either. The only one he even showed any care toward was Tempest. 

Off in the distance, she heard someone howl. She perked her ears, straining to recognize the howler’s voice.

“Odin” she finally said aloud, taking off toward the location of the voice. 

Since she was practically on the other side of the territory, it took Comet a bit to get there but she finally spotted Odin sniffing the ground furiously along with Tempest and Quick who were nervously looking around. 

“What happened?!” Comet exclaimed as she skit to a halt.

“I think they got in the territory!” Odin replied, a hint of worry in his voice.

“How?!”

Tempest shrugged, green eyes still jumping from tree to tree around them. “I don’t know but they’re good... they must have snuck in between us”

Quick grimaced, not offering his own opinion. He knew how they had gotten in. The trail that Odin was following entered in through the spot Quick had ditched to visit Tosca. It had taken until morning for someone to find the scent trail.

Suddenly, Odin took off, nose to the ground. The other three followed right behind, careful to check over their shoulder every now and then. Now that they had already been tricked, they were twice as determined to catch the strange pack. Nothing would sneak up on them now.

The scent trail Odin had found led the four wolves up the slope leading to the dried riverbed. Once they came over the slope, Will and Altea were already frantically pacing around the front of the den. Quick, Tempest and Comet gaped at the moved log and empty den.

Odin on the other hand, was so concentrated on his tracking, he didn’t even notice the other two until his scent trail stopped in front of the den. Then he snorted and stood stiffly.

“I think he got out!” Odin exclaimed.

Quick squinted at Odin before the sandy wolf started to sniff around again.

“I don’t think he got out, I think someone else let him out” Will explained quickly. “It smells like more then one wolf”

“Do you know how many?” Comet asked, eyeing the claw marks around the log as Odin started to sniff around again. 

Will shrugged but added, “Enough to make up a pack I think...”

Altea cautiously padded into the den and finding nothing, padded out with a strange look on her face. “Why didn’t Everest rush over here... isn’t he the one that kept us on the lookout?”

Quick groaned. “You don’t think he went after them on his own, do you?”

Will shrugged again and no one else said anything.

“He didn’t go after them” Odin finally replied from behind them.

The others turned to Odin.

“They took him too” 

Chapter III

Everest limped along, mind pumping furiously through every escape plan he had ever thought up. For a second, he looked at his right leg again as he plodded through the grass. Thankfully, he didn’t think any bones were broken... but it was still throbbing with every step.

Portly pranced stupidly in the front of the group until they came to a fork in the trail and the group finally paused. Everest took the chance to soothe his injured leg as Portly started to argue about which way they should go. 

Everest’s two guards stood faithfully next to him but Everest ignored them. By now, his pack should have figured out he was gone. So maybe if he left some sort of a scent trail, they’d be able to follow. The scent of the pack was probably covering up his own but he could leave little traces of his scent. Odin, after all, was probably one of the best trackers Everest had ever met.

The gold wolf rolled over on his back, rolling in the grass as if he was scratching his back. Then he jumped to his feet quickly, making his two guards flinch and glare warily. Everest smiled politely at the bigger wolves then started to scratch his back on the bark of the nearest tree, groaning as if he was finally scratching an itchy spot. 

“Everest!”

Everest paused mid-sctratch, blank face turned toward Portly. 

“You know where Hiatus’s territory is, don’t you?” the fat wolf exclaimed.

Everest raised a brow and nodded.

“Of course I do. I would’ve helped you, but that’s before you attacked my leg” Everest shot back, “scratching” his back once more before plopping onto the ground. 

Portly scowled and turned back around, looking between the two paths. Everest fidgeted. He knew both paths: the one on the left would take him to the Ublureak territory while the one on the right would take the group parallel to the territory and right to a heavily wooded area. If he got Portly to take the right, maybe he could buy some time for his own pack. Everest grinned. He had a plan. 

“Fine, it’s the trail on the right” Everest scoffed. 

