Tony left the castle at the crack of dawn, arriving seconds later in the north-western pack lands where Folen was Alpha. There was a small compound in the central area where pack members resided when they were their humans—a rare occurrence but it happened, especially when the weather was very bad. He had visited there once after having negotiated a trading pact between Folen and the merchants in Shalona the previous summer, and he hoped to find Folen at home, not out hunting or otherwise occupied with pack particulars.
He was in luck. As soon as he landed in the knee-deep snow at the edge of the compound, the door to one of the cabins opened and Folen appeared. “It is a pleasure to see you again,” the Alpha said when Tony joined him. “Although the hour does leave something to be desired.
