Horizon Ridge i walked a thousand sorry miles

Her call seemed to startle the stranger and Pied felt rather sheepish for a moment. Her eyes followed the unfamiliar wolf as he or she—the Gamma couldn't tell its gender from here—abruptly retreated from the ledge and disappeared. Uncertain as to whether the stranger would reappear, Pied chuffed to herself and fell back onto her haunches, her dappled back still facing the sea.

Eventually, the two-toned figure did reappear, walking the towpath leading to the den site Pied shared with her mate. It occurred to the Gamma that she shouldn't call attention to herself in her condition, yet if she couldn't trust her own pack mates, familiar or not, then who could she trust? In any case, the she-wolf—for Pied could smell her now and file away several identifying factors about her even before they exchanged names—did not appear in the least threatening.

"Oh, I had a fight with an enormous fish and lost," Pied quipped in reply to the stranger's question. "I'm Pied. You must be new...?" She left a space for the stranger to introduce herself. As she waited, Pied subtly admired the juxtaposition of her charcoal visage and her agouti body. Up close, she looked even more striking, especially with her sharp, narrow snout and smoldering golden eyes.