"Delta!" Black yelped as she raced along the shoreline. "Delta!" The small gray beta looked up from the sand hare she had caught.
"What is it?" She growled angrily. "No need for such harshness." Black answered with sad eyes.
As if suddenly remembering why she had come tearing across the beach, Black started to speak in her lilting, metallic voice.
She quickly explained to her sister why they needed to run, far away.
Delta swerved and galloped down the beach, heading towards the family pack.
Black watched as Delta barked a few key words at them, and then they all started running into the distance.
"Wait up!" Bark howled. "Wait!" Her lungs felt like wilted flowers as she wheezed and struggled along far behind them. Soon she was alone.
She panicked and raced into the shallow water. A white, foamy wave came up from the blue ocean and slammed into her. Black crashed backwards into the crushed shells and rocks, spitting sickeningly salty water from her mouth.
The group had dissipated into a single wolf, a flint-gray male who was much, much bigger than her.
She feared harassment, or worse, death, as the lumbering canine reached her as she stood with her back to the frothy waves.
A particularly large one hit her back and sprayed little crystalline droplets all around her, landing in the male's fur as he stood still in the damp sand by her paws.
"Are you from the Pack in the Dunes?" She asked shakily.
"No, ezezë, no, vetmitar. Such a young little wolf already with such named against her."
He spoke in a throaty voice, much like an elder in her old pack, a wolf named Gjysh.
"How do you know I'm a loner?" She asked him tremulously.
"You are alone, aren't you?" He let out a barking laugh, but he didn't smile.
He gazed out to the water. "Many wolves have fallen prey to the Pack in the Dunes, trapped in this death gulf, starving or falling to the icy sharp claws of their hunters. If you ever hope to escape first you must learn to swim."
For some reason she didn't run and she wasn't afraid of this wolf.
"I want to swim but I'm afraid to drown." She said, staring into his orange eyes.
"Then ride the waves instead." He chuckled again and walked towards the freezing water.
"Come on little Black Wolf. You can't stay on this beach forever."
She followed him into the foam.
YOU ARE READING
Bitter Still
Fiction généraleFor all the people who have lost love, who have embraced darkness, who have felt wild, who have ran with a pack. This is the story of Black, a wolf who was shunned, attacked, lied to, betrayed, and still comes out on top. It's a story about belief...
