Chapter 10

It was already late when the trio arrived in Strasbourg, so they hoped they could immediately continue on to the town of Bernau in the Black Forest. Fortunately, there was still a bus heading there, so they went straight to the bus stop to wait for departure. Alya, Ilana, and Larry were so overwhelmed by the events of the past few days that they didn't say anything to each other. This wasn't anything new; silences often fell between their conversations. And all three of them were fine with that, so nothing was done about it.

After about twenty minutes, the bus arrived. The trio boarded and asked if this bus also stopped in Bernau. The driver said that it was quite far; he advised them to take a train there. Disappointed, they got off and walked back into the station, searching for the schedule. They found a train heading to Bernau, but it wouldn't arrive until eleven-fifteen in the evening; they would have to wait another hour and a half. With a deep sigh, the three wolves sat down on a bench. They were tired, longing for their warm beds. Ilana suggested setting an alarm just before the train would arrive. For safety, they set an alarm together for eleven o'clock, with the volume turned up to the maximum in case they fell asleep. Then everyone closed their eyes to try to catch a nap.

The group was rudely awakened by the sound of train wheels screeching on the tracks. It was their train slowing down to arrive at the station. Everyone looked at their phones in surprise; it turned out they had slept through their alarm. Hurriedly, Alya, Ilana, and Larry gathered their belongings and boarded the train. They sighed as they settled into the first available seats facing each other, dropping their luggage at their feet. Their nap hadn't exactly refreshed them, but they knew this train would only stop in Bernau, and it was a few hours' ride, so everyone agreed to try to sleep again on the train. If the conductor didn't wake them to check tickets, they would notice when they arrived in Bernau, was their thought. So the three nestled into their seats and quickly dozed off. Luckily for them, the compartment was empty.

Larry was the first to wake up again when he heard the announcer saying they would soon arrive in Bernau. He woke up the girls to relay the message, and then he realized their tickets hadn't been checked. None of them remembered the conductor waking them to check their tickets either. Probably, the conductor had just let them sleep, and they were grateful for that.

A while later, the trio got off in Bernau. The station was deserted; it was the middle of the night. The friends hoped they could still find a place to sleep, and they quickly left the station and entered the town. If it hadn't been nighttime, they could have gone to the tourist office to ask if there were hostels or youth hostels here, but the city itself was deserted, everyone was asleep. So they had no choice but to walk into the center and search for an inn or something themselves...

After an hour or so of wandering through the narrow streets of the city center, Alya suddenly perked up.

"Hey, look there!" With her finger, she pointed straight ahead. What she saw was a youth hostel that seemed open. With their last bit of energy, the friends ran towards it and burst through the door. It looked quite cozy; everything was decorated with dark oiled wood. In the back of the room was a rustic-looking bar, and the tables and chairs that accompanied it looked the same. Further towards the door was a pool table, and to the left of the door was the reception. To their relief, there was still someone behind the counter.

Without much ado, Alya, Ilana, and Larry booked for two nights in the hostel. As soon as they were assigned a room and had the key in hand, they hurried there, dumped their stuff somewhere, and after a brief "goodnight," everyone went to bed.

It was midday the next day when the trio came downstairs for breakfast, or rather brunch. Once again, little was said during the meal, and the friends decided to go to bed early again that evening. They didn't do much else besides hanging around and taking a shower. After dinner, the three went straight to bed again because the next day they would head into the Black Forest to admire nature and camp. What they didn't know yet was that their camping trip this time wouldn't exactly stay nice and calm.

...

"Hey, when are we finally going to set up our tents? It's like we're constantly searching for something..." Ilana said irritably.

It was just past noon, and the young wolves were searching in the forest for a suitable place to set up their tents. They wanted to be as far away as possible from the trails and inhabited areas, so that they were essentially living in the wild. They would also have to hunt because the food they bought in Bernau for their camping trip was almost gone. But fortunately, Larry could already transform, and he would do his best to hunt a decent meal for them.

"I think this is a suitable place," Alya said after walking deeper into the wilderness for half an hour. "Let's set up our tents here and make a fire pit." It was a beautiful spot: they were well sheltered among the tall spruces and low pine trees. There was little undergrowth, as the crowns of the spruces blocked a lot of sunlight and made it impossible for plants other than ferns and moss to grow well. Moreover, their tents were colored in dark, natural greens and browns and would hardly stand out behind a group of dense pine trees.

When their tents were set up and arranged, and they had all had a late lunch, the sun was already low. Larry suggested going to catch dinner already; he told the girls he would try to catch a rabbit or badger and bring it back so they could roast it over the fire. Alya and Ilana thought it was not a bad idea, and Larry disappeared into the small grove of pine trees to undress and transform into his wolf-self before he would run into the depths of the forest. From the girls, he heard encouraging "good luck" and "see you soon" before he vanished. However, not even twenty minutes after the wolf had disappeared from sight, they heard a plaintive, alarming howl coming from where he had run.

Alert, Alya and Ilana stood up from their places around the fire that had just started burning, and not much later, they saw Larry, running out of breath, running towards them. Just as they wondered why he suddenly returned to their camp so frightened and hurried, they saw to their horror a pack of other wolves chasing after him, somewhat scattered over the hilly horizon. With flickering eyes and shining, bared teeth, they gained more and more ground on Larry's hurried gallop, and just as startled as their friend, the girls didn't know what was happening to them. They thought there were no wolves in this part of the Black Forest, but apparently, they were wrong.

As soon as Larry reached his friends, he slammed on the brakes until he stood right in front of them. Then he turned around, and courageously bared his teeth to the approaching pack of wolves. They also slowed down as they approached the camp, but as the

leader of the pack walked straight towards the trio, the rest started to trot threateningly around the camp.

The leader of the pack turned threateningly and growled at the three friends. They were intimidated by the large, black wolf, but Alya was not having it and stood between the wolf and her friends. "If you want Larry, you'll have to get past me first," she said in a low, threatening tone. She actually wanted to make it clear that she knew their group had intruded into the territory of the pack, but that they had no ill intentions. But she decided to do it in human language, as she didn't know much about wolf language beyond body language. As she told what she and her friends were doing here, she suspected that these wolves were not ordinary wolves. The alpha wolf softened his gaze slightly, and there was a somewhat human expression of understanding on his furry face. Something she had recognized in Larry as well when he transformed.

These wolves were wolf-bloods. Wild wolf-bloods.