Worse, each one carried a sharp metal stick.

The back of Lucky’s neck prickled almost painfully with the sense of threat. His flesh and fur rippled with fear, as the dogs beside him trembled and snarled. All three dogs let loose another volley of furious barks, but there was no stopping the longpaws.

“Bite them!” shrieked Dart. “Bite!”

“No, we shouldn’t do that!” barked Lucky wildly.

“But the sticks! The sticks!”

“They’ll use the sticks on us if we bite them!” Lucky barked, trying to sound confident. But they will probably use them anyway!

Then another sound cut through the air, higher even than the distant roar of the loudcage. This time it was the longpaws who halted, frozen to the spot and looking up in alarm. The sound was a wild, bone-chilling howl, full of menace and death. In that instant, Lucky could smell the longpaws’ fear. They reeked of it, even through their shiny yellow fur.

No wonder. Even Lucky felt horror thrill through his guts, and he knew he had nothing to fear—not from his own Alpha. . . .

Everything around them was still; even the loudcage had fallen silent. A few leaves drifted in the breeze, touching a longpaw’s eyeless face. The howl came again, echoing eerily, and the longpaws looked all around now, turning, searching desperately for the source of that threatening sound. One of them yelped in unease, but Lucky could not tell which one.

The longpaws were confused and uncertain. It was the dogs’ only chance. . . .

“Now!” barked Lucky.

The three of them bolted, skidding past the frozen longpaws and racing for the forest. Lucky heard the longpaws’ barks, but he did not look back. He was certain they wouldn’t chase them into the trees—not now they’d heard that dreadful menacing howl.

Slowing down once they were under the cover of the trees, with Twitch and Dart at his paws, Lucky drew breath, his heart pounding. Dart was panting with the remnants of panic, but Twitch managed to gasp, “Good for Alpha. That showed them!”

It did, thought Lucky, impressed despite himself. He glanced around, peering through the trees, but he could not see his leader. Nor could he see the longpaws—Alpha’s howls had terrified them into submission, and they had not even laid eyes on him.

Delight in their escape, and admiration for his new leader, faded to something far less pleasant as the three dogs made their way carefully back through the unfamiliar patch of woodland. By the time they could smell their own camp again, there was a hot, clenching ball of dread in Lucky’s belly.

Who would ever want to get on the wrong side of that lethal, ill-tempered dog-wolf? What dog in his right mind would deliberately set out to deceive and betray Alpha?

Yet, that was exactly what Lucky had done.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lucky could feel cold tremors in his skin. Alpha’s yellow eyes seemed to focus just on him as the three dogs padded into the clearing, and the tip of the dog-wolf’s tail twitched slightly.