I ran as fast as I could as the sandy and rocky ground disappeared beneath my paws. I barked and growled at the caribou next to me, warning them to stay back.

I barked commands to my hunting group. "Kara, Ash, keep them together! Bolt, dash ahead to scout! Eve, which one is weak?!"

Eve jumped up onto the back of a caribou. Her head swung from side-to-side as she searched for a weak link in the herd. Finally, her head jerked to me as she yelled over the pounding hooves of the herd. "Young calf and broken legged female in center!"

I nodded my head before turning back to what I was doing. "Leo," I called. I jumped up onto the edge of the cliff, and I saw Leo do the same on the other side of the canyon.

I leaped off of the cliff edge, my legs propelling me through the air. I landed gracefully on the back of a caribou. The buck bellowed as it tried to buck me off(pun unintended) but failed and ended up kicking the caribou behind him. The caribou nipped his flank, causing the buck to stop trashing and continue to run on.

I jumped onto caribou after caribou until I had almost reached the weak links. Leo was approaching the center as well after leaping from back to back. I flicked my ears to signal him. I leaped at the weak caribou as Leo barked and growled to try to separate us from the rest of the herd.

I latched my sharp teeth into the throat of the injured female. Her legs started to give out from under her as she took rasping breaths. I held on with all my might as the female caribou fell to the ground.

The caribou jerked before she finally laid still, her eyes gray and lifeless. "Good work. Now, let's get this back to the pack." I said firmly.

We all grabbed parts of the caribou to drag when my ears started to twitch. Very faintly, I could hear the sound of yips, yelps, and barks on the other side of the cliff. "Stop," I said, dropping the leg of the caribou that I had had in my mouth. Everyone froze and stared at me.

Silence fell upon us as my ears flicked back and forth trying to distinguish the sounds and the source perfectly. "I hear it," Eve said as her ears began to twitch, too.

"Me, too." Bolt said quickly as he always did. Finally, everyone heard the strange noises.

"We need to investigate it immediately. Ash and Leo, come with the me. The rest of you take the caribou back to the village. Listen for our howl in case there's trouble. Got it?" The three remaining wolves nodded their heads before grabbing the prey to take back.

I turned back to Ash and Leo. "Come on; let's go see what's going on." We ran as fast as we could, leaping from rock to rock until we reached the top of the cliff.

Our paws raced across the surface of the cliff until we reached the other side. I skidded to a halt, the others stopping behind me as well. I peered over the edge to look down below.

At first i didn't see anything, but as I looked closer, after hearing several yelps, I spotted a familiar red and white fluffy pelt along with a small gray bundle of fur.

I growled deep on my throat. I howled before leaping off of the cliff, my paws extended to rip the fur off of the mangy creature's haunches.

I stood face-to-face with the fox, my lips drawn back in a snarl and my eyes blazing fire. The fox looked at me before sending off a volley of high-pitched yips.

But after it stopped yipping, it didn't move. It didn't run. It just stood there, watching me.

Suddenly, several other high-pitched barks came from deeper in the forest. "It's a whole pack! Call for help! Now!" All three of us howled for reinforcements before jumping into the fray of seven battling foxes.

The little bundle of fur, a small gray wolf pup, cowered away whimpering with blood dripping down his sides where the fox had attacked him.

I grabbed a fox by the scruff of his throat before slinging him onto another. I was about to attack another fox when something landed on my back. I fell to the ground as the air was knocked clear out of my lungs. I yelped in pain as sharp canines pierced the skin on my shoulder. I tried to reach up, but I couldn't get the fox off of me.

The fox continued to bite down harder, making me howl. Suddenly, the weight of the fox was cleared as I heard snarling next to me. I glanced up to see Leo sending his rage onto the fox. He threw the fox into the air and bit down hard on his throat. The fox fell to the ground, dead as blood poured out of the puncture wounds on its throat that Leo made.

I staggered to my feet before charging at another fox. It seemed that a few more foxes had joined the seven original foxes. Then I heard it. Howling. Reinforcements had arrived. The other Alphas plunged into the fight.

I bit down hard on the side of a fox. It spun around, trying to snap at me but I somersaulted over its back before biting its other side. I continued that several times before blood poured out of the fox's many wounds. The fox staggered before it fell to the ground, unconscious.

I fought fox after fox before I heard the yipping of a retreat. The few remaining foxes ran back into the direction of the Deep Woods. "Sol, Dash, Kala, go after them. Make sure they get off of the territory," The lead wolf of the second group said.

I called out to Ash. "Ash, go with them." The four wolves charged after the retreating foxes, barking and growling.

"Kate," I turned to see Leo on my right side staring at my shoulder. I looked down at my wound. Blood stained my white fur around it. The foxes canines had punctured all the way through my skin, but I didn't care.

"I'm fine, Leo," I reassured him. He was about to reply when I heard a slight whimper. I looked around Leo to see the small gray pup covered in blood, huddled under the tree.

I rushed forward as the pup fell to the ground, crying in pain. "We have to get him to the healer's cave, now!" I looked at the pup. I picked him up gently by the scruff of his neck. The pup cried out in pain again. "I'm sorry, little one. But we have to get you to a healer." I whispered softly.

I turned to the other wolves. "I'll take him to the healer. I'm the fastest out of all of us. I'll get him there." Right as I finished, Leo spoke up.

"No way; look at your shoulder. It's starting to become infected. You can't be running around with that." He said with a stern voice while shaking his head.

I glanced worriedly at the pup. This isn't a time to argue. The pup could die if he doesn't get to the healer. "Look," I snapped at Leo, "this pup is going to die if he doesn't get to the healer. I don't even care if I die if it means this pup will be saved. I'm going and that's that." I didn't even let him argue anymore.

