Sam crept closer to the roe deer as its rich scent entered his nostrils. He licked his lips, practically already able to taste its delicious meat. But I’ll have to catch it first.

He was crouching in the tall grass at the southern part of his territory, ready to give chase. Normally, he’d be hunting with his companion, Lynn, but she was at their rendezvous site looking after One-eye, her elderly father. Guess I’ll have to do this alone.

The roe doe looked up as the grass crunched beneath Sam’s paws, her ears moving in various directions to pin-point the sound. Now or never! With a deep breath, Sam threw himself out of the grass. The doe barked in alarm and ran. 

The deer zigzagged as she sprinted, trying to throw off her pursuer. But Sam had hunted roe deer many times before. He managed to keep up, though he was panting as he did so, his muscles aching from the exercise after a bit of partaking in the chase.

Yet the doe’s breaths were growing deeper and heavier, as well. She couldn’t keep this up forever. 

Sam leapt forward, and dodged a kick from the doe’s sharp hooves. The iron taste of blood burst into the wolf’s jaws as Sam managed to lodge himself onto the doe’s white rump. The deer let out a wail of pain, now slowed down significantly by the wolf hanging onto her. She tried to kick  again, but in a neat movement Sam let go, and grabbed  hold of her flank, tearing open the flesh while keeping his grip. The doe let out another cry before falling to the ground. Sam released the flank, going for the neck instead. The doe thrashed a few more times, but he held on. Soon, her breath stilled and she stopped struggling.

Lynn and One-eye will be happy. This will keep us fed for a long time! Sam proudly took his catch by the throat again and began dragging it to the rendezvous. On the way, he caught a whiff of an unfamiliar scent, but it was faint.

***

In the clearing, he found Lynn lying beside her  father, her head on his hump as he breathed raspily. One-eye was incapable of looking after himself these days. His remaining eye had clouded with age and moving hurt his limbs, so he mostly spent his time at the rendezvous site. To make things worse, he’d recently started to show signs of being sick. This resulted in Lynn trying to spend more time with him in order to look after him. 

The brown she-wolf looked up and beamed as Sam dragged the deer into the clearing. “Great catch, Sam!”

“I told you I can take down any prey,” Sam said as he proudly raised his head and dropped the doe. He winked.

Lynn laughed and got up, bringing her face close to One-eye’s. “Dad, can you smell it? Sam brought us an entire deer!”

One-eye briefly flicked his ear and grunted, but otherwise didn’t respond or open his eye. Sam presumed he was still half-asleep.

Lynn sighed and looked at Sam again, her ear pinned back in worry. “He sometimes doesn’t even respond anymore,” she said softly.

Sam walked over to her until they were close together. 

“I just worry for him so much. Sooner or later…” 

Lynn didn’t have to finish her sentence. Sam blinked understandingly. One-eye was incredibly old by wild wolf standards. His days were numbered; that much was obvious.

Sam leaned forward and briefly touched his muzzle to Lynn’s chest in support. “It’ll be okay.” He knew that was a lie, but he wanted his friend to be happy.

When night fell, both young wolves had eaten a small part of the deer. Lynn had also torn off a chunk  and put it in front of One-eye, but the old wolf still seemed fast asleep. Currenty, Lynn and Sam were settled down in the clearing. 

Lynn yawned. “Tomorrow, I’ll go for a hunt with you, Sam. I’m sorry I’ve been slacking lately.”

Sam shook his broad head. “It’s okay. You need to look after your father for now. You know I can hunt well on my own. I’m not the best hunter in the area for nothing.”

She smiled and was about to say something, when a grunt from One-eye made both brown wolves pause.

The ancient wolf slowly raised his head and opened his blind eye. His nostrils were moving quickly, and Sam guessed he was scenting the meat in front of him.

“Deer,” One-eye croaked. “Roe.”

Lynn’s single ear perked up. “Yes! Eat it, Dad!”

One-eye slowly grabbed the piece of flesh, before he bit into it. His yellowed and damaged teeth seemed to have trouble getting a grip at first, but eventually, he managed to gnaw off a chunk and swallow it. 

