I woke up.

The red cloud had caught me again. It hurt. And it was still there. It could catch me again.

But I could run.

I growled and rose to my feet, looking out into the forest. The scents of prey were somewhere out in the distance. Their blood and meat would sustain me. Sustain us. Then we could run. We could keep running. We were fast. The cloud wouldn't catch us this time.

The puppy stirred as he slipped off my leg, yawning a little as he woke. I crossed over to where Black-paw had fallen asleep and nudged at his side. He growled at me, but his bright-red eyes finally opened, and he rose to his feet. He would wake the others.

I scooped the puppy up by his scruff. Time to run.

Stub-tail lagged behind on our run. Golden-pelt didn't do much better. And they smelled... different. They might have been injured. They might have been caught by the cloud. Slowing down might mean the rest of us were caught - I already ran slower than I could, so the rest of the pack could keep up - but they were pack. We wouldn't leave them behind. The red cloud wouldn't catch them again.

We all sped up when we smelled the deer.

I felt the chasing cloud fall behind as we closed in on the prey. The deer heard us coming - we had made no effort to be silent as we ran through the trees - and it began to run from us. That just made us run faster.

A snarl built in my throat as I ran after the fleeing prey... and a whimper came from the puppy I carried. My jaws had closed too tightly around his scruff, and had hurt him.

I slowed down and relaxed my grip. I lowered the puppy to the ground and began to lick his back, making sure I hadn't drawn any blood. The sound of the chase still reached my ears, and I longed to rejoin it - I was the leader of this pack, and the duty of providing the meal was mine... but the puppy had to be kept safe. I couldn't carry the puppy and hunt. And I couldn't trust one of the others to carry the puppy.

A surge of satisfaction came from ahead of me as Black-paw brought down the deer. There was a struggle for a brief second... then there was food.

There was no blood on the puppy. But he would be hungry. I picked him back up and carried him to the dead deer.

Golden-pelt and Stub-tail hung back from us as we ate. The puppy wandered over towards them, and I kept a close eye on the three of them as I ate my fill. The two of them were acting strangely today. Lagging behind, not fighting to be first to eat. I would win such a fight - I was the leader of this pack, the strongest of us, and I always won - but it was still strange of them not to fight. Perhaps they had become sick.

I paused around a mouthful of the hot deer meat and eyed the three of them. Golden-pelt's amber eyes met mine, then quickly looked away. Stub-tail's brown eyes were moving between the deer and the puppy. That made me nervous. There was definitely something wrong with them. It wouldn't do for the puppy to catch whatever was causing them to act funny...

The puppy was wagging his tail and looking up at the two wolves. He seemed happy - he jumped in a circle and began running around Golden-pelt, though she didn't seem interested in playing. She was just staring at the dead deer. But not like she was hungry.

Torn-ear began pulling at the meat near me, and I turned my attention back to the meal. I growled and snapped at him, and he backed down. He went back to his side of the deer, and I focused back on eating. The blood and the taste of the meat kept the pursuing cloud further away.

Noises came into my head, but my ears didn't hear them. Sounds, but not sounds... words. It was a reminder of something, and... it brought the red cloud closer. I growled and began ripping more meat out of the deer, pushing it away again.

"Are you okay?" A young voice. Fifteen, sixteen years old. A male. The chasing cloud liked that voice. It came closer when he spoke.

"No... how could... I wasn't even a cook. I was a carpenter. I built houses and playground equipment, I never even cleaned a dead rabbit. And I..." A female voice. Twenties, maybe early thirties. Scared. "I killed things just like they did."

Something warm and calm surrounded me, even though I couldn't feel anything touching me. I slowed down my eating, taking longer to chew. The others did the same.

"No, you didn't. A feral that looked like you did that. But she's gone now, and you're back. You're both back."

A third voice. Male, in his twenties or thirties. Also scared. Maybe the mate of the female. "T-thank you. You brought us out of that, didn't you? I can remember... the big one brought you with him when he joined us. You're a Comforter, aren't you? Not a puppy?"

"I am. I'm seventeen. I think. We've been running for a while." The puppy waddled over to Stub-tail and nuzzled against his side. "Do you want to talk about what happened? I could tell you were in a lot of pain. All of you are. I'd like to help, if I can."

The not-sounds in my head went quiet for a moment. There was nothing but the sound of tearing meat and snarling wolves for a moment as the four of us kept tearing apart our kill.

"I don't think I can yet. I'm not ready." The female's voice. She sounded like she was about to cry.

The warm feeling grew stronger. "It's okay. You don't have to now. Or ever, if you don't want to. I understand. But I'm here if you do need to."

Feelings of gratitude and thanks came the same way the not-sound had come. Not mine, but ones I could feel all the same. It reminded me of something... but trying to think about it brought the red cloud closer. I had to stay away from that. Couldn't let it catch me.

I ripped something squishy and warm from the deer. It tasted good in my mouth, and chased the cloud further away. I had to fight the urge to eat it. This was the best part of the deer, and it was my right as the strongest... but the puppy needed it more, if he was to grow strong. Golden-pelt and Stub-tail would need it too, to help them get over whatever was making them sick. I could share a few meals with them.

