The pack raced across the frozen lake in the moonlight. They were following no scent, chasing no prey. They ran because it was a night of frost and stars and the snow was thick and powdery and they were together.

Wolf stopped in his tracks.

His eyes had caught something on the far shore, among the dark pines. A bright flickering, as if the sun had risen too early and was hiding in the forest, unwilling to reveal itself.

When the rest of the pack noticed Wolf was no longer with them, they circled and trotted back to where he stood gazing.

What in World is that? Alpha asked as she came up beside Wolf. Alpha was their leader, the wisest and bravest among them, and Wolf was just Wolf. As the youngest and least of the adults he had no other name.

I’m not sure, Wolf said. I thought it was the sun.

Alpha’s soft fur brushed ever so lightly against his, and Wolf felt his heart glow. She was quick and strong, and her coat was nearly all white, like the Great Mother wolf who lived in the moon. Alpha had led them well through the difficult days after her mate died in a fight with a cave bear over an aurochs carcass. It was only thanks to her that they had survived and stayed together. Wolf would do anything for her.

Wrong time, said Alpha. And the wrong place, for that matter. The sun doesn’t hang around in the forest.

At that moment their noses caught the scent of burning wood. This was not the sun. This was something stranger. Trees only burned when lightning struck them in the heat of summer. They didn’t burn in winter when snow was thick on the hide of World.

Quick shadows danced across the flickering brightness.

The fur rose on the back of Wolf’s neck. There are animals in the fire, he said.

He ran through his inner checklist of hunters and hunted. Cave bear, brown bear, otherwolf, big cat, smaller but still scary cat, lynx, wolverine, fucking hyena. Deer, elk, bison, aurochs, horse, ibex, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth. Did any of them live in fire? No. Nothing that was alive lived in fire.

Alpha said, This isn’t World but something else. It’s not for us. Let’s go.

She bounded off and the pack fell in behind her.

Wolf watched a moment longer, then he tore himself away and ran after them.

Wolf was alone as the sun rose, in a place of tall grass. There was no scent of his kind anywhere in World.

That could not happen.

Wolf panted, whined, darted this way and that, whined some more, pawed the earth. He raised his snout and howled for the others.

No answer. There was nothing else to do but run. Search. Find wolves. That was all that mattered. He broke into a headlong sprint and little birds shot from the grass with shrill cries. Nearby trees shivered in a wind that sang nothing about wolves.

Wolf ran until he was exhausted. At last he collapsed into the grass, panting, shivering.

Are you lost? something said.

Wolf leapt up and spun around.

An animal stood there on its hind legs. It was shaped something like a wolf but made of shadows, with hackles of bright fire flickering at its edges.

No, said Wolf, backing away. I’m not lost. It’s the pack that’s lost. I have to find them so they won’t be lost anymore.

They’re gone, said the animal. What it said was terrible, but its voice was soft and soothing. More like breathing than speech.

I’ll find them, Wolf said.

You won’t. You’re alone. Come with me and you won’t have to be alone.

The shadow wolf held out a paw. A strange kind of paw, without fur, without claws.

Come on, it said. Don’t be afraid. Wolf moved closer.

That’s right, said the shadow wolf. That’s it. Good boy.

Wolf woke. He was in the cliffside rock shelter the pack called home. Dawn was a faint reddening on the icy blue rim of the valley. Wolves were all around him, as they should be, stretching and nuzzling each other, preparing to head out into the promise of the day, to find something to hunt and kill.

His pack. His life. He was here with them.

That should have made him happy. It always had before.