dangerous. It could get you in trouble.”

“I’m already in enough trouble as it is,” I muttered.

“Well, here’s something else for you to worry about,” he whispered, and kissed me.

The moment his lips brushed mine an electric shock jolted my body. I pedaled backwards so fast I sat down, but I scrambled up again and left him in the dust, running and running and running away.

“Luna!” I heard him call, but all I could think was ‘no no no no no no no.’ He was too quick, too kind, too sweet. He was the danger.

His kiss ran through my mind, and I shuddered. He would never touch me again. Never.

That night I lay watching again and again as my mind replayed his mouth pressing gently down on mine. To me that kiss was an attack, and with it Jaydor had joined the rest of the world as the hunter. I was still the hunted, and as angry and scared as ever.

Why had he kissed me? The question made my head buzz. The only time anyone had ever come after me like that was when Roan had been looking for some fun. Yet Jaydor’s approach hadn’t been aggressive. Did he want something from me? I struggled with the question that had plagued me my whole life: why?

I didn’t know what love was, so any more possible reasons for Jaydor’s kiss evaded me.

I fell asleep denying to myself that I had liked the kiss, even though in the most secret chambers of myself I knew differently.

Muffled voices.

Paws whispering over the ground.

New scents. Sudden warmth.

I opened my bleary eyes to see Kamotz leering above me through the dark. A constellation of yellow eyes surrounded him, and I knew his gang was watching, grinning.

I gave an outraged yelp and leapt to my feet, but I barely had time to stand before he pushed me hard. I was being flattened into the cave floor.

“No one gets away from me and lives to regret it,” Kamotz growled.

“There’s a first for everything,” I gasped back through gritted teeth. My spine was scraping against the wall. I dug my claws in and pitched Kamotz backwards. “And I intend to be that first!”

He heaved himself up, and this time his gang advanced with him. I twisted around to check for an escape route. I was boxed in, trapped. I spun around again, just in time to see Kamotz face to face.

He licked his lips, and a drop of saliva splashed onto my nose. I shook it off with disgust.

“Party’s over, princess,” he chuckled.

Without hesitation I plunged my claws into his eye, and as he howled the wolves piled on top of me, biting and cutting and spitting on me.

I fought. I bit, kicked, sliced, diced, scratched, clawed– it wasn’t enough. Nothing could stop them.

Gradually I felt the weight on me decrease. I raised my head from my lying position on the cave floor to see wolves being ripped off and flung to the other side of the cave. My rescuer was fast and furious, and before I knew what was happening, he was leaning down trying to see my face.

Speak of the devil. It was Jaydor.

“Luna,” he said through heaving breaths, “Luna, say something. Are you all right?”

Was I all right? I struggled to my feet, and looked myself over. Some wolf had bitten my right back leg, and bruises throbbed on my neck and chest. I rubbed my face, and I could feel a crust forming over a cut that had been dribbling blood down into my left eye. The blood smeared over my paw and my face, and I bet anything I looked like I was wearing war pain. I felt like I had just been through a war.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I muttered, pushing him away.

The cave was in an uproar. I was smothered with questions from concerned or confused wolves, but I didn’t answer any of them. Over the heads of the crowd I could see Kamotz groaning in a corner, Jaydor trying to restore order, and Crystal risking life and limb trying to get through all the wolves enclosing me. Finally she stood in front of me like a shield, and snarled in the harshest voice I’d ever heard her use: “No more questions! Everyone get back to bed! Kamotz, stop whining, you got what you deserved! Jaydor, get over here! We need to make sure there are no more attacks tonight.”

Crystal herded everyone back to their sleeping places, slapped Kamotz a good one across the face, announced to everyone that if any of them tried anything like that again there would be painful consequences, and then trotted back to me. “I’m sorry this had to happen to you, Luna,” she murmured to me as we settled down again. I was in my space with my back against the wall, Crystal lying by my back paws and Jaydor by my front. I squirmed away from him, but his eyes were already closed. He might have been asleep. “Some wolves just can’t control themselves when it comes to revenge. Kamotz is one of them.”

“Huh,” I snorted, “I’m beginning to think it’s the males that can’t control themselves, especially when it comes to me.”

Crystal was silent, and then she whispered, “Jaydor and I are here to protect you. You’re safe, at least for tonight.”

A few minutes later I heard her deep breathing, and I knew she was asleep.

I’ll never know how I got to sleep again, but I did.

I was awakened a few hours later by something odd: cold. And silence.

