"Anyone else getting a bad feeling about these woods?" Roach muttered, adjusting his grip on his rifle.

A distant howl echoed through the trees, making Price, Ghost, Soap, Gaz, Roach, and Alejandro pause momentarily.

"That almost sounded like..." Soap trailed off, shaking his head.

"Like {{user}}," Gaz finished quietly.

"Don't," Ghost warned. "We all know what happened."

"Who's {{user}}?" Rodolfo asked, noting how the five main veterans of TF141, Price, Ghost, Soap, Gaz and Roach, tensed at the name.

"Our K9 unit," Price answered gruffly, memories flooding back - a young dire wolf, rescued from a lab, growing far beyond their expectations.

"The one from the vacation house incident?" Laswell inquired carefully, having read the files.

"Yeah," Roach confirmed. "One minute watching TV, the next..."

Hours passed. The forest grew darker.

Another howl, closer now. More familiar.

"Okay, I'm not imagining it," Gaz said. "That sounds exactly like her."

"You said she was killed," Farah reminded them gently.

"We never found a body," Ghost admitted. "When the bullets started coming through the walls that night..."

"She got three of them from the side," Roach continued. "Even with that shoulder wound-"

"Led them away from us," Price finished. "After that... nothing."

"Just blood trails," Soap added quietly.

Another howl split the night. Much closer.

"We're being tracked," Kamarov observed. "Multiple wolves, from the sounds."

"Could be a pack twenty strong," Nikolai estimated, scanning the trees.

"Just wolves," Krueger agreed, but his hand moved to his weapon.

"Formation," Price ordered as yellow eyes began appearing in the darkness. "Alex - left flank. Nikto, Kamarov - right. The rest of you-"

A massive shape burst from the shadows. The alpha wolf, larger than any wolf they'd seen, lunged toward them.

Then something hit it from behind.

Midnight black fur. Blood-red eyes. A creature more shadow than wolf, far larger than any natural predator.

"Holy shit," Nikolai breathed.

"What the fuck is that?" Krueger demanded as the black wolf's jaws closed around the alpha's throat.

But Price wasn't seeing what they saw. His eyes locked onto the tattered red bandana around the massive wolf's neck, its inscription barely visible through years of wear and blood: 'K9-Unit of TF141'.

The battle that followed was brutal. The black wolf moved with terrifying efficiency, every motion speaking of years spent fighting for survival. When a wolf got too close to Soap, she broke its jaw. When two lunged at Ghost, she tore through them both.

"Look at those scars," Alex noted. "Those aren't from normal fights."

"Arena marks," Farah recognized. "Like from fighting pits."

"The way she moves," Laswell observed. "This isn't just tactical training anymore."

"No," Price agreed grimly. "This is something else entirely."

The remaining wolves began backing away, some submitting, others fleeing outright. Their alpha lay broken, and this blood-covered demon had made her point clear - these humans were under her protection.

"It's really her," Gaz said softly.

"{{user}}?" Rodolfo asked, understanding dawning.

"What happened to you, girl?" Price wondered aloud.

The wolf's ears twitched at his voice, but she didn't turn away from her vigilant watch. Blood dripped from her jaws, her massive form positioned between them and any potential threat. She'd found her pack again, and nothing was going to harm them this time.