“Good job keeping away from the warriors for so long. Care to share your secret to success?” I asked.
“It wasn’t anything fancy,” Jake said.
“He kept moving around and he is good at hiding his tracks. That made it challenging to find him,” Roland, the warrior, said. “When we thought we had tracked him down, he had moved on to the next spot. Tricky.” Jake looked a little sheepish.
“It didn’t say anything in the rules that you needed to stay in one spot,” he defended himself.
“It didn’t. Well spotted,” Finlay said. He looked almost as pleased as Jake. “Let’s all head back to the firepit. There will be hotdogs and burgers waiting!” Finlay then called out and the pack all joined up to eat. The mood was high and Jake got a lot of attention as pack members came to congratulate him.
“I was thinking we should talk to Jake and see if he is open to do some hide and seek training with the younger pups,” I said to Finlay and Martin. They both looked up from their food.
“That is a good idea. The pups could use some training and Jake will be able to do it the right way for them to see it as fun,” Martin agreed.
“I like it. I will talk to him,” Finlay said.
“I also think we should discuss if he should be considered for joining the games,” I continued.
“I was thinking the same,” Finlay told us.
“He thought outside the box. We should keep an eye on him during the pack training you and Sam are arranging,” Martin said to me. I nodded. After we had eaten, it was time for the warriors to hide and us to find them. As Finlay, Martin, Sam, Medow and I gathered by the fire pit, the warriors got ready. This time we would start at the same place.
“I don’t know about this,” Medow told me. She sounded nervous.
“It’ll be fine. It’s just for a bit of fun,” I said.
“I’m not sure I see the fun in this. What if I can’t find a single one?”
“You just stay with me, baby. We’ll work as a team,” Sam told her.
“What do you say, Red? Want to team up?” Finlay asked.
“In your dreams. This is one of my favourite games. I’m going to find the most warriors of us all,” I told him. The others laughed.
“You are on,” Martin said.
“I’m the Alpha, you know I’ll be the best,” Finlay bragged. I just huffed. Me and my wolf were both in agreement, we would give all we had in this. It was my first time having a wolf during hide and seek and I felt my excitement mirrored back from her. I hadn’t lied when I said I loved this game. It had been a favourite pastime in my old pack. I was good at it back then, despite not having a wolf. With my wolf helping me, I knew I would be hard to beat. The warriors set off and I could feel my wolf honing in on the prey, which was rapidly disappearing into the forest. Time stood still as we both waited for the signal to give chase. When it came, we didn’t hesitate. My wolf added her own speed to mine as we rushed forward. Her focus was on a scent we both knewand we left the others behind as we followed it. I had always been quick on my feet and good at sneaking around. With the help of my wolf, these abilities became even more pronounced. My wolf was a good tracker. It didn’t take her long to track down the first warrior. To my satisfaction I was the first one to call out in the pack mindlink I had found a warrior. Finlay was only a minute behind me and Medow was the next one. I found my second warrior before Martin and Sam had found their first. When all warriors had been found, Finlay and I had found the same amount. He had found the last one and I agreed that made him the winner of our little game.
“You have a talent for tracking. Sure you don’t want to become a warrior?” Sam asked when we were all back at the pack house, eating dinner.
“I’m sure. I won’t do well with training five days a week,” I told him.
“If she became a warrior, who would I trick into helping me in the kitchen?” Medow said to her mate.
“Fine. Forget I asked,” he said. The day had been fun, and it had given us the information we needed to improve the protection of the pack.
Chapter 16
Amie
The day I woke up and found the ground covered in the first snow, I felt like a giddy pup. I stood forever in front of the windows in my room and looked out over the white landscape. I had always loved snow, and I preferred the cold of winter to the heat of summer. The scent of snow had been in the air for days and I had been talking to several of the pups in the pack and promised I would take them sledding. There was a good slope for it in the woods the pups had told me. We were in luck, as it was Saturday there was no school or work. I mindlinked with the pups’ parents while getting ready. They had no objections to me taking the pups out for some fun in the snow. I rushed down to the kitchen and packed a big backpack full of hot chocolate, sandwiches, fruit and some blankets. I ate breakfast as I packed the backpack. Once I was done, I headed outside to wait for the pups. It didn’t take long until Cadence and his best friend, Jon, joined me. Soon, Sam’s two nieces and four other pups had joined our little group.
“Who is ready for a fun time in the snow?” I asked.
“We are!” the pups called out as one. Everyone had their own sled with them. I had the food and we all were excited as we started our walk. The pups had been right, the hill was perfect for sledding, and the pups ran up and sled down in an endless circle. Some of the younger pups asked me to ride with them, which I was more than happy to do. We took a break and had some lunch. We spread the blankets over some fallen trees and ate the sandwiches and drank hot chocolate. While Cadence and Jon helped me pack the blankets and mugs back into the backpack, the others had started to build snowmen. We all spent an hour building snowmen and doing snow angels. I sneaked off behind some trees and changed into my wolf. I jumped out and started chasing them around in the snow. The pups screamed and laughed as they tried to turn the tables and chase after me. We were in the middle of tumbling around in the snow when I heard a chuckle. We all turned towards the sound and saw Finlay standing, looking at us.
“So this is where you have been,” he said.
“Alpha!” the pups all announced and then rushed over to him to tell him all about what we had been doing. I just sat, in my wolf form, and watched.
