It is not often that I find myself alone, and it is easier I think, now, than before to sneak away. My paws cup the sand to stifle any sounds of shifting, steps slow and deliberate as I leave, my destination is unknown to me. I know only that I must go out, I must leave the den and find the border before I am caught. I cannot suffer their inability to divide my being from my brother's. If they wished for proof of strength, I would give them a damn good show. I wait until everyone sleeps, slinking my small frame passed even Eden as I made my get away. I was a ghost in the night and no one could touch me, my phantom frame spiriting through trees and coming upon the mouth of a cave. I have heard about this place, the grown wolves think it is a breeding ground for cannibals and their ilk.

For a moment, I find myself in a precarious situation. There is a tingling in my spine, prickling the hairs on the back of my neck and my rump, fluffing the middle portion of my tail as I raise it above my hips in a show of confidence I hadn't quite grown into yet. The grey triangular pattern on my back that marks me as one of Ava's children even raises in warning to imagined haunts at the mouth of the cave. I am nearly a year old, but my frame is still so painfully small. I am the epitome of woman, or, I will be. For now, I look like a delicate dessert for the monsters the adults say lurk in the caves.

Being aware of my own mortality brings about a certain ego. I know I can die, I have seen prey die, it makes sense that wolves die too. It would take a special wolf to take the ability to breathe from me. I was born perfect out of a litter with two bent and grotesque excuses for wolves, only my sister and I are perfection. We are the truth of our line, the strength, but she hates me so. I hate her, I cannot tolerate her jeering snarls or japes any longer. I move suddenly, overly large puppy paws make no noise as I all but glide across the rocks. There isn't even a whisper as I walk, moving through the tunnels and coming out on the other side. Eden said Susil Crags are on the other side of the grotto. It took a long time, and when I was emerging, the sun was up.

Jade flecked with black widens, the irises growing as my pupil contracts into painful pinpoints in desperate attempt to adjust. Hissing, I step back into the shadows, blinking to watch the flashes of round yellow light dance behind my eyelids. Growling under my breath, I look around in the comforting darkness of the cave I find myself in, finding claw marks on the wall by a hole that was barely bigger than me. Tilting my perfect white crown, I move in to investigate, finding a wonderful and very unexpected surprise. There was a wide space inside, dank with the old smell of dried blood and the stench of wet fur. I smirk, finding the source of the smell on the floor of the den, wondering how long ago anyone used this particular haunt. The pelt on the floor was warm and inviting, despite being in the obvious shape of a wolf. It was dead and no longer needed the warmth his hair provided, now it would belong to me.

Scrambling through the hole in the wall, I find the room inside wonderful, and enough for me to play in. I would be safe in here, the passage into and out of the den was only big enough to let wolves who would be less threatening inside. Wolves that were bigger than thirty-five inches and who weighed more than one hundred fifty pounds would have trouble even trying to get in. If the claw marks were anything to judge by, once this den had protected someone, though now a few of the more loose stones had tumbled into the floor. Moving to the back of the den, I lay down, finally tired after having walked all night through winding caves. I feel safe, and the pelt beneath mine helps keep me warm.

I will survive the rest of the winter in the wild of Moladion. Perhaps, even my next year will be spent avoiding Glorall's white sandy beaches and wooded border. I will avoid the pack the best I can, and make them see that I am not my brothers. I am perfection, made to live and to kill. My ability does not rely on the integrity of my brothers, or anyone else's for that matter.