was” I moaned. “If there wasn’t that would probably mean we were the only two for miles and that’s something no one should have to endure. Now go to sleep”

I heard Shelby lay down again and before she could jump at anything else, my mind finally carried itself away into memory-filled dreams.

     “Where’s mommy?” Azura whimpered, rubbing up against our father, Canton.

Canton didn’t seem very interested, but we all knew by now that no matter how much our father pretended to ignore our mother, he did care. But now wasn’t the time to pretend. Mom was gone. We had no idea where she was.

“Where is she daddy?” I asked worriedly. Scooter and Roxy had the same big, worried eyes me and my sister had and finally, Canton couldn’t take it anymore.

“You stay right here okay?” he said. “I’ll be back in a little bit with your mother”

The four of us watched him slip out the doggie door and the room was filled with quiet. Our owners had gone out to somewhere so there was absolutely no one watching us.

     “I’m scared” Azura whimpered. “What happens if daddy doesn’t find her?”

“Maybe we should go out and find her” I said, pushing the doggie door open. 

     “But daddy said-” Scooter started to object, but I could tell he wanted to do the same thing. With a sigh, he jumped outside first and the four of us wandered the streets together. 

After a few hours of searching, we heard a gun go off, making us all jump and whimper. 

“Maybe they found mom!” I finally said, voice cracking. The four of us took off toward the sound and when we came around the corner, we saw our dad standing over our mom who had collapsed. We started running toward them but we never got there. Before we knew it, someone had scooped us all up and I made my first trip to the pound.

     The lady in charge was nice. She gave us warm milk but we weren’t hungry. We wanted our parents and our owners. While we were there, I noticed that one of the boards was loose. It was just big enough for a puppy to go through. 

“We can go find mom and dad now!” I yipped. Scooter and Roxy didn’t seem so convinced.

     “Mom and Dad will find us if we stay here” Roxy shot back. “We got lost when we followed you!”

“Fine then!” I replied. I knew Azura would follow me. When we left, it was the last time we were house pets. Azura and I never went back to our parents or owners again... even though Scooter and Roxy were picked up and it turned out our mother had only collapsed from running so much. I saw them every now and them, but not a word ever passed between us. Mom probably would’ve been happy to see us... but Dad...

     The autumn sun was warming my back when my eyes cracked themselves open. It had been a lot warmer then I thought it would be… 

I glanced around and with a wave of shock, realized that Shelby was curled into me. I scrambled to me feet. Shelby woke up with a start looking around fearfully.

“I already told you! I’m not protecting you and I’m not bringing you along so that we can be pals!”

Shelby scoffed and got to her feet, stretching. Fur still tingling, I stalked over to the creek to catch a breakfast of fish. I had caught fish before… I just wasn’t very good at it. However, with a splash, I surprised myself and caught a wriggling thing in my mouth and brought it onto dry grass to eat. Shelby watched enviously.

“I’m not helping you” I said without even looking up.

     “I don’t need your help!” she replied, sticking her nose into the air and trotting toward the creek.

As I ate, I heard splash after splash. After each splash came a growl of frustration. I didn’t need to watch to know that Shelby was failing miserably. As soon as I finished, I got a front row seat to what was sure to be breakfast and a show. Shelby glared at me. I just smiled and watched through half closed eyes. Finally, the silver husky stormed out of the little trickle of water, soaking wet and shivering. 

     The next few days, I had to admit that Shelby wasn’t the stuffy purebred I was convinced that she would be. She did have her moments… like insisting that I make a bed for her so that she didn’t have to sleep in the mud. Or when her light blue collar broke. I was convinced she was going to pass out by hyperventilating, but she got over it. I was almost disappointed when we spotted a city’s lights on the horizon. This one seemed a little bigger then Platinum, but I’d had my share of the wild!

     “What if someone recognizes us?!” Shelby worried.

“You’d be surprised at how many people haven’t heard of you… and I haven’t done anything that bad yet”

     “How are we going to get food? There’s no fish to catch!”

“You can’t catch fish anyway...” I said. “And there are dumpsters… there’s bound to be something in one of them.”

     “You expect me to eat out of a dumpster!?”

I sighed.

“Not tonight. There’s no sense in trying to rush over”

I found a spot underneath a tree and plopped down. Shelby frowned.

     “You didn’t even find me a wolf pack to lead!”

“You barely survived these past weeks with me. You can’t catch food and you’re too afraid to sleep by yourself. You wouldn’t stand a chance out here without me” 

I didn’t need to open my eyes to see the look Shelby was giving me. 

     “Well I saved-!”

“Don’t even try that bit on me now! My legs better. I could outrun you in a second! So I suggest you stop talking and rest because we’re waking up early tomorrow morning”

I heard Shelby throw herself to the ground and mutter something under her breath.

     The next morning, I woke myself up just as the sun was streaking the sky with pink and gold. I yawned and noticed Shelby was curled into my side once again. I grumbled and scooted away. No matter what I did, she always ended up there like she was some kind of magnet but at least it kept me warm… 

“Wake up or I’m leaving you behind” I said, getting up and stretching.

Shelby opened her eyes and blinked a few times, but got up. I didn’t waste a second and headed for the town, Shelby mumbling as she stumbled after me.

     As soon as we walked down a side street, I could already tell that this town was a lot different from Platinum. The streets were a lot wider and the houses were tons bigger. This city must have been at least four times bigger then Platinum. Walking as if I was walking on eggshells, I carefully treaded down the main street, not yet ready to try the back alleys. 

     “This isn’t the wild anymore! No one’s going to attack us” Shelby said loudly.

“How would you know? You’ve never been outside Platinum”

     “Well I know enough about city life”

“Alright. Then why don’t you go off on your own” I replied carelessly. “I got you away from your family”

     “What?!”

“See ya around” I said over my shoulder. “I told you I wasn’t dragging you around so we could be friends and like you said, you know enough about city life”

Shelby stuttered, trying to think up excuses but finally pouted, “Fine!” before storming away.

Finally free of the extra burden, I started to wander down the back alleys in search of something to eat. A few trashcans stood next to someone’s front door. No one was awake at this time in the morning, so I tipped it over and helped myself to whatever edible things were inside. 

After eating my fill, I decided to explore a little and find a safe place to sleep off my meal. No other dogs seemed to be around. Finally, after a few minutes of walking around aimlessly behind houses, I found an abandoned crate. It looked comfortable compared to the hard, frozen ground I had been sleeping on. But I didn’t even get to settle down before I heard a short scream. It was Shelby. 

I paused, unsure of what to do.

“Not my problem” I convinced myself. In the distance someone snarled, making me sway indecisively. Growling at myself, I doubled around to go find Shelby. Never had I hated myself more...

Dallas, Shelby, Canton, Cocoa, Azura, Blizzard and Snow (Shelby’s mom) (c) me

Scooter and Roxy (c) ChaoticEbony

Rex (c) Scarlet BlackMoon

Ivan (c) FallenAngel