Home -- Wolv book 3

Prologue

To the one.

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It was cold.

Bitterly cold. The kind of cold that could bring a bear to its knees; the kind that would freeze one's eyes open if they dared to look ahead. She could feel the iciness making it's way into every part of her body, from the long, bushy length of her tail, right down to the little calloused pads on her paws. Even huddled inside her thick winter fur, the wind still managed to touch her skin, mercilessly draining the heat from her agile form.

If only she could return. If only she could turn around and run back home, back into the warmth of the underground, and snuggle deep into the folds of an elkskin blanket...

It's cold.

The she-wolf shook her head, banishing the thoughts of comfort from her mind. Going home was no longer a possibility, not after what she'd done. No one would ever dare take her back; the whole lot of them had all but thrown her out after discovering her sin. What she'd done was unforgivable. Inconceivable, even. She'd known that her intended actions would go against her elders, yet she'd followed through with her plans anyway. Even though she was, by the standards of her people, only a child, she knew enough of the world to know that what she'd done was the right thing. Despite what she was, it was only human nature to help someone else; she couldn't stand by while the strangers that had so suddenly been thrust into her life were thrown away to die. Her actions had been justified.

No one else had seen it as such. Not her family, not the elders, not even her...her ma--

Don't think about it. Nmwac. No more. The pain was simply too great, and it only added to her current despair.

She pushed her way through the wind, fighting off the driving ice pellets that bore into her fur and splintered even deeper into her skin below. The blizzard above was relentless; whenever she changed direction, the wind was sure to compensate, choosing to gust into her muzzle at all costs. It was exhausting; she'd been walking for hours already, searching for something, anything that could offer her shelter, but the blinding headwind was only slowing her pace. Her nose was chilled to the point of being painful, and the tips of her ears and tail throbbed numbly, no doubt thoroughly frost-bitten by now.

I need to find something. Fast.

She barred her teeth and let out an angry growl, letting her claws unsheathe themselves and dig into the frozen ground below. The wind was unbelievable; it was as if she was dragging herself along against it now, clinging desperately to the ground in the hopes that she wouldn't be swept away.

I shouldn't have come this way.

I shouldn't have crossed this lake.

She knew better, of course--crossing a frozen lake so early in the season was about as safe was playing with gasoline and matches--but she hadn't had the strength or the will to skirt around the edge of the lake; so, as foolish as it was, she'd chosen to cut directly across the frozen surface.

She hadn't anticipated that the winds would pick up, turning what had been an innocent snowfall into a raging squall. And with the wide open expanse of the lake surrounding her, the winds had been giving free reign to speed up and slam into her tiny form.

Wait. Abruptly she came to a halt, her tail curling upward and her ears becoming erect. The she-wolf twitched her nose a few times, and allowed a small smile to spread across her jowls.