Kach sniffed the air. The night was cold and fresh, yet the scent of fuel and meat and pretzels invaided the smells of the rotting leaves and polished brass. A clock tower distantly chimed ten. The park was closed, the paths untrodden, and yet a buzz of activity filled it. Kach sniffed once more before disapearing back inside the den.
"Clear."
A she-wolf slowly appeared from the den. She was clean white, except for under her muzzle and around her eyes. Also, her ears were the same light grey, and finally, a thin ring of fur all around her neck. This was why she was called Lei.
Lei sniffed at the air too. Kach came up behind her. "Well?"
"It's wierd." she murmured. "The sun is down but the light is still up. Why does this happen when it get's warmer?"
"Only man would know, and we're not men." Kach replied, digging in the sandy bank. The old oak, who's roots held up the den they had just left, sighed in the gentle breeze. A grey squirrel darted down the husky bark, bounced across the path and up another tree.
Lei stod beside her mate. "Then, why do men have their own Canfas on loose sticks, and they walk each other around the park?"
"Those Canfas," Kach said, blowing through his nose to rid it of sand "Are slaves. They are given dens and fril by man, some times even skins. They will never have true liberty." He paused, then smiled at Lei. "Now I have a question for you. Why are you so interested by the man?"
Lei gave no answer. She didn't know herself, only that she had been born and reared so close to men yet they were separated by the metal gates.
Jeke bounded up to the Alphas. He was a chestnut brown with cream belly, face and ears. As one of the second ranking, he had responsabilities. His main priority was scouting ahead on a hunt, watching everything around them. His eyes and ears were well tuned to pick up every last detail.
"Am I the first?" he asked, suprised.
"Yes. No-one else is here yet." Kach replied quietly. "But we have to get going, before the Canfa is taken up."
The trio trotted briskly parrallel to a path. The moon started to rise in the navy sky and the bronze on the statue glowed in the dim light. The faint word on the base of the statue read Balto.
Kach, Lei and Jeke sat under the statue. By now it was 11pm and the odd siren echoed in the distance. There was a rustling in some bushes and Toma and Jo came from the leaves.
"Look, Toma, You're very handsome, but my sister would go nuts if you were my mate, and, oh! Hi Jeke! Why isn't my sister with you?" Jo said, suprised that Jeke was there.
"Akila is ill." Jeke murmured. "Very, ill"
"Thank Bronze Canfa!" a voice sounded from behind him. "At least our sister will be rid of you when she dies."
"Latch!" Lei snapped "Don't talk like that. We all want the best for Akila, so if she's happy with Jeke that's her choice, so stop butting in!"
Latch fell silent. Silent enough for everyone to hear Toma talking to Jo. "It doesn't help that my sister is your best friend. But you love me, right? Of corse you do. So what has anyone else got to do with our dicision to be with each over?" Then he realised others were listening. "Carry on."
"And," Lei continued to Latch, "If Jo is happy with Toma then we should be happy for them."
Latch got up without speaking. He turned his back on his sister and sat on a rock opposite the mass of bronze. Finally, Difa emerged from the shadows.
"'Bout time." Latch murmered, recieving a glare from Lei. He shuffled uncomfortably, feeling her eyes burn into him.
Difa looked at the half-quarreling siblings in the corner of her vision. "Er, what's going on?" she asked, taking a quick glance at Kach.
"We are supposed to be having a meeting." Kach replied loudly, as if he was hinting something to the others. At long last everywolf turned to him. "Now," he continued "We all know that the sun hunts in the sky longer each day at this time of year, so Caluk comes short. This means more humans and less food. The dangers are unstoppable, but we have to store supplies."
"But it's not the way of the Canfa!" someone called out.
"You know as well as I do that thirty years ago our ansestors escaped the human hold and thrived here," Kach began to explain. But he was cut off.
"You mean our ansestors. You are a feral wolf!" the voice shouted.
"So?" Kach snapped, now knowing who was reminding the pack of their leader's humiliating history. He and Latch stood frozen for sevral moments, staring with threatening glances into the other one's face. Lei stepped in.
"Alright boys, Latch is technicly correct,"
"What?!" Kach growled at her.
"Let me finish," she said calmly "But being born in human hold gives Kach the knowlage of their power and destruction, and we as a pack depend on that knowlage."
All was quiet. Kach continued reluctantly. "We need to store food. The humans only appear when the sun hunts. If the sun hunts longer we hunt shorter because if we were seen we would be exterminated by men with guns. And so if we hunt less to keep our existance secret, we face starvation. So we need to stock up supplies to last us the warmth. Understood?"
The wolves accepted their leaders reasons, but not immeadiately. Latch sighed, and said with great honesty and openness "But what if the fril is detected by tame canfa? We would be found by their keeper surely?"
"There is always a risk," Lei told the pack "Our ansestors thought it safer to try to thrive here rather than make it out of the concrete jungle. Many have tried, all have failed. But there is no worry for this small mater. We have suvived thirty years and we will suvive for years to come."

The meeting continued long into the night. But when Difa interupted Kach to point out that the Bronze Canfa was beginning to glow, the group broke up huridly to find their sleeping places before the park became an open place for humans. Again the clock tower in the distance chimed, but six times. Soon the park opened, leting in workers, dog walkers, carrige horses and tourists. But none of them knew of the existance of the Central Park Pack.

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Right that's all you get! Only kidding! This was the introduction of the new series The Central Park Pack, written, designed, owned, copyright by ME.

Here is a small dictionary of Canfa:

Canfa - Wolf, dog, fox and other canines.
Fril - Food, usually meat of some sort.
Caluk - An evil wolf of Canfa legend, used as night or nightfall.
The Bronze Canfa - The Balto statue, considered a God to the wolves of Central Park.
Kach - (Cash) Means blood-eyed
Latch - Means leader
Lei - (Lay) Used in human world, a necklace of flowers
Toma - (Tom-a) Wolf equivelant of Tom (boy's name)
Difa - (Dee-fa) Means sunset, or sometimes late/ lateness
Jo - Used in human world (girl's name)
Akila - (A-keel-a)Means dust (usually girl's name)
Jeke - (Jeek) Wolf equivelant of Jake (boy's name)