had only just figured that out. “Yes Yak that is exactly how I do it” he looked at the river. “Wade through the water, it helps to cover up your scent”

“But its cold” complained Sumac.

“Look if you don’t wade through it won’t cover up your scent meaning the enemy wolves will find you and kill you. We don’t stand a chance in a head on fight, its 2 to 1…well you don’t stand a chance. If it does come down to a fight I’m the only one with the faintest hope of survival” Dio said. He could tell that they were beginning to lose track of what he was on about. “Just follow my lead”

 Dio walked straight through the water. The current wasn’t that strong but he still had to push against it to remain upright. The water was ice cold but at least it covered his scent a tad better. “Well you guys comin or not?” Dio said.

Nuk, Sumac and Yak slowly followed him. They complained about the cold water but Dio shushed them. They walked a bit more in silence before Dio picked up a scent in the air. “We’re getting close” he said. They came to a big hill. “I think the pack is just behind that hill” he said. He hid at the base of the hill and his pack mates copied him. “We’re outnumbered 2 to 1 so try and kill them quickly and quietly. Do you know how to do that?”

They shook their heads. “Well it’s actually rather simple when you put some effort into it. I need a volunteer to show you the method” he scanned each one of them before he said. “Nuk you’ll do fine. Come over here” Nuk slowly plodded up to Dio. “What you do is you come around the back of them” he walked around to the back of them. “Then you jump on top of them” he jumped on top of Nuk. “This bit always looks gay when you’re demonstrating…then you get either one of your front paws and cover their mouth and nose” he placed his paw gently over Nuk’s mouth and nose. “Obviously you’d squeeze to cut off their air supply. Then you bite into their neck and twist” he did a small demonstration but didn’t actually bite Nuk. “And that’s all there is too it. Any questions?”

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. “Allright then, here’s the plan” he drew a rough circle in the snow. “We’re downwind so we’ve already got an advantage of it being harder to pick up our scent. Now I’m gonna assume that if they do run they’ll run north away from our territory. So Nuk and Yak, you 2 will go around the east side” they looked at him blankly. Dio sighed. “Which is that way” he pointed. “And Sumac, you will come with me west. Which is that way” he pointed. “Any questions?”

“Why are we just hoping they’d run north?” asked Yak.

“Well if they ran south, they’d be running right towards the centre of our territory. I don’t think they’ll risk it”

He shrugged. “Ok if you say so”

“Let’s go” They all started to head off.

Dio and Sumac travelled low along the ground to remain hidden. “Allright Sumac, go take that one down there. I’ll head further up. Just remember to stay hidden and be patient” Sumac nodded and approached the unsuspecting wolf. Dio pressed on forward.

He creped along the border of what he gathered to be their territory, and then he used his natural black fur colour and the shadows to hide him and press deeper into the territory. He found 2 of his targets. 1 wolf was sharpening his claws on a rock; the other was peeing up a tree. He went as low as he could and slowly creped forward. He kept flicking his head back and forth between the 2 wolves to make sure he wasn’t spotted. But eventually he emerged from the shadows but he was still far away from his target. He remained as silent as he could to try and get as close as he could to his target.

Eventually the wolf noticed his presence. “Hey what the-” before he could say anymore, Dio pounced and bit into his neck. He shook him hard until he stopped moving.

“Who the hell are you!?” Dio turned his head to find a wolf had just seen him kill the other wolf. But just as Dio was thinking about attacking him, Sumac snuck up behind him and killed him just how Dio showed him.

Suddenly the other wolf Dio had spotted let out a howl to alert the rest of the rouge pack that they were here. ‘God dammit!’ Dio thought. Before the wolf could finish his howl, Dio pounced him and pinned him to the ground. He bit into his neck and didn’t even bother shaking him. He just applied pressure and lets the bones snap and the windpipe pop. But by now it was too late. The wolf had already howled to tell the rest of the pack.

