A Pack in a desolate place, where half the year is a fierce winter and the other half just the opposite, had its members accustomed to the cold and the snow. The children loved to play sliding on the snow, and the elders looked after the younger ones.

On one of those days, everyone had returned home, but a daring little girl insisted to her brother:

"Just one more time," and he says no, turns around, and heads home without noticing that the little girl had slipped down the mountain. She was never seen again.

Years passed and the Pack suffered from a lack of food, someone was hunting in their territory and if they didn't find the hunter and stop him, they ran the risk of starving or having to move the Pack to another territory.

Chapter 1. The Hunt

A shadowy figure slips between the wide trunks of pine trees covering the mountain's descent, whitened by snow. It is a night of a full moon, so the shadows project, hiding the figure from the group of men in the center of a clearing.

There are four burly men, wrapped in thick bear fur coats. They wear heavy pants and boots suitable for walking in the snow. In the center of the clearing, on a fire, they roast the meat of an animal they have hunted. A pile of pelts, set apart, still stained with the blood of the animals they belonged to.

The watching figure is thin and dressed poorly, her clothes are not lined and on her feet, she wears a pair of worn sneakers. But she doesn't feel the sharp, biting cold of Alaska, having grown used to it, partly because she can't afford better.

She's a female, alone, but unafraid. She had been following the trail of those men for weeks and wouldn't cower now that she has found them. She watches their movements carefully, waiting for them to eat, maybe lie down, or for one to step away to relieve himself. It's clear she plans to take them one by one, as what they are doing is neither right nor legal.

She waits patiently, crouched behind a large pine tree, distant enough from the camp that they don't notice her, but close enough that she can hear them clearly. Her sense of smell is quite potent; she is a wolf shifter and, besides hearing them well, can also see well in the night.

She also has the advantage of being nocturnal, which means she remains alert during night hours. Time passes, they eat, drink vodka to warm up and prepare to sleep. They've pitched small snow-camouflaged tents with fur-lined sleeping bags inside, which the female sees through the tents' openings.

One of them wanders away to relieve himself, as she suspected. After he distances himself, standing by a tree and starts to unzip his pants, but he doesn't finish, as an arrow whooshes in and pierces his head, dropping him dead to the ground. The slim figure continues to maneuver through the trees and makes her way back to the camp.

Two have already entered their tents, and the third takes care to store things and extinguish the fire. But, as he bends down to throw snow over the small fire still burning, he falls atop it, also with an arrow crossing his head. But he emits a groan and his heavy body falling makes noise, drawing the attention of one of those getting ready to sleep.

The man rises slightly to exit his tent, asking what happened, but doesn't manage to see where the arrow came from, as he doesn't even raise his head before it pierces him, entering through the top and exiting through the back of his neck. His body also falls lifeless, leaving just one remaining.

The female races to the entrance of the fourth man's tent, and he emerges holding a shotgun, startled:

"Who are you?" he asks, raising the shotgun toward the figure before him.

"It doesn't matter…" the trigger of the crossbow is pulled.

The fourth man fails to completely raise his shotgun and falls with the arrow embedded between his eyes. The hunter of hunters looks around at the mess that spoiled the look of such a beautiful and serene place, with rotten bloodstains from men even more corrupt, greedy, and dishonorable. Just as they hunted and killed so many innocent lives, they were hunted and killed, only they were guilty of animal massacre.

She contemplates what to do with all this; she can't take some of the materials as it would be too much weight to carry back to her cabin, concealed high in the pine forest. She opts to enter one of the empty tents and grabs a sleeping bag, sees a fox fur coat, and a pair of snow boots, wraps everything up in a bundle, and leaves.

Moving to the other tent to see if there's any food, she hears a distant sound of wolves running on the snow. She quickly checks the tent, finding some chocolate bars. She rips the bottom of it, and exiting, runs across the hard snow, leaving the site before the wolves arrive.

She had learned to run on the snow from bears, who, despite their bulk, run without sinking into the thick snow. Thus she runs up through the forest, hiding in shadows and rubbing the items taken from the hunter against trees to mask her scent. The wolves, arriving at the camp, might still catch her scent but would identify it as one of the dead hunters'.

She arrives at her cabin, and before entering, removes all her clothes and, even naked, digs a hole in the snow behind the cabin and buries her clothes. She quickly enters, stores her crossbow, lights the fireplace, and hangs a cauldron of water over it to heat. She wears a thick robe to shield her body, takes a bar of chocolate, and eats.

Now she could relax. Mission accomplished.

A different group of four males was approaching quickly, yet they were somewhat distant from the camp. They, too, were searching for the hunters who had been killing a variety of animals without discrimination on their lands. Those who assume that the remote and desolate area is unclaimed are mistaken. On the contrary, it serves as a sanctuary home to a host of unique and exotic creatures—the Shifters.

