I woke again. The red cloud had caught me again. But... it was gone now. It wouldn't be back for a while. I would just have to run faster this time, and it wouldn't be able to get me.

The puppy stirred beneath my chin, yawning as he stumbled over my leg and tripped onto the ground. I nudged him back up to his feet, then got to my own. My throat burned. I wasn't hungry, but I needed something to drink. I sniffed the air and tried to find the scent of water.

Black-paw let out a sudden howl of pain. I crouched low and looked around, growling under my breath as I tried to spot what had hurt him.

The others started to wake up. Torn-ear leapt to his feet and joined me, looking for the threat. Golden-pelt and Stub-tail were slower to wake, and moved as if their bodies were heavy. They were probably still sick. And Gray-streak...

My tail and ears sagged as I looked at her. She had buried her face under her paws, and I could hear a faint whimper coming from her. I was vaguely aware of the puppy stumbling towards Black-paw as I loped over to Gray-streak's side and nudged against her paw.

The paw slipped away, and I saw one of her brown eyes staring back at me. It was full of pain and fear. Horror.

The red cloud had caught her. And it hadn't let go.

I nudged her again, but she still didn't move. I whined, then stretched out beside her. We would need to run soon - the red cloud would come for us all if we didn't - but we could rest for a little more first.

The warm feeling of calm returned as the puppy climbed up on Black-paw's back. The wolf was shaking, but he didn't seem angry or violent. The puppy seemed like he would be safe.

Torn-ear circled around us, eager to run... but I growled at him, and he settled down.

We could run later.

I wasn't leaving any of my pack behind.

There were more of the not-sounds, and two new voices - an older female, older even than me, and another young male. Twenty or thirty. The not-sounds happened for a while, then they stopped again. Gray-streak stopped trembling against me. Black-paw managed to get to his feet.

We ran.

Golden-pelt and Stub-tail were still lagging. Black-paw and Gray-streak lagged behind, too. Torn-ear and I both growled at them - we could both tell they could run faster - but it didn't help. Their focus just wasn't in the run, and they kept slowing to walk, or stopped altogether. I ran slower so they wouldn't get left behind, and Torn-ear grudgingly matched pace with me.

We found water. Another stream, this one a little deeper than the first, but not enough to threaten the puppy. He splashed in the water with Torn-ear while the others slowly drank from the stream. I kept watch until they were done drinking, then I drank from the stream, too. Then we ran again.

The scent of trees and other greenery was suddenly interrupted again by that same scent - the one that brought the red cloud. Torn-ear howled and sped up, and I ran with him. The scent had to be dealt with, or else the red cloud would get us.

"I can smell someone up ahead - they're going after it. What do we do? We have to stop them; they'll kill whoever it is!" A scared voice. The first female, the young one.

I ignored it and kept running. I had to deal with that scent.

"Just stay calm. When we get closer I'll try and distract them. It's worked so far, but you'll need to stay quiet and not challenge them. They'll be confused. Anything could still set them off." The first voice. The puppy squirmed a little in my grip as I chased after the scent.

I broke through the trees ahead of Torn-ear and snarled loudly around the puppy's scruff. We were right on top of the scent. I scanned the area around us as I sniffed at the ground, then followed the scent into a tree. I looked up and found the source of the scent.

A wolf, but not one. She was on two legs, and didn't have fur. She was covered in something strange and flowing, but it wasn't fur. The only hair was on her head, and it reached down to her back. She was high up in the tree, too high for me to get to, and she trembled as she clung to the branches.

The red cloud drew nearer as I snarled up at her. Everything about her was familiar. I felt pain as I watched her cower up in the branches. I hated it.

Torn-ear and I circled the tree, searching for a way up. The scent continued to fill our noses, bringing more of the red cloud to us. Memories came with it. Another woman, like the one in the tree, but prettier. Special. The smell of fires and burned things. The smell of blood. The smell of death.

I dropped the puppy and lunged at the tree, snapping my jaws at the air. I wouldn't reach the scent - she was too high up even for me - but the fear in her eyes chased the red cloud further away. The pain faded some.

The puppy began wailing in terror.

Torn-ear and I wavered, looking back and forth between the tree and the puppy. The scent had to be stopped... but... the puppy was in danger. He was scared, and wanted to get away. He got to his clumsy feet and started hobbling away from the tree, only to stumble after a few paces. He let out another pitiful wailing sound, and I felt that warm sense of calm begin to surround me.

