want to follow you.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Talkeet asked.

“Well,” said Rayne, “what if we started our own pack, that way we could run it the way we want to.”

Talkeet thought about this for a moment.

“You know Rayne, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea, would it?”

Rayne shook her head.

“I’ll have to think about that.” Talkeet said.

“Aww, isn’t this sweet.” A voice from behind them said.

Talkeet and Rayne spun around, to see who was talking.

A gray wolf stood behind them.

“Daie wants to speak to you.”

“Daie?” Talkeet asked. “well, he can go jump off a cliff, why would he want to see me?”

The wolf laughed.

“We’ve been instructed to bring you to him, alive, at any cost.”

“Well that cost is going to be quite a lot.”

“We are prepared.” The wolf said.

Eight other wolves suddenly emerged from the trees around them.

“You see,” the gray wolf said, “we’ve been watching you for a while now, waiting for a good time to get to you, when you were away from the pack.”

Rayne growled.

“My, my, aren’t we a feisty one?” The wolf said.

He laughed.

Talkeet leaned slightly toward Rayne.

“When I attack, you distract the two behind us.” He whispered.

Rayne nodded her head, a barely perceptible movement.

Talkeet suddenly leapt forward.

As he did this, Rayne spun around.

Talkeet landed in front of the gray wolf, and prepared to fight him.

Then he heard a yelp.

Three of the wolves had countered Rayne’s attack, and were beating her up pretty badly.

Talkeet watched in horror, and shock, as one of them hit her in the side of the head, hard.

Rayne’s head snapped back, and this time she didn’t even yelp, just crumpled to the ground.

She didn’t move.

“NOO!” Talkeet yelled.

He turned to face the wolf, and was hit in the face, as the wolf attacked.

Talkeet was so overcome with grief, that he couldn’t fight back, and was soon overtaken.

The wolf added a strike that caught Talkeet on the jaw, and threw him to the ground.

Talkeet stared up at the wolf, pure hatred in his eyes.

The wolf stood over him.

“You’ll pay for this!” Talkeet screamed.

The wolf laughed.

“Oh I very much doubt that.”

Then he hit Talkeet in the face.

Talkeet’s vision exploded into blackness.

Back in the cave, unaware of Talkeet’s capture, Melody was talking to Dash.

“I… I just can’t do it anymore.” She said.

“Listen to yourself sis,” Dash said. “You plainly still love him.”

Melody sighed.

“Yes, I do, but… well, I can’t watch him walk away from me, not knowing if he’ll come back.”

“Melody,” Dash said, “you should be very proud, Timbre is one of the best fighters in the pack, second only to Shadow, and… well, and Talkeet.”

Tears filled Melody’s eyes.

“I just can’t do it Dash.”

Dash sighed.

“I wish you would,” he said. “Timbre loves you very much, and you’re hurting him, you’re the reason he’s fighting in the first place, he wanted to protect you, and your family.”

“Dash…” Melody said, “can we just not talk about this, not right now.”

Dash sighed.

“Alright, but we’re not through.”

Melody nodded, and Dash walked out of the chamber.

Timbre was standing outside.

His injury still hadn’t healed, and he was still not able to fight.

“How’d it go?” Timbre asked, his voice sounding hopeful.

Dash sighed.

“Not well huh?” Timbre asked.

Dash shook his head.

Timbre also sighed.

“Dash… I… I don’t know what I’m going to do, I can’t live without her… and the pups. My family means so much to me….”

A single tear ran down Timbre’s face.

“Don’t worry buddy.” Dash said, placing his paw on Timbre’s shoulder. “I’m not done talking to her.”

He smiled.

“I know my sister, and she’s just scared. She’ll come around eventually, everything will be alright buddy, you’ll see.”

Timbre sighed, and began to walk away from Melody’s chambers, Dash followed.

“I hope so Dash…. I hope so….”

Chapter 3

Talkeet opened his eyes, and groaned.

He had a headache.

He shook his head, and the pain lessoned somewhat.

Talkeet stood up.

There were no guards.

A brown wolf stuck his head in then.

