The adult wolf lowered herself to the pup’s level, but her fear was still thick in the air. She did not trust being around others. Even the adopted mother who had let her feed amongst her pups she had tried to keep her distance. She had struck out on her own, but found a small hole in the rocks close to where her fosterer had resided. She ventured out only when hunger drove her, or the bone deep need to remind herself she was a wolf. It had inspired this venture. This venture that had taken a drastic turn away from where she had desired it to go.

She called me ‘demon’ and ‘plague’, ‘maggot’ and ‘worm’ and said it had always been me. We were alone... Her voice was quiet and she remembered the blood dripping from her mother’s mouth just as it seemed to pool in both their eyes. She looked up at Amber, her body still shaking. She said she had been fine until I came along. It was me. Please… She seemed to try to sink lower into the stones that she could have blended into. ...I just want to go. Keeping low she inched along the wall, trying to move around the bigger wolf. Against her wishes her red hackles rose in threat and fear. Red tipped ears flicked to and fro. Whether it was sickness or stalkers, something had taken her mother with a bloody vengeance. Possibly both internal and external had combined to take the frightening life, the only life she had ever known, from the child.

One day the pup may walk back in the world of wolves, but today was not that day. Today she needed to return to what she felt was comfortable. Everyone needed their moments of comfort to grow. Her’s was in the stony shadows and dark.