“Do I need to chew it for you?” Lynn suggested, going to get up.

One-eye frowned. “I’m old, not helpless!” Yet there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

Sam moved and sat down in front of the gray wolf. “Are you feeling any better today?”

“Fine as I always am. Stop fussing over me like I’m some meek puppy,” One-eye retorted.

A moment of silence pressed, with only the sounds of One-eye slowly chewing the piece of meat he’d been given. Finally, after he swallowed the last part, he spoke again.

“I’ve been thinking. I...I think I want to change my name.”

Sam furrowed his brow. “How come?” 

Lynn simply flicked her ear.

“You both know me as One-eye,” the elderly wolf rasped. Speaking seemed to be difficult for him, but he went on regardless. “I have been One-eye for a very long time now. Most of my life, to be honest. Yet...I wasn’t always One-eye. One-eye is who I was while I was with the Clan, and afterwards, I kept the name as a punishment for myself. But I know that my time is growing short.” 

“You’re not dying!” Lynn interrupted.

One-eye ignored her. “I won’t be around forever. And I think that, when I go, I want to go not as One-eye, but as Daniel. That’s what I was called before I became One-eye.”

“Daniel… I like it.” Lynn wagged her tail. “Sure, if you want, you’ll be Daniel to me!”

Sam nodded. “It may take some getting used to, but I’m totally okay with calling you that if it makes you happy.”

Daniel smiled briefly and his tail moved in an ever so slight wag. “Thank you both. That makes me happy.”

“Maybe we can all share a little more of my deer, Daniel, and Lynn,” Sam suggested optimistically. Lynn nodded enthusiastically.

But Daniel shook his head. “I’ve had more than enough. I’m tired.”

Sam and Lynn exchanged another concerned look as Daniel laid his head on his front paws again and closed his eyes, seemingly drifting off to sleep right away.

“I don’t know how much longer he’ll be able to keep this up. If even talking exhausts him…” Lynn exhaled loudly through her nose. 

“Chin up. Let’s both get some rest, and then we’ll hunt together tomorrow, like you suggested. Maybe chasing something will take your mind off of things,” Sam said.

“Okay, I guess.” Lynn lay down and curled up into a ball. 

Sam did the same not much farther away from her. He gave Lynn and One-eye–Daniel–one last doubtful look. She’s right, though. I don’t know how much longer he will last…  He closed his eyes and tried to banish the dark thoughts from his mind.

***

The next morning, both wolves went out hunting, and they managed to bring down a grouse. However, Lynn’s heart didn’t seem to be entirely in it, and she seemed easily distracted.

After a failed attempt at a squirrel, she approached Sam. “I’m going back to the rendezvous site. I’m sorry, Sam, but I’m too anxious to keep going on with this. I keep thinking about Dad.”

Sam flicked both ears and raised his tail. “No problem. I understand. If you take back the grouse, I’ll see if I can catch something else. And if not, I’ll just do a little patrolling. Sound good?”

“Thank you.” 

Lynn grabbed the dead bird and headed back in the direction of the rendezvous, while Sam moved farther east. He couldn’t find any prey in this area, so he decided to move onto patrolling instead. 

Suddenly, he caught the unfamiliar scent again, this time more prominent than before. It smelled like a feline, though he couldn’t determine the species. He started to track the scent. Whoever was leaving it behind was trying to hide their traces, but they were no match for Sam’s above-average scenting techniques.

Not much later, Sam stumbled upon a stranger on his territory. It was a gold-and-cream cougar, who looked rather unkempt in her appearance. Scars covered her face, and he noticed her right eye didn’t seem to align with where her left was looking. 

She raised her hackles and unsheathed her claws when he found her hiding in the bushes. 

Sam decided not to be too threatening to her. Even if she was old and looked weak, she could still do some damage with her claws and teeth. “What are you doing on my territory?” he asked matter-of-factly.

She let out a sneer, but then raised her head and lowered her hackles. Her lashing tail still betrayed her irritation, though. “I’m just passing through.”

