving me alone. After I learned to live alone, until I came across the pack I have been with for so long, and I am alpha of.' Ayasha kept her eyes closed, but her body shook with her crying.

'Look at it this way, you witnessed death, I had to endure it.' Gerlat tried to inject some lightheartedness into the gloom.

'Anything you could suffer while alive is better than what the soul does in death...' He trailed off as a memory coursed through him, causing the hair on his neck to stand on end.

Ayasha looked up at him. Seeing his fur standing on end, she got up and went to him. Licking his neck, she sighed. 'I know. I just wish my past didn't haunt my dreams.'

'Death haunts me. It wants to reclaim me, but it can't. My willpower allowed me to return, regain a body and because of that, Death can't take me. The memories of what I saw in the afterlife would be enough to turn the bravest wolf's blood to ice.'

A thought occurred to him, 'Actually, I might be able to use that as a weapon...'

Ayasha continued to lick his neck. Hearing his words, she stopped and looked at him with slight confusion. 'If anything threatens you, wont it threaten myself and the pups?' She asked.

'The only thing that could come close to threatening me, you or the pups would have to be another beast from beyond. Anything else, I could plant my memories of death in them, and they would perish from fright.'

'But why these visions plague me, I do not know...'