~ = Entwining = ~

[Calosea Atrayu]

Calosea dragged herself out of the bush once she was awake. Her skin was itching, probably from whatever bush it was, but her hungry stomach gave a large growl immediately to push her thoughts towards the half-eaten carcass nearby. There was a lot of snow here, and she hadn't noticed that before. She plodded, almost limped, to the corpse, and then threw her nose up in disgust. It lay rotting, maggots eating away at certain areas. However, she had no strength left to find more fresh food.

She came closer, the now unmasked scent washing over her like a great wave, making her doubt everything she was about to do. She closed her eyes and dug one group of teeth cautiously into the meat. Luckily, the taste was still present, and not that of maggots. She whimpered slightly as she picked more and more meat from the bones of the dead deer, taking who knows what with it. A weak sun peeked through the canopy of leaves from these strange trees unknown to her. It was not long until night. Even though she had probably been unconscious for hours after her flight from that human who had caught her, she was still exhausted.

Her half filled stomach groaned under the stress of all the rotted meat. She didn't expect it to stay there long. Hopefully she could force it to stay if she went to sleep. A small ledge of rock nearby provided a tiny sliver of shelter. She was halfway to that before throwing up the weeks old meat. Not only was she hungry, very hungry, but now sick. So much was her new misery that she forgot the events of the past few days, and once again collapsed under the shade of the stone. The last thing she saw- or thought she saw - was that of a small snow flurry making its way down the mountain peak. A small breeze alighted on her face, carrying with it the hint of harsh, cold, nights.

[Hakumei]

The alpha of the Xing pack lead his siblings through the forest, avoiding open areas and staying under trees to avoid the snow. They were climbing up in altitude and the trees were beginning to grow space and pretty soon they would stop all together. Giving a huff as the sun set he began to look for shelter for his small pack, they couldn't be caught outside at night in the cold times that had fallen upon them. Their breeds' short fur made them vulnerable to the elements. He glanced back at his sisters, knowing Rukia would be aching from her exposed scars, there was nothing he could do about that, though he wish he could have prevented them from being cast on to her when he was rejected from their former pack.

As the wind blew, he caught the scent of rotting meat and another wolf, a female. His ears drew back and his tail raised slightly as he moved to avoid where the wolf was as he was in no mood to pick a fight with a strange wolf. He led his two females to a tall tree with a thick root system, if they dug out from under it, it would be perfect for staying out of the snow for the night. He circled the tree once to be sure that there wasn't an inhabitant before starting to dig at a spot he dubbed appropriate. They still had a few minutes before the sun set completely, that would give him and Rukia some time to patrol before staking out under the tree for the night.

[Rukia]

Rukia was never at her most comfortable around new situations or new wolves; the scars littered across her body spoke of her reasons, as did the oddly submissive and questioning cock to her head as she walked and the spark of madness in her eyes. Haku's return to their birth pack had literally saved her life, and even with her weakness and former position as the bottom of the heap he chose her to be his second in command rather than their prettier but less sensible sister Aisa. That fact alone kept her vigilant and pushed her further than any other encouragement could have.

When Haku only glancingly acknowledged the recently-ill younger wolf in their general vicinity her hackles went down just a bit and her lower lip relaxed from where it had just begun to curl in challenge. If her cautious alpha felt that there was no threat present that must be so. She was a younger female, obviously not of their family and at least a head taller than the smaller, nearly-gaunt Rukia, and if she'd eaten meat so rancid it could turn her stomach she must be very unused to being alone. If it came to a fight the beta had little doubt she'd win, even if she was outsized; she was smart and ruthless and wouldn't let her family down.

With a twist of her neck she turned away from her examination of the puppy and followed her brother, walking around the tree and then making a larger perimeter around the tree to let him choose which side they'd dig into for the den. The wind was still blowing in up from the south, cold and damp, without any scent of prey on the breeze- which meant ranging in one of the other directions. With one careful eye on the distant pup she sniffed at the ground for any last hints of a trail and listening closely for the chance of nearby water. Without those things this den could easily become their grave should another blizzard start.

[Calosea Atrayu]

Calosea struggled to get up. The other wolves were much closer, way too close for her comfort, but gave up as she had no strength left. She would probably die here. But, that would probably be preferable. Sitting alone, albeit hungry and exhausted, let her thoughts go back to the recent past. The very recent deaths of all she knew and cared about. The shock was still there. She didn't feel much grief, yet, but knew it was coming.

