seen.”

“At least Flint isn’t Rejected. He can still come back.”

“What should we call that thing Aleu just did? The Ceremony of Second Chance?”

“Good if you’re the stupid rebellious wolf wanting to join another pack; not so good if the rebel is someone you hate and want to get rid of.”

Aleu whipped around. “Quicksilver!” He trotted to her side and looked at her, waiting. “I want to lead the hunt this morning. Stay here and watch the rest of the pack.”

“Yes, Aleu,” he said, dipping his head to her. She howled, and when she heard the others join her she cut herself off and sprang for the hunting grounds. She smacked her paws down hard on the ground, not caring that she was making a ruckus with all the dry grass and rocks. She had to get away from the wolves who complained about her everyday, yet didn’t lift a paw to help her. That group didn’t include Linder, though Aleu wished they could’ve covered Ceremonies this morning instead of why the pack leader should be up before anyone else. Not to Aleu’s surprise, Senna was often awake before sunrise and listened in on Aleu’s training sessions, but thankfully she didn’t say or do anything to distract Aleu from the words of her teacher.

“ALEU!” someone shouted. Aleu jerked to a stop and spun around. The hunting party was just catching up, and Aleu counted them as they came to stand before her. One, two, skip a few…eight, NINE?! So Flint had been one of the hunters.

“Aleu, are you crazy?” a male wolf cried, “You’ve probably scared away half the prey!”

“If we don’t find anything we can spare some of the stored meat,” Aleu said through tight jaws.

“Shouldn’t we be saving that for winter?” another wolf asked.

Aleu squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to stay calm. “Yes, we should,” she replied, opening her eyes, “I wasn’t thinking for a minute. I’m sorry…but we’re going to continue the hunt.”

The wolves looked at each other, but they followed when Aleu led them westward. The grass on the west side of the Ravens Wing pack’s territory was luscious and better eating for caribou because it was far from the sea. It also cushioned paws and muffled the sounds of an approaching wolf. When the brown-yellow grass began to turn green as they traveled, Aleu stopped and made sure the hunting party was upwind. She scanned the area hopefully, but she saw nothing. She sniffed, and a strange, sickly scent blasted up her nostrils. She crouched and slunk towards the scent, and her ears picked up on a very faint bawling. She crept closer, and then she saw it.

A crusty old caribou obviously abandoned by its herd limped weakly through the grass, bawling feebly. Aleu swiveled her head around and nodded to the others. A few shrugged, and half the group slipped southward to slide out from the vegetation and arrange in a half moon in front of the caribou, blocking its path. Aleu took the rest of the group and created an ambush behind the caribou. It was roaring even louder, knowing it was trapped, and kicking out wildly with its hooves. Aleu leaped out and attacked the creature’s right hind leg, and she heard the others bang into this mountain of food and bite and growl. The beast fell down with hardly any pull and tug on the wolves’ part, and though Aleu had led a hunt a few times before, she still had to look away as she plunged her claws into the beast’s side. It wailed, then went limp.

Aleu got up and shook herself as the hunters gathered around to survey their success.

“That was hardly worth an organized attack,” one of the wolves commented, poking the caribou’s side with one paw, “This thing looks like it would’ve dropped dead any second.”

“Enough chitchat. Let’s get moving,” Linder said, grabbing onto a flabby limb of the dead animal, “…It would be nice if someone helped.”

Aleu walked along beside as the rest dragged the caribou through the grass. Her gaze wandered aimlessly over the terrain, when she spotted movement from behind a brownish clump of stalks. She stopped and stared hard at the dry stems. They didn’t move…There it was again! A flash of white darted through the clearing and out of sight. Aleu watched it go through narrowed eyes, and continued on as the others behind her grunted and tried to talk through the fur and flesh in their mouths. She was certain the white streak had been a wolf, and she wondered why it had seemed to be watching her intently, as if she were an alien or some strange kind of monstrosity. Were other packs sending out scouts to spy on her, to see this dog of the North themselves? She hated the feeling of being on exhibit.

