Angel, Arius, and Keighley barreled down the hill toward the pack ahead of them. The mind trick had confirmed that Dontas was not down there. They would've seen him panicking and yelping in pain. At least if they were wrong, they would figure out at the bottom of the hill.

They stopped about twenty feet away from the pack and leapt behind a bush. They took another look at the pack. From what they could see, it was only about twenty wolves, and maybe seven pups. A surprisingly small pack compared to the Shadow Pack. They looked at it some more before Angel had been nudged by Arius.

"Look!" He said. He gestured towards a light grey wolf who pulled along a brown wolf.

"Is that... Miles?" Angel asked. Sure enough, a few seconds later, he yelled, "Let me go!" And Angel recognized his voice.

"Dontas..." Keighley said. "Why'd you have to do this to my mate?"

"He's your mate?" Angel asked.

"They probably did it to him because they were leaving us three." Arius speculated.

"Ugh... we need to get him out of there..." Keighley said.

"You're kidding." Angel said."They would capture us in a heartbeat."

"That's my mate." Keighley said angrily and started out of the bushes. "Hey!" Keighley screamed at the pack. "Look over here!" Angel tried to come out at this point but Keighley glared at her and she stayed back.

"Hey you mutts!" Keighley teased. Wolves from this pack turned at this.

"Whaddya want?" A grey wolf called from somewhere in the small crowd.

"Miles." Keighley answered. A few heads cocked while some just looked down.

"Who?" The same wolf asked.

"The brown wolf you are holding captive." Keighley answered.

"Who are you?" Another wolf asked.

"That's personal." Keighley said.

"Then why do you want Miles back?" Another asked.

"Just give him to me!"

There was a murmur among the crowd, and then a completely black wolf stepped forward.

"Are you the alpha?" Keighley asked.

"Yes, I am." The Alpha said.

"Can we- I mean I have Miles back?" Keighley pleaded.

There was a grunt from the Alpha. "We took him hostage because he was running at our pack. We took it as a threat."

"What is your pack, anyways?" Keighley asked.

"We are the Starlight Pack. Small but Strong."

Angel looked at Arius. Maybe Dontas wasn't the shadow wolf. Maybe there was another pack.

"I don't want to do any harm." Keighley said. "I'm sure Miles didn't want to either."

Miles shook his head and said, "No I wouldn't." One of the wolves near him yelled, "Shut up!" And kicked him. Keighley took a step forward and growled.

"I see." The alpha said mysteriously. "Then, of you can beat my most skilled guard in a fight- To the death -You can have Miles. But if you lose, you and Miles can both rest in pieces." It took Angel a second for the words to sink in. Keighley was going to fight a skilled guard by herself? She would die and leave Angel heartbroken. Keighley simply nodded and said, "OK."

Just before the fight, Angel got behind the bush ready to fight. She would do the same thing she did to the bear, but worse. She would leave the guard to die a gruesome death while saving a friend. She was ready.

Keighley got back, ready to pounce. She stayed still. The guard did the same, waiting for Keighley to make a move. Eventually, the guard had gotten tired of waiting and made a quick, devastating attempt to bite Keighley. But Keighley was quicker and she jumped out of the way. She ran from the guard and did the unthinkable- She jumped up a tree.

She disappeared above into the leaves. The guard could easily spot her due to her white fur, but she wasn't coming down. Keighley looked down directly at Angel and mouthed out "Bite." She immediately looked back at the guard and taunted him.

Angel got the hint and lunged to bite the neck of the distracted guard. He screeched in pain as Angel felt warm blood in her mouth. She let go of her grip and watched the guard stumble around moaning for a few seconds before he fell dead, blood pooling in around him. Angel spit the blood on his corpse and glared at the Alpha, who looked flabbergasted at what just happened.

"Give him to us." Angel said. Arius came out behind Angel and snarled.

One of the guards scoffed and tossed Miles on the ground. They walked off, moaning and saying rude things to each other quietly. Miles coughed and feebly stood up. He had a gash going across his side; most likely from where they clawed him.

"Oh my God..." Keighley said. She ran over to Miles, who greeted her and fell back to the ground. "Dang it... Angel-"

"On it." Angel said before Keighley could say anything. She ran off and gathered herbs and leaves, She came back and helped Keighley stitch together a bandage made of leaves and herbs. They put it on Miles as he winced.

"We need to get to the river and clean the wound." Angel said. Arius lifted him up and they headed back up the hill towards the river. Once they were there, they removed the bandage and placed him on the shallows of the cold water. He yelped as soon as the freezing water touched his wound, but he stopped feeling the pain.

"Miles." Keighley said. He looked at her on response. "Do you have any clue where the pack is?"

Miles nodded and stood up. He limped a little and shook to get the water off. "They headed that way." He nodded towards the way Angel has come with the others. Angel cursed and jumped into the river. She shivered and endured the swim. When she made it across, she shook and rolled around in the warm grass. Arius ran and jumped halfway getting Angel covered in cold water. After everyone made it across, they started off towards their pack.

"That water was a little to cold for me..." Angel said. "Winter is coming. We need to our pack, and fast."