other?”

“Okay, okay,” Anok said quietly in mock surrender. “Maybe your mate loves you. But if her parents loved her—they knew what they did to us, they knew how much we hated them—if they loved her, they would have killed her on the spot, slit her throat the minute she was born. And that”—he took a step forward and lifted a claw to Sango’s throat—“is what I recommend you do to all your sons and daughters. All of them. And don’t tell anyone I told you this, or”—his voice dropped to a whisper that made the fur on Sango’s neck stand on end—“your pups will never be born.” He lowered his claw and sprinted away through the thick forest.

Still shocked from the sudden turn of events, Sango was still for several seconds before he dashed back to the den to inform Aniu of the threat.

“I really don’t know what it is with that wolf,” Aniu said once Sango returned, shaking her head. “I mean, Soren told us he could be trusted, that he wasn’t violent. But now I’m not so sure.”

“You don’t…don’t want to—to actually do that, do you?” Sango asked. Aniu glared at him. “Why would I want to kill the pups? I’m not going to destroy all this work just because some idiot has his ego a bit too high!”

“That’s what worries me,” Sango said. “It’s obvious we won’t kill the pups once they come, but what about Anok? If he finds out about this, he said he would kill you. What if he comes while I’m away? You can’t fight, and I don’t want to put your life in danger.”

Aniu thought for a moment before replying. “You’re right. We need to tell Soren somehow, without Anok finding out.”

“What can Soren do?” Sango said. “I trust him, but face it, he’s old. How long will he be able to hold up against Anok before he’s killed?”

“That’s true,” Aniu said after a second. Then she sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to act like nothing happened and hope for the best.”

XII

Aniu sprinted though the forest, panting so hard she thought she might die of exhaustion. She somehow knew she needed to reach one of the towns on the coast as soon as possible.

She stole a risky glance over her shoulder and saw several wolves in hot pursuit, gaining steadily with every passing minute. The wolves were small and nimble, and they had their ears pinned back and their teeth bared in a menacing snarl. Letting the wolves catch her was death.

Still Aniu carried on through the deep woods, fatigue gradually taking its toll on her weakening body.

Now she became aware of two small pups fighting for their lives by hanging onto the long fur on her shoulders. These pups, she knew, had to make it out of this alive. So she ran all the harder for the pups’ safety. Her life mattered little compared to those of the two tiny beings that were feet away from certain death. Now the deep forest ended and opened out into a snowy clearing as far as the eye could see. But it was not a clearing so much as a blizzard. The temperature dropped sharply and abruptly, and soon Aniu was shivering so much she could barely run. The freezing snowflakes bombarded her face with the power of a thousand jackhammers, and she thought she felt ice form almost instantaneously between her paw pads, causing even more pain. She then took the pups from her shoulders and began carrying them in her mouth in a desperate attempt to warm them with her hot breath.

Another glance over shoulder told her that the wolves were getting closer and closer with every yard. Now they were only a few feet behind her. She could hear their heavy pants as they laboriously sprinted inches behind the tip of her icy tail.

It was only another minute before Aniu realized that all her efforts were in vain. Her lungs ached and stung more painfully than she could ever imagine, and every movement, every motion, every breath was torture. She felt the frost form on her nose and ever so slowly creep up her muzzle, until the fur on her cheeks was fringed by a thin layer of ice.

By this time, her paws were covered in blood from all the wounds caused by the ice in her paw pads, and a line of tiny droplets of red trailed behind her, growing all the while. But the pain was not why Aniu’s heart fell at the sight of the blood behind her—she was already numb; she did not feel the pain. Instead, she knew that the wolves chasing her—which only now did she notice seemed to have disappeared—could track her.

It was already difficult for Aniu to feel the pups clinging to her frozen teeth; in fact, she was not even entirely sure they were still there. But now the world seemed to drift away, surrounded by a swathe of darkness, and seconds later the tunnel vision left and returned again. Only this time, the blank expanse before her seemed to be upside-down, changing colors more rapidly than seemed possible.

Until this point, Aniu had kept herself going solely for the benefit of the two pups. But now, she realized her efforts were in vain. Knowing she may never be able to forgive herself, she dropped the pups into the densely packed snow, and then collapsed herself, panting heavily. Shards of ice flew down her throat, shredding her lungs. She began to cough, and more blood began to pour from her nose and mouth. The world nearly became encased in blackness once again, shrinking to only a spot at the edge of her vision, but then it came back again, blurred and unrecognizable. She saw the two tiny forms in the icy snow a few feet from her, and she knew they were all going to die.

Straining with all her power, all her will, all her love for her two pups, she reached out and licked each one a single time on the forehead. Her mouth struggled to form words, but none came. Reduced only to fragmented thought, she expressed her last: You will be missed.

All was black.

Aniu woke with a start, panting heavily. “Where are they?” she asked herself frantically, searching for the two small bodies that she knew must be somewhere near her.

But a second later, she realized that it all had been a dream. So I’m not dead, she thought, breathing a sigh of relief. She saw the still form of Sango beside her; her mate’s chest rose and fell with his steady breathing. Then she became aware of a pain in her stomach.

That’s strange, Aniu thought, it’s only been around two months. They should be about to come out—Wait! The pain in her stomach suddenly exploded exponentially, and she knew now that this was no ordinary event.

“Sango!” she yelled, agony filling the single word. She saw her mate jerk awake and rush to her side.

“What’s happening?”

“Can’t you see?” she asked. “They’re—oh!” Another explosion of pain interrupted her, and soon a tiny pup lay on the wet ground beside her, squirming as it took its first breaths of air.

Over the next several minutes, three more pups came into the world. But Aniu did not share the grin that spread across Sango’s face. She was dizzy: the world seemed to be spinning around her; all the light she saw from outside the cave seemed to be fading out. She was dimly aware of Sango’s voice calling to her: Aniu? Aniu! Don’t die! Aniu, hang in there! Hold on! Then everything seemed to fade into a comfortable blackness….

Aniu (c) Universal.

All other characters (Adera, Sango, Soren, Anok, Shiraea) (c) me.