tears come. For the second time in his life, he was all alone.
And his mother couldn't help this time.

Clara wailed.
"Why did I have to lose my only best friend?!" She screamed to the sky.

Aleu rolled over. How long have I been asleep?
Then, memories from the day before hit him like a train.
Fresh tears rolled to his eyes. Through them, he could see a shape in the entrance to his cave...

Clara's tears reappeared to her eyes. She looked over and saw a shape through the tree.
Who the heck...?

Aleu blinked rapidly to remove the tears from his eyes. "Who's there?"

Clara squeezed her eyes shut to remove the tears.
"Wh-who's th-the-there?" She stammered.

Aleu's vision cleared to show a pup. Her name was...Aleu concentrated and tried to remember. "Sapphire?"
Sapphire padded into the den.
"What are you doing?" Sapphire asked politely.
"You made Mummy cry." Another voice came: Quintin.
Aleu sighed. "Your mom and I had a fight. We're...not talking anymore."
Aleu curled up to ignore the pups and wallow in self-pity.
Sapphire growled. "From what I've heard, it was your fault..."
Her eyes blazed into Aleu's pelt.
Aleu uncurled. "Look, there's a reason I like to be alone. Your mother became the reason, I told her so, there was a fight, we went our separate ways."
"You were the one who let go of your friendship," Sapphire growled.
She looked at Quintin. "Come on, let's go."
Aleu watched them go. "Wait." He sat up. "Weren't there four of you?"
Sapphire sighed and started to cry. "Tess and Lilly tried to bring you guys back together, but got attacked. They're at the Nurse now..."
Aleu jumped to his feet. Not Tess...
Sapphire and Quintin padded away.
A breeze drifted into the cave. A scent carried on it... "Wait!" Aleu said. "Not that way. " He walked to the back of the cave, and slammed his shoulder into the convincingly rock wall, feeling it crumble. "This way. Hurry."
Sapphire growled. "Why should we trust you?"
"I saved your mother, didn't I?"
Sapphire's face turned red. "You did, but only from your sick father! YOU, leaving her, is causing a lot of damage!" She screamed.
"So you only trust me if I'm saving you from my dad? Go to the entrance, and take a smell. I'm sure what you find will be much worse."
"No!" Sapphire spat.
Aleu sniffed again. "Hunters, with dogs. And guns. They're hunting for wolves, for our fur and for sport. You can stay if you wish, but I'm leaving." Aleu dashed into the tunnel that had been hidden. He went around one corner, and waited for the pups to get scared.
"MOMMY!" Quintin screamed.
Aleu felt a tiny impact, and looked down. Sapphira had run into his leg, and was still trying to run.
Sapphire looked up. "HELP!"
Aleu put his paw on Sapphire's back. "Have a seat, we will hide some more." Aleu looked up. Quintin came around the corner.
"I want Mommy!" Quintin whined.
"Yes, we'll go get your mother. I know exactly where she goes when she's upset." Aleu started walking down the tunnel. "In fact, this comes out right under it."

Meanwhile...
Clara's head smashed against the stone wall of the cave. She slid down, blood oozing into her eyes. She could just see the faint shape of Father.
"What..." Clara coughed on blood. "Are you trying to do to me?"
Father pounced on Clara with a growl. "Nobody makes me bleed! You will pay for that!" The ground underneath Clara started to crack.
"What-" Father began, then Clara vanished into the dark below.
Clara yowled in fear. She vanished into the dark hole.
Aleu was trying to remember whether the exit was up, down, or straight ahead when the ceiling admitted a lupine form. Glancing through the hole, Aleu started to run the other way. "Sapphire, Quintin, we have to go back this way now. There's bad news through this exit."
Clara was still falling.
This is the end...
Aleu reached out and snatched Clara out of the air. He deposited her gently on the ground. "C'mon! We have to get out of here before Father gets here!"
Clara's blood oozed into her eyes again.
"I..." She coughed. "I... Can't"
Aleu saw the blood and blinked. Then he heard his father struggling to get through Clara's tiny hole. More afraid of his father than the blood, Aleu scrambled to underneath Clara and pushed up with his legs. She came up surprisingly easy.
Aleu set his vision straight ahead, and ran.
Clara's cheek smacked against Aleu's bone, and it hurt, but she didn't care.
She was getting close...
Aleu could feel Clara's strength ebbing away. "Hang in there, Clara, we're almost there..."
Clara fell off of Aleu.
Aleu turned back around and nuzzled Clara. The pups were gathered around their mother. Suddenly, voices- human voices- drifted to Aleu's ears.
"The she-wolf is hurt pretty bad, isn't she, Frank?"
"Yup, but I think we can help her."
"Grab your kit."
"Help...!" Clara coughed.
Aleu stood in front of Clara and faced the approaching humans. He let out his deepest, fiercest growl, and gnashed his teeth. One of the humans shied away.
The other one was a lot braver. "Whoa, boy. We just want to help your friend, there. C'mon. Let us through."
Aleu nipped at the closer human, but he pulled out some kind of dart and stuck it into Aleu's neck.
Everything went dark.

