The Nets

I couldn't see.

Under fur, under rock dip, with black sap around mark smelling like burnt soup, I could only hear.

River loud — _rush rush rush_ — and Elder Corvin breathing above me, staff tapping rock slow.

And paws. Many paws.

Finn shouting "SAFE! SAFE!" — voice cracking, 15-year-old boy trying to sound brave for North wolves who kept him hostage.

And Rorik laughing — deep, cold laugh that was not Kael's laugh. Kael's laugh was warm, even when gold eyes black. This laugh was — empty.

"Stoneclaw empty! Luna room empty! Human hid!"

They reached Luna room.

I heard door bang — fur door thrown. Pack huts were empty, because pack hid behind nets.

Rorik howled, angry now, not laughing. "No Luna! Pup lied!"

Finn screamed — not howl, human scream — "No! Luna was there! I swear! She was —"

Thump. Someone hit him.

Through bond, I felt Kael — _hold, hold, not yet, wait for them to run back_ — his wolf holding back pack, claws digging snow.

North wolves turned, fast. I heard snow crunching — 20 wolves running back down east path, toward bent pines, toward where they thought safe.

Finn's feet dragging — they pulled him, hostage, back with them.

Then —

First net.

I heard _whoosh_ — then yelps. Not one, many.

Mara's voice, loud, human, not wolf — "PULL!"

Old wolves pulled ropes from trenches. Fishing nets rose from snow, grey, hidden under thin snow, now up — tangling legs.

North wolves were running fast, so when net came up, they fell hard, tangled, biting net, claws stuck in vine knots.

Second net — _whoosh_ — further down path, behind first, so wolves who jumped first net fell into second.

Third net — the one Kael moved himself at midnight — rose last, near river path, blocking way back to lower mountain.

Three nets. Luna trap behind trap.

Howls — angry, scared, not Alpha howls, but trapped wolf howls.

And Finn — thin voice — "LUNA! LUNA ROOM EMPTY BUT RIVER —"

He was trying to tell North where I really was, because they hit him. Hostage telling truth now.

Elder Corvin stood up on rock, staff banging loud on stone.

"Over here, North pups!" he shouted, old voice shaking but loud. "Luna is at river! Come get burnt soup!"

He banged staff again, to make North look at rock, not at nets where pack was coming out now, shifting to wolf form, circling.

Rorik's voice — close, too close — "Kill old fool, get Luna!"

Two North wolves broke from first net — big, black fur, not grey like Stoneclaw, with scarred noses — they ran toward river rock, toward Corvin, toward me under fur.

Kael didn't wait anymore.

I felt through bond — _NOW_ — and heard his howl, Alpha howl that made ice crack on river.

He jumped from behind net, bare chest, black pants, hair loose, claws out, gold eyes black, and landed on first black North wolf, tearing.

Pack followed — 30 wolves, grey and white, howling, spears, teeth — falling on tangled North wolves in nets.

But two kept coming to rock.

Corvin swung staff — hit first North wolf on head, but wolf bit staff, breaking wood.

Second North wolf jumped up to rock, nose sniffing — smelling burnt soup, but under it — honey and pine and Alpha.

Me.

I didn't stay under fur.

Promise broke.

I threw fur off, stood in dip, grey dress, white fur around shoulders, black sap around mark, feet pink from hot stones, and shouted —

"I am here! Human Luna! Not soup!"

North wolf stopped, staring, because Luna not hiding, Luna standing, mark red but closed, smelling like Alpha even through burnt sap.

Corvin fell to snow, staff broken, old leg bleeding.

North wolf looked at me, at Corvin, at Kael fighting behind — torn between kill old wolf or take Luna.

He chose Luna.

He lunged —

And Kael was there.

Not running. Flying. From net fight to river rock in one jump, gold eyes black, claws out, landing between me and North wolf, back to me, chest to wolf.

He didn't bite. He grabbed North wolf's throat with claws and squeezed, low voice —

"My Luna is not cattle. My Luna is not trade. My Luna stands on river rock where I bit stone for 3 days. You don't touch."

He threw wolf into cold river — _splash_ — river fast, ice cold, wolf yelped, swimming.

Second North wolf ran.

Behind, nets held. North wolves tangled, Stoneclaw wolves circling, not killing yet, because Kael hadn't said kill.

Finn was on snow, white fur torn, nose bleeding, but alive, untangled from net because he was small and fell through hole.

He crawled to me, to rock, to my feet.

"Luna," he whispered, "I lied good?"

I crouched, hugging him, even though he smelled like North now, and black sap got on his hair.

"You lied perfect, double spy," I said, tears hot in cold.

Kael picked Corvin up, old man bleeding but alive, and put him on rock next to us.

Then he stood on rock, bare chest steaming, blood on claws — not his blood, North blood — and howled, Alpha howl, loud, long, that went up mountain and down to North territory.

Pack howled back. Even Finn howled, thin boy howl.

And down east path, tangled in Luna's nets, 20 North wolves whimpered, because they came for sweet honey scent and found burnt soup, nets, and human Luna who didn't hide in Luna room but stood on river rock where Alpha bit stone.

Full moon tomorrow.

But war came today.

And Luna trap worked.