A Pack Divided Read Free

they’d created a pile of tiny corpses.
    â€œThey’re barely a mouthful each,” said Snap, pawing at them.
    â€œEvery mouthful feeds the Pack,” Storm reminded her, pleased. “Well done!”
    Her praise, though, seemed to fly straight above Snap’s head. The tan-and-white dog pressed her head to Mickey’s, and for a moment the two successful hunters rested, panting, rubbing their muzzles affectionately together and licking each other’s dirty ears. With a surprised prick of her own ears, Storm took a few paces backward.
    Is this really the moment for snuggling up to your mate? she thought with a shiver of puzzled distaste. What a silly waste of time. It’s only a couple of mice, for the Sky-Dogs’ sake.
    Turning her rump on them, she snatched up her squirrel and dropped it into the hole Mickey and Snap had dug out at the base of the oak. It was as good a place as any to store their prey till they’d finished their hunt: a deep gap between two thick roots. Asshe raised her head, a light, warm breeze moved through the trees, bringing with it that tantalizing scent of rabbit. Storm shook off her moment of discomfort. We’re downwind of the prey—this is a good beginning!
    Excitement rose in her once again, and she gave a low commanding growl to summon the others. She felt a spark of pride, swelling to a warm glow, when they answered her call at once. The four dogs fell in at her flanks and followed her lead as she prowled forward, closer and closer to the shallow bowl of land.
    The rabbits must be hungry after the long cold, Storm realized: they had still not noticed the patrol’s approach. They were too busy browsing and tearing at the new grass with their blunt little teeth. We should be able to cut them off from their burrows , thought Storm, if we all play our part. Her heart beat fast in her rib cage with anticipation.
    Lowering her sleek body still closer to the earth, she crept forward, nodding to the others. They were all in place, just as she’d directed them; again she felt that frisson of satisfaction in her leadership. When she finally sprang, hurtling into the hollow, every nerve in her body sang with the joy of hunting, with the certainty of her own speed and strength and skill. She felt her blood racing, the flex and stretch of each muscle as she dived anddodged and leaped in pursuit of the terrified rabbits. It was like pure energy and fire running through her. Is this how Lightning of the Sky-Dogs feels?
    And it was working just as it should. White bobtails flickered all around the hollow, and the panicked creatures were scattering straight into the jaws of the waiting hunters. Mickey’s powerful teeth clamped down on one of them, and he shook it violently as another doubled back and fled from him—straight into the jaws of Storm. Panting, Storm flung down its limp corpse, then took a moment to watch as Whisper drove the fattest rabbit of all toward the waiting Arrow.
    Arrow was loping along on exactly the right line, and Storm could see he would intercept the fleeing rabbit with ease. So she was stunned to see Whisper’s head flick to the side. Mid-stride, he veered away slightly and herded the rabbit in a different direction, toward Snap.
    But Snap wasn’t watching; she was too busy chasing down a dark-furred rabbit of her own. Whisper’s rabbit crossed her field of vision just as she was about to pounce on hers, and Snap’s pace faltered in surprise and confusion.
    Arrow was racing furiously after the rabbit now, but the abrupt change of tactics had spoiled his line and his focus. Both rabbits,the dark-furred one and the lighter one Whisper had been driving, bolted straight between Arrow and Snap, and vanished into their burrows with a flash of two white tails.
    Storm raced toward them, but she knew she was already too late. Skidding to a halt in a flurry of sandy earth, she stared at the dark burrow entrances, swamped by