longer. The whole world had seemed to have turned on them.
 Once they had reached the mouth of the old, expanded fox set, the parents looked back through the trees. The very first humans were appearing. Hurridly, the wolves vanished down the tunnel and carefully put the pups down in the furthest corner of the den. While Lei went to sleep, her foreleg creating a semi-circle aournd the bundles of fluff, as if it was a forcefield of love, Kach did some light digging. He simply made the floor closer to the ceiling in the entrace, to trick other animals into thinking it was just a rabbit hole, and made the floor of the den scoop down into a low bowl. It had not rained in New York for almost three weeks, and the dirt underground was loosing it's strenght. The soil was weak, dusty and crumbled under low pressure. All of this made the job a nightmare for Kach, but if it meant that the remaining members of his family were safe, he would go to the end of the Earth and back.

Toma and Jo were curled up together, protecting the two, velvety balls between them. One was the truffle brown with a black patch over each eye, and the other was a silvery colour with the same black shade markings, except they were in a sort of pattern. A black muzzle, then the colour thinned and went over the forehead, then causing a thick dorsal stripe all down the back, with triangluar shapes coming onto the sides from this, and finally, joining the tail.
 The pup with the black around his eyes was oldest, and he was named Buck. The second one was slightly smaller than his brother, and his markings stuck his parents with astonishment.
 "They look like black teth all down his back."
 "Like Caluk! We could call him that!"
 "No!" Jo snapped in responce, for a pup called Caluk would be like calling a baby the Devil's Child, "No, we'll call him Tooth."
 "Tooth?" Toma questioned. He didn't think it would catch.

Once Kach had settled down after the digging, he and Lei also had some naming to do. There were four pups in all, two girls and two boys. The oldest of the litter was a male of the same brown as his father. He had light grey ears and large, white markings on the front of his legs. He was called Targ, meaning strength.
 The second oldest was a female that was pure white. She was simply called Nila, which meant ice diamonds, or, simpler still, snowflakes. Then there came Nila's younger sister, Fal. She was dark grey, and had black ears and tail tip.
 Last but not least there was Fox. He was two shades of brown. Kach sighed as he thought of his father.
 "Targ, Nila, Fal and Fox," Lei smiled. "They will bring good to this pack."
 Kach was about to say something in reply, then hesitated. "Or, you could say, more mouths to feed."
 Lei gave him a cuff around the back of his head.

7

August

In the heat of mid-August a few things went on. For starters, Jeke tried to persuade Akila to take him back several times, and she refused every single one. The children grew bigger and stronger day by day and became more troublesome and cheeky at the same time. The food shortage lingered, but luckily made little impact. Greedy people who bought too much then realised that the summer sun had ruined their apetite, and so yet another half eaten cheese burger lay on the ground. And this was a good meal for a wolf pup. They burned off the calories by their romping around on the great lawn, with the spread of the milky way above. Latch had just about over come his haterid for Kach. But still part of him held the pride of his name and former self. He did not blame his parents for calling him the Canfa equivelent for 'leader', as how were they to know that this moron would barge into their lives? Latch quivered with jealousy. Things were going right, they had to change before long.
 Buck and Nila had become great friends. They usually crept away from the other pups to play by themselves. The others didn't seem to mind. Fal didn't think much of Tooth. He was too agressive. If anything, she liked Buck, but apart from the fact that her sister was always hogging him, she was too shy to ask if he wanted to play with her. Fal felt like an outsider.
 Targ seemed to take charge around the minature pack of infants. He was oldest, not to mention the strongest and smartest. He got along well with his brother, Fox. Tooth hardly spoke, and if he tumbled about with the rest of them, he would surely end up hurting someone. So he was excluded from games.
 With the hunting, storing and guarding involved in Kach's new plans, the adults never notices the separation that went on between their children. Bad parenting? You don't have to track down and kill several squirrels in only nine hours each night. And in the daylight the whole pack was asleep.
 One evening Lei came to the edge of the great lawn with the remains of a cheseburger for the pups. She saw their separate groups and called them together to eat. She wondered if it was because of the adults' behavior that the pups were starting to seal themselves off from each other.
 She told Kach of the grouping.
 He was anything but worried.
 "It is natural, Lei. Brother and sister rarely merge in group. The boys split into groups. They don't like the agressive ones, namely Tooth, because of injuries and the fact he is stronger. Fal is shy, she'll come round, just give her time. But I don't like the idea of Nila and Buck becoming too close. He is of the third."
 "Now, Kach." Lei said sternly. "If they want to be together, then that's their choice."
 "It's just not right!" he growled, pacing the den.
 "Oh, you sound just like my brother!" Lei hissed, then left the den.