Nuk had lined up for the kill. He was hidden in a bush and getting ready to kill the wolf that was directly in front of him. But the wolf suddenly ran off after he heard a howl. Nuk followed him but still remained hidden (well at least tried to)

“Plans ruined guys just take em out now!” Dio shouted hoping all of his team would hear him.  He met up with the 3 of them. “Allright guys its 5 on 4. I’ll try and draw their attention and do all the dirty work. You just tie up loose ends.” Dio ordered.

He ran into the 5 remnants of the rouge wolf pack. He didn’t bother trying to stop he just used the body of another wolf to stop himself. One of the wolves pounced to attack him. He dodged to the right and grabbed the wolf by the scruff of the neck and threw him against a rock. Whilst he was distracted, another wolf pinned him to the ground from the back. Dio felt the claws grazing down his back but after what he’d been through this was nothing. Nuk came to his aid and with one swipe of his paw, he knocked the wolf clean off.

Nuk and Dio were being circled but not for long as Sumac and Yak came to assist them. Yak bit at one of the wolves paws whilst Sumac pounced another.

“Nuk squat!” Dio shouted. Nuk looked at him with a ‘what the hell is he talking about?’ expression. “As in squat down!” Dio said and signalled the motion with his paw. Nuk suddenly understood what he meant. He squatted down and Dio jumped onto his back and used it as a springboard. As he flew through the air he caught one of the wolves’ necks and using the momentum it snapped effortlessly.

“Its 4 on 4 now guys. Take whatever one you want!”  Dio said. He approached a wolf and grinned. “You first” he said in a deep, intimidating tone.

The wolf was about to make the first attack any minute but then he stopped. “Wait, I know you!”

Dio relaxed a bit. “You do?” the conversation bought all over fights to a halt.

“Yeah me and my allies where fighting you and your pack about a year ago”

“Does that have any significance alpha?” asked one of the rouge wolves.

“Yeah” he turned around and started running. “IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE FUCKING RUN!!!” he screamed.

Dio shrugged then turned to the remaining rouge wolves. They seemed a bit lost after what just happened. Suddenly Nuk, Yak and Sumac bit in their necks and snapped them.

There was a silence for a minute then Dio laughed. “You learn pretty quickly” he said. He looked around. “I’d say that’s mission accomplished. Let’s go home” they started heading back.

When they arrived back the first person who greeted them was aleu. “Well how did it go?” she asked.

“Went well we killed all but 1. He ran away” Dio placed his mouth inside aleu’s right ear. “But please don’t make me work with these 3 idiots again”

Aleu giggled. To Dio her giggle sounded like music to his ears. “Don’t worry you won’t” she said. “But you are now an official member of our pack” she licked his cheek as a friendly gesture. “Congratulations”

For Dio it was one of the greatest moments of his life. “You might wanna get yourself cleaned up. We’re gonna be howling tonight” Aleu said.

“Howling?”

“Yeah, you can howl right?” Aleu asked.

“Of course, I don’t know a wolf that can’t” Dio replied.

“Great cya tonight” Aleu said.

Later that evening.

All the wolves had met within the centre of the territory to howl. Aleu started the pack howl with her own. To Dio her howl sounded more like music than her giggle. Throughout the howl Dio edged himself closer and closer to aleu. He needed to talk to her. When he finally got close enough, he tapped her on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you…in private?” he asked.

“Sure but can it wait?” aleu replied.

“Well yeah I guess it can, but I’d rather get it off my chest now”

Aleu sighed. “Ok meet me at my den” she glanced at the howling pack then walked off.

Dio also glanced at the howling pack then followed her.

They sat at the mouth of Aleu’s den. “So what's the matter?” she asked.

“Well…you know the story of how I lost my girlfriend” Aleu nodded. “Well…I'm a pretty cold hearted guy…I never really felt love or any other similar emotions until I met Trix…and it was my fault she was killed. It was me who planned out that rebellion and my judgement got her killed” tears started rolling from Dio’s eyes.

“Hey hey its allright. There’s nothing