The pack was asleep in minutes, but the female lingered at the entrance. Her thoughts were scattered and that was unusual for her. Even when the Angry Wind had come and forced them to go north, her thoughts hadn’t been this confused. She had never chosen a stranger over her own pack.

  He wasn’t a threat to us, she excused her behavior, knowing that wasn’t true. The big wolf she’d been nose to nose with was a killer.

  He interests me.

  The female lay down in the entrance, enjoying the blowing spray that her pack avoided when they could. She didn’t have an aversion to the things that they did and she was capable of questioning the Wind’s orders even while following them. Her pack was single-minded. They wanted to go north, join the others, and attack humans. It’s all they thought about after food, drink, and mating. In fact, if not for her season being so close, she wouldn’t even be with these males.

  Her scent had pulled them as she traveled north, but females were the leaders, giving her time to pick a mate from among them. Then they would fight it out and the survivor would be her new owner. The female had avoided mating for almost a year now, but the season was closing in on her and the choice would be taken away.

  Her thoughts returned to the strange wolf, the huge male who could have attacked and killed her before her pack could help. Why hadn’t he? Surely, he knew there were already too many males around. Perhaps he would also fight for her. The thought was a good one, a ray of hope, and the female went to sleep.

  During their rest, the males woke to find her away from them and joined her at the entrance, shielding her from the awful rain with their bodies in hopes of currying favor.

  The last wolf to pile on was a brute. He nosed and bit his way to the bottom until he was covering the female with his body and his scent. She would be his, no matter who she chose.

  4

  Dog had little trouble tracking the female to the cave. He’d torn open another bag of the food and had a full stomach again, but the need for a drink had brought him out of the brick shelter sooner than he had planned. He had found the scents of unclean water abundant, but the stream near the cave was pristine and it was obvious to Dog that he was supposed to come here. He didn’t know why, but he expected it to be bad. His time in Safe Haven had taught him that survival was nearly impossible when you were alone.

  The wild female’s scent filled Dog’s mouth and he opened his jaws to catch a stronger version of it. Alone or not, trap or not, he wanted a taste of that, wanted to roll in it.

  And I will.

  The cave was low and wide, too dark for even his vision to peer through. Dog sighed in resignation. The things I’ll do for a bitch.

  He stepped into the cave, waiting, and let his instincts tell him which set of appearing red orbs was the biggest threat.

  Death appeared in the rear and Dog lunged that way.

  Outside the cave, the female waited. It wasn’t time for her to choose, but she’d underestimated the intelligence of those with her. Her pack had developed a keen dislike of man’s ways and even after using mimicking his methods to gain a meal and drink, they hated this big stranger.

  Snarls and yelps of agony echoed from the cave and spread through the damp woods, making the female whine. She didn’t want the stranger driven off or killed. She wanted to get to know him and study his ways. He wasn’t going hungry. Watching his big body pad into the cave had been mesmerizing.

  Silence fell for an instant and two bleeding shadows fled the cave, both from her pack. They took off into the town below, but the female doubted they would go far.

  Ugly noises came again and the female was unable to stand it. She darted inside, unsure if she would break up the fight or help kill the stranger to have peace in her thoughts.

  5

  Dog snarled in warning as the last two wolves approached him. The bodies of the others, in various conditions, were strewn about the cave.

  “Stay back!” Dog growled. “Pain will come!”

  The big brute’s snout drew up in fury and he lunged with the intensity that he’d been lacking before as he let the inferior mutts fight for him.

  Dog winced, whining as the wolf’s teeth sank into his shoulder, but the fight in Safe Haven had prepared him for this and he struck back viciously, going for the throat.

  He found a grip and squeezed.

  “Stop!”

  The female’s command wasn’t the same as an Alpha, but it was still hard to resist and Dog reluctantly let go of the throat between his powerful jaws.

  “The Wind has forbidden killing each other!” the female shouted angrily. “You’ll bring her against us. Go away!”

  Dog didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to be run off after winning the fight. He strutted toward the female with light steps.

  “I’m Dog.”

  The female gaped at him as if he were stupid.

  “Why do you take the name of a human pet?” she asked, confused. “Humans are the enemy.”

  “Not true,” Dog refuted, already positive he couldn’t win that argument. “I like being called Dog.”

  “Why?”

  “It takes people by surprise, gives me the advantage,” Dog explained, aware of the other wolves slinking toward the cave entrance. Except for Brute, who stayed on the ground, growling lowly as he observed them.

  “We use that tactic as well,” the female replied. “Humans are easy to fool. They never expect it when we attack.”

  Dog understood then. He wasn’t going to be able to convince her to be peaceful. Her pack hunted humans and if he stayed with her, he would have to do the same. It was disappointing.

  The female was regarding Dog with expressions that Brute didn’t like and he found his courage, raising to his feet.

  “This isn’t over!” he growled at Dog.

  “He sounds like a human,” Dog commented, confident it would be taken as it was meant–a giant insult.

  Brute lunged forward, aiming for Dog’s belly, and the female lashed out in a lightning quick reaction that surprised both males.

