Lucky bristled at her tone. “Fiery doesn’t have enough ambition to challenge Alpha. That’s all.”

“Fiery’s smart enough to stick to the rules. And you should be too.” Standing, Sweet turned her haunches to him and began to pad back toward the camp. She paused only to glance back once more over her shoulder. “Remember what happened to Mulch.”

Remember what happened to Mulch.

How could he forget?

Lucky stood staring at the space where Sweet had been for a long time after she vanished into the forest, but at last he turned back to the lake. It rippled so calmly, so peacefully, and the Moon-Dog trail still lay broad and bright on its surface. If the Moon-Dog was Alpha’s special Spirit Dog, would she betray Lucky to the brutal dog-wolf? Or would Moon-Dog understand what he was about to do?

Lucky gave a high brief whimper of unhappiness into the night.

Remember what happened to Mulch. . . .

He couldn’t go on like this. Sweet’s last words had finally made up his mind. That she could do what she’d done to Mulch was bad enough—but to threaten Lucky with the same fate? He caught a whine gathering in the back of his throat and swallowed hard. Stop that, Lucky!

He was filled with a fierce longing to put as much distance as he could between himself and Alpha’s Pack—between himself and his terrible guilt. For the sake of protecting his own hide, he’d done a terrible thing to Mulch, and all on the orders of that sneering little creature Whine.

After all, he’d found out everything Bella could possibly need to know. There was no reason for him to stay, none at all. Part of him knew that he had only stayed this long because he’d wanted to: because he was a hunter, a dog with status; because of the Great Howl. It was a part of himself he was afraid of. If he gave in to it, would he lose the rest of what made him Lucky?

Almost without realizing, he was already walking away. Along the edge of the waves he broke into a loping run, eager now to get far from Alpha’s Pack, and as fast as he could. He would miss Sweet, he couldn’t deny that, but she was Alpha’s partner, and would soon be his mate. She could not have made clearer where her loyalties lay. He would miss some of the others, too, he realized—Twitch and Snap especially. He remembered with a pang how he’d promised to teach Snap some City Dog tricks.

But I don’t belong with Snap, or with Sweet, and I certainly don’t belong with Alpha.

Do I?

The Moon-Dog was still high; Bella would be at the longpaw campsite. Urgency lent him speed and nimbleness, and he made his way swiftly through the darkly shadowed wood, feeling a nip of nervousness whenever the pale clear moonlight picked him out. His legs pumped beneath him. The thought of what he was doing drove him on; what if Bella left before he arrived? What if she wasn’t there at all?