knew he wouldn’t last a week on his own, he was stuck, no power and no plan, however it wouldn’t matter for if sultan can’t persuade Rodan to lead the pack else where they’d all be dead anyway, Kye and Usher were standing on either side of Tani, sultan was curious about what she was going to say to him earlier he would ask but he didn’t want to start another argument between her brothers, strange really considering the five of them grew up together, but since Tani and sultan had fallen in love Usher and Kye never let her out of their sight, only the alpha male (dragga) and the alpha female (drappa) are allowed to mate so perhaps you could say love is forbidden. They were approaching the stream that ran through the forest, they would follow this east to find their way back to the den, Sultan ordered

“We’ll rest here for a while”

Cole looked at him puzzled and worried

“Are you ok, you’ve not been yourself since we left the ice fields?”

Sultan slumped to the floor and stretched out his legs,

“I’m fine”

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with Tani would it”

Sultan just looked sad and stood up again,

“I’m going to get some water”

“I’ll come too”

Sultan shook his head and walked into the forest where he would be out of sight, he drank some water and rested in the shade, there was still no sound no birds or rodents, sultan closed his eyes and dove into the silence, suddenly there was a crunch of snow and sultan spun his head round snarling, his snarl relaxed when he saw it was Tani,

“Perhaps you shouldn’t be alone”

She said light heartedly sultan sat down and stared at the floor

“I had to think”

“About what”

He looked at her and whimpered softly

“You…”

Her heart hugged the back of her throat, sultan looked down again

“…And what you were going to say earlier”

Her heart sank again and she went to sit by him, it was quiet for a long time, an awkward silence were no matter what you said to break it, it would all come out wrong. Sultan stood up,

“Tani….”

“….I love you”

He looked at her stunned, but she just stared at the floor and padded around the snow, no one said anything, no one could say anything till a distant shouting rose above the loud silence,

“TANI”

It was Kye and Usher charging towards them, and cole trailing in the back still limping, Kye bounded over Tani and landed in front of Sultan growling and Usher stood by her growling too, Sultan was still unable to speak, he thought she fell out of love with him a long time ago, still in shock sultan just stood there, Kye saw his chance and leapt for sultan tumbling into him, sultan snapped out of it and bit Kye´s legs hard, Kye yelped in pain and pounced away sultan dived on his back and pulled him over, Kye kicked his legs up throwing sultan over him, sultan got up quickly and ran at Kye, Kye went to bite him as he passed but sultan moved to the side grabbed him by the throat and swung him around into a tree, Kye was instantly stunned, he couldn’t move, Usher rushed in and sultan jumped off his back, he ran round and tried again but sultan grabbed his ear and ripped a huge chunk off, Usher ignored the pain and they leapt at each other, locked together in mid-air sultan clamped his jaw round Ushers throat and pulled him to the ground landing with a loud thump. Usher struggled to move, sultan was about to strike again when he caught sight of Tani, her eyes were streaming with tears, she looked so sad, Usher darted towards sultan, he had let his guard down and was knocked to the floor, Usher was about to move in for the kill when Tani ran at him knocking him sideways, she helped Sultan to stand, he was bleeding and sore, Usher struggled to his feet, he noticed Kye was in pain and helped him, they both looked at Tani who was stood with Sultan, they nodded their heads in submission at them and began to leave,

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”

Tani howled after them

“Home”

Was the only reply they got for they fled off into the forest, Sultan looked at Tani and rubbed his muzzle on hers, he fell to the ground exhausted and slept for a while.