I whined and ran to the puppy, nudging it with my nose. Had I hurt it when I dropped it? My tail dropped between my legs at the thought, wagging pitifully as I nudged the puppy again.

Torn-ear joined me as the puppy turned and walked beneath me. I stood over him protectively, looking for any threats. The scent was still up in the tree, threatening to bring the red cloud again... but she didn't seem like she would try and hurt the puppy. She seemed like she would just try and run.

The other four wolves stood a few trees away. They were all watching us carefully, like they couldn't decide what to do. Stub-tail pawed at the ground and whined, clearly worried.

Another helpless wail came from the puppy. I whined again, nudging him, but he didn't stop. I picked him up by his scruff, but his wailing just turned to whimpers. I started to walk away from the tree, back towards the others.

Torn-ear growled and barked at me, then looked back at the tree and snarled. He wanted to attack the scent still - I wanted to attack the scent still - but the puppy was... the puppy was upset. We needed to get out of here and calm it down. I growled around his fur, glaring at Torn-ear with my bright red eyes. He would not ignore me when I had decided what we would do.

His dull red eyes watched me for a moment. Flecks of amber seemed to break up the otherwise-solid red in his eyes as he stared at me in indecision... then his hackles fell, and his fur smoothed back down around his body. He ambled towards me.

I turned away from the dangerous scent and ran through the forest.

Our run came to a stop in a small clearing, and night fell. The red cloud was still chasing us, was always chasing us, but it was far away now. We had run far, and we were strong. The cloud wouldn't be able to catch us for a while now. We could relax.

Torn-ear played with the puppy some more while I stretched in the grass. Golden-pelt and Stub-tail still seemed sick and had found a spot off to the side of the clearing, but Gray-streak and Black-paw had joined them, leaving me off to the side of the group.

The sickness seemed to be spreading. I hoped they recovered soon. We would need to be able to run faster, if we wanted to stay ahead of the cloud.

I hoped they didn't make the puppy sick, too.

The others were soon snoring in sleep as the calm feeling came over us. It reminded me of... of being wrapped in something warm and soft, and... but the red cloud came closer as I tried to think about that.

Torn-ear stopped playing with the puppy and stretched out on the ground near me, falling asleep too. The puppy clambered back in between my legs, and I rested my head on his back again. The gentle sounds of the night forest surrounded us, and I joined my pack in sleep.

~

I growled and swung the branch around in my mouth. A happy "Wheeeeeee!" came through the mindlink, as the pack's Comforter held on tight to the far end. His little tail wagged furiously in excitement, and his blue eyes shone with delight as his puppy-sized paws scratched at the piece of wood. He could just barely get his mouth around the narrow end, but he had, and I felt my own tail wagging as I raced around the packhouse. I wasn't running as fast as I could have run - Jonathan would never get any bigger than his current size, and if his grip on the branch slipped while I was running at my full speed it could seriously injure the tiny wolf - but I was going fast enough to still get a wonderful breeze from the wind. Our fur was ruffling as we shot past the main doors and raced towards the side.

"Honey, are you busy with anything important at the moment?" My mate's voice came through the mindlink - a private conversation that was meant just for me.

The run had left me giddy, though. I thought about Jonathan for a half-second and added him to the conversation. "Yes. I am hard at work maintaining order within the pack."

Faint laughter came from around the heavy branch as Jonathan giggled.

The Luna didn't seem to catch the undertone of humor in my reply, and she sounded worried when she answered back. "Oh? What's wrong? Do you need any help?"

"I think I've got it covered. I caught somebody trying to steal the shoelaces from all of Kyle's left shoes. In the interests of preventing our Enforcer from embarrassing himself in the next training session, or seeking revenge on the guilty culprit, I am taking matters into my own teeth." I grinned around the branch and slowed slightly, changing the angle of my back to get more power... then I jumped into the air, sailing towards the second story windows. I had a brief glimpse of my mate blinking in surprise as I flew past with the giant stick - and the tiny puppy in tow - then I hit the ground, and continued running.

"Jonathan, what have I told you about bothering Kyle..." The worry in the Luna's voice had faded, but she still sounded a little stern.