When they reached the pack cave and the rest of the pack started to crowd around to see what the hunt had brought, Aleu slunk over to a quiet corner and lay down. Her outrage had drained into exhaustion, and she knew the only release was to sleep. She lay her head down between her paws, closed her blue eyes, and fell into sleep as easily as a pup after a long day of discovery.

Winter

Over the next few weeks Aleu lost a wolf every couple days, each time the rebel proclaiming they were too embarrassed to let a dog lead them, and that they had joined the Dark Forest or Golden River pack. She performed what had been deemed the Ceremony of Second Chance for every one of them just as she had done for Flint, still refusing to Reject any one of them, Rejection meaning that they could never come back to the Ravens Wing clan. She knew she was breaking one of the many laws in the Code of the Wolf, but she didn’t have the heart to banish any of the wolves. Who knew, maybe they would want to come back someday…At least, she hoped.

Senna had made no more disruptions, though more than once when Aleu had come back from the morning hunts she occasionally led, she found the pack gathered around the former alpha in front of the cave, whispering earnestly to each other. The meeting always broke up when they saw their pack leader coming, and Aleu would fix Senna with a glare and slowly raise an eyebrow. Senna would grin slyly back, but Aleu never wanted to start another argument between them, so she let it go.

The pack slowly diminished in size until there were only twelve wolves left, including Aleu.

One day when Aleu was standing away from the rest of the wolves outside the cave and sniffing the crisp frosts of winter drifting down on the wind, a strange wolf appeared from the north and came trotting through the ratty grassland to stand before Aleu. He dipped his shaggy brown head to her and said, “Greetings, Aleu. I bring a message from my leader, Lupus of the Golden River pack.”

“Yeah?” Aleu said. She noticed he hadn’t said ‘peace’ as all different packs seemed to greet each other.

His gray eyes stared unblinkingly up into hers. “The Golden River pack declares war on you, the Ravens Wing pack. We believe your dog breeding, Aleu, brings disgrace to the wolf species, and that you bring shame to yourself and your pack. Lupus plans to rid you of your title as pack leader and relieve you of your pack. If you give in now without a fight, there will be no bloodshed and we can perform all this business quietly. You may even be permitted to join the Golden River pack. But if you resist, our packs must fight, and whoever wins gets the vanquished pack’s wolves, and those wolves will become part of the victorious pack while their old pack name is forgotten. Do you choose to concede quietly, or go to war?”

Aleu gaped angrily at the messenger. “What is it with everyone and my breeding?” she exploded, “I can’t help being part husky!”

“You bring dishonor to wolves,” the messenger explained calmly.

I don’t see how wolves can get any more dishonorable!” Aleu yelled, her eyes flashing, “Any species that can start a war over a little thing like breeding is just…just…AAAAH!” She pressed her face close up to the messenger’s. “Tell Lupus that if he wants to declare war with me and my pack just because my grandfather and mother happen to be dogs, he’d better come to my territory and explain his logic to me himself!”

“I only carry messages for my leader, not for the enemy,” he said smartly, bowing to her, “For your message you’ll have to use one of your own messengers.” With that he dashed off into the foliage.

Aleu banged her teeth together and ground them. “Rufus!” A small red-brown male wolf scurried over to her.

“Yes?”

“Take this message to Lupus, the leader of the Golden River pack,” she said fiercely, “Tell him that if he wants to declare war on the Ravenswing pack just because their leader happens to be part dog, he better explain his thinking to me himself!” Rufus’s eyes widened, but he obediently scampered off. Another thought occurred to Aleu. “Blake!” The skinny golden-brown omega wolf tripped softly to her side, his syrupy brown eyes gazing up at her. “Take this message to Grey Spirit. Ask him if he’ll join forces with the Ravens Wing pack if we go to war against the Golden River pack.”

Blake’s eyes widened just like Rufus’s, but he immediately murmured, “As you wish, Aleu,” in his quiet voice and slipped away to deliver his message.

Aleu ran to the mouth of the pack cave and howled, thrusting the sound out of her chest so it echoed over the whole territory. The conversation came to a halt as every wolf