Chapter 1: Riley

This is ridiculous, Riley thought to herself. She crouched her gray, sleek body into the brush and narrowed her eyes at her oblivious prey. Every move it made, every blink of its eye made her so much hungrier.  Her claws dug into the soft clay underneath her feet, and just as the rabbit bent his head to take another nibble of grass, Riley stretched her legs under her and clutched the feeble rabbit in her muddy paws. It squirmed and yelped, but she didn’t let it go. She swallowed the hungry acid creeping up her throat. This wasn’t much, but it would do.                                 

            She tore the tough meat apart eccentrically. When she was done, all that she left was a carcass, bloody fur, and a few scraps for the vultures. It would be a long walk back to the pack, but considering it was almost winter and the cold was setting in, she had to go nearly five miles to find one skimpy rabbit.

            The beautifully radiant sun was losing its glow as it fell beyond the horizon and the moon grudgingly took its place. The western was a gorgeous palate of pinks, purples, and oranges, creating a striking scene. Riley took her time getting back, because she wanted to be alone to see the sun descend behind the land that seemed to stretch on forever. Beyond places she had never dreamed of.

            Riley froze where she was and the hackles on her neck stood on end. Her ears were erect and she listened to whatever had snapped that twig. Her claws retracted and she took a small, silent step back into a small puddle. The water rippled around her foot quietly, but that was the only thing her sensitive ears caught.

            She shifted her eyes to the right, and then to the left. She saw something, maybe just the wind swaying a branch, so she turned her head to look to the north. There was nothing there, of course, so she slowly turned to her right. Still nothing; so she took a cautious step forward. There was no noise except for the sound of her paw crunching a dead leaf on the ground. She pulled her back leg out of the puddle and set it gently on the ground.

            She scanned the trees again, just to be sure, and found nothing. She began her way home again, just as it became dark. She picked up her pace to a slow trot and kept her senses sharp for any other noises.

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Alec paced back and forth outside of his den, watching the tree line for any sign of his daughter. At twilight he saw movement in the trees, and saw his daughter break into the clearing, running through the tall grass as fast as her body would take her. He noticed the flustered look on her face when she ran to his side, but said nothing. She licked his ear. “Good night, Dad,” she said between her heavy breaths. He watched her go inside, a slight worried frown forming on his mouth, and muttered, “Good night.”

            Riley walked in two full circles and then laid down next to her sister, Raven. Raven was fast asleep, but turned her head slightly when Riley slumped onto the ground, stirring up a few particles of dirt. She looked at Raven, to make sure she still asleep, then gently snuggled up next to her sister.

            Riley woke the next morning to the sound of her brother, Achak, saying her name and nudging her shoulder. She got up and stretched her legs out in front of her and stuck her tail up on the air. Her tongue rolled out of her mouth, allowing a yawn to escape.

            She followed him outside of the den and looked around at the blanket of white, covering everything. Just yesterday, it was warm and sunny, and the leaves were just changing, but today, it was cold, wet, and snowy.

            She stared at the landscape before as Alec said, “It would seem winter has come to us early this year.” Riley turned to her father to say something, but before her mouth was open, Raven went running by as fast as possible, grinning. If there was one thing in the world that Raven liked, it was snow; white, freezing, snowy, snow. She probably only likes because it’s so cold, like her, Riley always thought to herself.

            “What are we going to do?” Achak asked his father.

            Alec only shook his head, “We were not prepared for this. We’ve no food, so will have to evacuate.” Naomi, their mother, shook her head. “What?” Alec looked at her.

            She sighed and pressed her brown side to his, “Alec, where are we to go? We’ve no friends in other packs, and we don’t know where to go.”

            Raven had done four laps around the clearing now, Riley noticed, but then her eyes caught something behind the trees; the flash of the sun against somebody’s pupils. She squinted and moved her head forward, but the wolf noticed her looking, and disappeared. She started toward the trees while Alec rambled on about his plans.

             She saw a flash of white fur duck behind a large shrub. She picked up her pace, unwilling to let them get away. But, they weren’t trying to get away; they were just trying to be unseen. Now that they knew Riley was after them, they just waited for her to come. When she got to the tree line where the tall grass still stuck up over the snow and the stream ran by, she stopped. She looked around the tree where she had seen the wolf, but they were gone now. “Hello?” She whispered. A large, furry head poked out from under a large spruce, smirking.

            He stepped out from under the tree and smiling slyly at Riley. She couldn’t help but look into his golden eyes that had a tint of black sneaking in. She moved her eyes down the length of his body, stretched out in front of her. “Hello,” he whispered back.