I don’t do anything but stand there, like a frightened little kitten. A wave of disgust washes over me as I realize I always promised to fight back if something bad happened, but now I have a chance and I won’t.
I can’t.
They’re too big and there are too many of them. Fighting would just anger them and make them hurt me more, so I stand perfectly still as they strip me down to nothing.
And I am bare before these strangers.
“Don’t break her,” the first man says, the one who threw me to the wolves. My head spins around; I had forgotten he was there. The man in front of me grabs my chin and turns me back around.
“Oh, I won’t break her,” he says, looking into my eyes. “But I’m going to make this hurt.”
8.
Nash
When I wake, I’m alone in the cabin. Why am I alone? I can smell Red in the room, but she’s nowhere to be seen. She wouldn’t just leave without me.
Would she?
The two of us have been inseparable since I first met her, since she first arrived in the forest. I like to think she’s grown used to having me around. I like to think she needs me, wants me with her.
So where is she?
I shouldn’t panic, but it’s so unlike her to leave without me that I’m not sure what to do. Maybe she just stepped outside to relieve herself. Maybe she’s just on the porch. Even as I think this, I know it’s not true. I might not be the best protector, obviously, but I can sense when something is wrong.
And something is definitely, completely, totally wrong.
I stand up and sniff the air, remaining in my wolf form. It’s easier to get a good read on smells in this form. When I’m human, I can still smell better than any human I’ve ever met, but I’m no match for a wolf.
There are a lot of dangerous creatures in the forest: things Red couldn’t even dream of. I suddenly realize that if she’s gotten used to being around me, she might make the mistake of thinking all wolves are friendly.
If she encounters someone from the Silent Canines, she’s going to be out of luck. Those wolves don’t follow the same code of conduct I do. They haven’t for a long time. Not since Elise died, maybe even before that.
I guess she’s been gone for an hour, maybe a little less, and I shift only long enough to open the door of the cabin, go out, and close it behind me again. Back in wolf form, I leap off the porch and take off running, following the smell of Red.
I have to find her.
She’s stronger than she gives herself credit for. After following her around for the better part of two weeks, I’ve gotten used to being around her. I’ve gotten used to her silent strength. I’ve gotten used to her quiet contemplation of the world around her.
Nothing is simple for her.
Nothing is easy, but she tries.
I can tell how scared she gets at night, when it gets dark. I can tell how afraid she is of Jeffrey, her brother, finding her. I don’t know what happened when they were kids or why he hates her so much, but I know the idea of him discovering where she’s hiding is horrifying to her.
I run through the darkness, ignoring the way it’s about to rain, the rabbits that are playing nearby, even the birds that are chirping.
The only thing I need is to find Red.
What if she needs me?
What if she’s in trouble?
She has every right to wander off into the woods on her own, but it’s unlike her. Even if she needed time to think, to clear her head, she would have come back already. She wouldn’t leave me, her Wolfy, locked in the cabin for long.
And as much as I hate her nickname for me – I have a perfectly good real name – it makes me smile to know how much she cares.
The truth is that I don’t want my time wit