Chapter One
I crashed through the woods, running from Kal. Running into a clearing, I paused to listen for the rustling of leaves that indicated Kal's arrival, but it didn't come. I stood with my ears angled back towards where I had come from until I decided I had lost him. Curling up in a pile of yellow-orange leaves, I closed my eyes and listened to the birds around me sing.
Suddenly there was someone sitting on my back, pressing me into the mud below my leaf pile. I struggled for a moment before deciding it was useless to fight. Sighing in defeat, I went limp, and the weight was lifted from my back. I sprung up and saw Kal sitting in the middle of the clearing.
"Kal!" I exclaimed, tackling him and quickly pinning him to the ground. "What's wrong with you? You scared me!"
"Yeah." he replied with a soft bark of laughter. I gave an irritated sigh and let him up. "You almost got me lost out here. We're pretty far from home."
"You didn't have to follow me." I stated, bounding back to my deflated pile of leaves. "You could have stayed back at the Den with Flame."
"Flame is so boring though!" Kal complained, trotting over to me. I glared at him as he sat down next to me on the leaf pile. "Oh, don't glare at me like that."
"Go away!" I barked loudly, scaring the birds in surrounding trees away.
"Make me." he retorted, bouncing up and jumping around the clearing. I rolled my eyes and pounced on him. Howling triumphantly, I placed one paw on his chest and one on the ground by his head.
"This is sad." I sneered, looking down into his deep red eyes. He glared up at me and in one swift movement flung me away and stood above me.
"You know I always let you win." he growled playfully back at me. I put on my best pouty face and looked away from him.
"Whatever." I replied coldly.
"You're not mad at me, are you?" he asked, letting me stand up.
"No." I answered, still not looking at him. "Can you go home now?"
"No." he said with a smile.
"Please?" I begged. I needed some alone time!
"Why?" he asked, irritating me. "You don't like me?"
"At the moment I don't." I snarled. "But if you don't leave, I will." I stalked into the woods, heading the opposite direction of the Den to confuse Kal.
"Amber!" Kal called after me. "Wait! Take me back with you!" I stopped and turned around to watch him sprint after me, nearly running into me before realizing I had stopped.
"Go away, Kal!" I yelled at him. He backed up a couple steps and looked down at his paws.
"I'm sorry, Amber. Don't be mad at me." he mumbled. I raised my ears to listen. "Please don't leave because of me. I just wanted to hang out with you."
"When I come out here it's because I need time away from the pack, okay?" I snapped.
"Okay." he said. "Can I just stay with you today, though? I don't know how to get home." I rolled my eyes and started walking back to the clearing.
"Fine." I replied.
Laying on my back next to Kal in the middle of my clearing, I gazed thoughtfully up at the twinkling stars.
"They're so pretty." Kal whispered for about the fifteenth time. I rolled my eyes, though the gesture was lost because he wasn't looking at me.
"I know." I whispered back. "We should go back."
"Do we have to?" he complained. I held back a bark of laughter and hopped to my feet.
"Yes, we have to. I bet they're wondering where we are." I said with a smile. "And you know there are already rumors. You want more to start? Come on." I nudged him to his feet and we trotted through the woods.
"I wish we could stay out there." Kal yawned.
"I wish we could too, but Dart is probably wondering where I am." I replied, looking over at him. His ear twitched slightly and he stopped walking.
"They wouldn't miss us for a day, would they?" he asked sneakily. I gave him a questioning look and sat down beside him.
Was he really considering staying out here. With me?
