When the black reached his brother and O-Six, there were warm greetings all around, as if the three had been together for years. Shortly thereafter, as the Druids’ unanswered howls echoed off Specimen Ridge, the trio set out together once again. O-Six paused to urinate. Instead of squatting, she raised her leg to scent-mark a tree, then scratched the earth nearby, lest her sign be missed somehow. It was the mark of an alpha female, and its message was unmistakable: This land is mine.
