started after the rest of the hunting party, but within a few moments, Aleu stopped and said quietly, "Faelan, you go on ahead of me, I’d like some space to think."

A puzzled expression crossed his face for a moment, but he nodded silently and trotted on ahead, leaving the Alphess to her thoughts.  She padded slowly along behind him for a while, looking up every few minutes to check that she could still see the tiny group.  ‘Well, I guess I really screwed up this time. I might as well just throw in the towel and hand Evvie the Alpha position.’  Her mind wandered back to the first time she’d unwittingly submitted to Evvie, then to her cowardice just moments before and her failure to stay still so that they could make their catch.  And as she reviewed these memories, a thought struck her.  What if she could redeem herself; bring back food for her pack and possibly gain their trust?

Another quick glance told her Faelan wasn’t looking back at her and with that she wheeled around, running as quickly as possible back to the spot the caribou had been in.  The direction they’d gone was evident – plants had been crushed by the small-scale stampede and the air was ripe with their scent.  Quickly, and as silently as a beginner hunter could, she navigated her way to where they’d run, this time making sure to stay out of sight. But as she followed the more slowly moving herd, she noticed a change in the air’s aroma.  She scented other wolves, quite strongly.  And although she knew that the augmented scent was a warning of some kind, it didn’t seem like any had been here recently.  The hybrid had no idea that she’d just crossed into another pack’s land.

When the caribou finally stopped to graze again, the sickly bull was coughing off to the side once more.  She waited for a moment and then sprang like she’d seen Faelan do.  Of course again the caribou ran, but this time they split. The herd went off to the left and the sick bull went off to the right.  He was running so slowly that Aleu found herself running parallel to him within only moments.  She watched him for a moment, not sure what to do, but the thrumming returned to her head. Instinctively she lurched for his lower leg and her teeth found purchase there.

But she didn’t keep her hold for long.  The bull’s hind leg reached in its stride and kicked her hard in the side, causing both of them to trip.  Aleu let go and they both tumbled onto the ground, the bull rolling over her several times, his weight slamming her head into the compacted dirt.  For a few second they both lay still, but soon enough the bull gained its second wind and leapt, kicking the wolf in the head in its desperation to flee.

Aleu’s vision began to swim, then see-sawed back and forth.  She must have lain there for a little while, feeling the ebbing pain in her head and chest.  In her last moments of consciousness, she noticed movement several yards away from her and a canine voice before her vision went dark and she succumbed to sleep.