Sooner than later, it seemed, as she started sobbing, silently. So much had happened, in so short a time, why had it worked the way it did? She was there, at her brother's side, hiding in a thicket, when the ambush started. She stayed with him right until a large fire separated them. Why had no one else lived? Gaius... her father, would frown upon this scene. She was down, she was out, she was near death, and crying about it. The sobbing ceased. She had promised herself one day, that when she could, she would go off alone and live without all the fighting, the tradition, the rules. Well, she was alone now.

She managed to get her feet back under her, and once again started walking. She needed food badly. And not the rank stuff she had risked earlier. Those other wolves would know where to get it. A very dangerous thing to do, she knew, was to just walk up to them. But there was little choice. She followed the scent very briefly before coming upon a group of three, one digging in the snow. The one digging was obviously the leader, the other two going out of their way for him. One in particular of the females was showing a hidden interest in Calosea. She knew the signs of it, a bent head the other way, but cocked ears and an ever active nose. Cal practically limped to them, stopping a respectable distance away from what she could now see was their claimed land this night. "Please... do you know where good food is? I've been traveling for days with nothing..." and with that last statement, promptly fainted. Again.

[Hakumei]

When the wind started to kick up a bit more the alpha dug faster, he didn't want either member of his pack caught in a storm. His ears twitched as he heard the foot steps of a larger wolf before stopping his digging. Tense he turned to face the gray female, she had some nerve approaching his pack. Hackles up he stared down the intruder as she spoke, asking if they knew where any food was. If he knew would he tell her? Hell no! He responded by growling just before she fainted, this caused him to snicker before trotting over and starting to push snow onto the larger creature. He didn't care one bit that she was injured or hungry; he just enjoyed not giving a flying opossum for those outside his pack and he'd be damned if he allowed a weakling like this get to him.

When he had her half buried he trotted back to his digging spot by the tree before looking at his sisters, he knew Aisa didn't approve of him refusing to help the wolf but she would fall in line like she was suppose to, she may be his litter mate but he was still leader, and for a reason. As for his other sister, she was weary of other wolves but was slightly more unpredictable. He let her get away with a lot because she was the beta and because of her past troubles. "Any suggestions or should we keep her buried?" He didn't want to help the wolf, she was larger and would require more food than the rest of them, and he wasn't too keen on having a larger wolf in the pack all together although he was confident that he could take any wolf on and win.

[Rukia]

It seemed that Haku was being very defensive against this newcomer- and understandably so. They didn't know one way or the other if she had a pack waiting around for them to drop their defenses for a near-pup. Just because they were wolves didn't mean they were necessarily less ruthless or more honorable than humans, Rukia had learned that through a good deal of hard experience. At the same time though she was a creature of instinct more than thought and instinct said that a female, even such a young one unable to breed at the moment, was worth a good deal. Her youth was a disadvantage though, especially since she seemed unable to hunt for herself.

Turning from where she'd been watching and digging she noticed Haku covering the unconscious pup with a layer of dirt and snow. It was really a blessing in disguise, the materials would act as a windbreak and prevent her from freezing to death until she recovered. "Haven't seen many other wolves, don't think this one is a threat. Is larger than us but weaker and ignorant. Ate bad food because didn't know better, so probably is starving and has less sense than a bluebird." Her tone was sharp but quiet and she watched her alpha sideways, carefully judging whether or not her answer displeased him. While he was her litter-mate and she doubted he would take out his aggression on her violently she didn't want to give him any excuse to change his mind about her either.

Aisa had moved closer to him, somewhat intent on investigating the pup, but a cautious look from Rukia as her ears moved back kept the larger and less sensible canine from taking another step. "Is your decision as alpha, can't make it for you. Is asleep now, maybe will wake up, maybe won't, but can't do anything for her until then. Did smell living animals nearby though, should be good enough hunting, and is fresh water." That being said she moved back to the spot of the den they were digging into and started again, ears cocked to catch any further sounds from the buried wolf. If she wanted to live she'd fight for it, or she'd die. That was the way of the wild.

