Pfff pfff pfff pfff – hushed whispers of soft snow beneath cautious white paws; crisp, clean scent of new-fallen snow; airy, wintry silence permeated only by the susurrations of pine boughs as chilly midwinter breezes wove and caressed gently through their verdant fingers.

This was where she should have been all along. Fate had brought her to this place for a reason, when first Antares and she had discovered these lands. When would she learn to stop second-guessing herself and questioning Fate?

Much had happened in the months since those first quiet nights shared with her brother, huddled up together in this strange new place. Antares was gone now, and she preferred to believe it was for good reasons rather than ill. Much could befall a lost wolf in the vast, soaring mountains and deep, scrubby canyons of this valley. And she herself had been through seemingly a lifetime of changes and chaos. Several times had she attempted to join resident packs, only for those packs to strangely peter out and vanish around her.

Perhaps it was Fate whispering in her ear again. This time, she wasn't going to question it.

Pfff pfff pfff…silence. She stopped, nose twitching as she scented the air, sweetened by the perfumes of pine and frost. There was no trace of wolf anywhere nearby. A sense of satisfaction and peace, as if this was how things ought to be, washed through her and without another moment's hesitation, she turned her white face to the sky, releasing a howl into the sky that was at once both challenging and victorious. This land is mine! it announced to the world, the bell-like tones of her voice echoing across the landscape and through the mountains beyond. She had never been an Alpha before, but she had been groomed for it from birth. This was what her mother would have wanted of her, what her father had hoped for his daughters. Somewhere out there, she hoped Antares would hear her song and come home, and she hoped her howl would travel on and on until it reached her mother's ears, far to the north. "This land is mine…" she whispered to herself as her song died away into the distance, leaving a silent, anticipatory tension in its wake. It felt good to say it. It felt right. "Mine."