wouldn’t let something else decide who I was. I would take charge of my fate. But right then, I felt like Luna. I was Luna. 

 “Call me Luna,” I murmured in answer, and then slumped into a sleep so deep it was as if Luna’s night itself had swallowed me up.

I awoke with a terrified jolt the next morning. Where was I? Why were there all these warm bodies around me? How much damage had my two kidnappers done to me during the night? Had I fought them off as if in a dream, or had I been too tired to resist?

I heaved myself up and stretched, when my brain snapped back to the present. Roan and Soran were as good as gone. I was with the White Storm pack. I was Luna.

I picked my way through the slumbering bodies, straining to see through the dark. By the time I reached the end of the chamber, I had endured snaps, growls, and curses as I accidentally kicked and tripped over the other wolves. I was so used to that treatment, though, I hardly noticed.

I squeezed myself through the narrow tunnel and into the main cave. By this time I had figured out that all the caves were connected, and that the sleeping quarters probably connected to Ice Moon’s cave by some passageway I hadn’t seen. It was a maze, and I was stumbling through it too early in the morning, half-asleep and hungry.

The thick smell of raw meat floated to my nose, and I tracked it outside beneath the snow. I scraped at the frozen soil with my claws, digging furiously until a square of brown-red appeared beneath the dirt. I grabbed it with my teeth and tore into the chunk that came up out of the hole. I swear, I had never tasted anything so good.

I had only gulped down about a quarter of the chunk before I was suddenly smashed to the ground and held there with a paw pressed against my neck.

“Anyone who takes more than their share is considered a thief and a traitor,” a low male voice snarled. I couldn’t say anything back, because generally when someone is crushing your windpipe out the other side of your neck, you can’t talk, never mind breathe.

When I was starting to see little black dots, a low female voice saved my life: “That’s enough, Cyan!”

The paw released me, and air rushed into my lungs. I sucked it in furiously, and dizzily pushed myself to my feet. I rubbed my neck and glared at the wolf who had attacked me. He had a gray coat that subtly changed to brown-gray at his hips. He had startling, bright blue eyes with a shining black pupil in the center that reminded me of a dollop of oil floating on the water. And now I knew his name: Cyan.

Ice Moon, my lifesaver, trotted forward from the cave mouth and brought her face close to Cyan’s. “Luna is new, and she missed meals today,” she said firmly, “You were doing your job right, but you of all wolves should know about these things!” She swept past him and back into the cave’s shadows.

I quickly choked down the rest of the meat before anyone else came on the scene.

Cyan shuddered after she was gone. “Crazy old bat,” he muttered, and turned to me. “Uh…sorry.”

I rubbed my neck again. It didn’t really hurt that much, but he deserved to feel guilty. “Why is she a crazy old bat?” I asked bitingly.

Cyan snorted and narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t heard?”

“Would I be asking you if I had?” I retorted.

He sighed and sat down. I sat down, too. The night was freezing, but our talking would wake the others if we went inside. I hoped for a quick summary of a tale that seemed like it could last awhile.

“Kalim was the alpha male, and Ice Moon was his mate,” Cyan began, his blue eyes serious, “They started this pack awhile ago, and I joined as a lone wolf. Anyway, a few weeks ago Kalim died of old age, and Ice Moon went a little screwy from grief. She’s the leader of the pack now, but she’s old, too. She won’t last long.”

“What do you mean by ‘screwy’?” I asked suspiciously. I remembered her staring off into space when I first saw her, and the tears on her muzzle.

“She’s always acting like she’s out to get us,” Cyan replied, “Or that we’re out to get her…Do you know Jaydor?”

It was my turn to snort. “Doesn’t he run this place?”

“…Kind of,” Cyan said, a mysterious grin floating on his lips, but it quickly drooped into an indifferent expression as he said softly, “Just remember, Jaydor’s a lot more than he seems. Now c’mon, let’s get inside. I’m freezing my tail off.”

He padded into the dark cave, and I was seized by a sudden thought. I ran up to him and stopped him with one paw on his shoulder. Cyan turned around. “What?”

“If you ever attack me again,” I growled lowly, “You won’t live to regret it. Because I’ll kill you.”

“Oo, tough girl,” Cyan said sarcastically, but I could tell he was a little impressed. Well, why wouldn’t he be? All guys care about is how tough you are or how attractive you are. Guys, in my opinion, are like rocks. They don’t think, but they can hurt.

