weaker now, but it still smelted of forest pine and trouble. Urging myself further, although my young body was beginning to feel a bit fatigued after running, I felt it was necessary to keep going . . . 

I have to beat her . . . I have to make her pay!

Without really noticing, I brushed past Dakota, barely feeling his medium-burgundy fur brush against my own as I zoomed by him. I let out a growl once I realized that I was past my challenger, turning to give the gesture to him, warning him to not follow me. I could feel him slow to a trotting halt, stopping as I continued forward on my pursuit for my sister. 

“Hey, Una!” I could hear my brother calling me from behind with a slight tinge of worry in his voice. “You won, all right?”

Well, I did beat you in your little challenge . . . but not that golden-eyed weirdo of a older sister!  

“Come on – get Aleu back to Mom and Dad before you guys get in trouble!” He completed.

I refused to answer back, especially since I had something I wanted to get off my chest to my older sister. I didn’t care if he was worried about my well-being and if I got into trouble. I really didn’t give a damn, to tell you the truth. Actually, why was he so concerned about her for? I’m better than her, and they – well, at least Dakota for starters – should have known that by now! 

I heard him call out my name again, but the sound was faint as I watched my sister’s giggling brown form leap into the forest. Now Dakota was calling Aleu’s name . . .

Great, I knew she was a little troublemaker, even if she is my sister, I scoffed away from my siblings’ ears. She has to be the center of attention, doesn’t she? Always making a scene . . . Hmph! I knew none of my brothers or my other sister would dare break Father’s orders, so I followed suit with Aleu, jumping right into the woods after her.  

I could easily track her through the greenery of the forest; her fur seemed to taint everything she brushed against with her pungent, wild odor, so it didn’t take me long to catch up to her. Surprisingly enough, Aleu had finally stopped running and was lapping up some water in a small forest pool. I felt a ray of sunshine fall over her and the tiny lake, almost as if the heavens themselves worshipped her as a freakin’ saint.

This is ridiculous! I growled to myself as I continued watching the almost pastoral sight from a nearby bush, waiting for the right time to strike. What, is God trying to tell me that my dangerous-smelling sister is supposed to be some sort of high and mighty figure? Ha! If that were true, I’d be the world’s most popular dog by now . . . or something similar to that, at least. 

I couldn’t suffer this any longer, so I leaped out of the bush and landed into the shallow water, glaring at my sister with a look of pure hatred.

“Una . . .” Aleu said quietly to me in a shocked yet cheerful voice, almost as if she paid no attention to the fact that I was evilly glaring at her with my brownish-red eyes. “you followed me!” 

“Of course I did!” I answered back, totally lying as I spoke. “You ran in and no one else would! You know Father’s gonna kill you for this.” Not unless I kill you first, dearest sister! Well, I knew she was my sister and all, but I really felt like hurting her in some way. Was she so dense that she couldn’t sense how different she was? Her scent was stronger now, as if the forest was becoming part of her the longer she stood in it. “You could get us both in big trouble!”

“Oh, Papa wouldn’t mind, really,” She giggled at me, surprising me with her sudden lack of the seriousness of the situation. “I just wanted to find a quiet place where I could practice my singing. He doesn’t like it that much, and I have no idea why.” 

I sighed, rolling my eyes at her as she began to lift her head up into the sunlight that shone above her. Her blue and yellow eyes were engulfed by her eyelids as her nose seemed to reach the sky. A noise came out of her mouth, but I couldn’t exactly understand what it was. It sounded like a tornado of wind, mixing with the melodies of times past . . . except it sounded like a total broken record, all high-pitched and scratchy. I quickly lowered my head to the water, placing my front paws over my ears to block out the horrid din from my eardrums. Before closing my eyes in agony, I remember seeing my sister lift one of her creamy beige paws in the air as she cried out in her ‘song’.

My God, is she completely tone-deaf? I asked myself as I waited for her to stop. Gah, no wonder Father doesn’t like it when she sings – she’s absolutely horrible at it! I wonder if anyone has ever had the nerve to tell her . . . 

Finally, I got the nerve to uncover my ears and attack her while she was completely unaware of my presence. Her scent was the strongest I had ever smelt it while she sang, almost as if something wild was clearly assimilating with her while it happened. I knew if I wanted a chance to strike her, now was the most perfect chance ever. I leaped from the water and pounced on top of her with my claws out. I growled as I stood atop of her, silently threatening to claw her mouth shut if she ever dared to sing again.

