Achak stared at the large dog in front of him, so hard that it felt like his gaze would bore a hole through its head.  He was still trying to figure out what it was doing with his mate.  This dog looked very formidable, but it did not seem to have any wish to fight whatsoever.  As confident in himself as he was, Achak knew that this was not someone that he wanted to push over the edge.  However, the fact that this dog was socializing with Kiona could very well him angry enough to possibly abandon all reason.  “If this is your idea of a game, mutt, then I suggest that you head back to whatever town you came from.  I don’t take kindly to anyone who makes advances on Kiona, and if I find that you’ve done anything to harm her, I will tear you limb from limb.  Go back with your humans where you belong!” he spat.  “Achak?!” Kiona said in an affronted voice; “What’s wrong with you?  He didn’t do anything to me, we were just talking.  And besides, this ‘mutt’ is my brother.  He’s just as much of a wolf as I am.”

“Your brother, eh?” Achak said with a grimace.  He turned to Shadow again; “Well, I doubt you’re just going to be on your way then, are you?”  “Now that I think of it, not really,” Shadow said, his tone very serious; “I think it would be nice to live with my extended family, so how about you let me join your pack… Brother?”  Achak’s eyes widened with fury, and he started towards Shadow until they were face to face.  “Even if I let you join my pack, I will never accept you as my brother!” he snarled.  “I’d like him to be part of the pack, Achak,” Kiona said quietly.  Achak calmly turned his gaze to his mate, then sighed; “Well, as skeptical as I am about this, I want you to be happy, Kiona.”  He quickly snapped his head back to Shadow; “Okay, I’ll give you a chance to join, but you’ll have to pass a few tests first; I need to know if you can be trusted, so I’m going to have you follow the pack for a few days, but no interaction with any of us.  If you truly are dedicated to living with us, then that shouldn’t be too hard for you?”  “I’m fine with that,” said Shadow, still staring Achak eye-to-eye; “How far away should I stay?”  Achak sneered; “Oh, I’d say… about two miles.”    With that, Achak turned to leave.  Kiona eventually followed, constantly glancing over her shoulder at Shadow, who simply stood there with a confused –and somewhat sad—look on his face.

Three days had passed since Kiona’s encounter with her brother, and the pack had taken shelter in a cave; not long after she was forced to leave her brother behind, a strong blizzard had built up, and it did not seem like it would let up anytime soon.  As a result, Kiona was unbelievably worried for Shadow.  Every minute that passed was filled with the same thought: what if her brother had died, and just so he could be with a new family?  As hard as she tried to avoid letting this thought get to her, every time Kiona woke from sleep, she could tell she had been dreaming of her brother; even if she couldn’t remember her dreams, she could tell that she had been crying for him as she slept.

However, on the third day, Kiona could not sleep.  Try as she may, all she could do was simply lay on the floor of the cave as the other members of her pack dozed on; of course, she thought, there was much more on her mind than the others’.  She stayed awake for what seemed like hours before the wind slowly picked up, and she picked up a scent on the frozen gusts: she could smell Shadow, although she could not tell how close he was to them.  She wanted to leave, to warn her brother not to defy what Achak had told him.  But even more than that, she wanted to go find her brother, to see how he was faring against this trial set upon him.  Slowly, she got to her feet, walked as quietly as she could to the mouth of the cave, and waited for a break in the stinging winds of the blizzard.  What seemed like an eternity passed before the wind died down, and Kiona set out to find her brother, wherever he was.

Kiona did not know how long it had been since she had left the cave; she was too worried about Shadow.  However, as concerned for her brother as she was, Kiona knew that she would succumb to the freezing winds if she stayed out in the blizzard for too long.  The same winds also seemed to be spreading Shadow’s scent all around, and Kiona had no clue where to go.  One thing was for sure: she had to find shelter, otherwise she would die in the cold; she already felt like she was frozen to her bones.  Desperately, she ran wherever she could see, and eventually found a cave, which she immediately bolted into.  Kiona stood there for a moment, gasping for breath as a result of her frantic sprint, as well as the bitter cold that made her lungs feel like they were on fire.  Once she finally looked up to take in the details of this cave, which was fairly large, she immediately noticed something very strange on the ground near the back of the cave: it looked like a large, red rock.

Kiona was almost positive that she was somehow lucky enough to find her brother, but she was ready to run, should she have instead stumbled upon another creature’s home.  Whatever she had spotted, it seemed to be turned away from the mouth of the cave, undoubtedly to shield itself from the winds outside; at least if this was not Shadow, Kiona would be able to run before this creature was fully awake.  As she slowly stepped forward, the unknown shape stirred in response to the sound of snow crunching underneath her paws.  Kiona wondered whether or not she ought to just leave; she may already be taking a chance with a dangerous predator.  “No,” she thought to herself; “If this is my brother, and I run, I probably won’t be able to find him again.”  Whatever the risk was, Kiona decided to take it: “Shadow,” she whispered, “is that you?”