CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

A row of pines masked the air with their sweet fragrance, but Lucky could already pick out the scents of Pack members as they drew nearer to the riverbank. His tail gave a wag as he realized that Martha was close. It drooped when his nose detected the musky odor of a half wolf. . . .

Alpha.

Daisy pawed the ground, then turned an excited circle. "It's beyond those trees. You'll love it! The shelter is really safe and warm; it's a large cave and there are sharp vines hanging over the entrance to scare off intruders. Oh, Lucky-everyone is going to be so happy to see you!"

Lucky wasn't so sure about that. But they hadn't come this far to turn back now. He lowered his head to address the pups: "You three rest here for a while. I'll come back for you soon. I just need to explain to the others that you're here."

Wiggle stared at him. "You aren't going to leave us, are you, Lucky?"

"They won't want us," said Lick.

"They'll be scared," added Grunt, casting an accusing eye after Daisy as she bounded off through the trees.

"They won't be scared, and they will want you," Lucky a.s.sured them all. "Just wait here, and I'll come and get you." He gave them each a quick lick of the head before turning to follow Daisy and Mickey through the trees.

I hope I'm right, he thought.

"So the wanderers return."

Alpha's yellow gaze was icy, sending p.r.i.c.kles of anxiety along Lucky's back.

Lucky turned away slightly as he looked at the circle of dogs. Bella hung her head as she stood beside Dart and Spring. Large, patient Martha's tongue lolled between her great jowls. Sweet was very still, her long face blank and her soft ears low. Bruno stood next to her, his tail hanging between his legs.

"What's going on?" Nose yipped, but Moon silenced him with a nuzzle of her snout. Her ears fell and she exchanged a look with Fiery.

They feel bad about how they treated me, Lucky realized. Well, let them! They allowed Alpha to drive me away. It's right that they feel shame.

The only dogs who looked pleased to see him were Snap, her wiry tail lashing the air, and little Whine, whose eyes glinted happily.

Lucky had only been away for a few journeys of the Sun-Dog, but it seemed like much longer. He felt every bit an outsider as he realized that the Leashed and Wild Dogs stood in a mixed group. When had they become so comfortable with one another?

He turned to look at Mickey, who was standing low to the ground, waiting for someone to speak. The Farm Dog's coat was shiny against the soft gra.s.s beneath his paws. The meadow was bursting with life. Birds twittered overhead and Lucky could smell warm rabbit droppings. Here, Lucky knew he would be able to keep the promises he had made to the Fierce Dog pups about how well they would eat.

He was impressed by the new camp. The Pack had found a good spot at the foot of a sloping hill, guarded from the wind by surrounding pines and with access to clean river-water. A small meadow rolled down to some distant rocks, the rich smell of wild flowers rising on the breeze. Beyond the rocks, the forest began once more, a blur of green leaves. It was a fragrant, peaceful place. And they had settled here without him. A pang of sorrow tightened in Lucky's throat but vanished when he returned Alpha's gaze.

The half wolf sneered at him, his lip peeling back to reveal his teeth. "Couldn't you and your house-pet survive on your own?"

Behind him, Lucky heard Mickey give a soft whine.

"Where's your longpaw toy, house-pet?" mocked Alpha.

Mickey stiffened. "I left it behind." He licked his chops. "I was mistaken in thinking that the longpaws had returned-the city is just as bad as we left it . . . worse."

Daisy and Martha nodded sadly.

"I was wrong to leave," the black-and-white dog went on. "I would like to"-he glanced at Lucky-"that is, we would like to join the Pack again."

Alpha's muzzle wrinkled, revealing a glint of ivory fang. "If you need the Pack so much, you had better be prepared to prove it." He jutted his long snout forward.

He means we should be prepared to grovel, thought Lucky, feeling his hackles rising. Well, I won't grovel before a coward who fell apart at the sight of a black cloud! He took a deep breath, trying to shake away his frustration, remembering the three pups who were waiting alone outside the camp: It was not the time to start arguments.

Alpha took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Lucky. His top lip trembled and spit hung off it, gliding down his shiny fangs. "Prove it, city rat! Prove that you need us!"

Lucky was not going to cower before the half wolf. He raised himself up to his full height and opened his mouth to growl back a reply. But before he could, they were interrupted by a volley of high-pitched yaps.

Lucky spun around. Sunshine had shimmied her way through the circle of dogs to appear between Lucky and Alpha.

"Fierce Dogs!" she yapped breathlessly. "I can smell them, can't you? Fierce Dogs are close!"

A wave of nervous barks and yelps coursed through the Pack. Fiery pressed closer to Nose and Squirm, growling. Sweet sniffed the air as little Whine whimpered, his curly tail trembling.

"I smell them, too," snarled Sweet.

