her face.

“Aren’t you coming, Aniu?” Sango asked. “Don’t you want to see him meet the pups for the first time?”

“Oh, what the heck,” Aniu replied. “I guess I’ll come.” She stood and walked over to her mate. “Hey, girls,” she said, addressing the pups, “and Balto,” she added quickly, recognizing her mistake. She raised a paw and put it on Balto’s shoulders, causing him to giggle and grin up at his mother.

“Can we play more, Mom?” Ara asked. “I want to play!” She began to run quickly around along a path that seemed to be completely improvised.

“Yeah, let’s play!” the other pups said, almost in unison, and they began to chase their sister around.

“Come on,” Sango said with a laugh, lifting a paw to avoid a charging Lyrie, “we need to meet Soren first. Then we can play. Okay?”

The four pups eventually agreed, and soon Sango and Aniu were leading them to Soren’s den. They reached the small cave after only a few minutes of walking, and—as was wolf custom—Sango poked his head through the entrance first while Aniu and the pups stayed just outside.

When Sango turned back to face his family, though, there was no mistaking the sorrowful expression on his face. “I—I think…Soren’s dead.”

XV

Aniu’s ears suddenly pricked up. “What?” she said, forcing a whisper. She saw Sango walk up to her and heard him whisper something in her ear: “Soren’s dead.” She glanced down at the pups, and a pang of emotion struck her when she saw that their faces were filled with worry. She carefully approached the cave, making sure to keep the pups behind her so as to shield them from what she might find.

Her jaw dropped.

Soren lay on his side at the edge of the den, still except for the occasional spasm. A trickle of blood ran from his nose, and his bloodshot eyes looked glassy.

Anxious to find some sign of life, Sango trotted over to the corpse and stared at it, almost wishing Soren would move.

But it was not meant to be. Soren remained on his side, his eyes half-open, his sides still. A few drops of blood, Sango now noticed, littered the ground near the wolf’s muzzle, and his dark brown fur was cool to the touch. Sango stared into the motionless orbs that were Soren’s eyes. He found them blank, lifeless.

Afraid to disturb the corpse, Aniu cautiously crouched and placed her muzzle an inch from Soren’s unmoving ear. “Soren,” she whispered, her voice cracking, “I was just about to tell you…out pups came a few weeks ago. But—but Anok told us to kill them. What should—what should we do?” A tear dripped down her cheek as she rubbed her head against Sango’s shoulder, feeling his fur mingle with her own.

“Don’t worry, Aniu,” Sango said reassuringly. “It’ll be alright. Everyone will be fine.”

Aniu sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

Suddenly a voice sounded behind them. “Thought you could save them, didn’t you? Well, it’s too late.”

Sango whirled around to see Anok standing at the entrance to Soren’s den. “What do you want, Anok?”

“What do you think?” Anok sneered. “I warned you. Didn’t I, Sango? And here I catch you trying to tell Soren. Too bad he’s dead. Too bad he suddenly died.”

Sango’s jaw dropped. “You killed him!” he accused.

Anok’s only response was to leap into the den, maw wide open, claws outstretched.

All this time, Aniu had been sitting over the four pups, protecting them from the sight of the dead wolf.

“Where’s Soren?” Ara asked innocently. “I thought we were going to see him. Why won’t you let me see him?”

“Oh, Ara, someday you’ll understand, but not right now.” Aniu touched her chin to the top of her daughter’s head.

“Yeah,” Balto and Galena asked almost in unison. “Why can’t we see Soren?”

“We will someday,” Aniu replied. “Just not to—”

“Aniu, watch out!” Sango shouted. Aniu snapped her head to the side just in time to see a brown shape rush toward her.

Anok missed Aniu’s vulnerable muzzle by inches and crashed into her shoulder. He rolled over her and slammed into the wall of the den, once again narrowly missing the pups. He scrambled back to his feet, this time knocking into Galena and forcing her to the ground.

Galena whimpered, and Anok carelessly flicked a paw at her tiny form, bruising the side of her muzzle. He chuckled and prepared to leap at Aniu again, but he suddenly became aware of a sharp pain in his ankle. He glanced back and saw that Lyrie had clamped her jaws just above his hind paw.

