Chapter 8

The younger black wolf sat in the shadows of the trees as the three wolves ambled past.

His black eyed gaze was fixed onto the red wolf as she moved gracefully across the ground, she was closest to him as they went by, but he thought far enough away for her not to pick up his scent.

He thought wrong.

She slithered to a halt even as she drew parallel with him, and turned abruptly.

She crouched down with a low growl, and had he been a man he would have grinned appreciatively at her perception.

He stepped out from the shelter of the trees.

"Well met, Morning Glory."

The red wolf blinked at him, as she stood up straighter. "That is not my name ... why do you call me that?"

"You remind me of a spectacular sunrise, with a burning red horizon."

The other two wolves came back into the clearing then, and the old black wolf stepped between them.

James hunkered down and refused to make eye contact, and the older wolf – after a moment of standing over him, stepped back with a low growl.

"Greetings, our guest."

"Honours to you, pack leader and thank you for your hospitality this night."

The moon had been shielded by rainclouds, but as they scudded along, the white beams shone down on them all.

Once again the younger male was transfixed by the red wolf as her fur seemed to catch on fire.

"Magnificent!" he growled again.

"There are deer roaming in the woods to the west, tonight my pack we hunt!" the older wolf said pointedly.

"For sport or for the kill?"

The younger male showed no emotion or judgement just an idle curiosity and so the older male answered easily enough.

"We eat well enough as humans, the hunt is a good way of keeping our senses keen, we do not need to kill to hone our skill!"

"Aye that we don't, pack leader."

The two females glanced back at their father, and he fixed them with his black eyed stare.

"Lead on then, little red, and little white ... we will see if little white can reproduce her triumph from last night."

The snowy wolf looked up at the moon and gave a howl of relish, before turning and loping off into the night.

The red wolf cast the younger male a quick look, almost in challenge before she turned and raced after her sister.

The older male sat on his hunches and gave the young male a wolfy grin.

"Let them have their lead!" he suggested almost conspiratorially.

And so the two male wolves gave the females a head start of several minutes before taking off after them.

James loped along just behind the old black wolf, and was not surprised when he easily picked up the scent of the female's passing.

He opened up his senses, his smell, his sight and his hearing, hoping to gage the distance between himself and them.

He could see the evidence of their passing, the slight disturbances on the ground, he could faintly smell her scent, but he heard nothing, he saw nothing else.

It was as though they had passed by here hours ago, instead of mere moments.

They were fast these females, and they were light footed as well.

Laurie and Iris entered the western forest cautiously.

They had no reason to be afraid, but they were here to hunt the deer, and so stealth and caution; as well as speed, were the games to be played tonight.

They knew that the males were not too far behind, but Laurie had the bit between her teeth as she wanted to consolidate her triumph from the night before.

They moved silently through the undergrowth, shuffling along almost on their stomachs as they drew closer to the small group of does.

They were perhaps twelve feet away, when one of them suddenly looked up, and the other three all followed suit.

They peered around them anxiously, and then as though in agreement they all shot off.

The two wolves were in hot pursuit, when the young black wolf suddenly pulled in alongside Iris.

She did not even acknowledge him as her snout lowered, and she dug in deep.

She could see Laurie just ahead as she angled to the right after the fleeing deer.

Iris, kicked up her back paws, and shot off to the left in a burst of speed and power.

She raced through the trees away from Laurie and her father who were both on the trail of the deer.

She raced away from James, even though she knew that he was coming after her.

She was small and she was not that strong, but she was fast.

But then so was he.

As she raced through a small silent copse of trees, he caught her, leaping onto her and forcing her to the ground with a yelp and a howl.

"Enough!" he growled as he sprang away from her so as not to injure her. "You travel too far away from your pack!"

She lay down on the grown as she eyed him reproachfully. "I am on my father's land still, what is there to fear out here?"

"Nowhere is ever that safe. You are not so strong as to be able to afford such recklessness - especially when there are other male packs so close by."

"You are not my pack leader; you cannot order me around or lecture me!"

Her fur practically bristled with indignation, and the male moved closer, and his ears went forward.

He was powerful, a natural leader of a pack when the time came for him to challenge. She wondered idly whose pack he belonged to, and if she knew of them.

There were a great many packs, all over the world; usually small and well concealed amongst the human population, but she knew of only a few packs in her part of the world.

He moved to stand over her in a dominating fashion, he had moved so suddenly to stand over her ... and there was something in his scent and his stance that excited her, that alarmed her ... and Iris let out a hiss, which sounded alien in her wolf like form, and she shimmered back into human form.