Lucky took a deep breath. He knew he could not lose his temper.

“If it happens, you will work your way back up eventually,” Whine went on. “But how can Alpha demote a dog who is already at the bottom? It would be simpler for him to just kill me.”

Lucky knew in the pit of his stomach that Whine was right. He had no choice. There was no way he could allow the Omega dog to reveal his secret, or it was Lucky who would probably be killed. So yet again, he was going to have to do the bidding of another dog, and if anything this job was even more dishonorable than the one that Bella had given him. Lucky felt a surge of desire to be on his own again, free of all these terrible demands that were being placed on him.

Why did I get myself into this?

In fact, he did feel sorry for Whine, despite his cunning and his dangerous threats. Maybe it was time someone else took a turn at being Omega—they would soon work their way back up the Pack once more, but at least Whine would have had a taste of higher status, and might even be encouraged to try harder in the future.

“All right,” he said at last.

“I knew you would help!” For a moment Whine looked happy, his eyes bulging with excitement. His tail thumped the ground, but then he seemed to realize he was giving too much away. He stilled and closed his smiling jaws. “Thank you. I will see you back at the camp. And be quick.”

With a new bounce in his step, Whine turned and trotted off into the undergrowth. Lucky sagged with relief as he watched him go, but he could not calm the churning misery inside him.

Who was he going to target? He had friends and comrades in the Pack; they trusted him.

But I have no choice!

He was more certain than ever that, as soon as he could free himself from both of these Packs, he was leaving. He was going back to being a Street Dog, a Lone Dog—a happy dog.

In the meantime, he had to go through with all his deceptions. I am doing this for Bruno and Martha, he told himself firmly. It does not make me a bad dog, or an evil one. I’m just tangled up in a mess, and there are things I have to do to get out of it.

It was all about survival for Lucky now.

The world has changed. For a skin-shivering instant, he thought the Forest-Dog himself had whispered in his ear.

Yes, the world had changed. And Lucky needed to do whatever it took to stay alive, to see the Sun-Dog rise and stretch again. Once he had achieved this, then . . .

Then he was going to be free of all of them.