About a week later there was a danger of starvation. Food was barely available. Squirrels were getting quicker and smarter. Rabbits were moving to teh Norht of the park, forcing the wolves to treck further for a meal. Signs saying 'Don't Litter' and the sort appeared as New York tried to help the environment. But they had no idea that animals depended on their food waste. The pups' growth had almost stopped completely because they had nowhere near enough nutrition. The ribs showed clearly from under the skin and they were always hungry. The baking heat didn't help either. There was little water except for the great lake and another small pond.
 The children found it difficult. By playing, they used up far too much energy, and by sitting still, they got bored. Fal was still nervous, dispite what her father had promised Lei. She refused to sit with the others. Until one evening.
 Nila was trying to find their mother, and so Buck was alone. Fal saw this as a rare oppotunity. She had as much right to be friends with Buck as her older sister did. So why let this chance slip away like a slimy eel? Fal lifted her head, and gracefully trotted over to where Buck lay.
 "Um, hi!" she said in her soft voice, which she must have inherited from her mother. "I'm Fal. You probably know that." she grinned, a little embarassed. But Buck just smiled kindly.
 "Yeah, and I'm Buck. You seem a bit lonely by yourself. If it's no bother, do you," he shrugged "Want to sit with me and Nila?"
 "WOULD I?!" is what Fal wanted to say. But she had to stay cool. "Please." she relpied. Sitting down, Fal was thinking on what to say next, but Buck beat her to it.
 "You're sister's nice," he said, "She talks about you a lot."
 Fal was pleasantly shocked. "Really?" she whispered.
 Buck nodded. He told her how she admired her ability to keep by herself, alone, without complaining about life. Fal felt a great ball of pride whelling up inside of her. It was nice to know she was thought of in the pack.
 Nila came running up to them. "I'm going with mother to learn about hunting squrriels, I wont be back till sun up." she smiled, acknowlaging her sister. Then, as if showing off, licked Buck on the cheek. Fal watched with glaring eyes as her older sister ran to Lei.
 "Well," Buck said, awkwardly, "She's never done that before!"

The night passed slowly, and after what felt like an eternity, the wolves found their sleeping places. Fal had a hurricane of thoughts rushing through her head. She loved Buck, and her sister knew it. There was a strong competition. But Buck was unsuspecting of her feelings, whereas he probably knew about Nila liking him. She pushed the confusion of life to the back of her mind, then shut her eyes tight.

8

The Chase

"Hey. Fal! Wake up!"
 Fal stirred. Looking through yawning eyes, she saw Nila. "What do you want? It's daylight."
 "I can't sleep."
 "So?"
 Nila sighed. Why did little sisters have to be this stupid? "So, I want to have a walk. But I need you to come with me."
 Fal shot upright. "B-but Nila! We'd be seen! And the pack would be thrown into grave danger! It's the first law of the pack!"
 "We wont be in danger if we aren't seen." Nila hissed. This had to work. It just had to.
 Fal shook herself awake. "Why can't you ask Fox or Targ?" she moaned.
 "They would split on me, duh?" Nila replied, with no atempt to hide her sarcasm. She sighed again. "Look. All I'm asking is to go up, have a little walk round, see things in the light, and be back before mum waked up. And I thought you were a good sibling, so that's why I asked you."
 "Flattery will get you nowhere," Fal murmured.
 Nila tutted, "You're just a coward. And if you wont come with me, then I'll have to go by myself." Then she left the den. Out of shock and insult, Fal followed her. This was just what her older sister wanted.

Although she was stuborn, Nila wasn't stupid. She stayed clear of the paths that criss-crossed the park, and stayed in the trees. She picked to walk where the ground was thick with leaves to leave no footprints. Fal kept having ot take small spurts of speed to keep up with her sister. She was frightened, but was determined to hide it from