You waited for it, you earned it. The riveting climax of the battle between the packs.

"How did you break out?" I demanded.

Kava chuckled. "I still have a few loyal followers in your pack, Aniu. And your father, fool that he is, put those very wolves in charge of my prison during the fight!"

I bristled at the insult, ready to tear him limb from limb. "Don't you dare say that about my Father," I hissed through my teeth.

Kava laughed. "Worry about yourself, sweet stuff. By the time I'm through with you and your boyfriend, my parents will be done with your dear mother and father. Then, with them weakened, my followers and I will move in and finish them off, claiming our victory over your pack, and mine."

I was horrified. This wolf would kill his own parents to satisfy his ambition? "You monster!" I spat.

He laughed. "Don't waste your time trying to sweet-talk me, Aniu. First I'm going to get rid of your boyfriend, and then I'll decide what to do with you."

I hunched my shoulders and puffed up my fur, but Kodan stepped in the way. His fur stuck out so straight that he fairly seemed to have doubled in size. "For the record, I am not her boyfriend. But I swear if you lay a paw on her, I will tear you apart."

"Oh, how heroic," sneered the excuse for a wolf. He jerked his head in a signal. "Take them."

Our former pack members surged forward. Kodan met them head-on, grabbing one by the throat and heaving him into another. "Run!" he shouted. "I'll hold them off!"

"No!" I jumped forward to join him, but he kicked me away with his hind legs.

"Sorry, Aniu, but your father ordered me to keep you out of the fight!"

I stared at him. He was managing to hold his own against Kava and the traitors, but I could see it wouldn't last forever. "Come on!" I yelled. I ran, followed moments later by Kodan.

"Sorry about the kick," he said as he came up alongside me.

"I'll be alright," I assured him. "Listen, I know a way we can get rid of them, but we have to fall off a cliff."

"What?"

"There's a cliff nearby with a snowy ledge partway down. We can land on that and pretend to be dead. When they come down by the trail to make sure, we'll take them by surprise and knock them off the ledge."

He grunted. "Let's do it."

We sprinted for the cliff. "We have to make this convincing," I told him. "We'll stop at the edge and pretend to fight back."

He gave me a sideways look. "Pretend, huh?"

I smiled in spite of myself. "Somehow I get the feeling that if you weren't a dog, or if I weren't a wolf, we'd end up mates."

"Well, well, well," chuckled Kava, catching up with us. "Now you've got nowhere to run, you little rats. And at such a convenient place, too."

As far as I knew, Kava had no knowledge of the ledge. I was praying inside that this wasn't another case of him knowing more than he let on.

"Toss the mutt of the edge," he ordered his followers. "Aniu has given me a lot of trouble, so I think I'll finish her personally." He emphasized this remark with a look that sent chills through every atom of my soul, and I knew that what he had in mind would be worse than actually throwing myself to my death.

The wolves charged. "Split!" I yelled. Kodan and I jumped to either side, and three of them went over the side. The rest stopped in time, except for one whom Kodan managed to knock over while he was off-balance. At first, it seemed we might not have to resort to my plan at all. But then they converged on Kodan and threw him over.

"No!" I howled in dismay. The ledge, at only about a wolf-length and a half wide, was so narrow that could easily miss it from being forcefully hurled over the edge. Both Kava and stared down as my friend miraculously landed in safety. He twitched a couple of times, then lay still.

"One down…" Kava chuckled. Then his evil eyes locked onto mine. "And one pretty lady to go…"

I didn't let him finish. With a howl, I leaped over the edge, aiming for a landing right beside Kodan. The impact hurt even with the snow to cushion me, and I wondered if Kodan was still in condition to fight. I lay still beside him, allowing my legs to twitch as if I were dying.

Up above, I heard Kava snort. "Come on. We'd better make sure they're dead."

I opened my eye just wide enough to see him leading his pack down to us by way of a narrow ledge connected to our wider one. "Get ready," I whispered to Kodan, praying he could hear me. I would have been relieved to hear anything, but I could not have hoped for a better answer.

"Dibs on old sulfur-breath," he hissed back.

Kava stopped and sniffed at me. Seizing the moment, I rolled onto my feet and struck him a blow across the face as hard as I could, driving him back several feet. "You're not the only one who knows how to act, Kava!" I spat. Out of the corner of my eye I could see another wolf doubled up with pain from a two-footed kick Kodan must have planted in his stomach. Kodan rammed him with his skull, knocking him against the rock wall behind us.

"Get them!" ordered Kava. But we had the advantage now. Most of the traitors were still on the narrow path and could only come one at a time. So while I fought them off, knocking one after another over the edge before they could swarm us, Kodan faced off against Kava.

Oops, sorry. You'll have to wait a little more. Not to worry; the next chapter will contain a twist guaranteed to blow you away.