snow where the alpha had stood, and they sniffed at the place. Then they huddled together, heads down, rubbing close against each other, whining softly.

The wolf joined them, his heart sick. He closed his eyes, tried to force the image from his mind; but he could still smell his father's blood, mixed with the strange odours of gasoline and human sweat. When he couldn't stand it any longer, he threw back his head and howled, low and long; he felt the pack press up against him, heard their voices join his. And they howled on, until he lost track of time, until he managed to stop thinking for a while, and just be.

Finally, the howl drifted to a stop. The pack stayed tightly together for a few more moments; then a few wolves began pacing aimlessly, looking at each other. And the wolf knew what had to be done.

He pulled away from the huddle, looked at the pack, barked once, then started walking away, back in the direction they had come from, head and tail held high, ears up, forcing himself not to look back.

Without a murmur of protest, the pack silently formed into single file, and followed his trail through the snow.

His new role was not an easy one. As he feared he would, he made mistakes. But fate was kind; they found food, not as often as they would like, but often enough that there were no more deaths in the pack. He was never seriously challenged.

As the snow melted, the alpha female became more aggressive and dominating towards the other females; he, in turn, found himself snapping at males, sometimes for reasons he couldn't understand. The two of them had no such friction with each other; they got along very well indeed.

Then, one afternoon, they slipped away from the pack, and it was glorious.

They repeated the process over the next few days. One had to make sure of these things, after all...

Not long after that, the pack returned to the den--where the wolf had been born, and two more litters after him. Prey was plentiful; it would be a good year. His mate settled in, and he knew the pups would come soon.

One night, the wolf felt strangely restless; he walked away, as he often did, to look at the stars.

He had grown used to his role as alpha, and there was little dissension in the ranks. He had grown used to Jack's memories as well; he thought he had seen all there was to see in them. He still enjoyed them; they were like looking into another world... like watching television. He loved Jack's trip to Colorado the best, flying down the mountains on skis, soaring over them on a hang-glider, basking in the warmth of a roaring fire...

Sometimes he wondered what had happened to Jack. He could remember Jack getting a letter, telling him that his father had died. Jason had felt sad about that, (not nearly as sad as he should have, the wolf thought), and he had taken some time away from work, had flown to Florida where his father had lived, to see to the arrangements. He could remember Jack pulling into the driveway of his father's house... and after that, the memory just faded away.

Tonight, the wolf wondered, and he remembered... but this time, the memory did not stop there...

"I wonder where Dad got this old thing?" Jack muttered to himself. He rubbed some of the dust off the lamp e had just picked up, to get a better look at it…

A plume of red smoke erupted in his face, blinding him. He dropped the lamp with a clatter, and scrambled back, tripping over a box and going down in a pile of old magazines. He lay still for a few seconds, mentally making sure that all his limbs were still attached. Then he looked up... and wished he hadn't.

Gleaming white fur. Piercing red eyes. A giant wolf. Something he had only ever imagined in books.

"FREE AT LAST!" it boomed, making his ears ring. "FIVE HUNDRED YEARS IN THAT ACCURSED PRISON!” it cricked its neck and shook its head.

Jack felt like he should say something, but he had no idea exactly what. So he said the first thing that came to him.

"Urm... congratulations?"

The wolf, he assumed it was some kind of genie, seemed to notice him for the first time. It looked down at him with eyes that seemed to look into his very soul. "You are the one who released me, mortal?" its voice was no longer harsh, but had now taken a much calmer, almost cynical tone.

Jack managed a nod.

"Then in that case I am bound to grant you three wishes. What is your bidding, Master Jack?"

Jack closed his eyes. He thought for, perhaps, twenty seconds. When he spoke, his voice seemed distant, like he was listening to someone else.

"I wish I was a wolf."

The silence in the attic was deafening. For a moment, Jack thought that maybe this was all a dream; that he'd knocked himself out somehow, and he'd just woke up. He opened his eyes.

The wolf stared down at him, eyes wide.

"YOU WHAT!?”