I wiped sleep from my eyes with my tail and looked around. The cave was nearly empty. Crystal still lay at my feet, snoring softly, but Jaydor and every other wolf had vanished. I considered waking Crystal to ask her about this strange situation, but her snores made me decide against it. She had probably been up all night seeing that no one tried to hurt me. She deserved rest, and much more.

I stepped over her and crept across the empty cave, sniffing deeply. The scents of the wolves led me through the tunnel and out of the main cave. There at the entrance I found an unmistakable trail of pawprints leading past Ice Moon’s cave and out into the wilderness.

Confusion tortured me. What had happened? Had there been a mass pack migration that everyone had failed to tell me about? Had Crystal and I been abandoned? I took a panicked whiff, and was slightly comforted: Ice Moon was in her cave. We weren’t entirely alone.

Thoughts of Ice Moon made me wonder if these sudden disappearances weren’t somehow part of the rebellion…

It was a bright night. The moon hung like a pearl caught in a swath of black velvet scattered with diamonds. I followed the pawprints easily, and they led me steadily northward. Every muscle in my body was stretched and tense as I slunk through the night alone, but after awhile I even began to welcome an attack of some kind. It would cut through this eerie silence that made my skin prickle and my bones grow cold.

A dark shape loomed in the distance, and I slowed down to creep towards it, my senses open and surging wildly.

With a silent yelp I suddenly recognized the mass for what it was, and ducked behind a mound of snow not three feet from it.

By the light of the moon the White Storm pack stood gazing up at two wolves standing proudly on two of the flat rocks laid out before the cave mouth behind them. One of the two wolves was Jaydor; the other was Cyan.

‘They’re the rebel leaders,’ I realized with a shudder, but not much surprise.

“White Storm wolves,” Jaydor cried, “Tonight is the night. Tonight we strike Ice Moon, and end her reign over us!”

There were cheers of approval from the crowd, but Jaydor wasn’t finished.

“I would like to thank the member of this pack responsible for giving this rebellion the chance to rise up against our leader: Luna, thank you.” His smirk was smug. He was certain I wasn’t there to hear his praise.

“Luna?” Cyan cried suddenly, “The wolf-dog? The new member of this pack?”

“Is there any other?” Jaydor said stonily, “As I was saying–”

“Wait. Jaydor, think for once. I told you from the beginning I didn’t like the idea of Luna being part of this rebellion. It was happening before she got here, and it isn’t fair to drag her into it,” Cyan argued.

Jaydor ignored uneasy murmurings from the pack. “What can you do about it now? Anyway, with some convincing, she was the perfect distraction for Ice Moon so we could continue planning our rebellion.”

“Some ‘convincing’?” Cyan barked, “You…you left her alone with Ice Moon that one night and nearly got her killed, and then you pretended to love her so she wouldn’t kill you for it!”

“But it worked, didn’t it?” Jaydor growled, “So build a bridge, and get over it.”

“You don’t deserve to be a leader of a pack or this rebellion!” Cyan bellowed, “Normally I wouldn’t care if you used some wolves to our advantage, but Luna…Luna’s different. She’s had a tough enough life already. You think you can just use her like that, and hurt her along with it? No, Jaydor. Believe me, as soon as she finds out, you’re a dead wolf. She will kill you.”

“Thank you for your concern, but I think I have Luna under control,” Jaydor snapped. He pivoted around so he was face to face with Cyan. His eyes glittered dangerously. “I knew it was a mistake letting you lead with me. After all this time, your feelings finally get in the way of your judgment.”

“My judgment is as clear as ever,” Cyan muttered, but the dimming glint of his bright blue eyes showed Jaydor had struck a nerve.

“Out of every male here, I never expected it to be you,” Jaydor said with a low chuckle, “You of all wolves, Cyan. You love Luna. Admit it.”

Cyan’s face darkened beneath his light fur. “It’s not like that…”

Jaydor shook his head with an amused smile. “You’re weak, Cyan. If you had been leading this rebellion, we would’ve gotten nowhere because of your feelings for Luna not letting you risk her life. You’re pitiable.”

“I’m the only one who’s ever done anything for this rebellion!” Cyan yelled, eyes flashing.

Jaydor stared at him, a mocking smile touching his lips. “May I remind you that although this rebellion needed two leaders, a pack only needs one.” He leaned forward, his legs tightening. “And, in the words of your beloved Luna, ‘I intend to be that one’!” Jaydor flung himself at Cyan and smashed him to the ground.

Rage