Gray

He stared straight ahead with eyes that looked more like vessels of swirling smoke, transfixed on the weapon pointed at him. He couldn't move, and he knew that the man knew he couldn't move. All he could think to do was growl—the sound of an animal resigned to its fate. This didn't seem to do anything to break the man's resolve. His arms were steady—one eye closed, one eye focused on the rifle sight aimed at the wolf.

In an instant, the birds were spooked from their branches.

"You're such a wuss."

"No I'm not."

"Get up then."

"I'm trying!"

Cloud had Gray pinned down and was biting at his face while mocking him. Though Gray was older, Cloud had always been bigger than him, stronger. In fact, it seemed to Gray that no matter what he did, every wolf was always bigger than him. For whatever reason, Cloud was the only one who didn't seem to mind that Gray was weak. In fact, he seemed to make it his personal mission to toughen him up. This mission had proved to be fruitless so far. Gray was not particularly interested in being tough. He had long ago resigned himself to relying on his father and the rest of the pack for protection and food.

"Try harder."

Gray struggled in vain to wriggle out from underneath Cloud's paws. Just then, they heard a rustling and looked to see Archer emerge form the bushes.

"Return to The Circle immediately. Something terrible has happened."

When Gray and Cloud came upon the solemn gathering of gray and black forms that was The Circle, they realized they were the last to arrive. Cloud spoke up first as they assumed their familiar places.

"What happened?"

Archer, the eldest wolf in the pack, said nothing at first. Instead, he stared straight at Gray. After a few moments of this, Gray became uncomfortable and shifted his gaze towards the ground. Archer stepped forward.

"Shadow is dead."

Some of the six wolves began clamoring loudly while others just stared in disbelief. Gray was among the latter. Cloud spoke again.

"What do you mean he's dead? How could that have happened?"

"A human shot him while he was out searching for food."

There was an instantaneous uproar upon hearing this revelation—the wolves made their revulsion known. Everyone was protesting loudly except for Gray. Gradually, realization hit the rest of the pack, and they all began to look at him, studying his face for a reaction. Archer spoke.

"Gray, I can't imagine how hard this must be for you to hear. Your father was the leader of this pack. We all trusted and depended on him."

Gray looked up, a blank expression on his face.

"Humans are vile creatures," Archer continued. "We have to find who did this, and make him suffer."

Cloud interjected. "Hold on. If we purposely seek out a violent human, we could be risking even more deaths."

"Are you suggesting that we just forget this happened?"

"...I don't know."

"Think about everything Shadow has done for this pack. We owe it to him to find the human who shot him without provocation."