eyebrows lowered so close that they almost touched her piercing eyes of blue. “He began all of this trouble in the first place when everyone believed that he was to become Nava’s successor, but in the end, all of the blame points straight at you!”

“What?” Aleu’s eyes shot up. “What do you mean?” 

“Heh,” The darker wolf grinned. “Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten about finding the caribou?”

“Oh, that,” Aleu calmed down for a moment. “Well, I’ve been searching every morning when I go out hunting for food for the Clan, but I haven’t found anything yet.” 

“Neither has anyone else here!” Riza’s voice rose, trying to show her point. A few other wolves from both sides of the argument barked in approval. “Aniu assured Nava that the caribou was across the water, but why would Nava stay behind while we were left with some yearling tame-born to lead us? Because . . .” She leaped forward, landing in Aleu’s surprised face. “Because he knew that crossing the water would seal our doom, that’s why!”

“No!” A she-wolf of light bluish-gray cried out in shock. “Nava would never do that to us! We were all like a large family, most of us being his children or kin and all; he knew, as well as we all did, that family should always look out for each other!” Other older wolves barked in agreement to the female’s words. 

A younger male – a medium-brown shaded wolf about Scarlet’s age – stepped towards Riza and began to speak in outrage. “But he’s gone now, back on the land that we had called our home for generations! Perhaps our caribou has begun to travel back to our homeland, unlike what Nava had told us! We should return home – for our real home and for our caribou!”

Over half of the younger wolves cheered, agreeing with the young male’s ideas; even Riza smirked in a sign of approval and continued to glare at the quarter-wolf, staring her to the point of breaking down. Aleu didn’t want her Clan to split over caribou that she felt were somewhere on the new land. 

“Rino, you know that we can’t go back across,” Aleu told the slightly older male. “The ice bridge has vanished and it won’t come back. Even if it does return someday, it won’t guarantee the safety that you have here right now . . . especially after the caribou are found, of course.”

Supporters of Aleu barked and nodded their heads at her comment, believing that her words were truth and that she, just as Nava had told them, would lead the Kawa Clan to life. No matter what Aleu had spoke about finding the caribou and leading the Clan to survival, Riza was enraged by the part-wolf female, continuing to preach what she believed was best. 

“I can’t believe that you honestly believe the carelessness of this tame-born yearling!” Riza barked. “She doesn’t truly understand anything about being a leader, especially the one of a wolf pack.” She smirked at the leader, who only lowered her ears even lower as the gray and black she-wolf made a sudden request. “Apparently, our little tame-born leader has failed to find them within a matter of a month while we’ve all been freezing and hungry for caribou!” Riza’s supporters began to cheer. “So with that being said, I request that I, Riza, take over as Alpha in order to find the caribou!”

“Never!” Aleu barked, letting a growl slip through her voice. “I would never give up my destiny  . . . or the Kawa Clan to you!” 

“Well then, it seems that you leave me with no choice.” Riza walked towards a couple of her fellow comrades, who began to egg her on to fighting the yearling leader. “If you won’t take the easy way out,” She caused the other wolves to spread themselves farther apart from each other, allowing more room for a real fight. “Then I’ll just have to make you truly suffer!” At the sound of the booming word, she charged towards Aleu, leaping only a couple of yards away from her. “Rrahhhhh!”

The nimble quarter-wolf swiftly dodged the pounce, turning her hindquarters clockwise around and still with her body in a defensive position. “I don’t want to fight you, Riza,” Aleu spoke calmly and truthfully. She didn’t want to cause a rift between her new Clan so soon, and with other things being on her mind, she had no time to add that to her list of tasks to be done by the end of the season. “Please calm down and trust me. I am searching as much as I can for the caribou as everyone else. This is the best I can do.” 

Riza released her claws from the ground, quickly checking them to make sure none of them were damaged or broken. She gave Aleu a hate-filled glare. “The best you can do isn’t good enough! Hyahhh!” Now within a length’s reach of the Alpha, Riza lunged towards her with her claws ready to kill.

“Aah!” Aleu screamed as she felt the female’s claws begin to insert themselves into her skin; never before had she felt pain such as this, but she wasn’t about to let Riza have her way. “Get off of me!” She shouted, landing on her back as Riza clawed. With quick thinking, Aleu used her hind legs to kick the rebellious female off of her. “I don’t want to fight, but it seems I have no choice.” She groaned as she rolled back onto her feet and lunged herself at the wolf, her teeth and claws bared for attack.  

