Finally, the long, shrill whistling stopped. The echoes soon died away, fading into silence in the deep, big cave. Shadow’s paws were rooted to the ground where he stood. So were all the paws of all the other Great Cats. Suddenly, a huge creature charged out of the cave Shadow had been looking at only a few moments ago. The creature was enormous; easily as big as Shadow’s big, muscular father, Granite. It looked a bit like the way Shadow’s parents had described wolves; tall and furry with large, pointed ears, lean, powerful muscles, and long, strong jaws. But this creature’s pelt was short, sleek, and jet black, not thick, fluffy and grey like a wolf’s. Its tail was thin, not bushy at all. The creature had large, pale yellow eyes, and those eyes were staring straight at Shadow and his siblings. The creature’s jaws opened wide, showing huge, sharp, pointed teeth covered in froth and saliva, and it barked viciously. There was a hurrying sound of many feet. Even as Shadow’s parents