This is what happens on a snow day! My first story! YAY! Just so you know, I am changing the names of things back to their normal things, Ex. sharp claw=cat, long paw= human, ect. It just makes my writing easier to understand. Also, people who have never read the books can understand it better. Bye!

The River Pack

Alpha-male brown and black Rottweiler (also known as Smokey)

Beta-female lean and tan Greyhound (also known as Cinder)

Hunters

Rusty-male spotted American English coonhound

Sky- female brown and black German Shepherd

Patrolers

Luna-small female

Omega-small pointed ear female, also black and white (also known as Kia)

Ch. 1

Sky yawned peacefully. She waded into the clear stream, her paws chilled by the cold water. She loved being so close to the River-Dog. Her Mother-dog and Father-dog had lived here. Her father had died before she was born, and her mother had died when she was only a few weeks old. Because she had been weaned to early, Sky often had problems with keeping meat down when she was a pup. But she was a yearling now, and she had gotten over it. Sky loved this territory. It was far from the human city. It was surrounded completely by a huge river, keeping away feral cats and bears. Anything that wanted to get into their territory had to swim. Her pack was so small, only six dogs, but they were strong, River-dog defended them, Forest-dog blessed them with plentiful food, Sun-dog warmed them, and Earth-dog strengthened them. Yes, nothing could go wrong.

She heard Alpha's sharp bark. It was time for a hunt! She made her way through the musty forest, to the clearing her pack always met for a hunt.

" We're going to have a huge hunt today! Luna spotted a whole herd of deer! We need every dog, even Omega!" Alpha said proudly. Omega smiled. She rarely got to go on hunts.

The six dogs quietly slunk in and out of the trees, searching for the herd.

"They're to the north of here" whispered Luna to Alpha and Beta.

Luna and Omega had to take twice as many steps to keep up. Finally, they caught the scent of the herd. Then they saw them. It was an old sickly buck, a young strong buck, and to middle aged does. One was pregnant, probably sired by the younger buck.

" We're definitely not taking her," said Beta," She's pregnant. It's inhumane to kill her."

" The older buck, he's not going to make it through the winter anyway," decided Alpha, " Rusty, Sky, separate him from the rest"

" Yes sir," said Rusty.

The German Shepherd and Coon hound stalked quietly in the thick grasses. Sky was now only a couple of yards from the buck. Rusty gave her a signal with a flick of his tail, and he burst out of the thicket five or six yards from her. The buck, surprised by the attack, reared defensively. The does galloped into the woods. The younger buck hesitated to leave. A few growls from Rusty changed his mind.

At another signal, Sky sprinted out to meet Rusty. They now had the buck cornered. They were everywhere at once, and the buck didn't know where to go. The rest of the pack arrived, snapping at the buck's hindquarters. It was only a few minutes before the buck, bloodied and weak, nodded his head and closed his eyes, as if giving himself up to them, and collapsed onto the green grass. He exhaled deeply, but he never inhaled again. Alpha bowed his head respectfully, to both the deer and the Forest-dog, as both would feed them tonight.

"Let us bring him back to camp, and we will feast!" said Alpha, and there were a few cheerful scattered yips.

Once the River pack had returned to the place they had gather for the hunt, darkness had fallen. Beta raised her nose to the Moon-dog and howled. Sky sat down next to her and howled too. Alpha, Rusty, Luna, and Omega howled happily as well. Their wild howls echoed into the sky, and taken by the winds into the night. Howling was an amazing feeling for any dog.

Sky was suddenly aware of one less voice. Omega had stopped howling. The Great Howl had barely started. No one had noticed. Omega had disappeared into the forest, and Sky stopped to follow her. For some reason, everyone noticed her stop howling.

"Where are you going Sky?" asked Luna.

"Um... I just have to pee- Um... I'll be back in a minute," Sky quickly made up a story.

Sky spotted Omega in the thicket, with a leg of the deer in her paws! Dogs always ate in rank order, and eating out of turn was one of the worst things a dog could do!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT?!" Sky roared.

" I-I was r-really hungry, and I-I couldn't help but take just a little," stammered Omega.

"A LITTLE?!"

"O-okay... so it's not a little. Please don't tell Alpha!"

"I may not have to" Sky said, for hearing the commotion, the rest of the pack was coming.

Suddenly, without thinking, Sky plunged her face into the leg, gulping mouthfuls, bloodying her face.

"What are you doing?!" Omega gasped.

" Get out of here!"

"NO! You're not going to take my punishment. The pack can afford to kick me out, but not you!"

But it was to late...

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE RIVER-DOG, FOREST-DOG, EARTH-DOG, SUN-DOG, AND MOON-DOG ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT?!" Alpha roared looking at Sky. She had never seen him so angry in all her life...