“All right,” Phyllis said, as if she still needed convincing.

“Besides, she’s almost healed. My guess is she’ll be wanting to leave sometime tonight or tomorrow, just like the doctor said.”

“Then we won’t stay too long tonight,” Phyllis said, checking her watch.

“All right,” the ranger replied, heading for the front door. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave.”

“See you guys later,” Phyllis said, following the ranger out of the house.

Noble and Tora set to work clearing the dinner dishes off the table while Harlan filled the sink with dishwater. Everyone was working well together as a team.

Except for Argus.

“Where is Argus?” Tora asked, as she struggled with a heavy pile of plates.

Just then Argus appeared in the kitchen, wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, and sneakers.

Noble stopped what he was doing and said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Running,” said Argus.

“What? After the ranger clearly set the ground rules, you’re still going running?”

Argus sighed. “I finished second today,” he said.

“Great,” said Harlan, “that’s better than yesterday, right?”

“Second,” Argus repeated, “as in the one that comes after the one who wins.”

Noble wasn’t getting it. “Yeah, so?”

“I want to win.”

“You will win,” Noble stated. “This is just training. In a week or two, you’ll be running circles around everyone.” A shrug. “Besides, who cares where you finish now? It’s just practice.”

“I care,” Argus said.

Noble shook his head. “I can understand that you want to do well. But what’s so important about winning?”

Argus tried to explain. “I’m the strongest of us four, right?”

Noble nodded, as did Tora and Harlan. “And if we were a pack in the wild, I would be the alpha male, right?”

Noble had come to this conclusion years ago. In the wild, size and strength was everything and pack leaders were decided by fights—sometimes to the death—in order to find out who was strongest. But because the pack also lived in the human world, Argus knew he had to step aside and let Noble lead, something that had to bother him from time to time, like now.

“Here’s something I can be number one at,” Argus continued. “I can win, and all it’ll take is practice.”

“But what about what the ranger said?”

“He doesn’t have to know. The ranger and Phyllis will be gone for at least two hours. I’ll be back way before that.”

It didn’t sit right with Noble. “Look, the weekend’s coming. We can all run with you…during the day.”

Argus grinned. “That would be great. But I’m running tonight too.” He headed for the front door.

“Argus. Don’t!” was the last thing Noble said before his brother left the house.

Tora looked at Noble. “When is he ever going to learn?” she said.

“Not until something bad happens, I’m afraid.”