Reiyan, her muzzle stained with blood, looked up from the kill.

She felt a sharp bite on her leg, and was suddenly dragged back with a yelp. Lying in the freezing snow, the cold seeping into her bones, she looked up at the furious eyes of the Fengo. Staggering unsteadily to her feet, she lowered her tail and eyes and sank to the ground once again, this time on purpose.

"I was supposed to kill the prey," Agaris hissed. Reiyan flattened her ears against her head. "I am the chief! I get the honor! Not an outflanker." He spat. "You have gone against the rules."

What rules? Reiyan was tempted to ask, but she swallowed the question. There was no need to aggravate the chieftain more. The Fengo isn't supposed to act this way... why did he go cag mag now?

Apparently other wolves thought this way too, because they were drawing in closer, showing faint signs of aggression. Reiyan gingerly got to her paws.

"If the chieftain was supposed to kill the prey, why was he lying at the base of a pine tree, dead to the world?" A red wolf snarled.

"Yes!" Howls and yips of agreement rose from the party.

The Fengo stepped back and a low, snarling growl came from his throat. "Silence, fools, or I'll have you all declared crait!"

A hushed gasp came from the wolves, and they all ground themselves into the snow. Being declared crait was almost like being sentenced to death. It was banishment from the land.

"Do not make the chieftain angry." Hrathair's smooth voice slid over the wolves like water over ice. "Let us go home, and enjoy the moose we brought down."

A ragged cheer stumbled its way from the pack, but as they approached the moose there was only one thought in Reiyan's mind.

This wolf was no Fengo!