"'Only mess with his personal things, never his work gear.' I wasn't! Or at least, I hadn't meant to; I didn't know he had gotten new boots for training. Those looked like the ones he always wears for dinner!" The puppy-sized Comforter somehow managed to pout around the stick in his mouth, even as his tail continued wagging in glee.

A mental sigh came from the Luna, but she didn't seem too upset. "Don't do it again. If you aren't sure, don't do it."

"O-kaaaaay..." I grinned at Jonathan as we started around the back side of the packhouse.

"I need to talk to you for a minute." The Luna's mindspeech was still including Jonathan, but her tone had turned serious. "Max finished going over our supplies."

I slowed, then came to a stop. Jonathan continued to swing from the branch with his momentum even after I stopped. "And you're the one telling me instead of him, because it's not good."

Jonathan went still on the branch. I saw him focus his eyes on me, and I felt some of the worry and tension fade. I closed my eyes again, remembering back to how easily I had caught the Comforter in the middle of his prank, and how I knew he was better at covering his tracks. "...and you wanted Jonathan to be here, too. How bad is it?"

"It's not critical. We'll be able to manage if we cut back a little now. Go a few nights without dessert courses at dinner, skip a few birthday celebrations. Max and I both volunteered to skip ours."

I nodded a little, rocking Jonathan from his grip on the branch. I carefully lowered the branch so he could reach the ground, then started a half-hearted game of tug-of-war with him. "Skip mine, too."

A wordless acknowledgement came from the Luna. She hadn't volunteered me, but she still knew I would join her in the gesture. Neither of us would feel comfortable having a big meal for our birthdays if others in the pack had to skip theirs, and she knew that about me. "We also won't be able to host a Lunar festival."

My tail sagged a little, even as Jonathan ran in a circle to try and dislodge the stick. I didn't particularly care about missing the Lunar festival... but if the problem was that bad... "...we aren't going to be able to help our neighbors either."

"Yeah." There was a feeling of sincere regret through the mindlink. "I know you wanted to, but there just won't be enough. If we send them enough food to make a difference, we won't have enough ourselves. The winter was just too harsh for us."

"It wasn't any better for them." I felt Jonathan's aura grow stronger as I thought of our neighbors. I had met with their Beta just a week earlier, and he had seemed desperate. Again. That pack was seriously mismanaged... but... "Some of them will end up starving if they don't get help."

"We can't help them at all if we starve. We've helped them every year for the past fifteen." There was a soft sympathy in the Luna's voice. "Our pack has to come first."

"I know." I sighed around the branch. "But I still don't like it."

"I know you don't. You're kind and caring at heart, and that's made you a great Alpha to our pack. But sometimes you've done all that you can. There are other packs out there. They can trade with them, or get help from them. They'll be okay. And then you can help them next year, when we have more food to spare."

I smiled around the branch, then gave it another playful tug, sending Jonathan skidding through the dirt as he tried to stop me. "Thanks. I love you."

A warm feeling came through the mindlink. "I love yo-"

Everything went red.

Patches of red fog wafted along the ground around me. Two ferals paced aimlessly out beyond the fog, occasionally nudging at the rubble with their noses. Their dull red eyes seemed confused, as if they weren't sure why they were there. The puppy stood at the very edge of the light mist, and tried to take a step forward... only to wince in pain and take a step back. He sat up and looked at me, watching me with his same sad blue eyes. I stared back at them for a moment, while the traces of fog seemed to waft away from the puppy... then I looked down at the dying body I held in my arms.

"Is anybody there...? Help! I'm trapped; can anybody hear me?" I heard the panicked voice through the once-quiet mindlink... but I couldn't think of the words to answer back with. All I could see was the face of my mate, and the glow fading from her eyes.

The ground shifted near me. One of the fallen beams shifted, and a small wolf wiggled free. His fur was dirty with the ash from the fire, but I could still see his eyes. Bright blue eyes stared up at me as I watched him rush towards me as fast as his little legs could take him.

...and then his little legs froze. His blue eyes widened in terror as he met my eyes, and he took a slow step back. "Don't go feral... Fight it, please..."

I turned away and looked back at my dying mate. She shuddered in my arms, feeling cold to my touch, and I heard her start to whisper.

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

The red fog rushed towards me once more, and everything went red.