Portly glared. “You just said you wouldn’t help”

Everest shrugged, beaming. Portly looked between the two trails, mumbling bitterly under his breath while Everest placed his head on his paws, clearly amused.  

“Fine let’s take the right”

Everest got to his feet, looking down at the grass as if he was disappointed. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Portly smirk. Everest had to hold back from smirking too. Portly wouldn’t be smiling for long...

Back at the Ublureak pack, Fly was oblivious to the chaos in her mate’s territory. Tosca had finally emerged from her den and Fly had noticed the grey wolf’s suddenly thin figure. 

“Must of had her pups” Fly mumbled to herself. She should’ve been more excited, but the new additions were only going to be corrupted by Hiatus and Hawk, so why waste her energy?

Tosca noticed Fly gazing over in her thoughts and Fly quickly looked away. But too late. Tosca started to walk happily over to her. Fly rolled her eyes but flashed a fake smile as the grey wolf sidled up alongside her.

“You had your pups” Fly said through her teeth, trying hard not to say anything offensive.

“I did!” Tosca chirped. “A boy and a girl”

“That’s great” Fly replied, quickly walking away as if trying to avoid a conversation. Tosca just followed after the pale gold wolf.

“Yeah I was a little nervous about having pups but everything turned out to be okay...”

Fly nodded but didn’t really pay attention. Instead, she paid attention to Hiatus and Hawk, who were warily watching the two as if Fly’s thoughts would infect Tosca.

“... I thought you’d be pretty excited” Tosca suddenly said, interrupting Fly’s train of thought. “Because you had puppies too”

Fly furrowed her brows, but shut her mouth, shaking her head. Saying anything was a waste of breath and Tosca would probably just end up repeating what she said to Hawk.

As she tried to walk away from Quick’s sister, she tried to think about what Everest was doing. She hadn’t seen him for a while... but whatever he was doing must’ve been tons better then what she was doing.

Odin’s nose was in overdrive. The others followed behind them, still warily eyeing the shrubs around them but Odin was too focused to be afraid. So far he hadn’t gotten a trace of Everest’s scent. Portly’s pack must have covered it up. Comet, who seemed to sense the woods better then anyone else, was a bit more at ease too. She could tell no one else was around. But now that no one knew if Portly’s pack still had Everest at all, the pack was reasonably stressed. For all they knew, Portly could’ve just gotten rid of him.

Odin trotted over and started to sniff in circles. 

“I think they stopped here” Odin reported, lifting his head for once to look around. Then he got right back down to business again, sniffing one area in the grass that led up to a tree. Then his eyes brightened up.

“What?” Quick blurted impatiently. 

“I found his scent!” he squeaked. “I think he’s okay! I don’t smell blood or anything”

“Well which trail did they go down?” Tempest asked, looking between the split trails. “If they dragged him off to the Ublureak territory he’s goner”

Odin followed the scent down from the trees and to the pack’s relief, he started off to the right.

Everest’s blue eyes burned with excitement. Not that anyone noticed. The pack was too concentrated on being lost... just like Everest hoped. Thankfully, Portly didn’t seem to notice yet and if he did, he didn’t care.

The group was now in the thickest part of the woods. The pine trees were so tall, all Everest could see were the identical trunks without straining his neck to look up. Thick bushes and shrubs with full summer leaves blocked out the bottom of each trunk. They would be easy to sneak away in.

Both of Everest’s body guards were scanning around them. The tree trunks could hide anyone that could jump out and set Everest free. They were so on edge, Everest could bet that if a rabbit hopped out, they would jump.

Portly on the other hand, seemed more relaxed. 

“Thought we would’ve gotten there by now...” he muttered under his breath, confusion starting to stir.

“That’s because we’re going the wrong way”

Portly gave Everest a dirty look but chose not to believe him. He just kept plodding along. Everest followed quietly, biding his time. It was only a matter of time