now!”

But Aniu was deaf to my excitement.  Her eyes were locked on two dueling pairs of wolves in the midst of the fight.  Her parents were locked in a deadly battle with Scar and his mate.

“It’s time to stop worrying about them, Aniu,” growled a voice behind us.

We spun to see Kava’s sick, smug expression.  He was flanked by eight or nine wolves from our own pack.  “…and start worrying about me,” he sneered.

Part 7:Aniu 

“How did you break out?” I demanded.

Kava chuckled.  “I still have a few loyal followers in your pack, Aniu.  And your father, fool that he is, put those very wolves in charge of my prison during the fight!”

I bristled.  “Don’t you dare say that about my Father,” I hissed through my teeth.

Kava laughed.  “Worry about yourself, sweet stuff.  By the time I’m through with you and your boyfriend, my parents will be done with your dear mother and father.  Then, with them weakened, my followers and I will move in and finish them off, claiming our victory over your pack, and mine.”

I was horrified.  “You monster!” I spat.

He laughed.  “Don’t waste your time trying to sweet-talk me, Aniu.  First I’m going to get rid of your boyfriend, and then I’ll decide what to do with you.”

I hunched my shoulders and puffed up my fur, but Kodan stepped in the way.  “For the record, I am not her boyfriend.  But I swear, Kava, if you lay a paw on her, I will tear you apart.”

“Oh, how heroic,” sneered Kava.  He jerked his head in a signal.  “Take them.”

Our former pack members surged forward from the bushes.  Kodan met them head-on, grabbing one by the throat and heaving him into another.  “Run!” he shouted.  “I’ll hold them off!”

“No!”  I jumped forward to join him, but he kicked me away with his hind legs.

“Sorry, Aniu, but your father ordered me to keep you out of the fight!”

I stared at him.  He was managing to hold his own against Kava and the traitors, but I could see it wouldn’t last forever.  “Come on!” I yelled.  I ran, followed moments later by Kodan.

“Sorry about the kick,” he said as he came up alongside me.

“I’ll be alright,” I assured him.  “Listen, I know a way we can get rid of them, but we have to fall off a cliff.”

“What?!”

“There’s a cliff nearby with a snowy ledge partway down.  We can land on that and pretend to be dead.  When they come down by the trail to make sure, we’ll take them by surprise and knock them off the ledge.”

He grunted.  “Let’s do it.”

We sprinted for the cliff.  “We have to make this convincing,” I told him.  “We’ll stop at the edge and pretend to fight back.”

He gave me a sideways look.  “Pretend, huh?”

I smiled in spite of myself.  “Somehow I get the feeling that if you weren’t a dog, or if I weren’t a wolf, we’d end up mates.”

“Well, well, well,” chuckled Kava, catching up with us.  “Now you’ve got nowhere to run, you little rats.  And at such a convenient place, too.”

As far as I knew, Kava had no knowledge of the ledge.  I was praying inside that this wasn’t another case of him knowing more than he let on.

“Toss the mutt of the edge,” he ordered his followers.  “Aniu has given me a lot of trouble, so I think I’ll finish her personally.”

The wolves charged.  “Split!” I yelled.  Kodan and I jumped to either side, and three of them went over the side.  The rest stopped in time, except for one whom Kodan managed to knock over while he was off-balance.  At first, it seemed we might not have to resort to my plan at all.  But then they converged on Kodan and threw him over.

Kava stared down as Kodan landed on the ledge.  My friend twitched a couple of times, then lay still.

“One down…” Kava chuckled.  Then his evil eyes locked onto mine.  “And one pretty lady to go…”

I didn’t let him finish.  With a howl, I leapt over the edge, aiming for a landing right beside Kodan.  My landing hurt even with the snow to cushion me.  I lay still beside him, allowing my legs to twitch as if I were dying.

Up above, I heard Kava snort.  “Come on.  We’d better make sure they’re dead.”

I opened my eye just wide enough to see him leading his pack down to us by way of a narrow ledge connected to our wider one.  “Get ready,” I whispered to Kodan.

“Born ready,” he answered.

Kava stopped and sniffed at me.  Seizing the moment, I rolled onto my feet and struck him a blow across the face as hard as I could, driving him back several feet.  “You’re not the only one who knows how to act, Kava!” I spat.  Out of the corner of my eye I could see another wolf doubled up with pain from a two-footed kick Kodan must have planted in his stomach.  Kodan rammed him with his skull, knocking him against the rock wall behind us.

