moon started to rise, we were all pooped. Happy, but very tired.

            As soon as I was led out of the territory, the brown wolf with white turned from a tough animal into a gentleman.

            “Sorry about being a little rough before” he smiled. “But if he knew you were going to be treated good, there was no way he’d let you come with us!”

We let the father and other two males walk ahead while the female, brown and white male and I fell back to talk.

            “I’m Mackenzie by the way” he added politely.

                        “I’m Jade” the female said kindly.

“I’m Anyu” I smiled. “And you don’t know how relieved I am to be with you guys! You don’t know how horrible it is to be living in that pack right now!”

            “We do know” Mackenzie said. “Our father used to be in his pack. We were really little then but he managed to save my mother and they escaped to start their own pack… and now we have it!”

“Then you guys took me to save me?” I inquired curiously.

            “Not exactly” Mackenzie said quietly, ears going back.

                        “Our older brother, Jax, became alpha and we don’t have any other girls in our pack. Just me and my mother”

“So I’m engaged?! Like an arranged mate?!” I yelped, disgusted.

Jade and Mackenzie averted they eyes and nodded grimly.

“Well it’s still better then being back there” I replied, trying to stay positive. “So who’s Jax anyway?”

            “He’s walking right in front of you” Mackenzie replied.

                        “He’s the grey one” Jade explained. “The other one is his best friend, Mudd. They don’t really have much of an interest in girls”

“What about your dad?”

            “He can be a little rough some times… he’s really traditional”

                        “Sometimes a little too traditional” Jade added, annoyed.

            “But our mother is really nice! You’ll like her” Mackenzie smiled again.

            I talked to the two wolves the whole way back and told them about my siblings, my father, who they had heard about through their father, and our escape attempts. Their territory wasn’t really far away from mine, but far enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about Boss anymore. It was almost like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. We finally came upon a small cave made out of boulders. Jade and Mackenzie’s father, who I learned was named Ace, gave a short howl and a few wolves came out the cave. The first was a female, a light grey with white on her muzzle, legs and chest. Only three other wolves followed her out, all males. They looked similar to Jax’s friend but in lighter shades of brown and grey.

            “You must be Anyu” the female greeted warmly. “I’m Janet”

“Nice to meet you” I greeted politely.

Before we could start a conversation, Ace cut in.

            “I’m sure that by now, you know that you’re engaged” he began. “So I’m going to lay down the law for you. First of all, you obviously can’t start any relationships with any other males. You need to stay close to the cave and you must have an escort anywhere you go”

There went my freedom. Free for two seconds and roped back in again.

“Yes sir” I finally managed.

            “And another thing: I didn’t risk going to see that monster for nothing. I expect pups from you by spring”

That was just insulting! Words couldn’t even explain how horrible that was! I opened my mouth to snap something back at him but Jade and Mackenzie rushed me away.

            “Don’t mess anything up, Ace is going to send you right back where you came from!” Mackenzie whispered desperately.

                        “You don’t have to follow those rules but if you talk back to him he’ll get mad” Jade added.

I furrowed my brow, bit my cheek and snarled inside my head. What had been better? Getting beaten everyday or having just about every freedom stripped from you?

            After being together for a month, my pack was running like one wolf instead of six. After a whole month of private struggling, I finally proved myself to be a better alpha then Tanner, but we were still best friends and he made a great beta. All three girls were good friends now, but Sitka couldn’t stand Diego. At least we could get dinner and a show! We even staked out territory and marked it down as ours. Meanwhile, in every free moment I had, I started to plan a rebellion. Boss had to be overthrown and I knew I was the one to do it. I was pretty sure what I needed to do. It was just a matter of time and place. Until then, I was the alpha of a pack of six.

            “No problems today Boss!” Diego barked happily after returning from scouting.

“Please don’t call me that” I said weakly.

Sitka growled at Diego and made him scramble backwards.

            “Sure thing Dakota!” Diego replied, voice cracking.

From another direction, Melora came back running at break- neck speed.

“What’s wrong?!” I demanded worriedly.

            “Nothing’s wrong yet. But I found something bad! We should check it out!” she panted.

“Lead the way then”

Tanner and Sasha jumped to their feet and didn’t waste any time following their younger sister. I waited for Sitka then we set off after the pack and an uneasy jog. A little while later, Melora led us to a giant hole between a fallen tree and rock. It looked like a den of some sort.

“What is it?” I whispered.

            “I don’t know” Melora replied, voice trembling. “But it has a really strange smell”

“It kind of looks like a giant den” I muttered. “I’ll go check it out”

Cautiously, I stepped out of the bushes we had been hiding behind and carefully approached the hole. Melora was right: the worst scent I had ever smelt was pouring out of the den. I dropped to my stomach and started to crawl towards it. When I got to the mouth of it, I paused and waited for a second. Nothing moved. No sounds came out. I peered in and as my eyes adjusted, a huge form took shape. From descriptions from other wolves, I knew it was a bear. Bears were very dangerous! I scrambled backwards, tripped over a stick, fell on my back and scrambled on my back.

            “What is it?” Tanner barked.

“A bear!” I whispered. “Let’s get out of here before it wakes up!”

I didn’t need to ask twice. We broke ranks and sped home.

            After we had calmed down, Dakota sent out scouts again. I had to admit, he was a pretty good leader. I jogged all the way out to my post and started to patrol. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary… until I reached our main trail that wove all through our territory. Then I picked up a strange smell. A male stranger. I could handle him!

Tail high in the air, I put my nose to the ground and followed. The smell brought me to the very outskirts of our territory and wove through trees and a small stream. After the stream, the scent spiked. I was getting really close. When I didn’t have to follow the scent on the ground but hung in the air instead, my heart started to race. Just like I had seen Dakota do, I crouched on the ground and cautiously approached the owner of the scent.

Suddenly, something tackled me. I tried to bite whatever I could reach but only ended up getting a mouthful of snow. After blindly struggling for a few fleeting minutes, I squirmed away and faced my attacker. The smell had told me it was a male wolf and I was right. He might have been a year older then me but wasn’t much bigger then me. His coat was an almost gold color but it shaded from a pale gold to brown on his legs, face and tail. For