[Calosea Atrayu]

Less sense than a bluebird? Calosea heard their conversation because she wasn't actually asleep. She had genuinely fainted again, but quickly recovered. What little sense she did have, then, told her to stay down and feign unconsciousness. She nearly leaped in fright, however, when she felt one of them push snow and dirt all over her. But then, it was quite warm with the stuff providing an extra layer of insulation. She had her eyes shut, ears back, and just generally blind to the area around her. If they couldn't do anything for her when she was down, she would have to get up.

But she was so tired... her mind flirted along the line that is waking and asleep. This allowed her imagination to expand to great heights, intermingling with the dark memories that were recently burned into it. She saw again the burning trees and meadows of her home. But this time it was tainted with deep shadow, like black fire. She could clearly see every last one of her pack die in some gruesome, horrible way. No... She could see the mountains themselves burn to ash from the heat of the fire and the destruction the humans wrought. No..! Then there it was. That tiny sliver of an airship, floating in contrast to the moon, seeing all there was to see. An insignia burned on its side, highlighted black by the glare of the imagined fire. Then it disappeared, leaving only the moon to gleam, black-tinted, in the fire. It too, burnt to ash.

"NO!" she yelled, getting to her feet in an instant, if only to break free of the chains of her mind. Her hunger was gone, replaced with a biting dread. Her fatigue evaporated in the wake of an adrenal-like rush. In her heart, she knew that last image was a warning. But she refused to acknowledge it. Only after she had blocked those images, all of them, from her mind did she notice again where she was. She didn't even stagger as she walked, determined, away from the den. She could now smell a whole host of things she had missed before, one being what she assumed was a den of snowshoe hares. She would get them. Just to live. About ten minutes and quite a lot of digging later, she had a brace of a snowshoe hare. It was really skinny though... but she decided it didn't matter and went close to the hill where the den was. She didn't go in, however. She sat and started munching on her catch.. Once she was nearly finished, the fatigue started to return. For that matter, that hare wasn't very large at all, and she was still hungry, but not debilitated by it...

[Hakumei]

The alpha listened closely to what his sister said, she was right the adolescent -yet larger wolf- didn't seem like a threat. In fact, she seemed as dumb as humans. He nodded slightly to her, he would leave the other alone. For now. He went back to digging for the next few moments until she jumped up and shouted 'no' before running off. He just watched her unamused before shaking his head "Must be inbred." he muttered before going back to digging "Wakes up from sleep like dogs do." The den was partly dug out, large enough for both the alpha and beta, but the third sibling would still need more room.

"Is good enough, need to hunt now before gets colder." he notified his pack before moving out of the den and shaking the dirt from his fur. About that time the other was back, and with food too. Bristling he began to growl when she laid down and started eating. What nerve! He was the alpha and she had no right to be in his territory and eating his game. Using his speed he snatched the rabbit from the larger wolf before she got the chance to eat much, while giving a warning growl. He would take her on if she tried to retaliate, and he knew Rukia wouldn't hesitate to jump in as well. This wolf obviously needed to be taught some manners.

[Rukia]

As Haku worked at one side of the den Rukia scooted as close to the roots as she could and dug into them at the other, her small size an advantage in the cramped space though she weakened more quickly than she would ever have liked to let on. Her will and endurance far exceeded her physical ailments though, and while digging to enlarge the den she was out of the wind while she and Haku's body heat filled up the space. With a careful twist she moved past her larger brother and continued working into the smaller spaces to deepen the den so Aisa could fit comfortably. Her sister wasn't as used to dealing with harsh conditions as Haku and herself were, even though she was more equipped to handle it.

There was a slight sound of scuffling from outside and a yip from the pup before she raced off, her footfalls muffled by the snow until they were out of range. Ears back in an expression of confusion Rukia heard them moving off and decided that the newcomer must have decided to move on, being unable to force them from her territory. That was how it worked with wolves; there had to be rank and order or they were uncomfortable. The work continued on steadily for a good bit of time, Aisa moving the dirt from around the den entrance as the beta continued to dig with her alpha's help.

A short time later Haku called to her speaking of hunting and she nodded in reply and agreement, hiding a slight shudder that moved over her fur at the idea of fresh food. It had only been a day since they'd eaten but the smaller wolves, save Aisa, had been underweight to begin with and Rukia had almost nothing but sinew and bone under her fur. Then the sound of a creature running closer, with the scent of the same wolf who had run off before and blood as well. With no hesitation she started toward the entrance of the den she'd helped make, waiting for Aisa to take her place inside and scooting around to slide out of the tree's roots.

