The change in the land was prominent. The trees were thinning and endless field and grassland stretched before her. Gently rolling hills me the blue sky at the horizon. Small prey was bountiful, large was scarce. After three days of hunger Keila tried the lemmings and found that they were to her liking. For convenience, she stayed in her wolf form. There was no food that she could eat while human, and her speed was much slower.
On the morning of the fourth day she could no longer see trees. The lack of cover made her uneasy, and many a time she was startled by a jackrabbit bounding through the brush. She smelled wolf-scent, but never came across any packs.
On the fith day she came across a den that had been marked by a pack of six wolves and two cubs. She went no further and slept outside of the den. Her own kind had renounced her, why should she not fall in with those whose shape was like hers?

Kiela scented the arrival of the pack and rose to meet them, a small ways away from the den. They flowed over a hill and fell upon her, howling in ritious outrage at the violation of their territory laws. She tried to fight, but there were too many. Obeying the instinct that had been passed down to her she submitted, rolling onto her back, paws in the air, tail tucked, eyes rolled back and face ground into the dirt. The wolves stopped and paced around her in confusion. The leader, a large, tawny wolf, came forward. He beckoned his mate, a black wolf with powerful shoulders. Kiela rolled over and sat up. She crept towards the mated pair on her belly. The leader sniffed noses with her, and so did his mate. That seemed to be the cue for everyone else. They crowded around, sniffing noses and yelping in excitement. The leader growled at them and they swung into their line for running. Places in the line were determined by rank. The first wolf was the leader, then his mate. A brindled make with a large scar on his side was next, and following closely behind him was a large brown she-wolf. She was nearly as big as the black wolf, but not quite. Another black wolf ran behind her, but she had blue eyes as aposed to the ruler's green. A far bit behind her slunk a scrawny white male. He had a nervous glint in his eyes and always acted as if he was afraid that his sister would bite him. He edged in front of Kiela but she showed her teeth and he backed off. Kiela was confused about the pups and their spot int he line because in her experiance she had never encountered pups. She found that they scampered around the line and got under everyone's feet. She quickly became fond of both; the little grey cub and his reddish sister. Mostly she was fond of the gray. The pack ran tirelessly down the hill and up the next. They travelled through the afternoon until they reached a small stand of trees. Kiela was amazed. These trees had clearly escaped whatever had stopped others from growing. They appeared to have been thriving. Kiela was also stunned to see that their leaves had already turned for the fall. Before she reached the plain she had been travelling through forests of pine. She was totally unaware of the change in season. Her furry coat had protected her very well from the wind and lower temperatures.

As the pack got closer Keila realized that they surrounded a small lake. The cubs staggered under the cover of the trees and immediately fell asleep. The black coated wolf, the leader's mate, went I've to them and curled up around them. Kiela realized that she was their mother. In fact, other than the brindled wolf and the brown female they were all related.

She went over to the lake and had a huge swallow of water. The lake was icy cold and the water burned down her throat. She coughed, and the white wolf looked over at her in amusement. She gazed over at the pack. Most of the members were asleep or attempting to fall asleep. The only exception was the brown wolf. She stood and nipped the brindled on the side. He jumped up, and circled twice in a very un-dignafied manner, before turning and chasing the brown. She cowered in mock fear and then led him around in a playful game of tag. They ran in and out of the trees howling and growling at each other. The game increased in volume and ferocity until brown accidently steeped on the tail of the red pup. The red pup sat up and began to howl. The leader had clearly had enough. He flicked his ear at the noise and then stood up and walked towards the offendors on rigid legs. They lowered before him and ground their faces into the dirt. He would've been satisfied with that except for the fact that as he turned to walk off the brown nipped the brindled again. The tawny leader whirled around and slapped her muzzle with his. She cringed with embarassment and lowered herself again. Growling at them, the leader stalked off again and curled up on the ground.

***

This experiance was the first that Kiela had regarding the laws of the pack. They were the laws that many a pack before had created, and they were rigidly uphelad by the tawny leader of the grassland pack and his mate, the black wolf. Keila had seen the siblings bicker among themselves, she even joined in. However, when the white youngster was included he was sought out and the others went after him with a single minded intensity. It wasn't that they didn't like him. Members of the pack would seek him out for a game of tag or tug of war, or would lie next to him at night. However, he ran at the end of the line. He was the lowest ranking wolf in the pack and was treated as such. No wolf would alow themselves to be beaten by him, lest they take his place as the scapegoat of the pack. It was a cruel way, but nessisary. He was the weakest, and when the pack had little game, he had none. It was better to weaken the useless member then to weaken the entire pack. The pack all believe this, but they did not formulate it, nor did they explain it to Kiela. Their words were not like the ones she knew. She knew this way of being as it was the instict that she had been born with. It was what had made her a wolf shifter. This was the Law, and she obeyed.

This Law was to be shown to her in other ways. After a few days, the pack came across a wood bison. It was in the open and the pack set upon it and proceeded in distroying it. The bison was the first large game that the pack had seen in moons, and they threw their elaborite hunting method to the wind. It was a noble animal, but it went down with the blue-eyed wolf tearing at its throat. She stepped back and licked the blood that was dripping off of her black coat. The leader and his mate went up to the creature and began tearing meat off of the carcass. Kiela, not knowing any better, went too. Before she had gotten a single bite both leaders sprang at her. She was too astonished to defend herself. The leader slashed her shoulder and the black wolf grasped her scuff in her muzzle and threw Kiela to the ground. Sensing her mistake, Keila ground her face into the ground and rolled her eyes back. Satisfied, both leaders went back to the bison. Kiela turned to lick her shoulder, mind churning. When was hse supposed ot eat? She got her answer when, a moment later, the leaders signaled the blue-eyed female and the brindled male to come up. The male did not look pleased that the she-wolf had been called up with him. The female's eyes shone. Her mother tore a chunck of meat off of the cracass and tossed it to her. It was a huge piece and she loooked very pleased. The brindled wolf got a smaller piece and though its size was formidable, he growled at the skinny black she-wolf.

Understanding dawned on Kiela. She's a lower rank then him. she realized. He doesn't like that she was called up at the same time and that she got a bigger piece. The leaders are rewarding her since she took down the bison, but he thinks that they're showing favouritism to their daughter. The brindled wolf didn't make a move to attack her, but Kiela was sure that this wouldn't go uncontested.

Kiela we as called up and given a smaller piece of meat. When the rest of the wolves had moved away from the meat the white youngster slunk up to it. He was able to get a portion that was only half of what the other wolves got. He was almost finished his portion and was cracking bones for their marrow when the brindled wolf walked up to him and finished the rest of his portion. Keila watched the proccedings over a bone that she was gnawing. The Law was strong in her mind: She broke the law, and was punished. The blue-eyed wolf excelled in the law and was rewarded. Because of the law, the brindled wolf resented and had the right to resent that the blue-eyed wolf was given more meat. The white youngster had his meat finished for him because the Law said that he was lower than the brindled wolf. And so it went.

The stealing of the meat from the white wolf allowed her to see that in this pack, only the strong prevail. She needed to prove her worth to the pack, of she would no longer be welcome in it.

THIS CHAPTER IS UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING. THANK YOI FOR YOUR PATIENCE. P.S. THE WOLF ABOVE IS THE TAWNY LEADER. ENJOY.