“Go on, Spring.” Sweet broke off her conversation with Fiery to snap another command.

Spring, the hunt-dog who looked so like Twitch, stepped up hungrily and began to feed as Lucky glanced at Twitch.

“Is she your litter-sister?” he asked.

Twitch nodded. “Of course, she wasn’t born with a useless paw,” he growled, holding up his own. “But that’s luck for you. That’s why she’s higher than me in the Pack.”

Lucky tried not to let his sympathy show; he had a feeling Twitch wouldn’t thank him for it. “But Pack status can change, can’t it? You could move up in the ranks?”

“Yes, and you can move down,” Twitch pointed out gruffly.

Lucky licked his lips nervously, watching the dwindling mound of prey now, sensing tingles in his flanks that felt oddly close to dread. “How does it work? I mean, how does Alpha decide?”

“Alpha and Beta, you mean,” Twitch grumbled. “She advises him a lot. There are all kinds of ways to change your Pack-place. If you do something stupid or wicked or rash—something that puts the Pack in danger—you will be demoted. Do something really stupid or rebellious, and you’ll be lucky if demotion is all that happens to you. But if you do well, or serve the Pack, you will rise. That can take a long time, though.” He sighed, ears drooping. “It always seems to be a lot easier to fall down than it is to climb up.”

Lucky could imagine that. “Can a dog ask to be promoted?”

“Of course. But that involves challenging one of your Packmates to a fight. That’s why I’m stuck where I am. I’ve tried a few combats . . .” Twitch glared resentfully at his lame paw. “But I never win. The only dog I could beat in a fight is Omega, and who couldn’t? I’m just glad he’s around to do all the dirty work. Oh, good! Dart has finished. My turn, finally.”

Twitch limped forward to the diminished food-heap and began to eat the scrawnier of the squirrels and a leftover piece of rabbit. Waiting his turn, Lucky stole a glance at the miserable Omega, who stood on the very fringe of the Pack, shivering—from the cold, or hunger, Lucky could not quite tell. He felt sorry for the wretched dog, but at the same time deeply grateful there was a dog lower than he was in this Pack. Guilty as it made him, he could understand Twitch’s feelings completely.

His thoughts wandered back to his own friends. Who would have been the Omega Leashed Dog, if Bella had run her Pack by these rules? Not Daisy; she was too spirited. . . . Sunshine? He shivered to think of poor Sunshine being treated this way, with her hopelessness at living in the wild, and her obsession with her silky fur. Or maybe it would have been little Alfie?

If Alpha hadn’t killed him.

When Twitch had finished and Lucky padded forward, he felt a huge rush of relief. There was most of a gopher left for him, along with a half-chewed haunch of squirrel. It was no kind of feast, but it would be enough to satisfy his gnawing hunger. And for Omega, there would still be . . .