Lucan dug into the ground in search of the meal he had buried last sun. He knew this was the spot, but nothing was in that hole.

The light gray wolf looked to the sky. It would rain tonight. The clouds were coming in fast as the sun went down.

A brown wolf padded up to Lucan and grinned sheepishly, “I ate your food, Lucan…”

“I knew you did, Cloudsong. You took alpha Windsong’s kill last moon as well. You shouldn’t do that as the omega.” Lucan snarled.

Cloudsong and Windsong were sisters, but Cloudsong was nothing like Windsong’s leading personality. Though the two were very different, the sisters both got along great.

Lucan looked over to the two sleeping alphas. He wondered if there would be pups this spring. There were no pups last spring.

Stalker, the current leader of the Orange Leaf pack, stood and stretched. He gently licked Windsong’s muzzle.

“Come. The humans are close now.” As Stalker said this, they heard the engine rumble of a hunter’s plane no more than three miles off northeast.

Lucan stood to follow Stalker’s lead. He trusted the wise leader with all his heart.

There was no time to stretch Lucan’s muscles, for the plane was closing in. Many hunters poached in their territory and they were always on the run. Lucan knew Stalker planned to migrate the pack to safer boundaries soon.

The plane engine grew louder until the shadow of it covered the running pack. Bullets littered the moist air as the clouds broke.

The rain poured down on Lucan’s face, making it harder to see. It also made it harder for the hunting pilot, for the plane had no windshield wipers.

The plane veered away, but didn’t leave the pack totally unscathed. As the pack was happy to see the plane glide away in the rain, there was also blood in the wet grass. Lucan smelled it and realized it was Cloudsong’s puddle.

Lucan scented the air and followed the blood trail, only to find Cloudsong cleaning her new bullet wound located on her shoulder.

The wolf pack didn’t realize how serious the injury was. The bullet had broken through the shoulder bone and penetrated Cloudsong’s lung. Cloudsong was slowly bleeding to death on the inside.

Stalker raised his tail, “I’ll find food. Lucan, you come with me. And Windsong, you stay here with your sister.” Stalker turned, expecting Lucan to follow, which is just what he did.

Stalker scented the air. The closest prey was a little over two miles west. Stalker’s strong legs turned from a slow trot to a sprint with Lucan close behind.

They slowed as the lone cow came into sight. They didn’t know that this was a trap for unsuspecting wolves like these fine males.

Of course, the cow didn’t run. They never did. They stood there, and grazed without a care in the world. This cow in particular grunted stupidly.

Stalker looked at it. It smelled horribly like human and he should have taken that as a warning. He pounced and sunk his teeth into its warm neck as the bloodlust over ran his senses as he ripped into the dead cow.

Lucan saw a human point at Stalker with its long black stick and barked with warning. Three more appeared with similar loud sticks and shot at Stalker. Stalker fell to the ground, dead.

Lucan yelped in terror, which blew his cover. Two of the hunters turned to him and one shot at him, but Lucan had already began to run. The bullet penetrated his hind leg as he landed with a thud. He looked back at the hunters but kept running.

That night, Lucan didn’t return to Cloudsong and Windsong, but slept in a hollow fallen tree with the pain in his foot.

The next morning, he returned to the cow carcass to find a pool of blood surrounding Stalker’s lifeless body. He whined, but he knew he had to help Cloudsong.

He ate some of the cow, and tore some of its leg off to carry back to the two females.

He trotted back, not sure how to break the news to the two.

As Lucan arrived in the small clearing, he placed the leg carefully at his paws.

“Where is Stalker?” Windsong questioned with wide eyes.

“The… The humans have killed him.” Lucan looked into Windsong’s now dull eyes.

“No…” Windsong threw up her head and howled mournfully to the heavens.

“Where is Cloudsong?” Lucan asked as she finished.

“Dead. Our pack is no more.” She answered sadly with her head hung low.
Lucan’s ears quivered. He wasn’t sure how to react to the news. So he turned and ran away from the clearing. He would never return to that place, but live the life as a lone wolf.

He would always know that he once part of a pack. He was the beta of the Gold Leaf pack.