Without further hesitation, Anok kicked backward, shaking off Lyrie’s grip on his leg and sending the pup flying through the air, where she hit the wall and tumbled to the ground, bleeding.

By this time, Sango had managed to gather the courage to attack the menace that was Anok. He launched himself at the beast, snarling, his teeth bared, willing to give his life to protect his pups.

Half a second later, Sango dug his teeth into Anok’s shoulder, causing the wolf to grimace in pain. Anok retaliated by swinging his muzzle around and nipping Sango’s foreleg. Sango snarled once more and leapt at Anok’s neck—missing, but raking several long scratches across the back of his head.

Then Anok swung a hind leg upward and kicked Sango in the face, bruising his muzzle. Soon, however, Sango whirled around and clamped his jaws on Anok’s foreleg. Anok bit Sango’s neck, forcing him to release his grip, and leapt away from him, but he moved toward the four defenseless pups that now cowered in shock only a few feet away.

Lyrie suddenly threw herself at Anok, swinging a forepaw at the wolf’s muzzle. The force knocked Anok’s head to the side, and he twisted in midair and missed the pups by several inches. Balto followed his sister’s lead, but his efforts were in vain—all he received was a bloody wound on his forehead.

Aniu had simply been watching all this time in a mixture of anger and shock, but the blow to her only son was too much. She leapt at Anok, fire in her eyes, and her teeth raked down his side. Anok grimaced and gave a deadly snarl, and it was clear that he would not let this wound remain unpunished.

Ignoring the pain that shot throughout his body, Anok suddenly lunged at Ara, seizing her in his jaws before anyone could react. When the tiny girl squealed in pain, he clamped a rough paw over her muzzle, muffling her agonized cries. Then, only a second later, he shifted his jaws from Ara’s shoulders to her head.

Sango made a motion to leap at Anok, but he stopped and shut his eyes when he saw the wolf begin to close his jaws. He only needed to hear the sickening crack of bone to know what had happened.

XVI

When Sango opened his eyes, Aniu was already almost upon the now-murderer on the other side of the cave. She threw herself at the menace with all her might, catching him off guard and crashing into his shoulder. She snapped at his head, bloodying his cheek, and then she kicked his chest, throwing him into the air.

As if on cue, Sango rushed forward and lifted his claws upward, stabbing Anok through his chest. But still the wolf would not die.

Suddenly Lyrie rushed forward again and leapt onto Anok’s bloody chest. “You may have killed my sister,” she spat, venom in her voice, “but you’ll never get the rest of us!” She snapped at Anok’s exposed throat.

Before Lyrie could reach him, however, Anok rushed at her head once more. But loss of blood had weakened his aim, and he instead caught the pup under her right eye.

Lyrie yelped in pain and retreated for a second, her cheek bloody and disfigured. At this, Aniu began to charge at Anok once again. But she was feet away when Lyrie finally managed to overcome the pain that raced through her head and, ever so slowly, bite down on the murderer’s throat. A fountain of blood erupted from the wound, narrowly missing Lyrie’s own bloody face, and Anok became limp.

Once again shocked by the sudden turn of events, Sango carefully pulled his claws out of the corpse. He saw Balto and Galena tentatively emerge from the hiding place they had found just outside the den; Balto’s face was still bloody, and Galena’s cheek was swollen.

“You guys okay?” Sango asked, walking over to them.

“My head hurts,” Balto said, a few tears visible in his brown eyes. He lifted a paw to his forehead and winced as he touched the wound.

“It’s alright,” Sango replied, bending over and licking the gash.

Meanwhile, Aniu had rushed to Lyrie’s side. She gasped, appalled, when she found her daughter lying on the ground, unconscious and covered in blood. Dozens of tears diluted the lifeblood that had poured out from the wounds on the pup’s deformed cheek. She also had suffered several long scratches along the length of her muzzle. Otherwise, except for a few scrapes and bruises, she seemed largely uninjured.

Lyrie’s blood continued to flow, and Aniu knew she needed to do something, anything, to save her daughter’s life. But what could she do? The simplest solution would be to stifle the bleeding, but how could that be done? What was nearby that could absorb the blood that dropped from