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thought Sweet, with her skinny legs and narrow jaws, but she had Fiery’s powerful help even if she didn’t have Beta’s. She disappeared fast , thought Sweet bitterly, when I made the kill and there was prey to drag .
    Beta continued to linger on the edges of the camp, glowering resentfully, while the rest of the Pack members gathered excitedly around the deer, barking and whining their pleasure. The dogs parted, though, when Alpha padded forward, sniffingappreciatively at the scent of dead prey.
    â€œA fine catch.” The half wolf nodded, growling with approval. “The best this Pack’s ever had, in fact.” He shot his contemptuous yellow gaze at Beta, still lurking on the fringes of the group, and the red dog turned and slunk into the shadows.
    Sweet expected Alpha to say something to her directly, but all he did was turn on his paw and saunter back toward his den. She furrowed her brow curiously. What is Alpha playing at?
    She had no time to worry about it, though. Fiery was busily retelling the story of the deer over and over again, to any dog who would listen.
    â€œI tell you, I’d never have thought of it,” he was saying to Snap. “Sweet was unbelievably fast. And smart!”
    â€œI can’t believe you caught an actual deer!” a young dog called Dart butted in breathlessly.
    â€œCatch the deer? It never had a chance!” guffawed Fiery. “Not with Sweet on its tail.”
    â€œWe’ll have deer every day!” yelped another youngster, Twitch. “We’ll never be hungry again!”
    â€œYou’ll get even fatter,” teased his sister, Spring.
    Alpha stuck his head out of his den at that, glaring at the younger dogs. “It’s a fine catch, and I said so,” he growled, quietingevery dog with his stare. “But don’t get too comfortable. There won’t always be stray deer in the forest, and even Sweet might not be able to catch them all the time.”
    He gave Sweet a cool glance that she couldn’t quite read. What was that in the Alpha’s yellow eyes, she wondered . . . a challenge? Was he trying to goad her into catching prey like that every day? Did he think she was that desperate to impress him? Sweet looked away, her fur prickling with irritation.
    â€œHow did you get to be so fast?” Spring yelped at her side.
    â€œYes, tell us about swift-dogs,” added Dart. “How come your legs are so long and thin?”
    Distracted from her annoyance with Alpha, Sweet laughed. “All right, I’ll tell you where the swift-dogs came from.”
    Dart and Spring sat expectantly on their haunches while a few more of the Pack members gathered around. “Go on, then,” said Snap, cocking an ear. “I want to hear this too.”
    â€œYou’ve heard of the Fastest Hare?” asked Sweet, looking from dog to dog as more of the Pack sat down. “He was the worst trickster in the world. He was always playing jokes on the Spirit Dogs, and making them look like fools, and they grew very angry with him. Hares were made for dogs to chase, and no hare should get away with such insolence!
    â€œWell, one day the Alpha of the Wind-Dogs was running through the golden meadow of the sky, and beneath her she saw the Fastest Hare keeping pace with her. As she watched him in surprise, he looked up at her and winked his yellow eye, and smirked. And then he sped up, till he was running so fast he outpaced even the Wind-Dog.
    â€œThe Alpha Wind-Dog was enraged. She went to the Sky-Dogs and demanded the Hare be punished for his impudence. So the Sky-Dogs and Wind-Dogs leaped down to the earth and surrounded the Hare, and demanded he put an end to his tricks. But the Hare just laughed at them, and ran between their legs, teasing them. ‘I’m the Fastest Hare,’ he laughed, ‘and there’s nothing you can do. My legs are the longest legs of all the animals, and I’m thin and