"You heard me"

The wolf blinked, and looked at Jack long and hard "For millennia, men have racked their brains, trying to phase their lusts for wealth and power in ways I could not tempt them with, and none succeeded. Not one. Now you wish for something that any ‘sane’ man would call a curse? And you wish for it in a way that someone would ask about the weather? Tell me, has your fall scrambled your brains, or are you simply a fool by nature?"

Jack was eerily calm; perhaps he was beyond fear. "You said it yourself; if you're out to tempt me, I could spend the rest of my life trying to find a foolproof way to phrase it, and I'd still probably miss something. And if you're not out to tempt me, it doesn't matter. So why worry about it? And it's the one thing I've always wanted that I could never get on my own; what else would I wish for?"

The wolf stared down at him for a few more seconds, as if he'd suddenly sprouted wings or burst into flames. Finally it cracked a smile.

"You are a very strange mortal Jack," it said. "But, that is not my concern. Your wish is granted"

Everything went black for Jack, and quiet, and warm, and wet.

The world seemed to squeeze him from all sides. He tried to scream, but he had no breath.

The pressure increased... and then he was free, and cold. Something hard was underneath him. He tried to see what it was, but he couldn't seem to find his eyes. Something else... something warm, and wet... pressed into his side, poked softly against him. He opened his mouth, and drew in a breath, nearly choking. He tried again to cry out, and this time he found his lungs, but still he heard nothing.

Then he felt a hot wind across his back... and something warm, and rough, and wonderful, pressed against him. It went up his back, pushing him into the hard thing beneath him, and some of the cold and wetness went away. It made pass after pass, working its way along his back and up his side, pushing him over and starting in on his underside. For a moment, he forgot about seeing and hearing, and just concentrated on arching his body into it, basking in the warmth. Then it reached his face, and touched his nose... and the universe was suddenly filled with the smells of earth and water and wolf. And, most interestingly, the smell of food.

Maybe I should have been more specific, Jack thought, but only for a moment. Then he concentrated on crawling towards the smell...

The wolf blinked, looked down at the ground. The world smelled and sounded and looked the same as it did a moment ago; how could it suddenly be so very different? And now he knew his name…Jack.

He had a sense that he should be feeling something profound right now... happiness, that he had gotten what he wanted, or despair, that he had gotten what he wanted. But every time he thought about it, the only real reaction that came to mind was:

Oh. So that explains things...

"As I said, a very strange mortal you are Jack"

Jack waited for his heart to start beating again; then he turned to face the white wolf that had just appeared in front of him, a smile on its muzzle.

"So, what is your second wish?"

Jack knew, somehow, that he could talk, and didn't waste time wondering how that could be.

"I wish that my cubs, and their cubs, and their cubs beyond them, could understand the world as I do."

"A noble wish Jack, but one your cubs may not thank you for," the wolf replied, in all seriousness. "And not a simple one either. Intelligence is an easy enough matter, but understanding comes from experience. And lets face it, your experience is a unique one"

The white wolf fell silent, as if lost in thought. Jack waited patiently. The wolf looked up after a moment, once again smiling warmly.

"Never mind; I see a way now. Your wish is granted Jack. And your final wish is?"

Jack thought about this long and hard. He knew what he wanted; he opened his mouth to say it... then he changed his mind, and closed his mouth. He already had what he wanted.

"I wish for good fortune for my pack," he said finally.

The wolf smiled and nodded knowingly "Very well, so it shall be. For a dozen, dozen years, and then even longer "

The wolf winked at him "Good hunting to you Jack, and to your cubs"

Jack tried to say "Thank you", but nothing came out but a yip. He simply nodded as the wolf faded away from view, and padded silently back to his mate and his pack.

And as he walked away, the white wolf watched him go. He was very fond of Jack, and he had a surprise in store for him…

The pups arrived not longer than that; only six. A small litter, but all alive, and all healthy. Jack looked down at them, and nuzzled them, and felt a joy like nothing he had felt before.

Raising them, and the litters after that in the following years, was a story too long to tell. But the pack prospered; and the prey, while not always plentiful, was always there to be