  Her teeth sank into Brute’s nose and he yelped loudly, jerking away to flee the cave.

  The other wolves who had survived Dog’s defenses also limped out, leaving Dog and the female alone.

  Dog sniffed the air and was able to tell it wasn’t time for her to pick a mate yet. Wanting to be in the running, but needing to be loyal to Brady and the Safe Haven code, Dog lingered, torn.

  “Will you travel with us?”

  Dog snorted. “No.”

  The female took a hesitant step closer, drawn to his golden eyes and the power evident in his body. Even Brute was smaller than Dog.

  “Wolves mate for life. I can’t pick you.”

  Dog held still, and swiveled at the last minute to deny her the scent of his breath. It would tell her a lot of things about him and he wanted the same information, only from a fresher source.

  The female inched by him, tail coming up and Dog whined eagerly to encourage her. She rubbed against his hip and he spun around, burying his snout under her tail.

  The female pranced away, circling, and found Dog padding toward the entrance of the cave.

  “Wait!” she whined.

  Dog didn’t stop and the noises of another vicious fight filled the air seconds later.

  The female realized he was eliminating the others, driving them off, and felt the voices in her mind ease. Dog could defend her when she swelled with pups and he was smart enough to keep her fed while she nursed those children. Other males would still join their pack, as would the occasional female, but in the end, she knew Dog would be her choice because at this moment, she was at peace.

  Dog was running on pure animal instinct as he struck the smaller male and sent him rolling down the muddy embankment. The Brute tried to come up behind him, but Dog spun in time to resume the death grip on his rival’s throat. This time, he snapped his jaws shut and enjoyed the coppery taste of victory with the scent of a perfect female still ringing through his nose.

  The winds picked up suddenly, driven by rage, and Dog felt the tree branch coming before it hit, but reacted too late to avoid it. The heavy wood slammed into his leg, snapping the bone.

  Dog brayed in agony, scaring all the wolves, who fled the area.

  The female was the last one to go and she stared mournfully, watching as the tree collapsed and Dog was buried.

  Greif set into the female’s heart, thick and deep, and she threw her head back.

  The howl was haunting, and it gave away her location, bringing the surviving pack members to surround her with their licks of condolence on the loss of her chosen mate.

  While they comforted her, they also used their bodies to get her away from the area, continuing their trek north.

  Under the rotten tree, Dog didn’t move. Unconscious, he was sheltered by the canopy and he stayed that way as afternoon faded into dusk.

  6

  “Can we eat it?”

  “Yeah, that’s not against the rules!”

  “If it will die anyway, we’re supposed to eat it, you idiots! Wind doesn’t want the humans to be able to find food.”

  Dog slowly became aware of the voices, but the pain in his leg almost drowned them out. It took a minute for him to realize his level of danger had increased.

  “How do we get it out?”

  “We don’t. We’ll chew off parts for a quick snack and then go. We have to get north.”

  North! Dog whimpered, struggling to get free.

  “It’s a full meal. I want to pull it out.”

  “Go on. I’m going north.”

  “I’m hungry!”

  The feel of a fight coming helped Dog concentrate and he sent out a sharp blast. “I will take you to food. Enough for all of you.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Food! He said food for all of us!”

  “He lies.”

  Dog stopped struggling and used his strength to push out an Alpha command tone. “I never lie!”

  Dog waited as the coyotes discussed his offer.

  “We need food! The pups cry all day.”

  “He lies!”

  “We have to have food!”

  Snarls echoed and wet, wiry bodies thumped against the ground and each other.

  “Stop!” Dog tried to get their attention, but the fight moved away from his burial place and he groaned in annoyance and pain. Damn coyotes were known for being unstable.

  Dog squirmed around, hoping to discover a place where he could wriggle free, but the pain in his leg limited his mobility. He realized he could die here.

  Suddenly cold, Dog shivered and drew his body into as tight a ball as he could. He would warm up and wait for the next opportunist to wander by. He’d caught the scents of dozens of other animals while tracking the female here. He just had to wait.

  “Is it okay to eat it now?”

  “If we can get it out, yes.”

  The rumbling of branches being pawed away woke Dog and he held in a groan at the jostling.

  “Hurry! Hungry!”

  “We only eat a little. We have to take it to the others.”

  “Right! The others!”

  Eager paws raked the logs and leaves away to reveal Dog still curled into his ball, but it was obvious that the two coyotes were too weak and too thin to drag his body anywhere.

  Dog chose his words carefully, not moving yet. “There’s food in bags down in the tall building.”

  The coyotes yelped in fear, running away.

  Dog wanted to laugh, but his leg was flaring into throbs and lances that poked and bit at him from the inside. He was free of his grave, but he now had to find a place to layup that had a supply of food and water. Tracking down his female while hurting like this wasn’t possible.

  Dog forced himself to limp to the town, where he at least had a meal waiting and there was a chance that he could find more water from human sources.

  It took him a long time to get back into the room and it was a chore to get up on the sink. He was lucky to discover a thin layer of water in the bottom. He consumed it gratefully.

