and ran as fast as I could to who-knows-where.

“Hey!” Roan yelled, “Get back here!”

“For Pete’s sake, Roan,” Soran muttered.

“You just shut up,” Roan growled.

I scampered behind our cave and hid there behind a molting pine tree. The needles prickled my nose, and their spicy smell was nauseating, but I didn’t make a sound. I had learned that staying quiet would help me get less beatings from Roan. Maybe silence could help me now.

Roan was my real tormentor, but Soran never lifted a paw to help or defend me, even though he never hurt me. Soran simply didn’t care about me, and that’s the reason my hate for him was even more so than for Roan.

I lay there, shaking. An overwhelming surge of insecurity swept through me, and instantly I wanted nothing more than to curl up somewhere safe, between loving paws, and cry and cry until Roan and Soran drowned in the salty river of my tears. I thought of the mother I had heard talked about. Was she real? Could she hear me?

“Mother?” I whimpered pitifully into the wind. It tossed away my words, and I felt more alone and stupid than ever. “Mother…”

Approaching footsteps below made me duck, and I listened, terrified, as they marched closer and closer until they were right in front of the cave. There were a hundred, a thousand footsteps. I imagined duplicates of Roan and Soran coming to hurt me, and I burrowed down into the snow.

“You two are intruders here,” a deep voice rumbled, “This is not your territory.”

I peeked over the ridge and saw an elderly gray wolf standing up to my two abductors with a pack of ten other wolves at his back.

“We’re sorry,” Roan said in an emotionless voice, “We didn’t know we were in your space.”

“Really?” the older wolf replied, arching an eyebrow, “I can tell you’ve been living here for a few weeks. The edge of my territory is only a few pawprints to the east. You haven’t scented it in all this time?”

“Look, who are you to be telling us this?” Soran blurted out.

Roan kicked him. For all his gray fur, Soran had never had much gray matter in his head.

“I am Kalim, leader of the White Storm pack,” the wolf huffed, straightening up and glaring at Soran, “And you are on my territory, so I suggest you come up with a good reason why I should let you stay!” Suddenly Kalim stopped and sniffed. His right foot pawed at the snow. “Do I smell…?” He sniffed again, and narrowed his eyes at Roan. “Do you have a young pup living here also?”

“Pup? Geez, no!” Roan exclaimed hastily, “If you smell anything, it’s the baby, uh, uh, deer we killed this morning! A wolf’s got to eat when a wolf’s got to eat, right?”

“I’m not so old that I cannot tell the difference between prey and my own blood,” Kalim said icily.

“Well, c’mon, Kalim,” Roan said with a weak grin, “Why would we have a pup hanging around here? Do we look like the kind who babysit?”

Kalim stared at them, and then sighed. “Very well, then. You may stay, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you. Good day.”

The wolves turned and padded off into the snow, disappearing into the distance.

Roan glared at Soran. “Nice.”

“What? I had no idea he was the pack leader,” Soran said innocently.

“I think it was kind of obvious,” Roan said, rolling his eyes, “Old guy? A pack following him? He starts talking about territory? Hmmm, let’s think here…”

“Hey, not everybody can be the brains of the operation.” Soran went over and lay down in front of the cave.

Roan snorted. “Oh yeah? And what are you, the foot?”

Soran closed his eyes and growled softly.

Roan looked around with sudden urgency. “Hey, where’s the kid?”

“You let her go, you go find her,” Soran said with his eyes still closed.

“Gee, thanks for the help,” Roan muttered.

“My pleasure.”

I curled up beside the cave, shivering and waiting to be found. Kalim and his pack had opened something up inside me. I had only seen other wolves (besides Roan and Soran) from a distance, but now, knowing the wolves could be reached and talked to, I had new hope. Maybe one day I could escape from here…

“Gotcha.” Roan scooped me up in his teeth and carried me to the cave. I went limp in his mouth, but a hot star seemed to hurtle out of the sky and stamp itself on my heart. I felt a warm determination in my chest that one day I would escape, and hopefully leave Roan and Soran crying for their mothers just as they had made me cry for mine. I would escape. I would be free.

Time passed. I grew from pup to young adult, maturing, and growing a little older and wiser…Okay, maybe not wiser, but definitely more independent. I started to see I didn’t have to be a frightened little whelp anymore. I didn’t have to be pushed around. I could make my own rules.

Roan and Soran noticed I was growing and changing, too, and I could tell what they had in mind for me. But I wasn’t going to be their toy. They didn’t seem to realize it, but I was as strong as they were, and my will was stronger still. It was time to get out of there, and make a future for myself.

