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Ember's Story

To Tie For

Chapter Two

© Cederwyn Whitefurr

27thOctober, 2021

All Rights Reserved.

Ember sighed softly, idly petting her tail as she closed her eyes and went into a light doze. Her memory slipped into remembrance as her doze turned into a deep sleep.

*

From her earliest memories, Ember had been fascinated with not only her kind, being an anthropomorphic wolfess, but wolves in general, Her room had been filled with wolf pictures, plush toys and statues of them.

As she grew up, her fascination grew and evolved. Ember knew she'd want to become a park ranger. Not just because it was she enjoyed the outdoors and so on - but it gave her a chance to begin her life long ambition. After graduating from High School, she got accepted into a university. It was hard, very hard, but she studied long and diligently. Now, she and after years of study and dedication - was on the edge of writing and submitting her thesis for her masters degree.

This pack was healthy, vibrant and had existed in this park since before she had become a ranger. Lead by the Alpha and his mate, they were one of the few true pure wolf packs left in the state. So many had been hunted, shot by farmers or interbred with domesticated dogs, their pure strains and bloodlines diluted.

This was the chance of a lifetime! To study them in the wild, to watch their social interactions and discover all she could. Of course, Ember would love to be like a you tube video she saw once - when she was a pup. A human had spent years studying and watching and even videoing and photographing a Canadian pack.

After many years, he earned the respect and even trust of the wolves. They invited him into their pack, where he would sit with them, completely at ease and they with him. Pups would clamber all over him, play with him and even the adults would engage in play and roughhousing when the mood struck them.

It was just a dream, but who knew? One day, this pack might find her worthy and bond with her - let her into their lives and love and...

*

Ember woke with a startled yelp as a thud come from the roof of the cruiser. Her breath fogged and the windows were all covered in a fine layer of snow and frost.

"Damn it - " Ember growled, as she felt the cold bite hard, even through her thick coat and her double fur layer.

Turning the ignition key of the cruiser, it gave a tired Rrrr sound of the starter motor before it gave up.

"No, no, no!" Ember moaned.

Outside, the wind gusted and snow flew as the storm felt like it'd parked itself overhead and was refusing to budge. How much had fallen? Ember didn't know. All she could do was pull her knees up to her chest and wrap her arms around them as best she could.

After another hour of sulking and shivering, Ember whined and slid her paws down her hips. Carefully ,she peeled her panties off and dropped them to the floor of the cruiser. They were cold and clammy, the strong scent of her urine quickly filling the cruiser.

"Urgh," Ember muttered, as she wound down the window. "Thank the God's for non-electric..."

As an icy blast filled the cabin, Ember shivered worse and moaned. It must be freezing out there, literally and figuratively! In her years, she couldn't remember a snow storm in late fall!

"I promise, if I get through this, I'm going to ensure all park Cruisers have warm blankets, emergency survival gear and whatever else I can think of! It's so cold! I do not care what it takes, they _will_have them come the first day of spring!"

Her jaws aching and teeth chattering so hard, she swore they must surely shatter, Ember stripped off her coat and unwound the scarf. Curling up in a fluffy ball, she placed the coat over her groin and knees then tried to wind the scarf around it.

Glancing at her wrist watch, she seen it was zero-one-thirty-eight.

"No...Surely it can't be that early..."

Tapping her wrist watch with a claw tip, Ember held it to her ear and heard the quiet tick, tick, tick, tick. With a low, mournful whine, Ember squeezed her eyes closed.

"Think happy thoughts..." Ember told herself. "Laying on the beach in Florida or something..."

Outside, the wind howled and snow clattered and scratched against the side of the cruiser like the spirits of the dead. Needing the window open to let a little fresh air in, Ember curled up tighter, trying to tuck her cold, wet nose under the tip of her tail.

"Why me..." Ember moaned and shivered, fluffing her fur up as best she could. "Why didn't I think to bring some warm pants? I knew the...the..."

Ember's eyes slid closed and she began to snore softly.

*

Ember awoke with a snort the next morning, the cruiser feeling surprisingly warm. Stiffly, she uncurled herself, feeling cold, taught muscles reluctantly returning to motion. Rubbing her aching forearms and legs, Ember experimentally cracked each knuckle. They crackled, popped and on one thumb, even snapped. With a yelp, Ember sucked on it like a puppy.

"Toes..." Ember muttered to herself as she bent forwards and looked. "Still there, I can barely feel them, but they're still there!"