“For someone who is ‘just passing through,’ you sure are lingering here a lot. I’ve spotted your scent many times before. Sometimes you vanish for a while, but you always return, though you never seem to get very close to the clearing. I think I only scented you in that area once. What are you doing here? Are you spying on us? Are you with that Clan?”

She flattened her ears. “I’m not. I haven’t been for a long time now.” There was a hint of grief in her voice, yet also bitterness.

“If you’re not aligned with them, what are you doing here?”

The cougar blinked and looked at the ground, briefly unsheathing the claws on one paw before retracting them. “How is One-eye?” she asked.

Sam raised a brow and flicked his ear. “How do you know…?”

“Don’t tell him you saw me here,” the cougar said carefully. “I know him from the past.”

“Okay. But in what sense? A good or a bad one?” Sam sat down. The cougar’s posture had turned more submissive, and she no longer seemed like a threat. 

“It’s...complicated. I considered approaching him multiple times, but eventually left every single time. I know he’s very old and sick, and I hate to admit that I’m worried for him. But I also know that it’s better I stay away. We parted on bad terms. So, please, don’t tell him, or Lynn, that you saw me here.”

“Well, hanging around here aimlessly hoping they don’t spot you isn’t much of a good idea, either. Also, he goes by Daniel these days.”

The cougar looked up in surprise. “He reclaimed his old name?” She then relaxed. “Good for him.” An awkward silence fell for a moment before the feline spoke again. “You are right, wolf, that I should probably move on. But before I do, I come with a warning. Don’t tell them where you got it, but I do want to alert you.”

Sam pricked his ears.

“There’s been rogue wolves and dogs in this area lately. Not an organized Pack, or something big and structured like the Clan, but a ragtag group of outlaws who do things their own way. They’ve been killing innocent animals or chasing them from their territories. I’ve noticed they’ve been moving closer to your terrain. So be careful. You, Daniel, and Lynn.” Her left amber eye met his, while her right stared up at the sky. Her wary gaze was one of concern.

“Are you sure it’s not better if Daniel knows you’re here? Seems you still care about him if you’ve come to warn us.”

The cougar shook her head. “No. Don’t tell him. I’ll move on”

“I’ll consider your warning, thanks,” Sam said carefully. 

The cougar reached into the bushes, where Sam noticed she’d hidden two human items: a satchel and a dirty old pillow. “Farewell,” the cougar said simply.

“Wait!” Sam said. “What’s your name?”

“It matters not,” the cougar said, before grabbing the pillow in her mouth, throwing the satchel around her neck, and moving on, away from Sam.

He stood there for a moment, puzzled. He’d never had such a confusing interaction before. 

Quietly, he finished his patrol and returned home. It was sunset already, and Lynn was pacing about the clearing while Daniel was still sleeping, per usual. Feeling a twinge of anxiety, Sam pulled Lynn aside to the other corner of the clearing. 

“What’s up?” Lynn cocked her head.

How do I go about this? Sam realized he hadn’t entirely thought things through. Yet there was no going back now. “I think we should be more careful around the borders,” he decided to say. “I’ve heard  of a dangerous group of rogue canines who are wreaking havoc in the area.”

Lynn blinked. “Really? Who told you this?”

Sam decided that a little white lie couldn’t hurt. “While I was patrolling, some of our Lone One neighbors across the border were talking about it. I asked, but they didn’t have any more information.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle,” Lynn said, though her pinned-back ears betrayed her anxiety. “They can never be as bad as the Clan.”

“The Clan isn’t the only group of animals posing a threat,” Sam gently reminded her. His mind went back to his brothers, whom he had lost in a border skirmish with a group of Lone Ones a while before he had met Lynn and Daniel.

Lynn seemed to clue into what he was talking about. “I’m sorry.” She looked at the ground.

“It’s okay. I just think we should be careful, that’s all.”

“Sure.”

A pause.

“Should we tell Dad?”” 

“I don’t think we should bother him with worries if we don’t have to,” Sam said slowly.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

The conversation died after that, and Sam and Lynn soon curled up and fell asleep near Daniel as the evening pressed, and a cold wind ruffled their fur.

***