Alpha sprang forward, his gray fur puffed up so that he looked almost twice his size. "Where are they? Where are the monstrous cowards? Show yourselves!"

As he turned to face the pine trees, Lucky caught Mickey's anxious gaze. Their return to the camp was not going the way they had hoped.

"There's nothing to worry about," Lucky barked above the noise of the Pack. "It's three little pups. We brought them with us."

Alpha shot around. "You brought them?"

"Lick! Grunt! Wiggle! Come here," Lucky called.

The Pack watched as the pups emerged from between the trees. Led by Lick, they walked through the long gra.s.s toward Lucky.

Bella, Dart, and Spring fell back to let the pups pa.s.s. Bruno scrambled behind Daisy, while Whine hid his head in his paws.

Lucky's heart sank. He supposed he should have known after Mickey's and Daisy's reaction to the pups, but he'd hoped for more from his old Packmates. These dogs lived through the Big Growl-and they're scared of three tiny pups?

Snap dropped to her haunches, her ears pressed back and her lips quivering. She was usually so easygoing. Lucky stepped around the pups, standing side-on to the hunting dog-he did not like the look on her face. Grunt sniffed in Snap's direction and scowled. Lucky wondered if he had sensed the hostility rising from her fur.

"What were you thinking, foolish City Dog?" Alpha rasped. "Is this how you take your revenge on me-by bringing evil, vicious creatures to our camp?"

Lick whimpered and Lucky could not contain his snarl. "They're just pups! Their Mother-Dog is dead, and their Pack left them in their lair to die."

"Where is their lair?" whined Dart, her shoulders trembling.

"Far away, back through the forest toward the city," Lucky a.s.sured her.

"What if you were followed?" asked Bella. They were the first words that she had spoken to Lucky.

Mickey replied before Lucky could. "We were not followed. The Fierce Dogs had left their camp, and the pups were starving to death. Lucky's right; we could not have left them."

Alpha eyed the pups with wary, narrowed yellow eyes. "They may be small now," he snarled, "but they will grow into Fierce Dogs soon enough. Nasty, wicked creatures."

Wiggle yipped and pressed himself against Lucky's flank as Lick and Grunt watched, their short tails low.

"They don't have to grow up that way," Lucky countered. "No dog is born vicious. Just like I wasn't born streetwise. The Fierce Dogs are taught to be aggressive . . . their lives make them what they are." He looked around the circle of dogs, meeting suspicious expressions. "Alpha, you're half wolf, aren't you? Yet you lead a Pack of dogs." Lucky knew he was treading a dangerous line.

Lick lifted her muzzle to Lucky's ear. "Why don't they like us?" she murmured.

He met her bewildered gaze. "They're confused," he murmured. "They think you're something you're not." He knew this wouldn't make much sense to the pup, but he did not know what else he could say. Mickey had taken a step closer to Grunt, who was still looking defiant despite his lowered tail.

Alpha ignored Mickey and the pups. "What does my bloodline have to do with it?" he rasped. "I may be half wolf but I'm also half dog, and I know how to lead my Pack!"

He took a step forward, and Wiggle yelped and shot beneath Lucky's belly. Lucky spoke quickly. "The Leashed Dogs weren't used to Pack life, but they've learned quickly." He turned to Bruno, making sure his gaze showed mischievous humor when he asked: "Isn't that right?"

The older dog looked away with a murmur of embarra.s.sed agreement.

"Dogs don't really change," said Sweet. "They may pretend to, but that's not the same thing."

Lucky felt his chest tighten. What does she mean by that?

"I think they do," said Mickey, taking a step forward so he was standing on one side of the puppies with Lucky on the other. "You remember what I was like. I never thought that I could cope without longpaws. I couldn't imagine a life without them. But now, I know they've gone for good. And, I know I will survive: I can hunt, and protect myself, and I can contribute to the Pack. Together we're all stronger, aren't we?"

Martha barked in agreement and Snap tilted her head, listening with ears p.r.i.c.ked.

"If a Leashed Dog like me can adapt," Mickey continued, "then pups certainly can. Dogs aren't born bad."

"I think that's true," said Moon, shaking her long, silky fur, her eyes on Lick, Wiggle, and Grunt. "Under the Pack's influence, we can teach these puppies how to work gently and effectively together. They don't need to be violent and aggressive like their parents. It's like Lucky said-if the Leashed Dogs have been able to learn wild survival skills, why can't these pups learn to be honorable?"

Alpha's wolfish howl tore over the circle of dogs and Moon shrank back.

"Are you all fools? We can't raise Fierce Dogs! It would be like nurturing your own conqueror! We should kill those vermin before they can grow up to attack us. Savagery is in their blood, and sharing our food with them will not change that."