“Whoa!” Scarlet said with surprise as he watched the action from Dahlia’s cave. Aleu was beginning to stand back up again, as was a very angry Riza. “She’s tough!”

“Yeah,” Lorna agreed, not realizing that her mother was beginning to stir. “I’ve never seen Aleu act so serious before! She really wants to help my sister.” A tear fell from her eyes and woke her mother up. 

“Huh?” Dahlia let out a yawn and opened her eyes, looking around her surroundings and the two wolves in her company. “Lorna? Scarlet? What’s going on?”

“Mom?” Lorna nuzzled her, glad that she was awake. “Thank goodness you’re awake. Are you okay?” 

The brown wolf nodded. “I’m fine, my child. Thank you for staying by my side, you two.” She smiled, but the sound of the fight below pricked her ears in that direction. “Hey, what’s going on down there?”

“Riza got upset and started to attack Aleu,” Scarlet explained as Dahlia began to withstand the weight of her pregnant belly underneath her and stand on her own four paws with Lorna’s assistance. “They’re fighting down there across the pond for the sake of the Clan.” 

“Oh no . . .” Dahlia gasped. “Poor Aleu . . . and my Riza . . . I’ve got to do something to stop this!”

“No!” Scarlet blocked the entrance, stopping her in her tracks beside her youngest daughter. “There’s nothing you can do, Dahlia, especially not in your condition. You have pups to think about right now. Besides, this fight is Aleu’s alone. We can not do anything to halt the will of the Great Aniu.” 

Lorna let out a sigh. “He’s right, Mom.” Those words were difficult for her to say, but she knew it was the truth. Even she wished to stop the fight between her sister and her best friend, but the only way to do anything was to watch and pray that their Alpha was doing the right thing. “You’re important to me right now, Mom – you and my siblings inside you – and that’s all that matters to me. Aleu will be fine; I trust her actions and believe that she will find a way to end this, not just because she’s our Alpha – she’s also my friend.” She allowed her mother to lay her head over her shoulder; as she continued to watch the two canines battle on the grass below, Lorna could sense that something was wrong.

I can’t hold on much longer . . . I think . . . it’s . . . It’s time! 

“Mom?” Lorna felt her mother’s head leave the safety of her shoulder and somehow felt her pain. “Mom, is it time?”

Dahlia let out a groan as she collapsed onto the ground. Her breathing began to speed up as she let out a cry. “Ohh, they’re coming!”  

“Dahlia!”

Aleu could hear Scarlet’s voice from the ground below the caves. Forgetting about the brawl with Riza, the yearling turned her attention to her friends. “Scarlet! Lorna! Is Dahlia okay?” 

The only reply was a moaning howl from Dahlia. Lorna began to stand her mother up on her feet, helping her out of the cave. Scarlet looked back at Aleu, giving her a straight look. “We’ll take her to the birthing den. You focus on your duty . . . Aleu, look out!”

Before Aleu could even defend herself, Riza had latched herself onto Aleu’s hind legs. She clawed and bit them, all while trying to avoid the swishing two-toned tail of the young Alpha. At the same time, Nuk, Yak, Sumac and a couple of Aleu’s supporters had gone to assist Scarlet and Lorna on escorting Dahlia down the rocky caves, across the pond, and through the woods to the newly-dug den that awaited the birthing she-wolf. As much as she wanted to help, Aleu was in too much pain to do anything . . . except to prevent Riza from getting anywhere near the defenseless she-wolf. 

“Let me go!” Aleu yelled, kicking the she-wolf off of her legs, but Riza remained attached. She grunted and groaned, trying to shake her opponent away from her. “Please let me go!”

The gray and black female smirked. “As you wish, ‘tame-born!’” She released her grip as Aleu pulled her body forward.  

“Who-o-o-a!” The Alpha took a misstep, falling forward. She felt a pain in one of her hind legs, but it burned once she began to stand on it; her left hind leg now caused her to limp slowly as she tried to endure the pain. Riza began to chuckle as she stood up on her feet, watching Aleu tumble back down onto the ground as she tried to follow her friends to the birthing den and use her wounded leg.

“Ow!” The Alpha screamed as tears fell down her eyes, landing on the grass with her head in between her forelegs and paws. The pain was starting to become too much for her to bear. Never had she ever been seriously injured before, so she had no idea getting hurt would feel so terrible. “Scarlet! Lorna!