It felt like it was around the time I would turn two. I couldn’t be sure of the exact day, but it felt like a special day, now that I was determined to leave for good. And what better gift could I get than my freedom from Roan and Soran? I deemed it my birthday, got up, and lumbered out of the cave that morning to a fine silver mist.

My abductors were nowhere in sight. I looked around, and then cocked my head when I hear voices. I crept back to the cave and padded around, and froze when I saw Soran and Roan talking earnestly behind the cave.

I quickly drew back behind a mound of snow and tried to stop the pounding blood in my ears so I could hear what was being said.

“Hey, Soran. Have you been noticing…the pup’s not exactly a pup anymore?”

“Yeah. She’s a good-looking one, alright,” Soran breathed.

I almost choked as I tried to hold back my laughter. I had never actually seen myself, so I didn’t even know I was physically attractive. To think that I was attracting these bad boys, my kidnappers, was so weird it was kind of funny.

“You know this is what we’ve been waiting for, right?” Roan said lowly, “She’s attractive, and she’s scared of us. This is our chance. Today’s the day to really have some fun with her.”

My blood iced into freezing liquid. I knew it. This is what they had been planning to do to me. They would hurt me more than they had ever done before, and this time it would be both of them, not just Roan. My blood bubbled and boiled into liquid fire, and I glared at my abductors with so much hatred only time would tell which one of us would explode first. I suddenly promised myself that I would not let them do this. Whatever it took, I would be free of them before the day was out.

As if feeling my glare, Roan turned and stared right into my eyes. “Well, well. Didn’t anyone ever tell you eavesdropping is rude?”

“I never did have good parents,” I shot back, stepping out to face him.

“Well, you’ve got us,” Soran snickered.

“Shut up,” Roan and I said in unison, and returned to our argument.

“How much did you hear?” Roan asked.

“Enough,” I replied shortly, “Enough to know that you’re going to hurt me, and that that’s the only reason you’ve kept me around. It’s all been for your pleasure, hasn’t it?”

“Hm, smart and beautiful,” Roan drawled, “Though it would be more beneficial to us if you only had the latter of those traits.”

“Your loss,” I snapped, “I’ve been your play thing for long enough, Roan. I dare you to come over here and touch me. Just touch me.”

“Is that a challenge or an invitation?” Roan whispered menacingly.

“You’ll regret it either way,” I spat.

Suddenly Roan gave a swift nod, and out of nowhere Soran pushed me down from behind. I fell flat on my face, but immediately I tried to get up. Soran just grinned stupidly as he held me down.

“Look at Ms. Hot Stuff now,” Roan sneered, padding over and standing to the side, “What do you think? Do you want to go first, Soran?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Soran chuckled, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I started to feel sick. I couldn’t let this happen. They couldn’t do this to me. No way would they ever get the chance to do this to me! Not now, not ever!

“NO!” I threw Soran to the ground and kicked Roan in the jaw, cracking his head back. I flew to my feet and kicked at Roan again, catching him in the eye. He groaned, but he bit my foot at the last second and twisted my leg, flipping me. I spun through the air and my head whirled, but even as I hit the ground and felt the pain, all I thought about was winning my life, and my pride, and my self-respect.

I sprang up, only to duck down when I felt Roan’s teeth glide over my neck. He missed biting me by a second. I screwed my teeth into his leg and threw him to the ground to lay belly-up. Soran tried to come up from behind again, but I flipped him over my shoulder and onto the ground. He landed next to Roan with his stomach and neck up and exposed. Two pairs of amazed eyes stared up at me. I glared back. I had them pinned. They were beaten and they knew it.

For a minute I almost ripped into them, imagined seeing their dead bodies, feeling the relief, but I stopped myself. The best revenge would be to make them live with themselves. Without me, without pleasure, their lives had no point except to annoy each other day in and day out. Ah, sweet revenge.

I stood over them, one paw on each of their chests, my eyes flashing fire as I held their lives in my paws. They looked up at me. I looked down at them. We were all breathing heavily, and it took me a minute to gather the breath to deliver my parting words to my abductors:

“I’m leaving you both, and don’t come after me. Don’t you dare come after me. I’ve been your toy for long enough. I’m not just a thing to be played with. I have feelings, and right now I hate you both so much I wish I could kill you. But I can’t. You need to see for yourselves how pathetic your lives are. That will be your only chance. If you follow me, or try to hurt me again, I will