Chapter 4

"Help! Shian hasn't been accounted for! She's gone!" Feather cried out, worry flooding into her Soprano voice. Shadow looked over, sorrowfully. Pain showed in the icy eyes, that had never before portray such an emotion. "Over Here..." She croaked. Feather rushed over, her paws were not visible at the immense speed she had ran at. She skidded to a halt, and her Brown eyes wide with shock. "No... no... NO!" She howled, soft at first in denial, then loud as her voice would go in pain. Her lovely voice cracked with such emotion Shadow nearly wanted to crawl into a ball, and plant her paws over her silky black ears to rid herself of the sound.

Moon-eye rushed over, swinging his head to get a better view of the situation. Hence the reason for his name, His one eye was a milky white, as he was born half blind. "What? What's going on!" He howled at seeing his mate wailing on her knees. "What happened?" a Russet pup yipped, trying to charge into the clearing. "Come now, Time to rest, there is nothing to see here. Sarina, a pup sitter, and sister to Sadomina, whispered to the pups. "Wheres Shian? Shouldn't She be here with us?" A curious gold pup asked. Sadomina padded over beside Sarina, Their mismatched coats the exact opposite of each others. Sarina was gold with a white underbelly and paws. Sadomina was white, with a golden underbelly and paws.

"Shian is fine." Sadomina cooed. "They why is she on the ground? And why is her mother weeping like a willow?" The little russet male asked again. "Shian is sick, and her mother is worried, now it is time for rest, I'm sure Shian will be fine when you awake." Sarina smiled weakly and pushed the pups into the den, Both sisters moving like one, to block the horrific scene.

PUREHEART

Pureheart looked away from the dead pup. When even one wolf is killed, the whole pack is affected. This one will surely not be taken lightly. Feather was now to old to birth pups, and would soon have to step down, along with Moon-eye, To allow the Beta's Sackumori and Silvermoon to take over the duties of Alpha. And then the Deltas would take over Beta and so on. However this death impacted them severely. Shian was the last born Female born to the 'Royal' Bloodline. In other words, the last one born to the 'Tribal' side of the pack, well pure-blood at least. The rest of the pack was a 'Renegade'. This relates to the names, as Sackumori is a Tribal name, Pureheart was not. Her family belonged to the 'Renegade' side of the pack.

Pureheart looked over again. The Gravers or Burial Wolves were being summoned. Moon-eye and Feather tilted their heads back, and howled a slow, and deep melody, calling the mysterious mountain wolves. Burials were not done by any related to the pack. A Tribe of abandoned and deformed wolves called the 'Shikan' took care of burying every dead wolf, as was their oath to do. Barely before the sun had reached the peak of the mountain had they come and gone, removing Shian. Feather trodden after them, almost pleading not to take her daughter. "She's just sleeping... Why are you doing this?" She wept. It took both SunStrike and WaterClaw to hold the broken she-wolf back.

Not before long, Amberheart and Flame returned with Icyfur and the rest. They were devastated at the sight of their home. Wolves had begun to silently clean up the camp, using the broken branches to create a shrine of some sort to the young pup. "I- I- I can't believe this happened..." Amberheart had whispered, oily tears welling up in her eyes as Pureheart and some of their friends described in detail what had happened. "We heard the wails.. and ran... but, then we ran into Icy's patrol.." Flame chocked out.

Pureheart looked at the moon, that was steadily crawling into a Star spilled sky. "And all of this happened to, right before our swearing in.." She said in her Alto voice. A Swearing in was when a Wolf achieved his or her rank. Icyfur and Shadow had already achieved theirs, but hadn't been sworn in. Pureheart and Amberheart still awaited their ranking. Their names would be switched out, if they become a certain rank. They five wolves then returned to the den, to hopefully dream of Shian, now dancing among the stars.

I finally Updated! And thank you everyone who gave me feed back I really appreciate it! This chapter really explains the Wolves complicated society, and how just one death can really change the whole pack. Thank you for reading! ~~~~ Kira