Rage called up towards the coming full moon. Soon the nights would be crisp and warm like the setting orange sun with hues like the fiery back of the sun shaman. Her amber eyes glinted in the coming night. Sleep did not call to her, not yet. Dusk was the perfect time for evening patrols. Lightning bugs were forthcoming and lit the way above cracked branches and dead leaves. Squirrels scurried, but she remained awake.

No doubt, she hoped, someone else lay awake, perhaps in wait, as well.

Black and red slipped into the few shadows between the birch, pine and maple. The buds not bursting with pollen coating paws with light green and yellow hues. She snickered to herself, and called out a howl again, not one for the pack to join in song, but another call to home.