Golden Child

He had fought for a pack and won. He had faced down predators, chased prey along the side of a cliff, ran among buffalo as they stampeded, and none of it had scared him. But now, now he was scared shitless.

It was time to tell his dad that he was dropping a pack in Valen's favorite stomping grounds.

He didn't want to just show up with a pack of strangers at his back for that to be the first Valen heard of it, so he had travelled ahead alone except for his owls, who were perched on a leather pad on his hips and shoulders since their own tussle with Enrico's companion had broken enough feathers to make flying laborious for both of them. He paused within sight of his father's tractor, took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and with a devil-may-care grin fixed on his face marched up towards the tractor. "Hey old man!" he hollered. "Its me, your favorite kid!"