Lone Wolf

Lone Wolf is the first book of the series Wolves of the Beyond.

Plot
The story opens with a pregnant wolf named Morag traveling in the Beyond. She had gone by-lang, or deeply away, because she felt that a malcadh, or cursed wolf, was going to be born of her, and she is trying to escape from the Obea, the female wolf in each clan designated to remove malcadhs. Disguised by the smell of fox scat, Morag gives birth to three pups, 2 tawny, 1 silvery and with a splayed paw.

Meanwhile, the Obea, Shibaan is tracking Morag, using the most subtle of signs to track her (scratch marks on a rock, for instance) After some trekking, Shibaan finds Morag,, takes the malcadh to a tummfraw, or place of abandonment, and Morag gets explelled from the clan, as is necessary to do when a malcadh mother is found.

The pup left on the tummfraw is washed away by the river, and snags onto the foot of a grizzly, Thunderheart (as she is called by the pup later on). Thunderheart takes the pup under her care, naming him Faolan, a name which means "the river's gift".

Faolan learns fast under Thunderheart's care, preforming feats such as jumping into a tree, and scaring a family of grizzlies. After a while, the couple move to a new den and Thunderheart goes into hibernation. Faolan is given permission by Thunderheart to go out and hunt when he needs to. However, Thunderheart is awakened during a snowstorm, and forgetting that she had given Faolan permission to hunt, goes looking for the pup and gets killed by an boulder in the process.

Faolan, now on his own, travels to the Outermost, an area of outclanners known for their grotesque acts such as cannibalism, fights to the death, and as solitary animals. Faolan, in disgust of their actions, returns to the Beyond and find the Cave Before Time, a cave full of paintings of the wolves past. Faolan never know how much time he spends in it, but eventually comes out and starts to travel once again.

When Faolan leaves, he kills a caribou and creates a drumlyn, or a pile of bones with a story inscribed on them. When he howls his farewell, an owl, Gwynneth, hears the singing and goes to find Faolan. After meeting, the two talk about the treatment of wolves in the Beyond, especially what Faolan will become, a gnaw wolf, which is the lowest ranking wolf in the clan. After leaving, he witnesses the MacAngus clan hunt, and learns more about the wolves ways in the Beyond.

Angus MacAngus, the chief of the MacAnguses, finds a splayed footprint while under moon rot (solar eclipse) He organizes a gadderheal, or emergency meeting, thinking the splayed print is that of a rabid wolf. They trach down the source, which is Faolan, and creates a wall of fire with the help of the Sark of the Slough. Faolan is nearly driven into it, but is able to jump the flames. After a confrontation with the clans, he becomes a gnaw wolf of the MacDuncan clan.