By the time she'd made it out she air was filled with the scent of the odd new wolf's return as well as rabbit's blood, and the sound of her chewing; the pup had come back here, to eat in front of them?! A glance to the side told Rukia that Haku was as surprised as she was and even more angry, hackles up and growling, which the beta mimicked in absolute understanding while her alpha raced forward and took the rabbit from the pup's mouth. Meat, fresh and sweet, and the blood was probably still warm.. With a quick shake of her head Rukia resisted the urge to run forward and snatch the same rabbit for herself and stood her ground, head pointed slightly toward the female and body turned so that she couldn't see the meat. If it wasn't in her field of vision it wasn't as much of a temptation- and besides, the female may still react violently to her food being taken, as she was obviously hungry herself.

[Calosea Atrayu]

Calosea paused as her food was snatched from her. The much smaller and yet fiercer alpha wolf was standing quite close, in a very aggressive stance. Not only had he stolen her meal, but revealed just how fast he actually was. On the inside, Calosea blanched. This would be challenging, to say the least. She would prefer not to be harmed, but if it came to it, she would fight. And lose. There was no doubt she would lose, if they fought. This wolf had his own experiences, of fights and death, that made him strong. He also had a pack behind him. They were all fully grown. She was still just a pup. It would hurt, badly.

She was aware of what she did. She wasn't entirely as ignorant as these wolves probably thought. But, in her mind, it was the only way. She stood up slowly and deliberately, with no jerky movements. What little bit of food she had eaten took the edge off enough so she could function without undue pain. She turned her head ever so slightly with a barely perceptible shift of one knee to appear off balance naturally. Of course the result was that she could see slightly around the alpha, and had, in truth, more stable footing. All lessons she had learned, went back to deception. Make your enemy think you were weak when you were actually ready. Another even subtler shift was her slowly contracting her rear leg muscles. Ready for a jump in any direction. All of it was really precautionary. If the alpha attacked, she needed to be ready.

[Hakumei]

The alpha growled, he wasn't one to fall for petty tricks. He wasn't going to waste his time on the ignorant pup so he kept the kill and moved past his ready-to-fight beta toward the den entrance before setting the rabbit down and glancing at the larger being he sat glaring at her. "didn't your pack teach you any manners?" he growled obviously annoyed and trying to hold pack his temper. She was obviously dumb enough to eat in front of an alpha so either she was trying to test him or she wasn't trained well by her previous pack.

He wanted to go ahead and claim his share of the small rabbit so his sisters could eat but he wanted to be sure the new comer wasn't going to try to pull any tricks before than. Hakumei knew Rukia wouldn't hesitate to tear apart the young wolf if she came after the meal now that he had claimed it, so that was an advantage on his part. Unfortunately Aisa was a pacifist but the gray wolf didn't know that. She probably thought it would be a three-to-one fight so it was highly unlikely she would attack in the state she was in. He silant waited for her answer, hoping she would apologize and leave as it was starting to get dark and the twilight wind was kicking up. They needed to hunt than bunk down for the night.

[Rukia]

Now that the food was on their side of the disagreement there was no reason for the altercation to go any further, not if the pup backed down. They had the food, the alpha of her group had made his opinion known and chastised the youngster and there was still more to do. A nearby source of water would need to be found, as well as enough prey to support them for the time they'd be resting here. With her older brother's drive to find the flower they'd started chasing once he'd broken her and Aisa away from the pack the group was always on the move. It was necessary to make sure that they stayed on the path, but that didn't mean it was always easy.

The pup stood and watched the pair of them, shifting her weight seemingly off of one of her legs as she steadied herself. Evidently she thought that there would be a fight coming to force her off of their territory, and there may well have been, but it probably would not come to that. There were three members of this pack and only one member of hers, and while they had learned to be ruthless and cruel when necessary it was still cowardly to fight a pup unless someone's life was on the line. Of course there was no way the youngling would know such facts.

Shaking off a yawn and a shiver as the cold air cut through Rukia's thin fur and straight into her skin she glanced at her brother for a quick moment before sniffing their surroundings again. It was getting darker rather quickly, and more of the snow-filled clouds flew overhead; before long it would be nightfall, where hunting in strange territory was far more perilous. Still, she could not leave while her alpha may have been in danger, and she fought down her tired impatience to simply sit by and wait for the pup's answer.