“Una! Wha-what are you . . . oof . . . doing?” Aleu had the nerve to speak to me, looking up from her now-weakened state. 

“What does it look like, Aleu?” I replied back with a growl. “You’re a threat to me, and you must pay for it!”

“I . . . ooh . . . I don’t understand,” she groaned as I continued to push her down into the ground with my large white paws and upper body strength. “Why am I such a threat to you, Una?” 

Wow, she really has no idea how much trouble she is, I thought as I began to smirk at her maliciously. “You can’t smell it, sense it, even notice it?”

Aleu nodded her head. “No, not really. I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding –” 

Before she could say anything else, I placed a clawed paw on her throat, pressing it down to the ground. “You smell like Father! You’re dangerous to be around! Everyone seems to like you because they don’t understand how different you are like I do! I hate you! I hate you!” At the end of every sentence, I continued to apply pressure to her neck; hearing her gurgle and nearly choke made my raging flame grow stronger. “I could have won that race today if it wasn’t for you! It’s your fault I lost – you’re so . . . grr!” I couldn’t even complete my thought at all, so I loosened my grip on her neck, allowing her to catch her breath. She sat up, clutching her paw to her throat as she panted rapidly.

“You don’t really hate me that much, do you?” I heard her weak voice murmur out quietly. “We are sisters after all . . . and we shouldn’t . . .” Her head fell almost limply towards the ground, her cheeks slightly flushed with a strange shade of pink. “I mean, we shouldn’t hate each other . . . right? I mean, . . . I really like you, Una . . . and I admire your strength.” 

She likes me?! What the hell? Now I know she’s completely crazy! I only huffed at her as I began to walk out the way I came. “Well, I don’t care for you, Aleu – either as a sister or as anything else! I never will like you, ever!” I could hear my sister whimper sadly behind me, so I decided to add one final comment that she hadn’t heard yet. “Oh, and by the way, your singing really sucks. You should take my advice and never sing again.”

I could feel her self-esteem sink as I walked away, smirking viciously as I looked forward. My evil grin quickly turned to a fearful gasp as the much larger form of Father growling above me. He quickly reached his muzzle down and grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, much to my own disapproval. I heard him whistle to Aleu to follow him as I felt Father turn back, leading both of us out of the woods with an angry growl gurgling down his throat. 

I knew he was upset with me for disobeying his orders, but I thought about what my sister had told me about Father not minding about her running away . . .

“Papa wouldn’t mind, really . . .” 

I growled and barked as Father brought us out of the dark woodlands and back into the bright sunlight and the sandy beachside shore by the nearby sea. My anger at Aleu was causing my blood to boil.

There’s no way she would get away with this. It’s impossible! It’s – 

“Aleu, what do you think you were doing, going out into the woods when I said not to?”

Father had placed me down, allowing me to run back to the safety of Mother, my brothers and sister before he began to speak to his little wild-smelling clone. I growled beside Mother when I could hear what Father told my sister, much to the confusion of the others. 

Ooh, now she’s gonna get it!

I continued to listen on as Mother tried to move the rest of us away, still my chest burned with fury, . . . but something was totally wrong with this picture. 

Why is he not scolding her? If it were me, Father would have nipped me in the flank by now!

“Sorry, Papa. I just was looking for some time alone after that race. Una just . . .” 

Oh no – don’t you start getting me into your problems, Aleu! You’re the one who broke the rules, not me!

“What did Una do, honey? Did she do something to you?” 

I did nothing, Father! With exception of nearly choking my own sister to death with my own paws . . . but hopefully she won’t say that.

Will she? 

“Uh . . . no. Nothing happened, Papa. She just followed me to hear me sing, that’s all.”

Hmph! That loud crap? I would never . . . Well, it sounds better than her telling the truth, I guess. 

Maybe he didn’t hear those things that I said to her . . . I’d be dead meat if he heard those! Not like I really care . . .

“Oh, that’s it? She didn’t say anything to you?” 

Gulp . . . she would tell him, wouldn’t she?

“Uh-uh.” 

Huh? What the