"You mean to tell me that you lost Liam, even after I told you to watch him with your very lives?!" Max snapped, his fur standing on end. He was pacing back and forth in front of Mel, Buddy and Sweetpea. All three had their heads bowed in shame. The Jack Russell terrier was obviously paranoid, his movements being sudden jerks and shakes. His one eyelid was twitching uncontrollably and he was breathing hard and fast. The others just stood back and watched, unsure of what to do. Duke had been berating the three friends but had stopped when Max started losing it.

"Now, where did I leave my purse?" Katie's grandmother questioned herself as she came over to where all the animals were gathered. They all fell quiet and still as she walked around them, murmuring to herself. Seeing that Chloe was sitting on the old lady's purse, Snowball and Daisy tugged it out from underneath the tabby cat and tossed it over onto the coffee table. Glancing over that way, Katie's grandmother picked it up and remarked, "There it is." She walked out into the kitchen again.

"We're so sorry," Mel whimpered, shuffling his paws. Not even lifting his gaze, Buddy whined, "We feel bad about it too." Sweetpea let out a sorrowful tweet. Sighing heavily as he forced himself to calm down, Max sat down. Looking at the trio, the Jack Russell terrier mumbled, "This is my fault just as much as it is yours. I shouldn't have put so much responsibility on your shoulders when you three are inexperienced."

"Hey!" Mel and Buddy cried at the same time while Sweetpea chirped harshly.

"I guess I'm so worried because there's a pack of wolves and a lion loose," Max went on. Padding over to his brother, Duke patted him on the shoulder gently as he agreed, "We're all worried about that. And we still haven't found Gidget or Laohu yet." Just then, the whole group heard the three friends gasp loudly. Raising one eyebrow, Chloe muttered, "What's wrong with you guys?" Trembling, Buddy explained, "Before we lost Liam, Ozone came over looking for Snowball. He said that there was a pack of wolves loose on the streets."

"He also said that we were idiots," Mel added completely irrelevant information.

"This is so not good..." Snowball muttered, pulling on his ears. Standing net to him, Daisy looked over at the white rabbit. "You just realizing that Short Stuff?" the Shih Tzu asked, her sassy tone mingled in her voice. Coming over to Max and sitting down on his other side, Rooster spoke softly, "At least things can't get worse." Just then, Pops and Tiny arrived out of breath. "Hey Rhonda?!" the elderly basset hound called, struggling to get over the windowsill. Glaning upwards briefly as she groaned, Chloe muttered, "Yes?"

"You remember that tiger you told me to watch?"

"...yeah?"

"Well... we lost him."

"YOU LOST HU?!" Snowball and Daisy shouted, their eyes growing to the size of saucers.

"Completely Tiny's fault."

"What?" Tiny piped up.

"Forget what I said. This just got a thousand times worse," Rooster grumbled. Max's anxiety levels increased.