I lay down in my spot and dozed for awhile before falling asleep. I dreamed of the moon and meat and my escape, and a certain wolf with bright blue eyes that glinted at me through sinister slits.

A few hours later something poked me in the leg. A feminine voice whispered, “Luna. Get up, Luna.”

My drowsy brain stirred. Luna? Who was Luna?...Oh, yeah. I still had to get used to having a name.

I squirmed away, knowing perfectly well who was poking me and that her ugly, smiling face was the last thing I wanted to see in the morning.

The poking became more insistent. “Luna.”

I shifted around, but the voice and prodding paw wouldn’t go away. I cursed silently and pushed the paw away.

“LUNA!”

“GET OFF!” I yelled, finally opening my bleary eyes.

Crystal smiled down at me, undaunted. “Good morning!”

The sunlight streaming from outside fried my eyeballs. I squinted against the glare and heaved myself up. “What time is it?”

“Time to get up, that’s what time,” Crystal said brightly, leading me outside through the tunnel. I prayed that my eyes would survive. How could a place so dark only a few hours ago be so blindingly bright so soon?

“You just missed the hunting party going after breakfast,” Crystal said. She trotted toward a group of chatting females. “C’mon, Lu, come meet the girls.”

Crystal’s constant nicknaming was starting to grate on my nerves. My name was Luna, not Lu. Had I ever said she could call me Lu? No. And I would never, I swore, never call her Crys. She was too annoying to become one of my friends. 

   “Girls, this is Luna,” Crystal chirped, “You know, the new member?”

There were “Ah”s and “Of course”s and cool nods. I struggled not to roll my eyes, or yawn. Who did these guys think they were? They all seemed to be so happy. I bet they would keep smiling even if the world ended right then. They knew nothing of the real world, the cruel world. They had lived here, safe and healthy, while I suffered at the paws of my kidnappers. I knew the true, ugly nature of the world, because I had lived it. And they hadn’t.

The injustice and my jealousy scalded me inside, while Crystal babbled and burbled on about something that all the other females seemed to understand, and I didn’t. It was something about gossip and love and crushes. Half of me wanted to scream, “What the heck are you talking about??” and the other half wanted to yell, “Who cares???”

When I was so bored I was practically drooling while falling asleep on my feet, a new voice woke me up.

“They’re back!”

I glanced up to see most of the male wolves trudge into the area dragging a small caribou behind them. Literally jumping at the chance to get a way from Crystal and her little group, I loped over to the party and sniffed at the meat delicately. My stomach growled earnestly.

A much more threatening growl vibrated behind my ear. I snapped around to see Ice Moon snarling at me, her lip curled. I was a little surprised, but what else could I do? I got ready to roar right back, but suddenly Cyan knocked me to the side and dragged me to an obscure corner. I almost fought him off, but his words stopped me: “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Telling Ice Moon that no one bosses me around,” I said hotly. I watched as Jaydor bowed coldly to Ice Moon as she stepped past him and began eating.

“That’s her job,” Cyan said shortly, then stopped. “Please don’t tell me you don’t know what kind of situation you’re in.”

“All I know is I want food,” I moaned longingly, but as a joke. Cyan’s stare of disbelief suddenly convinced me that this was no laughing matter.

“Come with me,” he said, sliding past the cave.

My stomach rumbled and gnawed at it’s lining, and I held back.

“I’ve got food,” he sighed with exasperation, “Now get moving!”

I shot past him and grinned evilly at the sour expression on his face. He tried to catch up with me, but I was too fast for him. We ran, with him shouting directions and curses from behind me, and eventually wound up at a small den with an odd-looking pattern of large flat rocks arranged in front of it. I clambered up on one of the rocks and lay down, panting and feeling smug.

Cyan sat down in the snow beside me, gasping for breath. “Where did – you – learn how – to – run – like that?” he inquired through wheezes.

“Genes, probably,” I told him, “My father was a sled dog. What did you expect?”

His expression hardened. “Right. Which brings me to the topic at hand.”

“Food?” I said hopefully. A hunger pang hit my stomach so hard I nearly doubled over.

Cyan grunted, and started scrabbling through the snow. While he was doing that, I mimed dying of starvation, which isn’t too hard when you feel like your stomach’s starting to digest itself.

Finally Cyan threw a hunk of meat at my head, which I caught in my mouth and started chowing down. He watched me eat, and the realization hit me after I had swallowed my last mouthful: I was alone with a male.

The hairs all over my body prickled. My heart started going thumpthumpthumpTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP…

“Alright. Luna, there’s something you need to know,” Cyan

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