"All Hunters report to the base of the Alpha den for an announcement," a loud howl boomed around the Hawk camp, waking every wolf, including Dawn and Raven. It was now sunrise, but thick silver clouds completely covered the sky, darkening the mood.

"Uh-oh!" Dawn cried, looking at the black pup.

"Uh-oh what?" Raven asked, stretching out her limbs.

"Quick!" the white she-wolf whimpered as she pushed Raven into her leaf pile bed with her bushy white tail. Hurriedly, Dawn covered the pup in the drying leaves. "Stay quiet! If you don't, they'll send you back to your mother! And she's not fit enough to care for you!"

Raven nodded as she nestled down, buried in leaves. Once the pup was out of sight, Dawn dashed out of her den, cold winds nipping at her skin. The sky was a light grey as flurries of fresh snowflakes fluttered down and onto the frozen yellow grass.

Dawn sat herself down in between two she-wolves. The one on her left was tan with black patches on her ears, back, and tail. The one on her right was a pretty light brown wolf with a slowly-drying daisy perched behind her ear. Both had feathered wings and precious goldish-brown eyes, and turned to face Dawn when she sat down between them.

"Hey, Dawn," the light brown she greeted.

"Hi, Blossom," Dawn replied. "How'd you sleep?"

Blossom growled, her golden eyes suddenly clouding with anger. "Pain from the battle kept me up most of the night." She opened her feathery wings, revealing a deep, foot-long wound. It was extremely disgusting in sight. "River wolf clawed me on the back. Literally a few hairs away from slicing off a wing."

Dawn looked around at the other Hawk wolves, who were also gathered in front of the Alpha den. Many of them still had mangled fur and open wounds. Friends and siblings were taking turns to lick one another's bleeding scars clean, doing their best to get rid of their fellow Packmates' pain.

A light brown wolf with striking green eyes hovered and landed onto the top of the Alpha den. "Attention, everyone!" he howled loudly, causing all of the Hawk wolves to silence and focus on him. "As you all know from last night, Fang has declared a war between the Shadow and Hawk Packs."

"Ugh..." Dawn mentally groaned. "I didn't need to be reminded by Head Elder Kale about this..."

"We were lucky enough to not lose any wolves in the fight at the meeting last night," Kale stared at the crowd with his grass-colored eyes. "However, this could most likely change within a matter of days. With Fang and his wolves on the prowl, who knows what kind of blood he'll shed to protect his Pack's name--"

The tan-and-black she-wolf spoke for the first time all day. "But what if we are as violence-thirsty as the Shadow Pack?" she challenged. "Perhaps they are as scared as us as we are of them?"

Kale burst into laughter. "Eve! We aren't scared of the Shadow Pack! Their measly dragon wings can't stop the force of the mighty hawk!"

Hawks were the sacred animals in the Hawk Pack. They were believed to bring good luck to the wolves with feathered wings, and were never hunted. If a Hunter were to kill a majestic hawk, they were to be shunned and hated among the Hawk wolves.

"But what if they don't want to have a war? Just Fang?" Eve argued with the Head Elder. "What if we don't want to fight?!"

"If you do not wish to fight I won't feel sorry for you when you become painfully slaughtered alive in battle," Kale growled, his fur beginning to bristle.

"I would rather DIE than be fight against my brother!" Eve barked. Dawn began to notice the tears forming in her eyes, her emotions about to spill over with her thoughts.

"Shut your muzzle!" Kale's sharp claws gripped the edge of the Alpha den tightly, almost enough to sink into the rock.

Eve muttered something under her breath, and then remained quiet.

"Now, as I was saying," Kale agitatedly growled. "Starting first thing tomorrow morning, we will be switching between days when it comes to hunting. Half of you will go hunting with Blythe. The other half will stay in camp and learn fighting techniques."

Many howls and barks of protest arose before Kale had even finished his sentence. The loudest of these was a ginger she-wolf with ice-blue eyes.

"But we can't cut our hunting time short!" she yipped. She raised a paw toward the sky, from which the snow was still falling. "Now that winter is here, prey is scrawnier and harder to find. We need all of the time possible to feed our Pack!"

"Well, Blythe, would you rather have scrawny wolves from hunger or dead wolves from poor and cowardly fighting?" Kale boomed, silencing the ginger she-wolf. "That's what I thought. Now, tomorrow I will divide you up into two groups. You will hunt all day if you are in group one. If you are in group two, you will be practicing from sunrise to sunhigh. From sunhigh to sundown, you will guard and patrol the territory. We will switch positions between groups every day. Meeting adjourned."

Dawn dashed back to her den as the other wolves began to head toward the forest to hunt. "Raven?" she hurriedly whispered. Stepping into the den, she saw the familiar black-furred pup, but was chatting and giggling with a handsome full-grown wolf with caramel-brown fur: Evan.