Rodan woke suddenly as the sunlight shone brightly through the cave entrance disturbing his eyes, Lenore was sleeping by the pups, Rodan stood up and stretched, he sniffed, the air was warmer and thicker spring was on its way, although the snow still laid thick on the ground and on the bows of the forest trees. Rodan looked around at his pack, they were still sleeping although the sun had already begun to rise, Wynona was no where to be seen, nor was the hunting party that had left the night before, he trenched through the snow ignoring the pain the cold was causing his feet, this winter was the harshest Rodan had ever seen, he was thankful it was nearly over, he looked around him, everything was still and quiet, he started to think that maybe sultan was right perhaps the herds have moved on but to where. He reached the edge of the glade where the grass meets the trees, something didn’t seem right, the snow laid thin and patchy in the forest where the trees had stopped it falling, and there lying in the last of the wintergreen plants was Wynona, lifeless and broken, her body was mangled and pierced, her eyes, ears and tongue were torn from her head, Rodan stood in shock, no wolf could have done this, no wolf WOULD have done this, to maul someone of your own kind, to take away their eyes ears and tongue so they will walk the afterlife blind deaf and dumb, Rodan had seen this before when he was young, this was the work of a shade,

(a shade is a creature disfigured, cold and black hearted, they are summoned to destroy existence they have no fear or hesitation to kill and cant be killed themselves, to be rid of a shade you must destroy the summoner)

Rodan shook his head and ran back to the den, his pack was just waking up, Lenore was at the mouth of the den looking for Rodan when he came charging towards her,

“Lenore, Wynona has been killed”

Lenore looked at him in disbelief,

“Who could have killed her?”

Rodan breathed hard

“The shades”

He said slowly, Lenore fled to her puppies and laid by them in terror, Rodan approached her, her head was nestled between her pups, Rodan continued towards her when suddenly Lenore lifted up her head

“What shall we do?”

Rodan looked through her then to their pups, he couldn’t leave they were so young and weak they wouldn’t survive the journey, Lenore lifted Rodan`s muzzle with hers

“What shall we do?”

“I don’t know” he said turning

“What can YOU do Rodan, think of your pups”

“I AM”

He span round and snarled at her, Lenore ran quickly cowering to the comfort of her children,

“What do you want me to do Lenore…Lenore?”

He sighed and laid next to her, she turned to him and rested her head on his, outside the rest of the pack was waking up stretching their limbs and smelling the cold dead air, the smell of blood exited some of the younger ones but the more experienced hunters knew it was dead blood, blood from their own kin, a young wolf named Oslak began sniffing franticly hoping to find the source of the blood smell when an older wolf stepped in front of his wondering nose,

“Oslak, we don’t eat from the dead”

He was tall and strong, his fur was dark brown and he had intense golden eyes.

Oslak looked up at him puzzled

“The dead…I haven’t found anything yet how do you know its dead Hord”

Oslak was shorter then most other wolfs but he was strong and quick on his feet his fur was light grey with a white under belly. Hord signalled for Oslak to follow him and he lead him to the source of the smell, he pulled back the branch of a red cedar tree to reveal the torn mangled body of Wynona, Oslak jumped back in surprise, suddenly the scent wasn’t so sweet for him, Hord started to walk back to the pack and Oslak was quick to follow him. Rodan had stepped away from the den when Oslak and Hord returned,

“Hord” Rodan padded heavily towards him

“Brother” the two greeted each other

“I take it you’ve seen the body”

Hord lowered his head out of respect for his Fallen clan member,

“Do you think we should go to the elders?”

“it would seem to be the best choice to make but it’s a long journey to the meadows of the sacred fallen and I have five new born pups to fend for I don’t think I can risk it”

“Why don’t you send a small party out and they can bring back the information for you”

“I wouldn’t risk the life of my pack like that, not with the winter we’ve just had, it’s to difficult”

“What do you suggest we…”

Hord was cut off by the crunching of snow and heavy foot steps, he curled his lips back and pinned back his ears, Rodan sniffed the air,

“Relax brother, it’s your clan brothers”

Kye and Usher broke the tree line seeing Rodan and Hord they lowered their heads, Rodan shouted after them

“Where are Sultan and the others?”

Kye turned to speak but Usher stepped in,

“They left”

“Left…what happened?”

“We travelled for miles, we went all the way to the ice flats, but there was nothing to be seen”

“Where is Sultan?”

Kye and Usher looked at each other

“WHERE IS SULTAN”

Snapped Rodan, Hord readied his self to strike, Kye and Usher cowered

“He stole Tani,” quivered Kye

“Stole her heart now they’ve gone him and his brother”

Hord looked at his brother, he seemed surprisingly calm.

“Brother…what do we do?”