Chapter 10

Mika flew through Lush Wood as fast as her legs would carry her. It wasn't long before she found herself out of the woods and racing through the grass of Pleasant Valley.

"Gabu! Mei!" Mika yelled, praying that they were going to be home. Seconds later, she saw Gabu appear in the entrance to the den.

"Mika? What . . .?" Gabu started, but Mika cut him off.

"Where's Mei?" she demanded.

Gabu blinked, mystified by the look of panic on his mate's face. "He went to hang out with his friends for awhile before the sun goes down," he explained.

"We have to find him. Now!" Mika cried, starting to turn back to the woods to go look for him.

"Wait," Gabu said, jumping in front of her. "Talk to me first. What is going on?"

"Rin told Daichi," Mika explained, and watched as the realization crossed over Gabu's face. "He's getting a hunting team together right now to come after Mei."

Without another word, the pair turned and headed into the trees.

Using their noses, it didn't take long for them to locate the group of animals. Seeing that Hara was present, Gabu forced Mika to stop before they would become visible to them.

"You better wait here," Gabu whispered knowing that she would understand his concern, and he headed over towards the animals.

"Gabu?" Mika heard Mei's shocked voice at seeing his friend.

As Mika had expected, the brown bunny had dodged behind a tree at the sight of the wolf's approach. The other creatures hadn't moved from their original locations.

"Something's happened, Mei," Gabu said. "Can we talk?"

Mei nodded his head. "Sure."

Gabu then turned and started to head back to where Mika was hiding, knowing that Mei would follow him.

"Mika?" the goat expressed in shock when he saw the female wolf. "What are you doing here?"

Mika sent Gabu a look. When he nodded his head, giving her permission to tell him the news, she turned back to the goat.

"Rin told Daichi about you and Gabu. The pack is on their way here."

Mei's eyes widened in fear and shock at hearing the words. "What do we do?"

"I . . ." Mika paused, and pricked up her ears. "Do you hear that?" she whispered to Gabu. In the distance, she could clearly make out the sounds of running feet.

Nodding, Gabu nudged Mei, forcing him into a bush. "Hide!"

Huddling together, the three friends held their breath as they waited in silence. The sound of pounding feet grew steadily closer until they could see the feet rushing right passed them through the leaves of their hiding place.

"Now what?" Gabu asked when the wolves had drifted away.

"We don't have a choice anymore, Gabu. We have to leave," Mei stated calmly to his friend.

"I'm coming with you," Mika spoke up.

"No, we talked about that, Mika," Gabu insisted. "I don't want to pull you away from your family. You shouldn't get anymore involved with this."

"I already am involved," Mika pointed out. "Besides, Rin told Daichi that I was hanging out with Mei too. If I stay, I'm going to be in serious trouble."

Gabu sighed in truce. "I'm sorry, Mika. I shouldn't have talked you into coming over."

Mika shook her head. "Don't be. I care about you, Gabu, and Mei is my friend now too. I want to go with you."

"So, what's the plan?" Mei asked, bring them back to their current problem. "When they don't find us at the burrow, they are going to start searching these woods."

"We'll have to find a place to hide out until it gets dark and then make a run for it. It's our best chance of escape," Gabu reasoned.

"We still have a couple hours before sunset. Where are we going to hide?" Mika asked.

"I know a place," Mei whispered. "This way. Come on."

Mei lead the two wolves to an old, hollowed out tree that wasn't far from where they had originally been hiding in the bush.

"Sadow and Sada showed me this place. We played here a couple of times," Mei explained.

"It'll work," Gabu nodded in approval as they headed inside to get settled.

With Mei huddled in between the two wolves in an attempt to disguise his scent, the three friends sat in stone silence, too on-edge to try and communicate with each other.

Occasionally, the group did hear the pack moving around outside of their hideout, but the wolves never seemed to get too close.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the sun started to sink closer to the horizon. It had been awhile since they last heard the approach from one of their rivals as well.

"Maybe they gave up and went home?" Mei asked hopefully.

"Not likely," Mika noted. "They are probably just searching another part of the woods."

"It's almost sunset," Gabu added, watching the bright sphere in the distance. "We should probably get going."

Reluctantly, the group slowly made their way out of the tree and into the open.

"They've probably left Pleasant Valley by now," Mika said. "No cover of trees . . . lots of open space. They would have scanned it and moved on to check the woods fairly quickly. They wouldn't expect to find us there."

Mei nodded in agreement. "Lets start by heading in that direction."

Keeping their ears pricked for danger, the friends silently hurried away from the sinking sun.

As they stepped through the bushes that lead them onto the grassy, open field, Gabu and Mei couldn't help but turn to take one last look at Full Moon Burrow. It was the first place they had watched the moon rise together . . . the first home that they had shared together as best friends.

Turning away from the burrow that had so quickly become their home, the wolves and the little white goat hurried off into the distances, hopping to finally find a place where their friendship would be excepted.