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Rudi was the wolf cubwho’d accompanied Mr Crepsley, Harkat, Gavner, and me on part of the journey to Vampire Mountain He’d been in a se male whom I’d christened Streak They’d left us to unite with other wolf packs close to Va with excites were longer and his fur was even thicker Itrouble, Rudi," I ers He cocked his ears and gazed attrouble," I repeated softly, then collapsed again

Rudi rubbed his nose against ht cheek It et and warainstto warm me up When he sa helpless I was, he took a few paces back and howled Moer, sleeker, and every bit as familiar as Rudi

"Streak," I whispered as the wolf advanced cautiously His ears perked up when he hearduntil Streak snapped at him The adult wolf sniffed me from head to toe, then barked at Rudi They lay out flat besidetheir heat

After a few hthe worst of the chill out of them I curled up into a ball, so the wolves could cover more of me, and buried my face between Rudi’s hairy shoulders We lay like that for hours, the wolves shifting position every so often to keep warot to his feet and barked

I tried getting up Failed Shook o on" The wolf studied me silently, then bent and bit my butt! I yelped and rolled away instinctively Streak followed, and I leapt to ood -," I shouted, then stopped when I saw the look on his face

I stared down at rinned sheepishly "I’," I whispered redundantly Streak howled softly, then nippedwearily, I set off for the forest, and the wolves padded along besidewasn’t easy I was cold and exhausted, and stumbled more ti Whenever I stalled, they pressed against et up At one stage, Streak let ed h the snow

I’m not sure why they bothered with me - usually wild animals leave wounded companions behind if they can’t keep up Maybe they wanted to stay on the good side of the va Council Or perhaps they sensed hidden resources within me and knew , hard walk, we entered a glade, where a large pack of wolves had gathered There , playing, and groo themselves, all different colors, builds, and breeds The wolves regarded me with suspicion One, a dark, bulky ly, raising its hackles Streak rowled back

The two stood snarling at each other for a few seconds before the unwelco wolf turned its back on us and loped away

Rudi ran after the dark wolf, yapping, but Streak barked angrily at the cub, and he returned, tail between his legs As I blinked owlishly at the wolves, Streak nudgedthree cubs She laid a protective paw over her cubs and growled at us as we approached, but Streak whined and dropped to his belly to show he meant no harm

When the she-wolf had relaxed, Streak stood and locked gazes with the fes and snarled back, pawed at the snow in front of her, then locked gazes again This time, she lowered her head and didn’t respond Streak struck the backs of round As he nudged me on, I understood what he wanted"I can’t!"

Streak growled and pushed ue Besides, it ry, but too weak to eat I needed to get so that didn’t need to be chewed

I lay down and wriggled forward, gently shoving the three cubs to one side,space The cubs yapped suspiciously at me, then crowded around, sniffed me all over, and accepted me as one of their own Whenshe-wolf’s belly, I took a deep breath, paused, then found a teat, closed my lips around it, and drank