introduced him to other wolves. Patrick was surprised at how friendly they were. He had never made so many new friends in just one day in his entire life! He already had a feeling he would like it here. At the end of the day Patrick was talking to Sara about the "tour."

 

"Thanks for showing me around."

 

"No problem. So what do you think?"

 

"I definitely think I'll like it here. There's lots to do, lots of awesome wolves, sure was better than my old pack."

 

Sara was hoping that since the topic came up Patrick would be okay about being asked about his old pack "What was your old pack like anyway?"

 

Patrick should have known that mentioning his old pack would bring up a question like this because he was still haunted by what happened. But he knew he couldn't let it bother him forever so he tried to regain himself.

 

"Well," he said with a deep breath "I always considered myself a lone wolf because we were migrant so we had to move a lot and because of that I never was able to make many friends except with a couple wolves that were in our pack. And there weren't many of us so..." Patrick tried to continue on but just talking about his pack brought back so many memories, especially the attack. The emotions were to much for him and he started to weep. Sara felt so stupid for asking.

 

"Sorry I asked." she said 

 

Patrick was able to regain himself. "It's okay, it's not your fault. I need to learn to get over it anyway. Hopefully talking about it now will make it easier in the future." He was remembering what his brother told him about how always saying goodbye to other wolves made it easier to do so. 

 

"I hope so to." said Sara "I always hate seeing friends cry."

 

"Friend?" asked Patrick.

 

Sara just smiled "Well it's getting late, I better be getting home soon. See ya later!"

 

All Patrick could do was smile back.

 

 

After staying with the pack for a few weeks Patrick was already well known. Everyone knew him as "The wolf that survived a coyote attack." but the fact that it still bothered him also spread fast so everyone knew to keep their mouths shut about it. One day he, Sara, Niju, Nuk, and Sumac were at an area where the river ran through a thick area of the forest. They were about to play a game that Patrick had told them about.

 

"You guys sure you want to play this?" asked Patrick

 

"Yea! It sounded like fun when you were telling us about it!" said Niju. "So what do we have to do?"

 

"Okay, well it's sort of like a spy situation. 4 of us will be the guards and the other one will be the one that has to hide from them and make it to the "safe zone." When the game starts the guards will be in the safe zone and let the one that hides run out to the other end of the play area. Then the wolf that hides will let out a howl to let everyone know he's ready and then the guards will try to track him down. The one that has to hide will have also have a rock, branch, or whatever that he has to bring back to the safe zone with him. If you let one of the guards get it you lose and you have to be one of the guards and the one that got the item gets to be the one that hides. If you get spotted you can still try to lose whoever saw you."

 

"Sounds like fun!" said Sara. "Let's play!"

 

"Slow down." said Patrick. "We need to set some things up. First we can only play in a specific area so we need to set up boundaries and a safe zone. We also need to decide who will be the one that hides.

 

The size of the play area was decided and the other side of the river was chosen as the safe zone. Then there was still the issue of who would be what.

 

"Oh! Me want to be one that hides!" said an excited Sumac.

 

"Shut up! I should be the one that hides!" argued Nuk.

 

"You both are idiots! I'm the smartest so I should be the one that hides!" argued Niju.

 

Sara and Patrick rolled their eyes and then Sara said "You guys are being so stupid. It's Patrick's game so he should be the one that hides and don't bother to try argue that!"

 

The 3 wolves knew she was right. "Fine." They all said disappointingly. 

 

"Alright," said Patrick picking up a rock "this'll be the item that has to be brought back to the safe zone. Give me a couple minutes and I'll let you guys know when to start." and with that Patrick took off. A few minuets later a howl signaled it was time to start. After about 15 minuets Patrick was already running for the safe zone with Sumac giving chase. 

 

"Oh, you wont get away from me!" he shouted. At first Patrick was having fun but suddenly the chase he was in started to bring back the memory of the coyotes chasing him. The images from that day once again entered his mind and the stuff Sumac was shouting started to sound as if the coyotes were right behind him again shouting the same things. Then without thinking he started to run as if that same chase were happening all over again. Sumac was surprised. "What got into him?" he said to himself. After gaining a lot of distance Patrick ducked behind a bush. Sumac just ran right past. Patrick started shaking, everything was coming back, the attack, those last words, the chase, he felt like he was in that same position again and he thought he could even hear those same voices. He was on the verge of crying when he suddenly snapped back into reality.

 

"What am I doing?" he asked himself "I'm not being chased by coyotes. I'm playing a game for Christ's sake! I'm safe now. I'm living a new life. Stop thinking about it!" 

 

After calming down he was finally able to get up and continue the game. When he rounded a corner he could see the river. "I'm home free!" he thought. He started running and just as he was about to jump the river he saw something in the trees out of the corner of his eye and without warning Sara had jumped down on him and pinned him to the ground. 

 

"Thought you were going to make it huh?" said Sara laughing.

 

Patrick saw that the rock landed a couple feet in front of him and Sara hadn't noticed. Then a smiled appeared on his face "I haven't lost yet!" he said. Then he sprang up and bolted for the rock, but Sara did the same and both of them started wrestling for it. Then they both had their paws on it, but when they looked up at each other at the same time their noses touched! When they realized this they were frozen, they didn't know what to say or do, they just sat there staring at each other. When they looked down they noticed that their paws were touching as well. After several seconds of silence Patrick let go of the rock and said "So uh, I guess you won." with his and Sara's noses still touching. Sara stepped back. "I guess so." She said smiling. They were both blushing. Neither one of them had this feeling before. Just then Niju, Sumac, and Nuk appeared. 

 

"Did you get him?" asked Niju.

 

"Yep." she said. "Now it's my turn!"

 

"Well lets play!" said Nuk. "This game is fun!"

 

All Patrick could do was smile.

 

 

About a week later Patrick and Sara were at the water hole taking a drink. Ever since the game they played they started spending more time together and started talking even more. They even started to develop closer feelings for each other. 

 

"So what do you want to do later?" asked Patrick.

 

"Well I heard that around this time of year there's always a big meteor shower. I think it would be cool to watch!" said Sara.

 

"Sounds cool to me!" replied Patrick. "So i guess it's a date."

 

"I guess it is" said Sara. Just then her father Nava ran up. He looked like he was in a frantic hurry.

 

"Sara, Patrick, you two must come quick! We've just found another wolf that was attacked by coyotes!"

 

They were both surprised. "How is he?" asked Patrick.

 

"Almost as bad as you were!" replied Nava. "He's in the recovery cave right now."

 

Then the three of them took off to check on the wolf. "I hope this guy's okay." thought Patrick.

 

When they arrived at the recovery cave, Pirta, Niju, Nuk, and Sumac were gathered around the injured wolf. They all seemed to be talking to him so it was apparent that he was conscious. 

 

"Here he is." said Pirta to Sara and Patrick. When Patrick and the injured wolf saw each other they gasped.

 

"Yak!?" exclaimed Patrick.

"Pat!?" replied Yak. 

 

The brother then embraced each other in a big hug and started to cry. Everyone was surprised. "You two know each other?" asked Nava.

 

Patrick wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yes! He's my brother! He was with me when our pack was attacked by coyotes!" He then turned to Yak "I thought you were dead!"

 

"I thought you were dead too!" replied Yak.

 

"How'd

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