(( Sorry I sort of disappeared o3o;. I'll do better, promise! ))

Ransome had been out since dawn, silently patrolling the borders in the still of the morning. He missed the calm of the forest, things had been unusually peaceful when he was growing up in the pack. There were still problems then, of course, a shortage of food here or there, an outbreak of hunters, but nothing like this. The good times had ended. They were at war.
He sniffed around a cluster of bushes, detecting the stale scent of an unfamiliar dog, and sighed softly. Whoever had crossed into their territory was long-gone by now, most likely having taken some of their prey with them. Even with increased patrols there was no stopping this. They'd have to get to the heart of the problem.
The alpha padded back to the dens, secure in the *censored*umption that everyone had probably woken up by now.