Sapphire and Quintin shied away and whimpered.
"What did you do to Aleu?" Quintin wailed.
"And what are you going to do to Mommy?" Sapphire whimpered.
A third human approached cautiously.
"It's okay, Phil. Steve tranqed the adult male. We have a pair of cubs, and a wounded adult female. Looks like she got in a fight."
"I brought the kit. You need me to detain the cubs?"
"Couldn't hurt. Pass me some disinfectant and bandages. Keep another tranq ready, just in case." The humans kneelled in front of Clara and began to wrap her in some white cloth.
"Quintin," Sapphire whimpered. "I'm scared."
"Don't worry," Quintin said slowly. "I think they're helping us."
Sapphire padded up to the humans.
"Whoa! Frank, you are supposed to keep them separated from the mother."
"Look, Phil. This one is pretty bad. We're gonna have to take them to the shelter."
The humans gathered up the medical stuff. One of them carried the equipment, one carried Aleu, and the third carried Clara. The pups followed behind.
Sapphire wailed for the humans' attention.
The human carrying Aleu loaded him onto a waiting sled. "I'll get the cubs." He turned to Sapphira. Kneeling, he patted her on the head. "What is it?"
Sapphire spun in circles. She looked up with pleading eyes. Her stomach growled loudly.
"Hey Phil! What's keepin' ya?"
"I think these pups are hungry. We have any jerky left?"
One of the humans tossed a bag, out of it came dried meat.
Quintin came over. They looked at the jerky, lips wet, and tails wagging. They yelped.
The human fed the pups a bit of the jerky, then put some into his hand, clicked his tongue, and placed it on the sled. "Come on."
Sapphire and Quintin chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed. It had taken them a few minutes to get the jerky almost completely chewed.
"This is so chewy!" Sapphire growled.
"Right back atcha!" Quintin replied, giggling.
The humans had started the sled as soon as Sapphire and Quintin had climbed in. Aleu was just waking from his drugged sleep, but he was still drowsy.
"The floor is...spinning..."He groaned.
Suddenly, Aleu collapsed onto Sapphire.
"Gah!" She yelled. "What's wrong?!"
Aleu blinked at Sapphire. He couldn't quite recall her name...
"I don't know if I feel so good."
"Aleu!" Sapphire wailed. "What did they do to you?!"
Aleu wobbled to his feet, then fell down again. "Dunno..."He mumbled. Then, Aleu glanced over the side of the sled. "Oh...now I know I don't feel so good..." Aleu dry heaved. "Glad I didn't eat for the past week."
"The humans are mean!" Sapphire cried.
A building came into view. Aleu felt a sharp prick on his neck, and yelped. He saw a dart appear on Sapphire, and one on Quintin.
"Ow..." He muttered.
Sapphire and Quintin heaved a big sigh.
Sapphire yawned. "Quintin, I'm a little sleepy."
Quintin nodded. "Me too."
They both slumped to the ground and fell asleep.

Aleu awoke to see metal strips in front of him. A voice called," Hey, Fred! The one you overdosed is awake! Man, he don't look too good."
Sapphire and Quintin woke up, and squinted there eyes.
"Uh, I don't feel so good..." Sapphire moaned.
Aleu was removed from his cage and muzzled, then taken to an examination room.
A human's hand reached out towards the pups and picked Quintin up by the scruff. He wailed and wailed, calling for his sister.
Once in the Exam room, the human stuck a needle into Aleu. Almost immediately, Aleu felt a little better.
"Sorry about the O.D., buddy, but you were pretty aggressive back there, and you slept that tranq off pretty quick."
Sapphire struggled and restrained herself and jumped out of her cage, and ran as fast as she could, after Quintin.
Aleu's vision began to clear, and he became aware of another mass in the room moving. He moved his head. There was a dog, sitting good-naturedly at the other end of the room.
The human put Aleu on a machine. "Just a routine checkup, to make sure you're put together right." The machine came up with