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felt the weight of one of them thud onto her back, and then the rake of its claws in her side, but she could barely focus. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from her Father-Dog, motionless now beneath a turmoil of vicious coyotes. There was blood on the ground beneath him. So much blood.
    And then, quite suddenly, the coyotes were backing away from him, yipping with glee. Alpha did not stir as one of them turned its back and contemptuously kicked soil over his blood-soakedbody. Moon, pressed to the ground with a coyote’s teeth in her scruff, could not even bark to her Father-Dog; she could only stare in grief-stricken horror as the pack of brutes turned to trot toward the dens of the sick dogs.
    The coyote who held her down wasn’t even fighting her anymore, sure that she was securely pinned. She heard its rasping, nasal voice through her own flesh and fur.
    â€œHeh. Dogsy. Youse can watch. Watches first, then dies.”
    Moon closed her eyes in despair. I don’t want to see my Pack die.
    She flared her nostrils, trying to smell the forest through the stench of blood. There it is. There was almost a feeling of peace as she made out the scents of pine needles, blowing branches, skittering prey. The breeze was smoky with a hint of Red Leaf.
    A wild yelping rose from the dens where the sick dogs lay. They can smell the coyotes approaching. I don’t want to hear it happen. Focus on the forest. . . .
    Moon squeezed her eyes tighter shut. She could smell the rich dark soil, the soil that the Earth-Dog nourished with the bodies of dogs. It’s all right. It’s all right. I’ll go to the Earth-Dog. I’ll see my family.
    A new scent drifted into her nostrils, and her breath caught in her throat. Not the Earth-Dog. A mortal dog, one made of flesh and blood—
    Fiery!
    She blinked her eyes wide open, just in time to see the big dog himself burst through the tree line into the camp. There were two other dogs at his flanks: the black-and-tan chase-dogs who looked so like each other, Twitch and Spring. All three were howling furiously, their teeth bared in deadly rage as they flung themselves at the coyotes.
    The coyotes erupted into panic. Moon felt the teeth of her attacker loosen on her neck, just in time for Fiery to grab its head in his huge jaws. He flung the creature aside; it slammed into a trunk and collapsed lifeless to the ground. Fiery didn’t wait to make sure it was dead; he turned on the other coyote that tormented Moon, lashing his claws across its face. Moon knew from the spray of blood that he’d blinded it. It took him only moments to finish it off.
    â€œFiery!” she gasped, clawing her way out from beneath the coyote’s broken body. “The others. My Packmates in the dens. They’re sick and helpless!”
    He gave her cheek one quick, reassuring lick, and then was gone, plunging toward the dens. Moon was too weak and exhausted to lift her head, but she heard the clamor of panicked coyotes, the squeals and howls as they died, the enraged growls ofFiery and the barking of Twitch and Spring as they followed him and tore into the attackers.
    She saw two coyotes flee, limping, into the forest, but she couldn’t chase them. As the racket faded and the glade became still, Moon dragged herself by her foreclaws toward the motionless corpse of her Father-Dog.
    She staggered up onto her paws, but she couldn’t take a step toward Alpha. Her body felt empty, her heart shriveled to nothing.
    My sister, my Mother-Dog, my Father-Dog. My friends. My Packmates. Five journeys of the Sun-Dog, and I’ve lost them all.
    Moon slumped sideways, tipped back her head and released a terrible, ringing howl of grief and loss.

CHAPTER SIX
    The den was dark, and it felt so cold. There was no warm body close to hers. Where is Star?
    As she woke, blinking, Moon felt her body instantly erupt into violent shivering. She shook her head. It felt fuzzy and thick, as if it were