IT WAS DARK BY THE time the three of us stumbled across the mated pair’s trail. Hours ago, half of our party remained behind at base camp while David, Fen, and I spread out in lupine form, sniffing across the seemingly endless forest floor for a hint of the couple’s scent. My cousin was the one who finally sent up a howl to alert us to his find, and we converged on the latter’s location after a few shared yips. Then the true hunt began.
We shouldn’t have to chase down members of our own pack, my wolf complained. But the truth was that she and I were both enjoying this opportunity to stretch our legs and work the kinks out of stress-tightened muscles. It had been far too long since we’d had a chance to simply run in lupine form, our claws tearing up clumps of leaf mold as we galloped full-