“Get them!” ordered Kava.  But we had the advantage.  Most of the traitors were still on the narrow path and could only come one at a time. So while I fought them off, knocking one after another over the edge, Kodan faced off against Kava.

Part 8: Kodan 

Kava and I circled each other, both of us snarling and bristling.  I could see saliva dripping from his mouth and wondered if he might be rabid.

“It’s over, mutt.  You and the princess are dead meat.”

“I don’t think so,” I answered.  “I don’t see any reason I shouldn’t rip you apart right now, but I’m going to give you one last chance to surrender.”

“Never!” he shouted, leaping forward.

Everything seemed to happen in a blur.  There was a brief struggle, then I rammed him in the stomach, and the black wolf let out a howl of rage as he disappeared over the edge.

The other wolves, seeing their leader defeated, quickly gave up the fight.  Aniu and I drove them back up the path.  “What will you do with us?” asked one of them.

“Quiet!” I snapped.  My stomach was already tied up from having actually killed someone, even if it was Kava, and even if I did it in self-defense.  “Do as we say and maybe you’ll live.”

“If my father decides to let you,” added Aniu.  She sounded very angry, and I don’t think I could blame her.

We returned to find the battle still in progress.  The numbers were fewer on both sides, but Aniu’s parents were still locked in deadly conflict in the middle against Scar and his mate.  And it looked like they were losing.  “We’ve got to do something!” said Aniu.

“No,” I answered.  “Your father…”

“Will die if we don’t help!” she cut me off.  “We have to help!”

“Aniu, I understand your worries.  But we must have faith.”  I gestured to the traitors we had captured.  “If we can catch this many wolves, don’t you think your parents can handle those two?”

As if I had jinxed them or something, Sequoia and Nina simultaneously fell, struck down by heavy blows from their aggressors.  All the other wolves stopped fighting to watch as the Black Claw alphas advanced.  Aniu tried to run forward, and in the heat of the moment I had no choice but to grab her by the tail and hold her back.  She turned and growled at me, but I held on.  “There’s no point in you getting hurt too,” I told her through clenched teeth.

As we watched, Scar and his mate stood over their victims.  I could see even at a distance that Sequoia and Nina were still breathing.  Then, as the fiends opened their jaws to finish them off, Sequoia and Nina lunged upwards and caught their attackers by the throats.

“Ha HA!” I laughed triumphantly, releasing Aniu in the process.  “The old sick duck routine!”

Scar and his mate struggled to free themselves, but the jaws holding them kept an iron grip.  Soon the positions were reversed, and it was Sequoia and Nina who were on top.  They released their hold, but instantly put their paws down, keeping up the pressure on the enemies’ windpipes.  “Surrender, Scar,” ordered Sequoia, “or I swear I will kill you here and now.”

Scar nodded weakly, as did his mate.  Sequoia removed his paw and ordered, “Now call off your pack.”

Scar howled, and his wolves quickly flocked to his side.  He panted and wheezed until his breathing returned to normal, then glared at Sequoia.  “Attack,” he commanded.

Aniu and I gasped, but before anything could happen, the combined forces of our pack and the other two on our side surrounded them, battered but still ready to fight to the death.  Scar’s wolves looked at the army surrounding them and wisely kept still.

“Scar,” announced Sequoia.  “I am sure you realize this fight is over.  As the victors we have full right to your lands and what is left of your pack.”

Scar snarled, but Sequoia simply cut him off.  “However,” he added, “Since I have no desire for further bloodshed, I will allow you to remain as alpha of your pack, until such a time as you die or your slaves grow sick of your treachery and dethrone you on their own.  But if you or any of yours ever cross into my domain again, unless they wish to join us, they will be executed at once and your pack will be utterly destroyed.”

“We have some to add to that number,” I called as Aniu and I drove our captives into the circle.  “Kava got out of his prison with the help of these traitors, then tried to kill us.”

Sequoia’s surprise only showed for a moment, then disappeared again as his face resumed its stony expression.  “Where is he now?”

“Gone,” I answered.  “I knocked him off a cliff.”

Scar snorted.  “Then he wasn’t worth keeping alive.  No wolf who can’t beat a dog is a-“

“Silence!” Sequoia fairly roared.  “As I said, you and those who remain of your pack will