The group followed the distinct scent of four smelly humans and one female, who, they suspected, belonged to their own kind: a wolf shifter. They pressed on, concerned as the snow had covered the tracks, leaving only scents to guide them.

Unsure whether the female was with or captured by the hunters, they continued since the Alpha had ordered them not to return without answers, their people were on the verge of starvation due to the snow and the reckless hunters. They moved slowly, constantly sniffing the air until a strong odor overwhelmed their lupine senses.

In their wolf form, they raced towards the rich scent of human blood, and as they drew closer, they began to smell the rotting scent of animals dead for days and fresher human blood. They arrived at a campsite to a ghastly sight: a stack of various animal pelts which, despite being frozen, gave off the heavy scent they had detected.

A body lay across a still-burning fire, and the smell of burning flesh tainted the air. They approached the tents, finding two more bodies, and deduced from the number of tents that there should be one more body nearby, unless it had managed to escape, which seemed unlikely. They shifted back to human form to don the smelly but warm clothes of the humans, and one of them went to seek the fourth body.

After surveying the scene, they gathered the naked bodies into a pile and ignited a fire using gasoline and other materials found. They burned everything until it turned to ash. They collected all the salvageable materials and packed them. Among their finds was a good stock of non-perishable food items like powdered milk and instant coffee. They contemplated how to transport it all, knowing there had to be a vehicle since they found a key, but it was likely far.

They searched the surrounding area of the camp and discovered two sleds with pull ropes. Preferring the silent tug of effort over the noise of a snowmobile, they hauled the goods to the camp and distributed the spoils onto the sleds, double-checking the ropes before stripping them over the cargo.

Transforming into their large wolves, each pair took hold of a sled's rope in their jaws and, pulling, they ran, heading back to their Pack.

It took a moment to align their strides with their partner's, but once in sync, they glided swiftly over the snow. Their thoughts turned to the joy they would bring to the Pack with food for the children. Everyone would be pleased, especially the Alpha, upon learning that the hunters were dead.

Nearing the Pack, the leader of the group howled loudly to announce their arrival, and they soon saw wolves rushing to help. The Alpha stood at the village entrance, and smiled at the sight of the loaded sleds.

Of course, there was a somber side as they carried pelts belonging to greedily slain animals. But using them seemed better than allowing the creature's deaths to be utterly meaningless.

The group entered the Pack, flanked by the Alpha and some family members. They needed to clean themselves with a hot shower and eat something warm after their time in the snow before the Alpha could sate his curiosity about the events.

The female hunter, upon returning home and taking a hot shower, heated up a stew of vegetables and dried elk meat and devoured it hungrily. The one benefit of the harsh winter in that region was that food didn't spoil. Just as the young woman thought she'd get some rest, there was a knock at the door. Only one person would dare to come in the dead of winter, and they should be hibernating in their cave, not here.

"What's up, big guy?" she asked, opening the door.

"Hey, Ava, I came to check on you, Blanca was worried when she saw smoke in the forest," Uchoa, her friend, explained.

"Come in, Uchoa, want something hot to drink?" she invited.

"No, Ava, I have to get back soon, my Blanca is about to give birth and I need to be there," hence why he wasn't hibernating. "She sent this for you, it used to be warm but I think it's cooled now," he handed her a thermal bag with a soup container.

"Thank her for me. That smoke was from the hunters' camp, I finally finished them off. But wolves got there before I could do anything and set everything ablaze. Actually, I brought something for you," she went in, retrieved a coat and boots, and handed them to him. "It's synthetic fur, you need to wash it, but it will be useful this winter."

"Wow, Ava, thanks, I really need it, with these hunters around, it's been hard to work. I'll tell Blanca what happened, she'll be relieved with no hunters lurking around. I gotta go." He kissed Ava's cheek and left.

"Thanks, big guy," she called after him and shut the door against the cold.

She left the container from Blanca, more soup, on the table. She added more wood to the fire, ensuring it would stay lit longer. Dawn was breaking, though still quite dark, and finally, she managed to lie down, cover herself, and fall into the deep sleep of someone who has fulfilled their duty, albeit without being able to keep the provisions.

Life on that part of the planet was tough, especially in winter, when game was scarce and the cold made everyone want to hibernate like bears. Ava was well-acquainted with such a life, lacking the comforts of a well-appointed, cozy, and heated home. Being left without the spoils meant extra hardship for her.

At the pack's haven, with the boys clean and fed, the Alpha listened to the recounting of all that had transpired.

"So you're telling me you got there, and someone had just finished off the hunters? Did you pick up the killer’s scent?" Alpha Zoren inquired.

