Something felt different. I could just feel it, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Athena and Tiamat seem to change and suddenly I feel like I am in the wrong. For what? I don’t understand and I stop my playing for a moment to think about what’s happening. It is then that I see the shadow standing over us and I turn and gaze at the fabled Monster for the first time. I was stunned into silence for a moment as I looked at the nasty scars all over her face. She might have been pretty if not for those. The silence was broken as my childlike and vain curiosity got the better of me. "Jeez, lady, what happened to your face!?"

For a moment, I thought Mom would snap at me for such a “rude” comment, but she was quiet for a while. Then, she let out a sound I didn’t think I would hear from her. A whimper. I turned to her, saw her eyes glaze over and looking everywhere but up. What was wrong? Before I could ask, the alpha spoke. She said a word I didn’t understand but the way she said it made me think it wasn’t anything good. I felt my hackles raise and I growled as mean as I could. To her, I probably looked like a noisy fluffball, but to me, I was a vicious predator ready to protect the only wolf who meant more to me than myself.

When Mom spoke, she talked about punishments and that we weren’t to blame. Well, of course we weren’t! Sure, I liked to mess around and get into some trouble, but I didn’t do anything wrong! What was going on here? I glared back up at the Monster with my icy blue eyes and barked. "You leave my mommy alone or I’ll… I’ll… bite your toes!!" Perhaps not the biggest threat, but obviously anyone who said elsewise had never had one of their toes bitten by my sharp puppy teeth.

Tiamat spoke up too, standing her ground against the bigger wolf, and I moved to stand next to her. Athena was as quiet as ever, but she watched the Monster closely. My sister had never been one to speak up but that didn’t mean she wasn’t thinking her own thoughts about this. If there was anyone she loved more than most, it was our mother. And so we stood, three sisters, defending the only wolf in the world who had protected and cared for us above herself.