Warning: This story has a bad ending.

"Night!" a reddish wolf called to me.

I raised my head, wolf eyes blinking sleepily. "Berry? Why are you calling me?"

The young wolf bounced around me. "We could now go out of camp! For the first time!"

"Really?" My ebony ears shot up. "That's great! Is Moss coming?"

"Yes!" Berry nodded. "Come on!" He nudged me out of the den, talking about how we could explore every bit of our territory. A female wolf with a blue-tinged pelt bounded towards us.

"I'm here!" she cried.

An adult wolf stopped by us. "Make sure you don't stray off the borders, young ones," he rumbled. "Stay inside, and you'll be safe. here are dangers out there." We all nodded our heads furiously. Excitedly, we rushed out of the entrance.

"Come on, let's go!" Berry urged us on. "Every pup gets to explore!"

"Stop right there!" a voice rang out. "You need an adult wolf with you!" A large female gray wolf emerged from a bush, scowling. We dipped our heads guiltily, and our tails stopped wagging.

"We're sorry, Bramble," Moss apologized, her tail lowering. We did not enjoy our first time out, since Bramble was checking our every move. She barked at us for everything.

"Watch where you put your paws!"

"Don't sniff that plant!"

"Lower your voices. You'll scare away the prey!"

"We are not looking over there. That's the border; you shouldn't be curious!"

Our exciting trip quickly became a boring, irritable one.

"Bramble's too bossy," Moss whispered to me. Bramble whipped around and glared at us. "What did you say?"

"Er, Moss said that you are extremely protective of us," Berry jumped in.

Bramble's scowl stretched further down her muzzle. "What a strange thing to say about me," she growled. Then she turned her head and started forwards again.

After a while, when Bramble was inspecting a mushroom, Berry leaned down to us. "I have a plan to get rid of Bramble." We stood with our heads together, making a plan.

When Bramble turned her head to us, we straightened. Good thing she didn't notice what we were doing.

"Bear!" Berry suddenly shouted. He looked at Bramble. "Bear! I smell it! Its over there!"

'Where?" Bramble's fur raised in alarm. "We need to find the bear and inform this to the pack!"

"Follow me!" Berry tore away through the underbrush. Bramble hesitated.

"You stay here," she ordered us. Then she pelted away after Berry. We waited for a while. Then we saw Berry come back to us, chuckling. "Well, I managed to lead Bramble in the wrong direction. Guess where I led her into?"

"Where?" Moss and I chorused.

"Brambles!" Berry answered, then we burst out laughing.

"Bramble was led into brambles!" I giggled. "What a coincidence!"

"That suits her name!" Moss pounded the ground with a paw, still laughing.

"Okay, okay, let's explore the territory ourselves," I calmed them. We skipped along the trees, sniffing at every thing we passed. We were joyous, our tails wagging uncontrollably.

What we didn't know, was that wouldn't last long.

We had crossed the border without knowing, and there was something watching us.

With hunger.