"The whole time we tracked the group, we scented a female. But when we arrived, although her scent was there, we saw no trace of her," Alan, the Beta and group leader, reported.

"The odd thing, Alpha, is that the scent seemed familiar, yet I can't remember whose it could be," stated Demetrius, the pack's top scent tracker.

"So, it was one of our own?" the Alpha sought confirmation.

"Yes, definitely a she-wolf," Demetrius confirmed.

"Are you sure there were no traces of her? And the arrows that killed the men, did you smell anything on them?" the Alpha continued his probing.

They looked at each other, and the youngest among them confessed:

"Sorry, Alpha Zoren, we didn't even consider that," he said, scratching his head palm and making a grimace.

"It's okay, guys, go rest. With a clear head, you might remember more," the Alpha dismissed them.

"Oh, I remembered something, Alpha," spoke up he who had been silent until then, "I noticed there were no wolf tracks at the scene, not even from the female."

"Interesting, so the female didn't shift at any point and wasn't there when you arrived," the Alpha pondered, stroking his thin beard. "Perhaps she could not shift because she was carrying a beast with her."

All looked at him, surprised. They hadn't considered that the she-wolf might have been after the hunters, just like they were. In that case, she realized they were coming and quickly left the scene, taking nothing with her. Thus, the hunters' spoils should be hers.

There was much to contemplate, and the boys' minds were tired. Noting this, the Alpha let them go to rest and he went to his own abode. He had spent days worried about them out in the cold, at the mercy of hunters, and was also bothered by the pups facing meager sustenance. Thankfully, they returned well and with milk to feed the youngsters. Now he could rest a little.

**

All slept until dusk, a normal occurrence for nocturnal creatures like wolves. However, this time it was due to sheer exhaustion, as the human world operates by day and the pack had dealings with humans. They provided security services and snow clearing with their trucks, and some worked in the shops of the nearby town.

The pack's settlement, about an hour and a half drive away, was accessed by a paved road cutting through the forest, allowing for the transport of people and goods. Unfortunately, it also paved the way for hunters. This reminded Zairon to notify the sheriff about the hunters. The sheriff was a bear shifter.

The Zagaian village, as they had called themselves for hundreds of years, resembled a small town. Anyone arriving by car would enter through a central street, lined with houses and shops, as well as a small police station, a mechanic's workshop, and a medical clinic. There was a school for the children, set farther away, and teenagers went to study in the larger city.

The houses' roofs were tall and steep, designed for easy snowfall clearance. Painted red, they stood out against the white snow. Surrounded by an extensive forest, they had the perfect environment for white wolves to run and hunt. A nearby river provided water delivered to the Village through underground pipelines.

Zairon had invested heavily in a modern heating system for the water and pipeline protection, so the water wouldn't freeze before reaching the Village. They also had two robust generators providing electricity to everyone. A dam was under construction farther away, but the state governor had promised direct power soon, which made Zairon think of sustainable energy. However, with the food scarcity, he had to wait until there was capital to invest.

Wolves live off the hunt, and in its absence, they can dwindle and die. Unbeknownst to them, the illegal hunters had wreaked havoc on the local fauna and the lives of the shifters.

Zairon stretched upon waking and tended to his morning ritual, glancing at his reflection and deciding to trim his unshapely beard. He plugged in the electric shaver, and a spark caused the whole house to lose power. He yanked the cord, removing the device. Running his hand through his hair, he went to check the circuit breakers; indeed, one had tripped. He reset it, and power returned—he'd have to replace that outlet.

Using the kitchen outlet, he shaved while setting up the coffee maker to brew. He arranged eggs and bacon and finished his grooming, unplugging the device. Noticing beard trimmings scattered on the floor, he mused on the benefit of being without a mate: no one to grumble about the mess.

Zoren left after eating and headed straight for the storage where the sheriff was examining the material collected at the hunters' camp. The sheriff looked sorrowfully at the frozen, untreated pelts, likely from carcasses abandoned anywhere. Precious meat for the wolves. It was fortunate that bears preferred fish, or he too would face starvation.

"It's a lot, Zoren. Such cruelty. If those wretches weren't already dead, I'd kill them myself," the sheriff expressed his indignation.

"Yeah, my friend, cruelty never ceases to amaze me, and it has never come so close," Zoren replied. "On the other hand, there was a good stock of provisions in the camp. I don't understand why they had so much powdered milk."

"Some bears are about to have cubs, and a bear cub fetches a high price on the black market," the sheriff explained.

"I'm going to take these boxes to the dining hall, Arlon. Care to join me?" Zoren smiled invitingly, hinting that someone of interest might be there.

"Of course, Alpha. It's my duty to assist," the sheriff replied with a grin, picking up one of the boxes of powdered milk.