Dart seemed to accept this, rising to her full height. Her tail even gave a half wag as she took a deep breath and headed back into the forest, barking as she caught up with her patrolmate Twitch.

Lucky was about to join her when he spotted Alpha’s silhouette some long-strides away by a towering birch. The dog-wolf was moving chaotically, taking only a few nervous strides before he would freeze, his ears pressed back, visibly trembling. Each time he stopped, he gazed back toward the valley.

Lucky heard pawsteps behind him, and caught the scent of his litter-sister.

“I wondered where you . . .” Bella trailed off, spotting Alpha. She followed Lucky as he approached the dog-wolf. Lucky could hardly believe that the fearsome leader of the Wild Pack could have been transformed into this fretful creature. Was he in pain? What was wrong with him?

He seems so feeble. . . .

Lucky had to remind himself that this was the same merciless dog who had relegated him to Omega, and had threatened to brand him with a permanent scar.

Lucky followed Alpha’s gaze to settle on the rolling black cloud that the dog-wolf was watching so intently. He stopped dead, staring in disbelief. The cloud had inflated, twisting in the air.

Am I imagining things?

Four long limbs seemed to grow from the strange dark mass, followed by a neck and a thick black tail. The neck bulged into a head with long black ears. For an instant it looked like the hideous shape of a dog forged of ash.

Alpha spoke in a low, strangled voice, almost as though to himself. “A Sky-Dog. An evil Sky-Dog . . .”

Bella drew closer, squinting in the direction of the cloud. “I thought all the Sky-Dogs were good.”

“They said the same thing about the Earth-Dog,” Alpha whined. “They said the Earth-Dog was kind and generous. That she would always provide for us, always look after us. But that didn’t stop the Big Growl.” The dog-wolf’s bushy tail hung between his legs.

Alpha’s helplessness had completely wrongpawed Lucky. He was at a loss for words. He looked again to the sky but the cloud had changed—it no longer resembled a dog. Once again, it looked like just a dark, floating smudge on the horizon.

“It’s only a cloud,” he told them. “Nothing to worry about. It doesn’t mean anything. We should join the others; we have to keep—”

A loud howl rose through the forest—the cry of a dog in pain—and the three dogs spun around. Bella shot toward the sound, followed by Lucky and Alpha. A volley of high-pitched barks cut through the air. Lucky, Bella, and Alpha bounded through the trees, catching up with both Packs and running along the side of the dogs until they reached the front.