Moon's Choice by Erin Hunter Read Free Book Online

leave me alone? I can’t do this, Fiery. I can’t! Leave me be !”
    The big dog stared into her eyes, which felt puffy and swollen. He swallowed hard, and nudged the leaves even closer. There was fierce determination in his face; but she couldn’t help thinking she saw something else, too, something gentler.
    â€œIf you won’t do it for your Pack,” he whispered, “then do it for me. Please, Moon. I couldn’t bear it if you died.”
    Her breath rasped in her throat as she stared at him. He was trying to sound stern and bossy, but all she could see in his expression was care, and worry—and affection.
    Fiery’s everything a dog should be, she realized with a jolt that madeher weak heart race. I’m not grateful to him, no. It’s not gratitude at all.
    â€œCome on, Moon,” he murmured. “For me.”
    She dipped her muzzle to the water, and lapped feebly.
    Fiery is what my parent-dogs thought Hunter was. He’s strong, and brave, and he’s a natural leader.
    But he’s much more than that. He’s much more than Hunter ever was. He’s the dog my Pack needed in their worst trouble.
    Moon paused in her lapping, and caught Fiery’s dark, concerned eyes as he nodded encouragement at her.
    He’s kind as well as brave. He’s gentle as well as strong. And he’s something Hunter will never be: He’s loyal.
    He’s not just the dog my Pack needs, she realized with an aching clench of her heart. He’s the dog I need. . . .

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Moon’s muscles still felt as weak as a pup’s, but she grimly kept digging, her claws raking a shallow trench into the soft earth. I owe it to Pebble. I was lucky, and she wasn’t.
    I lived, and Pebble didn’t.
    So many of my Pack didn’t live, she thought with a wrench of grief . I’m lucky. Because the Sky-Dogs blessed me, and sent Fiery.
    The awful heat and the freezing cold were gone from her bones and muscles. The sickness had passed a day or two ago, leaving her feeble but alive. And the same, it seemed, was true for her whole Pack—what was left of it. Mulch and Omega had recovered, just as she had.
    But not Pebble. Moon glanced at the limp body beside the grave, and swallowed hard. The hole Moon, Mulch, and Snap had dug for their Packmate was next to Star’s, and close to the places where Alpha and Beta lay. And Fly, too. At least they’ll be together when theymeet the Earth-Dog.
    I’ve lost so much, but what I have left, I owe to Fiery.
    She remembered waking that morning, every muscle in her body feeling as if it was made of fragile twigs. But the heat and the sickness and the pain had been gone. It was Fiery who had brought her through the sickness, Fiery who had given her the will to carry on. And it had been Fiery’s face she had seen first, his eyes bright with happiness as he realized the danger had passed. He had licked her face, nuzzled her neck, then trotted out into the forest to find her food and fresh water, a spring in his step that she hadn’t seen in days.
    But when he’d returned, bringing tender chunks of rabbit-haunch and a new bark-segment brimming with spring water— No more leaves for you, Moon! —he had sat down solemnly to watch her eat. And when she’d finally satisfied the hunger cravings that gnawed at her thin stomach, he had broken the news.
    â€œI must leave now, Moon,” he’d told her, sorrow in his eyes. “I’ve neglected my duties to my own Pack for too long . . . I’m sorry.”
    She’d wanted to protest, wanted to beg him to stay with her for just one more journey of the Sun-Dog—but she couldn’t. She understood now, more than ever, that Pack was everything. Fieryhad done what he could for Moon— I owe him my life —but he had responsibilities that he couldn’t ignore any longer.
    â€œI’ll miss you,” was all she had managed to