she called out to know if someone was there. The yellow eyes stared out at her in the dark, a disembodied voice hissing out at her suddenly, "I cannot say. Are you dreaming, she-wolf? For if you are, I am not but a shadow, a nightmare, and a figment of your imagination."

 

Tosca leapt to her feet, half expecting no reply at all to greet her. Chills raced down her spine at the frightening voice that had answered and her heart raced. She froze for a bit, still not seeing the whole outline of the strange wolf, but at least the yellow eyes and face. Then realizing how puppyish she was acting, she wiped the emotion off of her face, straightened up and stepped cautiously closer."I'm wide awake" she answered coolly, hiding her jumpiness. "Who are you and what business do you have here? I'm Tosca and I don't want any kind of fight"

 

The black wolf chuckled quietly. "Bravery. An admirable quality." he said. He kept himself hidden in the shadows. "It was not my intension to start any sort of fight either, so I guess you have nothing to worry about." His yellow gaze briefly swept over the rest of the group, still fast asleep. " I could also ask you what you are doing here, but I should think it is rather obvious that we are both here to avoid the storm outside. Anything caught in that is not likely to survive." he said as his gaze wandered to the cave entrance, before they moved back to the female. "My name is Twilight. Now I must ask, why are five young wolves like yourselves wandering around alone in the countryside?"

 

Tosca glanced back at the blustering flakes, then turned back to the dark figure, slightly more relaxed."Yes, we came here to get out of the storm because my sister couldn't find any other place" Tosca replied, annoyance at Una creeping into her voice. "We just left my mother and father to start our own pack. My sister's trying to prove her leadership and has no idea where we are, so now we're lost. Hopefully, she'll get the point soon though"Tosca's blue eyes tried to search through the darkness once again, trying to get a better picture of this wolf named Twilight but couldn't get another good view.

"So what's your story then?"

 

Twilight sighed and his eyes showed some discomfort for the first time. "There is no story." he said. "I'm just a lone wolf seeking my own place in the world. That's all you need know." Amusement crept back into his yellow gaze and he said, "But at least I have some sense of direction, unlike your sister." The black wolf chuckled as he said this. It was true, he could tell the group was lost the moment they had set foot inside the cave.

 

Tosca picked up the hint and even though curiosity was still itching at her, she dropped the subject."Well if you don't have anywhere to go... why don't you stay with us? We don't know where we're going or where we are and you don't have a pack. Lone wolves don't usually last that long, especially in this mess" Tosca said, motioning outside the cave.

 

The black wolf chuckled. "I'm not most wolves." he said, his eyes glinting as if he'd just told some private joke that only he knew about. "I will think on your offer. In the meantime, perhaps we should get some rest. We all need to be travel worthy by the time this storm lets up." As if answering him, the wind outside pick up in a rather savage gust that blew cold air into their midst. Yuma shivered a little in his sleep and curled tighter to trap in as much body heat as possible. Twilight shrank back further into the shadows and closed his eyes to sleep, becoming invisible in the dark.

 

Tosca curiously watched what she could see of the strange wolf disappear into the dark, then nodded to herself. "Yeah, we should sleep." The she-wolf glanced once more out into the darkness, then back to the cave, and lowered herself to the cave floor to sleep. Once again, she had a hard time falling asleep but eventually, she slipped blissfully into oblivion.

 

 

The hours passed as the wolves slept in silence. Finally, the storm ended the next morning, sending sunlight out in small streams across the snow-covered ground. Yuma's eyes ever so slowly peeked open, his vision blurry. As his sight cleared he saw that he was the first one awake. Stretching briefly, he stood and turned towards the entrance of the cave. The aftermath of the storm was beautiful with the ground covered in a fresh coat of white, as if painted there for the enjoyment of others. The youth cautiously stepped outside, the feeling of adventure welling up inside of him once again.

 

With her eyes slowly opening, Kai blinked the sleepiness out of them. Very cautiously, she stood and stretched, making sure she didn't wake anyone else. Tosca and Una were still asleep. The almost white wolf looked for her brothers but only spied Rowtag. This didn't surprise the young wolf at all. Yuma usually was the first to rise... at least most of the time. Wagging her tail, Kai stepped out into the cold snow, stepping lightly as the sudden cold hit her warm paws. A trail of prints led to Yuma who was looking all around him. Playfully, Kai galloped to him, trying to stay quiet but knowing she was probably the least-sneaky pup of all her siblings."Good morning Yuma!"

 

The brown wolf turned around and greeted his little sister with a toothy grin. "Hey Kai." he said. Then turned and began taking in his surroundings again. "Isn't this great! Being out here, trekking through the snow, nothing to hold us back... It's like a real adventure!" He yipped and rolled in the snow, feeling every bit like a puppy again. "Don't you love it out here Kai?"

 

Kai beamed and tackled her older brother into the powdery snow."I do like it! But I do miss mom and dad a bit" Kai admitted. "But I guess we're doing okay so far! Except almost freezing last night."Now that she thought about it, she didn't even get a chance to look around the night before because she wanted to get out of the cold so fast.

"Where are we anyway?" Kai asked, observing the snow-frosted landscape.

 

Yuma shrugged as he got up from the ground. "Beats me." he said. "I've never been in this valley before. It's outside of mom and dad's territory, remember?" He'd never really given much thought as to where they were before, or to where they were going to live. But he supposed that was Una's job. Or Tosca. He really didn't know who was in charge at that point. "Come on, lets go back and see if everyone's up yet." He waited for Kai before heading back into the cave.

 

Kai rolled out of the snow and bounded after Yuma to."What should we do about Una and Tosca? I don't know who to listen to..."

 

 

Meanwhile, Tosca was just opening her eyes. For a second, she froze, not remembering where she was, then what had happened the night before rushed back to her. She lifted up her head slowly and looked around the dark cave. Rowtag was still sound asleep... Kai and Yuma must have gone outside. And Una was regrettably still only a few feet away. The young wolf rose to her feet and searched the back of the cave, wondering of the inky black wolf from the night before was still there. In the background she could hear the approaching voices of her two youngest siblings as they returned but she was too absorbed in what she was doing to notice.

 

Yuma shrugged as the two approached the cave. "I don't know either." he said. "Una's the oldest, but Tosca seems to know a little about what she's doing." He still pondered the question as the two entered the cave. He could see Tosca was up, but the other two were still fast asleep. "Whatcha lookin' at, big sis?" he asked. She was peering out into the more shadowy corners of the cave, almost like she was looking for something.

 

Tosca almost jumped at the sound of Yuma's voice, but recovered quickly. "Uh... I think nothing..." she replied, trying to hide the uncertainty from her voice.She looked again in the back of the cave and tried to pick out a shape, but the cave was almost as dark as it was the night before."I think there was another wolf in here last night but I'm trying to see if it was a dream or not."Tosca's blue eyes studied the back of the cave."Twilight, are you still here?"

 

Yuma looked to the back of the cave, but he didn't see anything either, and heard nothing. After a second he looked at Tosca like she was nuts. "Did the cold yesterday freeze your brain a little or something?" he asked. "'Cause I don't see anyone back-" but a quiet voice interrupted before he could finish.

 

"Just because you can't see me, doesn't mean I'm not here." the black wolf said. Twilight's yellow eyes became visible as they opened to stare out at the three wolves from his shadowy corner. Yuma froze, as if he were paralyzed by the wolf's eerie gaze.

 

Tosca let a confident smile spread across her face."I think the cold froze your brain, my paw. Ha!” She gave her brother cocky grin before turning her attention back to the black wolf. “Twilight, did you think about what I said last night?"

 

At the sound of her sister and brother's

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