Looking outside, Ember shuddered both mentally and physically. Without shoes, especially snow shoes, she risked frostbite and hypothermia if she tried walking back to the ranger station. Without her cruiser radio antenna there was no way to call for help.

"Foolish puppy!" Ember chastised herself, then banged a paw on the steering wheel. "It could be hours, if not longer, before they can come look for you. When was your last radio check in? Well?"

You're a wolf, not a weak, pitiful human! Her mind told her. Has domestication taken your instincts away from you? Well? Those of your feral brothers and sisters out there? They have survived countless winters just fine! Now, stop being such a puppy, get out there and prove to yourself and others what a real bitch you are!

"Its freezing out there..." Ember whined piteously. "I'm safer in here than I am...

Almost as if she was watching a movie, her paw reached out and gripped the door handle. At first it opened a tiny crack, letting a trickle of snow in - then it jammed against the snow that'd built up around the cruiser.

"Open, open...OPEN GODS DAMN YOU..." Ember snarled in sudden rage.

Using her strength, she slammed against the door again and again. It refused to open more than enough to get a few fingers out.

_Puppy..._Came the teasing voice in her head.

Ember knew it was her own mind - either that, or she was going absolutely stark raving mad.

"If I can't open the door - "

Ember pondered a moment, then cranked down the window, letting snow fall in on her and the icy wind sink its teeth into her fur and flesh. With a gasp, she hurriedly wound it back up then twisted herself about. Clambering into the back, she awkwardly wriggled into her slacks again.

"I'm_so_ not going back to the Ranger Station naked apart from my shirt, scarf and jacket!"

A memory surfaced and vanished again, before Ember frowned and sat on her rump in the back of the cruiser.

"I'm_sure_ I seen..."

Quickly, she hunted about until she found some plastic rubbish bags.

"Not as good as proper shoes...but better than nothing!"

Triple-bagging her feet and tucking the ends of the bags up under her slacks like she would socks, Ember frowned.

"I feel like an idiot - but..."

Once again, she clambered over the seats and wound down the drivers side window again.

"Sitting here isn't getting me warm and dry, so..."

Climbing awkwardly out, Ember fell headfirst into the snow, landing with a flumph. Picking herself up, she brushed it off as best she could, before she took her bearings. Already, the cold was biting at her and she wrapped her paws under her armpits as she started the long walk back to the station.

Snow crunched and squished under her bagged foot paws as Ember moaned and trembled. Settling into a slow, methodical trudging, Ember tried not to squirm at the crunch of the snow under her bagged foot paws. Quickly, the cold sapped the feeling from them, yet she persevered.

"I'm a wolfess, I won't submit and lie down, I just won't!" Ember kept telling herself, like it was a mantra.

Ember used her memory of the park to take a direct as possible path back to the Ranger Station.

*

It was mid afternoon, by the time Ember crawled on knees and paws to the front door of the station. In her delirious thoughts, she noticed someone at least had shovelled and salted the path. Her body was exhausted, frozen through like she'd been kept in a walk in freezer and borderline hypothermia.

Her fingers felt like icicles that break and shatter if she even so much as tried to flex them. Yet somehow, she managed to push down the handle and force it open. Stumbling in, she instantly got blasted by the heat and warmth. Against the far wall stood a large stone fireplace, in which come the crackle and pop of burning wood.

A gasp come from Jasmine, who ran over and caught Ember as she stumbled.

"You're frozen stiff - what in the hells happened to you?" Jasmine moaned as she quickly set ember down on a chair and hurried into the other room.

Whining and shaking, Ember felt the warmth reluctantly enter her frozen body. Her paw pads ached abysmally, crackled and split from the cold, as Jasmine returned with two large ex-army blankets she wrapped around Ember.

"We lost your radio signal yesterday - where's the..." Jasmine prattled, her dark eyes wide and scared.

Ember couldn't answer her, as she pulled the blankets tightly around herself and tried to stop her teeth from chattering.

"I'll call a Veterinarian, you're..." Jasmine moaned, then moved towards the phone, before she sighed and stopped. "No, storm like this - the phone lines will be out and..."

"So...cold..." Ember moaned.

Jasmine stood behind Ember, gently holding the shaking wolfess and rubbing at her blanket covered arms.

"Silly wolf!" Jasmine murmured. "Stay here, I'll get you a hot cocoa!"

Ember trembled and chattered her jaws, she couldn't stop it if she tried, before she edged closer to the fireplace and shivered. Ember had never been so cold before in her life - didn't even know you could be so cold...

TO BE CONTINUED...