What if she’s given up on me . . . ?

A great rush of relief hit him when he smelled the old-smoke reek that reminded him of the camp. He bounded into the clearing to see Bella there waiting for him. With a low bark of greeting, she trotted up and licked him as he stood panting.

She cocked her head, waiting patiently for him to catch his breath. “I’d almost given up on you, Yap. I was about to leave!”

He nuzzled her. “Don’t give up on me, Squeak. Not yet!”

Her eyes were bright and happy, he noticed. “It’s been a few no-suns since you met Daisy and Sunshine. What kept you?”

“I’m running out of excuses to slip away,” he said, and sat down. Now that he could see her clearly in the pale light of the Moon-Dog, he noticed signs of tiredness in the creases around Bella’s eyes. There were scratches on her nose, and a shallow gash on her left shoulder, but despite all that she seemed carefree. Almost triumphant . . . and there was something strange about her smell. Tentatively sniffing at her shoulder, he caught it distinctly: the scent of other animals, dark and musky.

A chill ran through his blood. Lucky took a step back from her. “Bella. What’s going on?”

“We’re all fine,” Bella said brightly. “Your instructions about getting to the lake and the hunting grounds worked perfectly! I’m sure we’ll be much stronger soon.”

“Well . . . that’s good, but it’s not what I meant. You look hurt!”

Bella tossed her head dismissively. “Some Wild Dogs we had to fight off. But we managed!”

Lucky was speechless. Since when had his litter-sister happily fought battles with Wild Dogs, and won? And all while he was stuck in the Wild Pack, doing her tricky spy work. There was a rustle in the grass as a field mouse stole past—the sound only made the silence between them seem even more painful.

“What about you, Lucky?” Bella asked eventually. “What’s happened since last time?”

She sounded so bright and curious, Lucky found himself telling her everything, even though he begrudged each word. He had the strongest sense, in the uneasy tingling of his fur, that she wasn’t telling him the whole truth—yet she expected just that from him!

Bella was listening keenly, and gave a sharp little bark of encouragement as he paused. “And Daisy’s already told me about your adventures with the giant loudcages—they sounded terrible!”

“They were. And it wasn’t much of an adventure,” he pointed out, miffed. “It was frightening, and if it hadn’t been for Alpha—”

Bella’s ears pricked sharply. She must have heard the respect in his voice when he was talking about the Pack leader. “What about him?”

“Never mind.” He found he didn’t want to explain his complicated feelings about Alpha—not to his litter-sister. “Anyway, that’s what I’ve been dealing with, and those yellow-fur longpaws, too, while you’ve been fighting battles with Wild Dogs.”