“Daie wants to see you.”

Talkeet walked over to the wolf.

“If you’ll follow me.”

The wolf started walking, and Talkeet followed.

Soon, they emerged into a large chamber.

In the center sat a gray wolf, Daie.

“Daie.” Talkeet almost growled, “you won’t get anything out of me, I’ll die before I tell you anything.”

Daie laughed.

“Talkeet, you aren’t a prisoner here, if you noticed, there were no guards. You’re free to go whenever you wish.”

Talkeet looked toward the exit.

“If I’m not a prisoner, then why am I here?”

“Because I want to talk to you Talkeet.” Daie said.

“About what?” Talkeet asked.

“I’ve been watching you Talkeet.”

Talkeet looked at him.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Daie said, “if you think that we don’t have spies in your pack, you’re stupid, even I know you have some in ours.”

Talkeet just stared at him.

“Talkeet I’ve been watching you, and I think you may be fighting for the wrong side.”

Talkeet took a step back.

“What?”

“All you want is peace, right?” Daie said.

Talkeet nodded.

“Well,” Daie said. “yesterday I sent two messengers, with instructions to put an end to this senseless slaughter. Aleu had them killed.

“What?” Talkeet asked. “That doesn’t sound like Aleu.”

“Talkeet, let’s go for a walk.” Daie said, standing up.

Talkeet was intrigued, and followed him.

“Now Talkeet,” Daie said, “you know what power does to people?”

Talkeet walked along beside him.

“Shadow told me that power corrupts, that it destroys those in power, if they allow it to.”

Daie scoffed.

“Shadow? He’s one of the worst.”

“I don’t think I follow you.” Talkeet said.

“Shadow has been put in a position of power, it started of course with his appointment to the team, and then he took that to a whole new level by making it larger, and then he became mates with the Alpha, and now he’s leader of the forces, and the assistant leader of the pack.”

“But, Shadow is a nice guy, I don’t agree with everything he does or says, but I don’t think he’s bad.” Talkeet said.

Daie stopped and turned to face him.

“Talkeet, how many have you lost in this war against us?”

Talket hung his head.

“A lot…” he said quietly.

“Don’t you think that a good leader would want that to stop?”

Talkeet nodded.

“I do.”

“Yet Aleu refused to let it stop, to accept peace with us, do you know why?”

Talkeet shook his head.

“Because of pride.” Daie said. “She’s let her pride and her power twist her, until now, she only wants what is best for her, and her family, not the pack.”

“But…” Talkeet said.

His voice drifted off. Daie had a good point, and it was hard for Talkeet to reason against it.

Daie sighed.

“I know how hard it can be to turn against family, but… but you have to look out for the well being of your children after all.”

Talkeet’s head snapped up.

“Surprised?” Daie said.

He laughed.

“Talkeet, I told you, I know everything about you… but back to the subject at hand… Talkeet, do you even know why we’re fighting?”

Talkeet nodded.

“Your clan tried to kill Aleu.”

“Yes, regrettably that attempt was unsuccessful, mostly due to your intervention, if I remember correctly.”

Talkeet nodded again.

“Talkeet, I have a vision,” Daie said, “a vision for the future, a world without war.”

“But how could you do that?” Talkeet asked.

“Envision this Talkeet.” Daie continued, “one clan of wolves, all of them falling under one leader.”

“But isn’t that putting too much power in the leader?”

Daie smiled.

“That’s why we have to pick someone strong, someone who can handle it, someone like you.”

Talkeet stopped walking.

“What are you talking about?”

Daie stopped, and walked back over to him.

“I’m asking you to help us defeat the Talbourne, in particular Aleu and Shadow.”

“What you speak of is treason.” Talkeet said. “Not to mention attacking my own family.”

“Talkeet, with your help, we could stop the bloodshed, the Talbourne would stop fighting if those two were taken care of.”

Talkeet shook his head.

“No, I… I can’t…”

Daie put his paw on Talkeet’s shoulder.

“Talkeet, you could end this… you know her routine, there has to be a time, when Shadow isn’t around, that you could take her out.”

A