The red cloud was suddenly much closer. Almost all around me, even. I growled and sunk my teeth into the meat in my mouth, feeling more warm blood dribbling into the fur around my mouth... and the cloud faded. The pain faded with it.

I walked over to the puppy and dropped the squishy mass of gore down before him. Golden-pelt and Stub-tail stared at it for a moment, still with that not-hungry expression, but the puppy just wagged his tail and walked up to take a bite from it. I turned from them and went back to the deer carcass, where Torn-ear had tried to take my place. I growled at him and pushed him out of the way, then pushed the red cloud away by tearing back into the dead body.

"You should try and eat. I know it's not what you remember being used to, but your body will remember. Just try to think about the smell and your hunger, and let your instincts do the rest. You need to keep your strength up." The young voice again. The warm feeling of calm seemed to fade a little as he spoke.

"We... no, we can find a pack instead... there has to be one near, right? We can figure out how to get you away from that big one, and get you out of here." The female's voice.

The puppy paused in his bite to shake his head. "You aren't ready for that yet. It's going to be a few days at least before you can shift again. Any pack will still think you're ferals. You have some new instincts you need to learn how to deal with, too. And..." The puppy looked back towards me, and I felt that warmth return. "I'm not ready to leave yet."

The not-sounds in my head ended, and I soon forgot about them. The chasing cloud fell away as I lost myself in eating, and growled to warn the other wolves away from my side of the deer.

When I looked back at Golden-pelt and Stub-tail, they were eating. Good. That would help them get over whatever was bothering them.

We ran after that. I carried the puppy as we dashed away from the cloud that was chasing us. Golden-pelt and Stub-tail lagged a little, but we only had to slow down a little. The fresh meal energized us all. We stayed ahead of the pain that chased us.

The others began to slow, and the world began to grow dark. I slowed with them, even though I felt like I could still run. I couldn't leave them behind - it was my duty to protect them.

The red cloud grew closer.

We found a small clearing. We would hear anything that might try to sneak up on us, and I was more than strong enough to protect us against anything out here. Even a bear, if one was foolish enough to fight us.

I watched as the puppy played with Black-paw and Gray-streak. The three of them wrestled on the ground, rolling over and chasing each other as the night set in. Black-paw needed a close eye kept on him or he would get too excited, and might hurt the puppy... but tonight he seemed to be taking care not to hurt either the puppy or Gray-streak, even as his dull-red eyes gleamed with excitement.

Golden-pelt and Stub-tail huddled against each other, off to the side. I kept a wary eye on them, but they didn't seem interested in anything other than resting from the run.

One by one, we fell asleep. The puppy came over to me after all of the others had fallen asleep. He curled up between my forelegs again, and I rested my head on him. The warm feeling came back. I closed my eyes, and let myself rest.

~

"Sorry I was gone for so long. The other Alpha wasn't very happy with us looking around, and drug his feet. It took longer than we expected."

The Luna smiled up at me, returning the hug I gripped her in. "It's okay. Was Max satisfied?"

I nodded. "He still thinks they're up to something, but he's convinced they really do need food. Yet again. He wanted to stay there until the food got there, but I told him I wanted my Beta's help making sure we got the right kind of food for them. Maybe if we start sending them lower quality supplies, they'll work a bit harder at getting their own food next year. And our own supplies aren't as well-off as I'd like them to be, so I need him to make sure we keep enough for ourselves." I squeezed my mate a little harder, then relaxed the hug. "How were things while I was gone?"

"There were a few squabbles, but nothing major. Kyle handled most of them."

"Kyle's good at that, even for an Enforcer. Not many people think an argument is worth getting on his bad side over." I grinned a little at the memory of some of our fights. "And the rest of the squabbles?"

My mate smiled, and her eyes twinkled in mischievous pride. "Jonathan handled those."

I blinked in surprise. "He did...?"

"He did. It turns out there are some advantages to having a Comforter around, even if it wasn't what you expected." She smiled up at me, and I saw the same glow in her eyes as always. She leaned up and met my lips in a kiss, then relaxed and rested her head back on my chest. "I'm glad you're back, though. I love yo-"

Everything went red.

The red fog surrounded me again, though now there were patches missing in the dense mist. Spots where I could see the blackened soil and gray ash of the ground around me. Four ferals circled out beyond the fog, their red eyes scanning through the soot and rubble. They paused every now and then and looked around, as if confused by some noise they had heard. The puppy sat at the very edge of the fog, watching me with sad blue eyes that glimmered faintly through the fog.

I closed my eyes, ignoring them, and held my mate.

I heard something shifting - a heavy beam of wood moving, as something it had fallen on finally wiggled its way free. The sound of something stumbling towards me. I opened my eyes and looked towards the sound.

A small wolf froze in mid-stride, staring up at my eyes. It trembled and took a nervous step back, towards the tunnel it had just dug itself out of. "Don't go... fight it, please..."

I looked away from him and stared down at my mate. She was whispering something...

"They're gone... you have to let them go..."

My mate died in my arms.

The fog rushed inwards again, and the world blurred out in a haze of red.