The pup on Mary's lap suddenly sneezed, waking himself up. As I rolled onto my stomach, Anabel had to use both arms to keep me from falling.

"And who is this charming lad?" I asked, focusing on the puppy who was about twice my size.

Mazie smiled at her son. "His name is Darren."

Looking up at Anabel, I asked, "Can you put me down? I bet he'll want to play as soon as he wakes up."

She hesitated, suddenly reluctant to let me go, which I had expected since she would have unconsciously connected her own improved mood to holding me. The old wounds hadn't healed enough for it to be easy to part with me.

"Why don't you shift and join us? It's been a while since I got to torment someone new."

Intrigued, she knelt down and put me on the grass. She stepped back, and it looked like a heat haze covered her for a split second before a dappled grey and black wolf stood in her place.

Even though she was lanky and a bit smaller than average, her large head was still elbow-high on Mazie – which meant she completely dwarfed me. I trotted forward with a wagging tail, and she leaned down to nuzzle me.

Rearing up on my back legs, I tried to wrap my front legs around her muzzle, but only succeeded in falling sideways and rolling onto my back. Anabel snorted in amusement and poked my stomach with her nose. I batted at her muzzle with my fuzzy paws, earning some snickers from Mary and Mazie.

The pup, Darren, blinked sleepily but watched us with growing interest. Rolling over, I began bouncing around Anabel while yapping happily. Anabel dipped into a play bow, bringing her head down where I could reach it once more.

Barreling forward – and trying my hardest not to trip – I managed to jump onto the back of her neck and promptly scrambled between her ears to pose proudly.

"And I hereby vanquished the terrifying grey wolf!"

Anabel snorted and rolled her head to the side, sending me tumbling back into the grass. A surprised look crossed her face, right before Mazie chuckled.

"She just realized that she can't mindlink you even though you can mindlink her," Mazie explained. "She says it's unfair."

"The only unfair thing here is the size advantage she has."

Anabel rolled her eyes, as if to express how much control she had over that detail, and bounded away before crouching down until her stomach rested on the grass. Pretending to be stealthy, I veered around her and came in from the side to tackle her shoulder.

Playing along, she sprawled out on her side, as if the impact had actually done something besides sending me tumbling tail over tea kettle. I quickly got back up on my feet and pounced on her side, trying to climb up her slippery fur with my over-sized paws.

The puppy on Mary's lap started squirming, unable to sit on his grandma's lap when there was a game taking place right in front of him. She put him on the grass by her feet, and he ran towards us with more coordination than I had ever managed.

I yipped and slid down Anabel's side, away from him, playing catch-me-if-you-can as we ran around Anabel. From the slightly vacant look in her eyes, I suspected she was mindlinking several people to learn more about the weird quirks of Comforters. It was probably going to be a short conversation since she had just heard almost everything.

It took three laps for Darren to catch up to me. His larger and more coordinated form had the upper hand, although he was too young to really think about strategy and stuff like that. Then again, I usually never cared about strategy unless it helped me get into mischief.

When I chewed on his front ankle, he reared back and tumbled against Anabel, who very thoughtfully gave him a giant kiss. He squalled in surprise and turned his attention to his newly discovered playmate – fearlessly trying to go for her throat.

His teeth didn't stand a chance of getting through her fur, but it distracted her. I quickly slinked behind her, grateful that the short, trampled grass muffled my footsteps. After bracing my feet as best I could, I grabbed a mouthful of fur on the tip of her tail and began tugging for all I was worth.

My first tug made Anabel jerk her head up to stare at me. Laughter erupted from the bystanders, although I wasn't sure whether it was at my exuberant game of tug-of-war or Anabel's expression.

She tried to flick her tail away from me, but I managed to hold on even though my feet skidded across the grass. From what I could see, Darren also had a decent grip on her neck and was trying to shake his head with tiny growls.

The poor girl was being mauled to death by a pair of puppies.

I somehow doubted that she would believe I was twenty years old. Not when I looked younger than Darren and took part in such antics.

"Okay, I can't resist anymore," Mazie said before walking forward, shifting mid-step into a tawny wolf, lighter in color than her son.

In my distraction, Anabel managed to flick her tail free of my tiny teeth. Turning back, I tried to pounce on it, but she kept swishing it from side to side, too fast for me to grab. I jumped but missed her tail yet again – and the return wag knocked my feet out from under me.

After getting to my feet, I tried catching her tail again, still with no luck. A tan paw came from behind me and pinned the furry grey and black play toy. With a yip of thanks to Mazie, I pounced on Anabel's tail.

Mazie removed her paw, and Anabel's tail swished gently as she tried to dislodge me while still dealing with the little terror obsessed with her neck fur. Since I was on top of her tail, I got a free ride back and forth.

Her tail suddenly stopped and lay limp. After a few seconds of waiting for her to move it again, I gave her a dirty look, which made her grin. My pout changed into a smirk, although she didn't realize the significance of it.

Leaving her tail, I scampered over to her back feet and began nibbling on the tops of her toes. Anabel jumped to her feet, immediately forgetting about the light brown puppy in front of her since there was a dark brown one chewing on her toes.

My tail wagged as I pursued her feet. Let her try to ignore me now...

She kept skipping back as I kept following and occasionally grabbing a tuft of fur on her paws before she backed up yet again.

Mary commented, "Mazie says that Anabel thinks those are her toes."

"I know they are, that's why I keep trying to grab them."

Mazie sat down and watched as her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth. Darren went over and flopped in the grass beside her, taking a breather. Anabel paused as a grin crossed her muzzle. I knew that grin. It was the same one I wore at least once a day. My feet scrambled as I was now the one to try getting away.

Predictably, the larger wolf was much faster than me and nudged my side with her nose. It was enough to send me sprawling. Anabel grinned as her head darted down and tapped my side, avoiding my flailing paws. Then she did it again and again.

With a sharp series of barks, Darren raced over and promptly collided with her back leg. He shook his head to regather his wits and went after her ankle, trying to chew on the back tendon. Anabel was once more forced to dance. I managed to get back on my feet and went to help him out.

We kept playing until Mary stood up and announced, "I think we'll have to call this game to an end. There is just enough time to get cleaned up before lunch."

Dramatically, I flopped down in the grass and panted heavily, trying to figure out if I could possibly pretend to be more tired than I actually was at this point.

Mary walked over and picked up her grandson, who was also sprawled out on the ground. He cuddled into her arms, happy to be held. With no child to dote on, Mazie turned her attention to the next best substitute – me.

She didn't even bother shifting and simply picked me up by the scruff of my neck. As a group, everyone began walking towards the packhouse. I noticed that Zack and the other two TV watchers were absent, so they must have left earlier.

Anabel walked beside Mazie, still in wolf form, surprised that I didn't protest about being carried like this. Between my small size and the loose skin on the back of my neck, being picked up in such a fashion was only slightly uncomfortable. Being held in someone's warm arms when I was partially overheating from playing would have been worse.

The grey wolf's eyes kept drifting to me as we left the playground. My aura had reverted to normal during our play session, but when I extended my senses, her mind was tranquil, with just a tinge of unease. The play and frequent contact seemed to have done wonders.

Perhaps there would be time to play again later tonight. Or, even better, I might be able to convince Mazie and Anabel to help me tease some of my packmates. Perhaps this would be a good time to bring out the fake mouse and some old fishing line...