That shadow thing within me seemed to unfurl as my visage turns to one of anger. As I turn that anger on her, using my teeth, even if gently, against one who I should protect at all costs. Sometimes protection means hurting the ones you care for first. That was a hard truth, a truth that most hated and refused to believe. I had hurt my sister with my tongue, turning her away from me in bitterness. I had scarred my father with my refusal. I had seen the tears of my mother and known that I had been the one to put them there, to watch her familiar blue eyes burn with fear and sadness.

If Reine hated me at the end of whatever this was, then perhaps it was for the best. I could feel her loneliness. She practically exuded it and it exacerbated the intense feelings rolling through me as I try to get her moving. She is stubborn and slow to move until I snap at her flank.

A sharp bark reverberates in my ears and they spin back while she dances away from in exasperation. ”I’ll explain when we get out of here!” The words come out in a snap as I glare at her – she moves, a little, but not enough to satisfy me. ”South,” I finally say, realizing that she doesn’t know which way to go. For now, south would be in the opposite direction of Blackthorne. He would head this way, of that I was sure, but we could skirt up the western fringes and hopefully bypass him eventually.

”Please, Reine, we have to go. If he finds my scent, he will find yours, and you don’t want him to find you.” There is a sort of desperation in my voice as I stare at her, my angry face softening into something like panic. She had to go. I would drag her if she refused, I decide, eyeing her size. She was a lot bigger than when we were pups but I would do what was necessary to ensure her safety and mine. Once out of this danger zone, well, maybe it was time to visit my family to give them a warning.