[Calosea Atrayu]

As the alpha took what was left of her meal to his den, all she could say was, "They tried, but I wouldn't listen." She realized her preparations were unnecessary as they all started making to bunker down. Calosea started feeling foolish for her actions, but they did do something for her this time. She was still wary about these other wolves, who knew what they would do. She loosened up a bit and walked away from their den a little ways. They obviously needed that meat a little more than she did, as she could see them all starting to shiver in the cold. It wasn't so bad for her, but then they were very small and didn't seem to have very long fur. What was there to do now?

She couldn't go into their den and sleep, she knew that that would start a fight right there, but she was adamant on sticking with these wolves. That, and it was probably too small anyway. There was no where else to go, either. Not that she knew, anyway. This entire area was new, that city in the valley below these mountains, the strange forest... She had to stay with them. She doubted other packs would be around and even if they were, looking back on it, anyone else would have attacked her the second she set foot near them. Some strange twisted fate was at work here. It was getting dark fast, and the cold was starting to worm its way through her fur. Well, at least she wasn't starving anymore, and she thought on this as she started digging herself a hole in the snow like the others. At a respectable distance, of course.

[Hakumei]

The alpha growled a bit when she told him that she didn't listen to her other pack, the first thing that came to mind was that she was retarded or something. Ears back he dug into the rabbit, the pup was even dumb enough not to try to get to the organs first. That was all he ate before walking away from the rabbit, leaving what was left on the small rabbit for his sisters. They would still have to hunt before it got too much darker. He expected Rukia to give up the food to Aisa, she wasn't suppose to do that but she did some times. Being an omega for as long as she was caused her to do odd things as beta.

The younger female went off to dig a hole somewhere causing the alpha to shake his head in disapproval before starting to search for a prey trail near by. There was faint stuff but nothing worth fallowing, they were days old. If they were to find anything they would have to make large circles around the den to find a trail, even than with their lack of strength if it was anything larger than a common dog they would have a hard time taking it down. Unfortunately that was a risk he was going to have to put his pack through. At full strength they were able to take down a large deer, and at their size that was a feat, but at the current time it was even a risk going out to look for food and he'd be damned if he let the outsider join the hunt. It just wasn't in his nature to accept help from a stranger, especially one that went against common etiquette. He didn't care if the mainland wolves went against tradition, but he wasn't one to brake it.

[Rukia]

She knew her brother better than just that of a beta to her alpha- they'd been litter-mates and subject to the same abuses from the rest of their large and brutal pack, at least until he'd been captured. Then it had been Rukia's responsibility to take his place as she was the second-born, even though she'd been the runt and always a bit smaller than the rest. This kept Aisa, the more passive and sweet-tempered youngest pup safe from harm. As the largest and healthiest she could have been considered the prime wolf of the litter if not for her refusal to fight and lack of dominance in every situation she'd ever found herself in. Humans who were used to dogs would love her, but to wolves she was intrinsically broken.

It seemed that the other new wolf had backed down and Haku was getting ready to start another hunt, scenting the air and moving a bit restlessly. If she left there was a chance that the newcomer would try to take their den, especially if Aisa's greater strength was needed to bring down a creature large enough to fill all of their stomachs. The alpha had also left the rest of the kill, minus the precious organs, to one side for Aisa and herself, and for a moment the urge to feed overcame all else. Stiffening a bit her lip curled and she walked over to the rabbit, tearing quickly into one of it's legs and growling a warning under her breath. Once the first of the meat hit her stomach reality came crashing back though and she simply turned away with the meat she had, finishing it quickly and then leaving the rest for Aisa. A short yip would summon her larger sister if she was still awake; with that in mind she turned back toward Haku again, waiting for his command.

[Calosea Atrayu]

Calosea dug the best she could. She hadn't really had to before, and never in snow, either. By the time she was done she seriously doubting she could sleep in that hole, for fear it would just plain collapse all around her. She wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but the prospect of being stuck in snow wasn't appealing at all. She sighed internally and thought this was probably another of those things she could have learned, but didn't. She almost felt like a rotten fruit, now. When the time came to live up to expectations, she was thrown away and forgotten. But she was still alive, unlike all the others.

