now.

Two pairs of eyes, one brown and one blue glowed in the shadows. Bristling and growling, I backed out of the cave. Whatever was in there followed me out. Lightening flashed and as my eyes adjusted, I found myself looking at two wolves. One was different shades of tawny- gold,  the other was in serveral shades of dark brown. Emotions swirled in my head. I wanted to fight. But that would be a foolish thing to do at a time like this.

“Um, hi. First of all this is my territory. But I’ll let you go if I can just use that cave for a while”

            “You’re not in any position to bargain” the brown one spat.

“I’m the alpha. I can take care of you no problem” I shot back.

I took a deep breath and stopped myself. The younger brown wolf snarled but the older one held him back.

“Sorry. What pack are you from anyway?”

            “We’re loners. Our mother and siblings were killed and we don’t know who our father is” the tawny wolf supplied.

“And who are you?”

            “I’m Bristol and that’s Bear” said the golden wolf. “And you are?”

“Not important” I said, still not trusting them. Ataneq would have said it wasn’t wise to spread my name anyway.

They looked at each other but didn’t say anything. I brushed past them into the cave. Now I was all wet again! I shook off, annoyed with having to do it again, then slid down to my stomach. I could hear the two brothers talking outside but as the wind picked up and the rain stopped crashing, they returned. It was pretty obvious they didn’t trust me either. They skulked to the back of the cave again, far away from me, and settled down there. I rested my head on my paws so that I could see them, without it looking like I was staring at them.

Bristol’s head nodded and he fell asleep comfortably. On the other hand, Bear glared at me, very distrustful. He looked as young as Xenia,Boulder and Nuka were, so it didn’t bother me. My heavy lids closed themselves, but in no time at all, I was awakened. I still kept my eyes closed but my ears caught the sound of whispering.

“Come on Bristol! He’s asleep now! We can get him right now!” Bear’s voice whispered excitedly.

            “What do you have against him?” Bristol stated quietly.

“He wanted to fight! Let’s give him one!”

            “Don’t be stupid. He just wants a place to rest” Bristol whispered, shuffling.

“I don’t trust him. He didn’t even tell us his name!” said Bear’s voice, getting a little louder.

            “Then he probably has a good reason”

I was starting to like this Bristol.

“Well I’m not waiting for him to turn on us!”

Soft foot steps started to come my way. And I opened my eyes just in time enough to see a dark shadow creeping towards me. So he wanted a fight, huh?

            “Bear!” Bristolwarned. “Leave him alone!”

The foot steps stopped and the shadow jumped at me. I rolled over, jumped up and rammed Bear, sending his light body rolling. Then I pinned him. Bear was in shock but Bristol didn’t even flinch.

            “I told you to leave him alone” he said calmly, resting his head on his paws.

“Did you know I was awake?”

Bristol shrugged but didn’t answer my question.

 “Can you let my baby brother go?”

I stepped off of Bear, who slipped away and slipped back to Bristol.

“I have to go anyway. We just lost a pack member. I need to scout”

I nodded to Bristol and he curtly nodded back. The rain had let up considerably, but the damp smell still hung in the air as I stepped out of the cave. The early morning sun pierced the few clouds left, warming me up a little, but the autumn air still turned my breath into a cloud. I needed to get back to the pack before they started to really worry.

I was pretty sure that Kaya would have sent out more scouts, but that wouldn’t stop her from being worried. I picked up my pace from a walk to a quick jog and found my way up the trail. When the pack caught sight of me, they charged down the trail, firing questions and asking if I was okay. Naturally, Kaya got to me first.

            “Were the heck have you been?!”

“Patrolling the South and East borders”

            “Oh” she said, relaxing a little. “With Ataneq?”

She glanced behind me, looking for Ataneq and I shook my head sadly.

“Kaya, Ataneq’s gone”

I felt my ears lay back. Kaya looked at me, a little confused. The pack was dead silent, trying to listen.

            “What do you mean? Like the migration gone?”

“No. He’s gone as in never coming back”

The wolves around me looked down and stopped wagging their tails. Kaya had tears in her eyes. Once again, tears stung my eyes and I blinked trying to make them go away. I tilted my head back and started the slow, mournful howl I had always dreaded and admired. Kaya joined in along with the rest of the pack. The sky was filled with the beautiful song until the pack’s feelings were drained. Then we walked back to the den. Kaya wiped her eyes on my shoulder and leaned into me. I nuzzled the top of her head as we lead back to the den. She sniffed my coat and glared at me.

            “Did you get into a fight?!”

“Not a really big one” I said, trying to shrug it off. Kaya kept glaring “This time I was on patrol! You can’t blame me for that!”

Kaya sniffed and forced a laugh.

The next week that passed was the hardest for the pack. I was a little shaky without someone behind me to guide my leadership. Even though it didn’t seem like much, one wolf less made a big difference when it came to hunting too. But eventually, the loss set in and the pack adapted. We didn’t even have territory problems, like the other packs knew, but as they always had, the packs fought with each other and we could hear fights that were close to our borders. Later on that week, I sat where my mother and grandfather used to sit. Kaya spotted me and sat down next to me, looking up into the sky too.

            “Do you miss them?”

“Yeah. I wish I could have gotten to know my mother more. I wish Ataneq was still here to help me” I said mournfully.

            “You don’t need any help” she said unusually kind. “The pack’s fed and healthy”

“I don’t know, I think they’re underfed” I said, holding back a smile and not looking at her.

            “What makes you think that?” she asked softly.

“Because you hog all the food” I couldn’t hold back my laughter any longer and it snorted out my nose first.

Kaya scoffed and knocked me over. I wagged my tail and chased after her. I dived to trip her, but she knew me too well. I slid in the soft mud and she bounded away, using me as a stepping stone.

            “You’re gonna have to do better then that!” she called over her shoulder.

Then she froze.

“What?!” I said apprehensively.

            “Shhhh. Did you hear that?” she said, ears twitching.

I strained my ears and picked up a howl from the Eastern border.

“That’s Nuka. He’s scared of everything. But we should probably go” I said, relaxing.

Kaya and I jogged down the trail, leaving the pack in the care of Talon, the beta.

            “What do you think it is this time?” she joked.

“Probably a squirrel” I laughed. “But they can be pretty dangerous!”

We followed the footprints until they veered sharply off the trail. Then I spotted the pink in the snow. I bristled and sprinted. Kaya gasped behind me and we followed the trail into the woods.

“Xenia!? Nuka!?”

The two siblings were facing two other wolves. The unknown tawny one made a move for Nuka. I jumped and tackled the wolf to the ground, pinning him. This wasn’t an unknown wolf!

“Bristol?”

Bristol stopped growling and I let him get up.

“What are you guys still doing here?”

            “Food’s getting scarce. We were following a deer and I guess we kind of surprised your scouts” Bristol said, not at all shaken up.

I looked over to Xeniaand Nuka.

“Are you guys okay?”

                        “Yeah Leader. Nuka’s got a scratch on his leg, but it’s nothing serious. He did it to himself even before we found these