Valo's paws, Valo picked it up and placed it infront of Venue, she gently picked it up and ate it, thankful to finally be in a pack and have some food and protection. A few days later the pack was still at the coast, reluctant to continue their journey too quickly, Venue found Valo fascinating, she often watched him, he knew she was watching him but never did anything about it, in a way he kind of liked it, he did'nt know why, all his experience was telling him she should be punished but he could'nt do it, the thought was driving him crazy, things had been fairly peaceful recently, niether Valo or Sangar trusted Niju, Jake had become friendly with Sangar, he was glad he no longer had the responsibility of being Beta wolf, Niju was finding things harder, he wanted to be Alpha, he was annoyed that he'd thrown away his chance of being leader because of his fear of change but his life had changed anyway, now he was Omega of a pack and could'nt see any way to become Alpha, Valo wa far too strong for him to defeat in a fight, especially with Sangar as his Beta wolf, Niju did'nt stand a chance...unless...he suddenly had an idea, if he mated with a female and she had pups then he would be Alpha of the pack, but which female?...Snowy is protected by Jake and with them being mich higher up the pecking order than him that would be difficult, moonlit maybe?...no, she was always with Tenaka and Sarchie and Tenaka was just below Jake, way too much protection, Venue!...she was Omega like him, she was still quite weak and was much more vulnerable than the others, yes, Venue, all he had to do was get her alone, should'nt be too hard. That night Niju put his plan in motion, he asked Venue to help him catch a rabbit, he made the excuse that no one else would help him and he would share half with her if she helped him, Venue knew she needed more food so agreed, they walked out of range of the pack to an abandoned rabbit warren, only Niju knew it was abandoned, Venue did'nt have a clue, everything was going to plan so far, as Niju was summoning the courage to follow through with his plan Valo watched them, he'd been watching Venue for a few hours and had followed them into the woods, Niju was ready to carry out his plan, he moved aside from the entrance to the warren as if to let Venue have first go, she crouched down to reach further into the warren, as she did Niju attempted to mate her, Valo was about to rush down the slope and attack Niju...but Venue got there first, she whirled around and bit hard into Niju's neck, she threw him to the ground, she was about to yell at him when Valo appeared, seemingly from nowhere, Venue slank back and lowered her head, ready to explain herself to the Alpha but Valo turned to Niju instead and growled at him,                                                "She attacked me sir, for no reason, I was only trying to help her", Niju lied, Venue was about to argue but Valo spoke first,             "I saw what you did Niju, do not lie to me, you know the consequences of your actions", Valo growled at him, Valo then bit at his paws to make him stand up, then at his neck and face, Niju ran away, Valo looked at Venue to check she was alright then wandered to a clearing to think, why was he so worried about her?, she was no different to the other members of his pack, he was deep in thought when Venue sat beside him,                "Thank you Valo", she said to him quietly, he acknowledged that he accepted her thanks but said nothing, the two sat there for a while, Valo was about to tell her to get some rest when she nuzzled against his chest, she rubbed her nose in his long fur, normally he would bite her for doing something like this but again he could'nt bring himself to do it, he just looked at her quietly, she moved her nose up under his chin, he gulped and stayed perfectly still, she licked his cheek and left to rejoin the pack, she was half expecting him to attack her but he did'nt, instead he watched her go, why could'nt he punish her? He was Alpha, this was'nt right! none of this made sense, it stood to reason that he was supposed to at least bite her to remind her of her position but he could'nt even do that, he stayed awake all that night thinking about what had happened. Next day the pack just lounged around, they had fed the day before and had no need to do any hunting today, Valo found himself staring at Venue, he could'nt understand why but since the night before he wanted to be near her, it was silly, the Alpha does'nt hang around the Omega, it just was'nt done...but still he could'nt help watching her, they lay at opposite sides of the clearing the pack was in looking at each other. Valo was'nt the only one interested in Venue, Sarchie also liked her but he was more open about it, he stood right infrint of her, obscuring Valo's line of sight, for a reason unknown to Valo this made him aggitated, Venue looked up at Sarchie, sighed and turned away again, she had no interest in him but he was'nt going to give up easily, he nudged her side and lay down next to her and licked her front paw, Valo knew what he was doing and did'nt like it, he trotted over to where they were and stood over Venue growling at Sarchie, Venue looked at Valo who was towering above her, Sarchie backed away, Valo moved between Sarchie and Venue, still growling, Venue stood up and walked away, Valo followed her until the edge of the clearing when he walked off, back to the top of the same hill he was on with Venue the night before, she had followed him there and sat beside him, Valo did'nt understand why he had been that way with Sarchie and so protective of Venue, he had never felt like this before, he did'nt know what it was but it was scaring him, he was'nt scared of anything, Venue looked at him and gently nuzzled his fur, this time he turned toward her, "I...er...I don't...", Valo tried to tell her he did'nt know what to do about this but trailed off, Venue smiled moved closer to him, their shoulders touched they were so close,                                 "Then don't do anything", she whispered guessing what he was trying to say, so he did'nt, he just sat there resting his head on hers, they stayed there silently until night time when they returned to the pack, everything was as normal...except tonight Venue slept next to Valo, the others smiled, even Sarchie, Sangar took his position below Valo, and now Venue, that night Valo was last to fall asleep, he lay with his nose next to Venue's, he could feel her breath on his nose, for the first time he felt happy, he did'nt remember ever feeling this happy, even back with his parents in his childhood den before everything went wrong, he was happier now than ever before...because he was with Venue? He could'nt think of another reason, for the first time ever he smiled, a proper smile, he slept well that night.

The day after the pack set off to Ghost Canyon, this was the only passage in and out of the Shadow lands, once through the canyon they would have to cross an open meadow about 8 miles across, there was plenty of prey in the meadows, many said they were the last sane place before the madness and horror of the shadow lands. Ghost canyon was made of a chalky rock that made the walls of the canyon appear pure white and the shape of the canyon was like a giant serpent, giving it the name Ghost Canyon, many feared the canyon, saying it was haunted, cursed, as the pack entered the canyon they noticed how quiet it went after a while even the sound of birds dissappeared, Venue moved closer to Valo, everyone was feeling nervous, Valo looked back at the others, he half giggled when he saw Jake and Snowy, if Snowy got any closer to him she'd be on his back, they carried on through the canyon, there were deer and caribou skulls littered all the way through the canyon, at one point they came across the skeleton of a demonai, recognizeable by it's mutated bones and the deep gouges in some of it's bones and it's skull inparticular, they passed on by silently, a group of crows flew out if a bush at the top of the cliff, Sangar signalled for Valo to pick up the pace, he was at the back of the group making sure no one got left behind, Valo kept going a bit faster, Venue sticking close to his side. After another hour they emerged at the meadow, it was'nt quite as they imagined it, the meadow looked bleak, the prey animals in the distance were skittish, crows flew over head squaking loudly in alarm at the sight of the pack, Valo noticed two Demonai a way off ripping a carcass apart, the meadow seemed to go on forever, the sky was grey and even bleaker than the meadow itself,           "The calm before the storm?", Sangar questioned as he surveyed the scene, Valo nodded slightly, a flock of crows flew up from a dead tree ahead of them, Venue shuffled closer still to Valo, Valo nuzzled her in reassurance, the pack chose to rest just a bit away from the canyon entrance, at night the meadow looked even more foreboding than in daylight, Venue lay close to Valo where she felt safe, when the others were all asleep Valo and Sangar discussed their situation, the outlook was'nt good,                              "We'll tackle this one step at a time, stick together", Valo decided, Sangar agreed,