  It was gone too soon and he limped to the far corner of the room, unable to make himself take cover under the bags this time. He’d already been buried once today.

  7

  The sound of paws alerted Dog to company and he tried to gather himself for fighting, but the pain in his leg had increased over the hours. His leg was nearly double in size, and Dog swallowed a whimper as he got set to lunge.

  “I smell it!”

  “He’s here! We will go!”

  “We will find out if he was telling the truth!”

  Dog recognized the yapping of coyotes and settled down in relief. He hadn’t thought the mangy animals possessed enough courage to come.

  The first coyote to peer through the door spotted the bags first and rushed into the room, moaning in delight. “Food! Food! We eat!”

  The others in the hall came more slowly, but the sight of their pack mate scarfing down crunchy bits was too much to resist and they joined the feast with whines and moans of ecstasy.

  Dog snorted, drawing instant attention that turned to terror. He quickly put his head down in a universal sign of submission and only a few of the gray coyotes fled.

  “It lives!”

  He told us where the food was!”

  “We must go!”

  “It’s hurt. Shut up.”

  Dog stayed still as the crunching gradually resumed, actually feeling a bit comforted at not being alone. How odd.

  Dog studied the large pack as they ate, observing thin, hard bodies and too many pups to feed. The pack was doomed unless they had a strong leader.

  “I might be able to find more food,” Dog told them when the crunching settled down.

  “The Wind told us to stop eating each other,” one of the coyotes answered between bites. “We’re going north to meet the others.”

  “Where is your leader?” Dog asked, wincing as his leg throbbed harder.

  “She died at the human’s place. We were there for food and the woman tricked our breeder into a box. We waited, but left after we heard her howls of hurt.”

  “The woman might help your leg,” the second coyote stated. “But watch out for the box.”

  “I will.” Dog shut his eyes, weary. “My thanks.”

  “Where can we get the waters?” coyote One yipped. “The pups drink nothing today.”

  “There’s a stream near where you dug me out,” Dog grunted. As a joke, he sent, “Bring me a bowl.”

  The ideas forming in his mind weren’t appealing, but Dog knew his odds of survival alone, hurting this way, were slim. When the coyotes returned, he would discover where the healing woman lived and try to get there. If he couldn’t, then he would have to call out to Brady–something he didn’t want to do yet. In fact, it might be something he didn’t want at all.

  He’d been reborn to this life to serve a sentence and a cushy setup in a human camp hadn’t been a part of that judgement, he was sure. If he wanted another life, another chance, he had to atone during this one and that couldn’t be done while neatly heeling at a human’s hip.

  8

  The coyotes insisted on following him to the human’s home.

  Dog had hoped to get there and lay low for a while to check things out. He hoped to avoid the box he’d been warned about, but the coyotes had other plans. After the two long, painful hours it took to get there, they howled wildly and then disappeared into the shadows.

  Dog stood there, stunned at their stupidity, and missed the opening of the small cabin’s front door.

  “Aww. Poor baby has a hurt paw.”

  Dog spun to discover a tall woman in faded jeans standing on the porch, gazing at him with sympathy.

  So much for laying low and checking things out, he huffed.

  “I can help with that,” the woman crooned gently, stroking her long brown ponytail in thoughtful consideration. “But you’ll have to go to sleep for a while. Come on, big wolf. Come have a bite to eat and a drink.”

  Dog stayed where he was as she took things from a basket near the door. He understood the food would be drugged, but he wasn’t worried about that. It was the box that he was concerned with. He had to know he could get out of it before she put him in it.

  The woman set two bowls on the bottom stair and moved toward the door. “I’ll wait in here, big boy.”

  Dog snorted, thinking she sounded like she did this often. That would mean a possible kennel. It would explain the coyote’s impressions of a box, but Dog could get through nearly any gate. It was why he’d been sent away and eventually ended up with Brady. The local pound had gotten tired of replacing the cages he’d destroyed. He’d never attacked people. He just hated to be caged.

  Dog made his way to the rear of the home, unable to stop a whimper when he jostled the broken leg too hard.

  “Well, you’re a smart one, huh?”

  The woman was in her backyard, a gun in her hand.

  Dog didn’t want to scare her, but he didn’t think he could go much further. He chose to allow fate to make the choice and lay down, whimpering.

  The woman approached him slowly and Dog stared at the gun. If she was evil, he was in even more trouble.

  Sally wasn’t sure what to do. The large wolf obviously wasn’t going to eat or drink the drugged food, but that leg would have to be set and casted.

  She knelt down tensely, gun ready.

  Dog didn’t budge as her hand came toward him and he groaned as she gently stroked his ears. Trying to show that he wasn’t dangerous to her, Dog wagged his tail.

  “Aww. Poor baby.” Sally hated his pain and decided she would help him as much as he allowed. “Hang on and let me get my supplies.”

  Dog remained laying down as she went into the house, but his head swiveled alertly, searching for the box. He didn’t detect a kennel, but he did see a shed and a small barn, either of which he could escape.

  The woman emerged a few minutes later with a large kit that she took things from and spread out on the grass next to him.