"How can you be so sure?" Lucky barked, bracing his legs defensively as he squared up to the Pack leader.

"This is how," snarled Alpha. He jutted out his left foreleg. Lucky saw a deep scar running along the curve of the half wolf's paw, welts of damaged flesh exposed between the strands of s.h.a.ggy gray fur. He had never noticed it before, but now he shuddered at the sight.

"One of those savage monsters nearly bit it clean off when I was a pup," Alpha growled. "You call them Fierce Dogs, but wolves have a different name for them. To a wolf, they're known as Longpaw Fangs-because the longpaws use them as tools to do their biting for them. And you have the stupidity to lead them into our camp!"

Lucky flinched, a cold shiver of fear pa.s.sing through him. Looking around him, he met Bella's questioning gaze. She thinks I've done the wrong thing too. . . .

Then he remembered how she had let Alpha force him from the Pack, and her foolishness in challenging the Wild Dogs with foxes. His litter-sister was not one to judge any dog's actions.

The dog-wolf wasn't finished. "You say you found the pups on their own?" he snarled. "The Mother-Dog was dead?"

"Yes . . ." Lucky shot a look at Wiggle, who had edged along his flank. Lick stood at her litter-brother's side, with Grunt a pace or two ahead of them, next to Mickey.

"Why would the Fierce Dogs leave the pups behind? What if they come back to collect them and find that they're missing?"

"I wondered that, too," said Mickey. "But their scents had faded and the Mother-Dog had been dead for a full journey of the Sun-Dog, at least."

Alpha gazed over their heads toward the cl.u.s.ter of pine trees. "That means their Pack is out there somewhere, roaming the wild. They could be anywhere. They could be up to anything."

"But that would be true whether the pups were here or not," Martha pointed out in her deep, gentle voice. She padded forward on huge webbed paws. She was easily as large as Alpha, though she was not using her size to command any dog. She lowered her panting, jowly face to the pups. "They're so small," she murmured. "They could grow up to be kind and brave. Who are we to brand them 'bad' dogs when they've barely had a chance at life?"

Lick trotted toward Martha and buried herself beneath the great dog's thick, dark coat. Wiggle scrambled after her, followed by Grunt. Martha nuzzled the pups and they yipped in response, huddling together under her belly.

"They're just pups; we should remember that," said Martha. "And Lucky deserves our trust. He has brought Mickey back to us. We should be grateful that he's here after how he was forced to leave . . ." She looked at Lucky sadly. "Things have changed since the Big Growl, and we're all just trying to figure out how best to survive-it's like Mickey said, we need to stick together." She raised her great furry head to Alpha. "If danger does come to the camp, we can beat it as a Pack, and Lucky knows better than any dog how to defend himself."

"The pups should be given a chance," Fiery agreed.

Snap was softening too. "They haven't done anything wrong, have they?"

Alpha turned his head, casting his fierce gaze around the circle of dogs.

He knows he's outnumbered, thought Lucky. But if he insists that the pups be abandoned or killed, he may still be able to get his way.

Alpha stared down his long nose at the pups, then raised his head to meet Martha's eye. "Very well," he spat. "They can remain here. . . ." His yellow eyes settled on Lucky. "But they will be your responsibility."

"So we can stay with you?" Wiggle yipped, creeping out from beneath Martha's belly to nuzzle Lucky's leg. Martha sighed with relief and Mickey nosed Grunt and Lick protectively.

Lucky never took his eyes off Alpha. "So . . . does that mean . . . ?"

"You will be tolerated for the time being," Alpha barked. "You will return to being Omega-but you will also have the task of training and teaching the Fierce Dog pups, making sure they grow up to become loyal, obedient dogs who can serve the Pack-and not savage monsters who will kill us all while we sleep."

"That will never happen," Lucky promised.

"It's a hard life, being Omega," Whine smirked, his short tail thrashing. "Are you sure you're up to the job, City Dog?"

Lucky swallowed his annoyance. He would suffer the indignity of being Omega if this was Alpha's price for allowing the pups to stay.

The half wolf turned and strode away. Lucky watched him as he made for a knoll covered by spongy green moss and stretched out in the sunshine, rolling onto his side with a yawn.

He was doing his best to save face, but Lucky wondered if his leadership had been dented since the dark cloud after all.

Have the others realized that he is scrabbling for a foothold in this world without longpaws, just like the rest of us?

Lucky turned to the pups, who had gathered between Martha and Mickey.

"Good news," he told them.

"But they don't want us," Lick whined.

"They think we're dangerous," Wiggle agreed.

Martha lowered her head and washed them with her tongue. The pups nuzzled against her and Lucky was touched. He saw how they were drawn to her-perhaps she reminded them of their Mother-Dog. Even Grunt yipped happily and nuzzled her leg with his short snout.