rascals. "Then he got serious and said:" I told you not to overexert yourself. "He looked at me reproachfully, but felt that I was shaking all over my body. I gave him a tired but guilty look and he let it go at that.

When we got to our hill, we were greeted by two brown and two black fur balls. However, the pups hesitated when Sheeta, Sheeta, Pazuo and the pack that appeared to be leading Sheeta saw. And the pack of Sheeta reacted the same way when it saw my pack. They too stayed behind when Sheeta and Pazuo were greeted by the others. After all, the two had been part of the pack for almost two years and everyone had grown fond of their kind. At a signal from Sheeta, her pack came closer and joined us with some reluctance.All but me had changed shapes and were talking animatedly. I lay next to Hige and dozed in front of me, but nobody took offense at me. The puppies, including Shaolan and Sakura, had curled up next to their mothers and slept. Higes hand rested on my back which slowly brought me to rest. The others talked and Sheeta and Pazuo told how they had fared. However, I didn't really listen to them anymore, I was almost asleep.