I picked the pup back up before dashing off into the forest. I ran as fast as I could with the gray pup swinging in my mouth. I tasted the tang of blood on my tongue that came from the pup's many wounds. The trees whizzed by as I sped up through the Golden Forest. "Don't worry, little one. We're almost there," I whispered through his fur.

I ducked under some low hanging branches before I reached the edge of the village. Wolves that were walking around the village quickly got out of my way at the sight of the bleeding pup. Wolves started to call to one another as they chased after me to see what was going on. I heard a mournful howl as a light gray wolf ran forward. Tears streamed down her face as she ran beside me. "My baby!" She cried out.

I continued to run on. The mother was able to stay caught up with me, probably given strength at the thought of her injured pup.

Up ahead I could see the large outline of the healer's cave at the edge of the village, surrounded by trees. I ran inside with the pup still swinging in my mouth and the mother wolf by my side.

One of the assistant healers saw the pup and immediately rushed forward. "Come this way," she said urgently. We ran down through the caves into another smaller room.

The healer instantly came rushing in. "What happened?" He asked quickly while examining the pup.

I responded, "Foxes. We found him on a hunt near the edge of the Golden Forest and the hunting cliffs. There was only one attacking him when we saw, but more came after we attacked the first."

The healer called for several assistant healers that brought in herbs and remedies as quickly as possible. The pup was given Sinnia Root to make him fall asleep since the other remedies could hurt him if he wasn't calm. Then, the healer rubbed a water-soaked moss ball over the pup's wounds to clean up the blood. Next, he applied Fij, a mixture that keeps wounds from infecting, and Altica sap to heal him faster. Finally, the healer wrapped and covered his wounds in leaf binding. The healer finished and turned to me and the pup's mother who had sat anxiously next to me with worry clouding her eyes. "He'll be fine. He needs to stay here for a few days, at least, before he will be able to leave."

I gave him a nod, then I made a turn for the exit. "Let me take a look at that wound." The healer came to look at my shoulder. "It's already infected. Aisha," he called, and a tan wolf came forward with Fija, which is similar to Fij but it gets rid of infections that have already been developed. The shoulder stung as he applied the mixture. I bit down on my tongue to hold in the whimpers. However, he covered it with Dony sap instead of leaf binding. "The sap will keep the mixture on while you do your work. It will harden in a minute, and I will have to take it off with a special herb. So come back here when your wound is healed.

I thanked the healer as I started to leave the room after him. But I turned back to the mother for a second. "I'm really sorry." I said gently. I turned to leave once again when I heard the mother's voice.

"Thank you." I turned around to look at her. Her gray, blue eyes looked at me gratefully and...sympathetically? "You saved him. If you hadn't gotten him here, he would have died." Her voice died down to a whisper as her head began to hang. Tears dropped to the floor.

I walked forward and pressed my flank to the wolf. "It's okay. Everything will be alright." She looked up at me again as tears continued to stream down her muzzle.

She smiled and wiped away her tears with a paw. "Thank you again." I gave her a small smile before I walked out of the healer's cave.

I ran back into the village to report to Alpha. A sweet, familiar scent filled my noise causing me to smile. "Hey," a deep voice said in my ear. I turned to stare into deep ocean blue eyes.

I smiled. I licked the side of Leo's muzzle before we started to trot side-by-side towards Alpha's den. "How's the pup?" Leo asked with a quick worried glance at me.

I licked the side of his muzzle again. "He's fine. He'll be better in no time."

Leo glanced at my shoulder. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I smiled warmly at him. "The healer gave me Dony sap, so I can do everything I usually do without hurting my wound." Leo's smiled grew. We walked the rest of the way in silence before we finally reached Alpha's den.

I walked into the den with my head and tail held high. Leo did the same beside me. "Kate," Alpha said, steeping forward from some of the darker reaches of his den. I don't see why he wants it to be so dark in here; usually, wolves want their dens brimming with light from the moonstones embedded into the wall.

"Alpha, I have come to report our hunt," I said calmly. He nodded for me to continue. I explained what About the hunt and then the pup to Alpha without leaving anything out.

Alpha nodded his head when I finished. "Good work, Kate. You always prove to make me proud. You can have the rest of the day off." I smiled and bowed my head gratefully before I walked out of the den with Leo by my side.

"So..." Leo started, "want to go to the Hot Springs?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

I smiled sweetly at him. "Yeah." The two of us raced through the village and through the Golden Forest to the Hot Springs with our pelts brushing each other's and the wind rushing through our fur. We ran as one.

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

"Woohoo!" I screamed as I somersaulted into the boiling water. The heat of the water burned my sides, but it was soon forgotten as another splash sounded next to me. I broke the surface of the water and looked at Leo with a smile. Water dripped down our ears and muzzles. I stared into Leo's eyes and lost myself.

I suddenly smiled wickedly as I leaped at Leo in the water. Leo yelped as we both went under. We swam around each other, kicking our legs through the hot spring.

We pulled ourselves onto the shore and shook the water from our pelts. I laughed as Leo's fur puffed out to make him look like a huge cotton ball.

I leaped around the clearing as Leo chased me while laughing his deep laugh. I laughed at his contagious laugh. Leo jumped onto my back, pushing me to the ground. We wrestled before I managed to make it on top. "You should know better. I will always win," I said with a smirk.

I leaped back off of him and laid on the soft grass as I stared up at the clouds. I heard a thud as Leo joined me. I turned to look into his deep blue eyes as a smile grew on my lips. I love my life.

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to update. I have been kind of busy with school, but here we go. The picture is of Leo and Kate at the Hot Springs, and it took me forever, but I finally found a picture of Leo's eyes. I don't know if I will put it in the next chapter or the one after that, but just look out for it. Ask questions and comment! Thanks! :)