What had the dog-wolf known? Lucky wondered. Had his howl been simply a coincidence, or had he saved them deliberately?

Lucky felt the hard tug of tiredness in his bones. He would have liked nothing more than to slump down in his sleeping-place and doze until sun-high, but he knew they had to report to their leader.

“Well?” drawled Alpha, his throat rumbling. “What happened?”

Dart was still out of breath, as much from fear as from the run. “Longpaws, Alpha. And the biggest loudcage I’ve ever seen.”

“Loudcages?” came Fiery’s voice. Lucky could not tell if the muscular dog was afraid, or contemplating hunting the enemy.

“It was like a house that could run,” Dart continued, and Lucky saw Twitch glance quickly at Spring, the wild-born littermates clearly wondering what house meant. “Lucky knew what it was.”

Alpha turned back to Lucky. “Did he now? Oh, I know about loudcages, too. Dirty, dangerous brutes.”

“I used to see these big loudcages in the city, Alpha,” said Lucky, keeping his eyes low and his tone respectful. “They are not like ordinary loudcages—they can chew up the earth and eat it for dinner. And something else was there, too—”

“What?” Alpha’s tongue lashed his jaws.

“I’m not sure. It wasn’t another loudcage. It was more like a giant fang, biting into the earth.”

“That’s right, Alpha,” confirmed Dart. “And the longpaws there were like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve seen these longpaws before,” said Lucky in a low voice. “They’ve been around since the Big Growl, lots of them. I think they might have something to do with it.”

“They had shiny yellow fur.” Twitch shivered. “Black faces without eyes—or mouths! And they weren’t afraid of us, as they should have been. They had big sticks, and tried to capture us.” The other dogs glanced at one another with alarm, and Omega’s ears flattened with fear. Mulch backed a few steps closer to Fiery, the hair on his hackles rising as he growled low in his throat.

Dart took a step forward, giving a short, sharp whine. “But they were afraid of you, Alpha.”

“Of course,” growled the half wolf. “But you were right to flee. Never get closer to longpaws than you have to. It is good that you found out about them, but . . .” His head slowly turned to Lucky. “It was careless to put yourself at risk of capture. Don’t do that again.”

Lucky bit back a retort, his eyes briefly meeting Sweet’s. She stood beside Alpha, with a similarly stern look. Lucky tried to see kindness beneath the expression, but wasn’t sure it was there. He sank lower to the ground. “Yes, Alpha.”

The dog-wolf gave a great wide yawn that showed every one of his white teeth. “Longpaws like these were always encroaching on wolf territory. Always trying to take over the wild, eating up the earth, and stripping the land of cover and prey. Perhaps they are up to the same tricks here. We need to stay alert.”