overtook the deep forest.

All at once, Holly's howl broke the solitude, and Lilly froze as a pounding sensation beat like a thousand war drums in her head. A single wolf beside her kicked her and she ran to the heart of the forest, her surroundings nothing but a blinding blur of flashing colors. Then, everything became a ceaseless uproar in slow motion. Her legs seemed to carry her in huge leaps at a decreasing speed. The moment Lilly thought she would never reach the pack's grounds, it came much too fast, and she forced herself to a halt.

Everything then came into play. Holly's face entered from the wolf-made trail that meandered around the back of the cave. Lilly had tumbled into a tangled mess as Holly began crying and shouting terrible phrases that the leader had been killed by Lilly. She stood up, speechless, frightened, and at an extreme loss of words.

“She came out of nowhere and pushed him off the cliff!” Holly hollered to the shocked members of the pack.

“But that's impossible!” declared one of the wolves. “Lilly's dead!”

Holly acted as if she were calming herself and turned to her left side where Lilly sat hiding in the bushes.

“Come out, murderer!” Holly announced.

Lilly climbed out of the bushes, ready to tear Holly apart, but a figure stood in her way. Amak joined by Holly's acquaintances hovered over Lilly. Amak looked as if he were about to speak.

“She's a traitor!” Holly yelled over the stirring crowd. “She must be charged of treason for killing her own father and betraying her pack!”

The crowd cheered, barked, and howled in agreement. Holly smiled at Lilly who was still in shock. Holly had completely gone against her own words, blaming Lilly for the death of her father.

“Midnight, my eldest son, will take the position of alpha male. Isn't that right, Amak?”

Lilly glared at him as if he had killed her father. “It was all a lie!”

“No, Lilly, really, what I said....” he protested.

“You used me! You lied to me! And I believed you the entire time! You were a part of her plan the entire time! And I...I can't believe I...” she quarreled, unable to finish the remaining part.

“Lilly, listen!”

“No! I never want to see you ever again! You told me you loved me!”

“Lilly, I do love you. I...”

“Liar!”

She collapsed on the ground, sobbing, as Amak held back what he was trying to say. He turned and left, sitting with his back to Holly a few yards away.

“According to the pack laws, one who commits treason is to be exiled! She will no longer be a part of our pack! And if she ever comes back, kill her!” Holly explained cheerfully.

“No!” Amak cried, tearing into Holly.

Lilly looked up to find that an appalling fight had broken out involving the entire pack. Amak and Holly had disappeared behind a boulder, and Lilly had her paws full with Holly's comrades. One tore into her shoulder, sending her to her feet. She managed to see Holly scurrying away to safety as Amak took on the wolf that attacked Lilly.

More wolves came upon him, but he knocked them down one by one with ease. The pack began to close in around them creating an adjoining circle, pinning Lilly and Amak to the rock wall.

“Do you trust me?” he asked after he knocked the last wolf away.

Lilly nodded with a smile, and broke into a sprint to the top of a collection of rocks.

“Dear, pack members, the real traitor is Holly. She killed my father and invited theses strangers to aid her with her dark plan. She tried to kill me the day I disappeared, and now she killed my father to allow Midnight to be leader. I was rightful heir to be alpha female, but she had to do-away with me for Midnight to ever come close. Now, fight! Cast her out! Show these strangers what our pack can do! It's not a leader who makes the pack, but the members!”

A crowd of wolves howled and barked and attacked Holly's companions, driving them away. Amak crept around the opposite side of the rock wall to reoccupy safety. Lilly looked around the pack grounds, her vigilant eyes scanning the forest for her enemy. Holly was nowhere in sight, but Lilly knew that she was still alive.

“Keep your miserable life until we meet again,” Lilly growled into the wind. “I'll get you someday Holly, and you'll have no one to run to.”

Amak stood beside her, but they kept apart from one another as if they had built a boundary between each other. They watched the despotic battle come to an end as the strangers fled into the deeper thickets. The pack gathered in a circle around Lilly as she descended from her spot on the boulders.

“We owe you our lives,” Lupine, captain of the guards, stated to her in reverence.

“Your chivalry allows you exemption from exile. Will you stay, Lilly?” asked Vervain.

Lilly looked to Amak. He seemed to give her a lateral scrutiny. Any feelings for him that she felt only moments ago seemed faded. The irrepressible love and devotion that seemed so steadfast and unwavering had fallen to pieces, shattering around her feet like teardrops. An intricate waterfall of emotions seemed to sweep over her like a storm, coming then fading away into the mist. Only the apprehensive fear of losing him clung to her thoughts. Although she was not sure of what she wanted, she knew that her decision had to be meticulous.

“I will be leaving if you want to come with me,” suggested Amak after a period of uncomfortable silence. “You once said you loved me. If you still love me...”
Lilly's heart fluttered like butterflies again. Dreams of spring and a new family yearned to be held, but the kindled feeling could not put a damper on the love for her home. The butterflies wilted away into the plain picture of reality as she gazed back at the pack. It all seemed so painfully clear, too clear for her to understand, yet so simple.

“I have to stay....Amak, this is my home.”

“Lilly, home is where you make it. You could have a home with me. We're a pack, remember?”

“But I have a promise to keep to my pack. I don't mean to be oblique about this, but that's the way it is. I can't go with you, Amak. I'm so sorry.”

“We will establish you as our new leader, first female leader of this pack without an alpha male,” stated Lupine as Lilly stared wistfully at Amak.

“Amak, you said yourself you were looking to start a pack. Come be my alpha male here. You wouldn't have to follow orders, you would give them.”

“No, Lilly. If my home isn't good enough for you, what can yours offer to me?”

“You don't mean that. Come stay with me?” she asked, smiling, hoping to wriggle her way into his heart again. His eyes remained cold and distant, as if she had never known him. Her childish grin faded and she almost seemed if she were about to cry.

“Goodbye, Lilly,” he retorted as he turned to leave.

“Amak, I'm sorry! Come back! Stay here with me! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

“Lilly, you can't solve all your problems by saying you're sorry.”

“But who will I run to? Who will be there for me?”

“I said goodbye.”

The night mist that stuck to the trunks of the lifeless trees covered him as he strove to leave. The pack had returned to the cave to sleep for the remaining hours of the night, and Lilly had been left alone. She longed to run up to him, to kiss him, and leave the pack behind, but she was bound by a labored force that could never be broken. Not a sound rippled through the woods that seemed to stretch forever. The nightly fog harbored the young leader. She cried silently to herself in unavailing love as she watched him depart into the distance.

“Goodbye,” she whispered as a tear rolled down the side of her face.

To Be Continued...