She could barely see, through some of the strange trees here, the other pack. They seemed to be getting ready to hunt, or as far as she could tell, anyway. She was still hungry, but was pretty sure that one rabbit she had managed to catch, a fluke really, would be gone by now. She was hoping they got enough from it, even if at the same time half-thinking that it wasn't their right to eat her catch. Even if she had gone near their den. The sun was nearing the horizon, as far as she could tell, that being on the other sides of the mountains. The others seemed quite ready to leave, and Cal was really only mildly interested whether or not they did get something worth the effort. She crawled into her very bad hole and tried to rest without thinking too much about the possibility of collapse.

[Hakumei]

The alpha was now a bit away but still within sight of the den, finally a strong scent from only a half hour or so ago. He looked back at the den as the beta called for their sister to eat. Putting his nose back to the snow he started to move after the scent, expecting the beta to automatically fallow as she always did. The scent was that of a small mountain goat. That would be easy to take down as long as they avoided the horns and hooves. Getting rammed by any kind of goat hurt, and as the terrain grew steadily rockier and more slanted he knew any kind of attack from the goat could be deadly.

He would need to assess where the goat was and where they could get it without being killed or if they would have to find another trail to fallow. He did not want to give up so easily but if it meant keeping alive for the moment, he had to fallow his instinct instead of his stomach.

[Rukia]

Where the alpha went the pack must follow- that was the law, and there was no other way to go about things. Generally Rukia wouldn't have paused to consider the younger wolf that still lay nearby, but Aisa was going to be left along in the den, and she was a much softer-hearted creature than either the alpha or beta of their small pack. In all likelihood she would try to make friends as soon as the two of them disappeared- but there was no help for that. They had to eat, and that meant the two of them hunting, since they were too small to take most prey alone.

With a final warning glance to the stranger Rukia ran over to where her brother waited, sniffing the air and ears back as she waited for him to dictate how they would go about this hunt. It would have been helpful to have another wolf to help with flushing the prey and distracting it, but it wasn't her place to question her alpha's wishes. After all, without her brother Rukia would likely have been lame or dead by now, and he had even given her the rank of second over their much healthier and larger sister Aisa. She would not question his rulings.

[Calosea Atrayu]

A few minutes passed, or at least it felt like a few minutes passed, to Cal, before she crawled backwards out of her hole and looked around. She had reached the point where one became so tired that one couldn't feel it anymore, and could function on a mostly basic level. It was still a little cold, of course, but she felt too cramped in the very improvised den. With nothing to do, she looked back to the other den of that pack, mostly out of curiosity, which came from the lessening of the scents of two of the others. A third was still there, she could tell, but couldn't think of why. They had already shot her down and took her food, so she didn't think they would worry about her taking their den. And even if she did, their return would have spelled a very quick and very painful reclamation.

So, Cal was very intrigued. She had a vague sense that it was probably a stupid idea, but she climbed back up the small hill and peeked into the clearing anyway. She only saw one, the female that hadn't talked at all earlier. The other two most likely had gone hunting. To Cal, the one left behind looked a little lonely, and Cal was starting to get bored now that the shock, of pretty much everything, had passed. Ignoring, again, common sense, she walked into what she knew was the definite area of the den, but didn't get too close to the other. "Uhh... hi!"

[Hakumei]

A prey that was full of meat and had plenty of fat for the cold weather is what the alpha was trying to find. He noticed his beta came over, ready for the hunt, the two of them were too small to try to take down a bear, though a bear would probably last them a life time with how large they were. He'd have to settle with something smaller that they could take down. If they had a larger wolf in the pack, a normal sized gray wolf, hunting would have been much easier. He glanced back at Rukia as he made his way after the goat. The goal would be to lure the goat to flatter lands where it wouldn't be as much as a problem to them to grab it. When it came into sight the alpha paused and glanced back at the beta again. "Have to lure it off the hill." he told her. The only way he knew how to do that was to get behind it and scare it down the hill, but it might retaliate, depending on it's nature it would be a bit harder to do this one.


------

Back at the den the larger female of the pack decided to doze after eating a bit of the rabbit that her siblings left for her. Shortly after she was awakened to the larger wolf coming into the den, a moment of confusion on how she even fit into the den in the first place was fallowed by a quiet yip before she put her head down between her paws and watched the younger wolf.