Chapter Two

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She leaped over rocks and branches, the cold wind whipping snow flakes into her bright blue eyes. She hit the ground once more in a graceful loping sprint.
Bright white crystals nestled into her fluffy coat of fur, which was just as white as the ground below.
What have I done?! What have I done?!
She kept running and took a quick glance behind her.
There was another white wolf barreling after her, with confused blue-green eyes and a handsome, strong face. He was larger than her, but he certainly wasn't faster.
"Luna! Where are you going? Luna!"
She heard confusion and grief in his voice and her heart dropped into her stomach.
I must leave, Brother. It is for the best.
He howled out to her and she fought the urge to howl back.
She licked her lips and she could still taste the blood... the warm, gushing blood from someone violently killed...
She cried out and she could her brother calling to her, his voice full of genuine concern.
She looked down at her paws as she ran and she could see that they were stained dark red, leaving blood-stained paw prints in the snow.
Why did I lose my temper?! Why?!!
She just had to make it past the border. If she could do that, she was fine. No pack, no problems. Just her and the great forests beyond.
Her brother called out for her desperately, knowing now that she was heading for the territory boundary.
She wished that she could give him some explanation, some reason why she was leaving, but she couldn't.
If she did, he would hate her for the rest of his life. She would never be allowed to return home. Everything would only be a distant memory.
She pushed forward, sensing that the last territory marker was near.
"Luna!"
Now he was only crying her name, one last desperate attempt to bring her back to their family.
She couldn't be persuaded.
She saw the boulder that signified where the territory ended, and she raced towards it.
She could hear her brother scrambling to get to her but it was too late.
She rocketed past the boundary and into the forest beyond, not even turning back to say one last goodbye.
As she ran through the forest she could hear his goodbye; a long, mournful howl that wavered and drove into her memory like a sharp tooth. The howl was taken up by several others and she pinned her ears back, trying to drive out the agonizing sound.
Finally she howled back, a short goodbye that said nothing and yet seemed to say everything to her old pack.
Her brother stopped howling and she knew that she had hurt him, perhaps more than could ever be healed or forgiven.
She stopped and looked back at her bloody paw prints, and she knew that she couldn't turn back.
It was better for him to hurt like this than to ever learn the truth from her.
She turned back to the forest beyond and kept running.
Running from her past, and running blindly into her future.

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