I've never had a real family.
I was left outside someone's cave when I was born, with a note: "Will you keep me?"
So that was how they referred to me; they didn't need a real name for a creature with the markings of a beast and the scent of citrus.
They didn't keep me, either. They all up and left, and I was stuck on my own my first winter, and for three more winters following.
I watch them, though. I can get closer in the fall; I can blend in virtually unseen among all the oranges and pale greens and bare trees. That's how I learned what a family is, what they do, how to act. It's how I've survived so long on my own. There was one day, right before my second winter; I had managed to bring down a rather large deer, and there was no way I would ever be able to finish the meal myself. So I brought it into their territory, the other wolves, and I left it there for them.
They didn't eat it. They packed up and left again, refusing to even exist beside something I touched.
And after that, they were gone. I never saw them again. I never saw anyone again, until the fall of my fourth year.
-----
It was a cold day. Probably going to rain soon. The trees were in my favourite stage, which I call, "Hello-I-am-a-tree-and-I-am-on-fire-but-it-doesn't-actually-hurt-me." But I couldn't enjoy them, really; something didn't feel right as the day wore on. The birds weren't singing; the occasional frightened chirp somewhere, but they wouldn't sing. The other animals were hiding, too. I didn't see a single one. I never hide-- nothing ever comes close enough to me to be a threat-- so I just continued on my walk, though I became more uncomfortable with each new step.
And then I heard it.
Quiet though it was, my ears, pinned to the back of my head, picked up the sharp click of a human trap, followed by a low, depressed moan of agony.
Feeling my heart shatter in two at the sound coming from this creature, I spun right around and headed in its direction. I would never be able to live with myself if I didn't help this poor desperate animal.
Any hopes I had of helping were destroyed at the sight of him, though.
Before me, his right hind leg caught in an enormous trap meant for a bear, was a wolf about the size of one.
His pelt was a deep, rich shade of sepia brown, painted lighter among some areas. I'd never seen a carnivorous animal as large as this male; he had to be almost as tall as a moose. My stomach churned as I took in the extent of his injuries; the steel teeth of the trap were caught fast in his leg, clamped around his flesh in a grip strong enough to crush bone. In fact, it probably had. And he was losing blood fast. I couldn't leave him there.
"Hello ?" I called softly, my voice obviously feminine.
The enormous canine's head whipped in my direction, and his eyes pulled open, only to snap shut again as he whimpered in pain. He gave a low, guttural snarl. "Back off."
I pulled back a few steps, but as my confusion and fear subsided, I realized he had somehow been blinded, as that horrid red liquid dripped from his eyes as well. I cleared my throat, and took a few more steps toward him. "Please don't hurt me," I whispered, "if you don't let me help you, then you'll die right here. It's not like I can do any worse than what these humans have done."
He seems to consider this, and, finding that he agrees, bows his head in submission. "I... don't want to die."
I take that as my cue. Hurriedly, I slink toward him, wincing as I get a close-up of his leg. I've got to think fast: first, how to get him out of here. I can't pry the chain off his leg without getting myself trapped. I can't break the chain or move the chain, but ... "I can dig the stake out of the ground." He flinches slightly at my voice, and his hackles raise at my proximity to him. But he nods.
My claws tear the earth to shreds, and I move as quickly as I can manage; the steak runs deep, and it seems it will never end. Winter is nearing, and as I shift more of the earth out of the way, it becomes colder, and more frozen, and slower going. I realize I will never find the end of it. "You're... going to have to pull it free," I whisper, not trusting my voice to the sobs I feel rising in my throat. The monster of a wolf nods in understanding as a thin stream of blood drips from his eye. Or is it a tear?
I feel his strength in the air between us as the male heaves his body up and forward, jerking his trapped leg out of the ground with a barely constrained roar of anger, hostility, fear, and pain all mixed into one. My heart officially crumbles in agony for him, and the need to save his life becomes greater. "Please, you... you must follow me, we need to get out of here, now. I... hold onto my tail, I'll lead you."
With more brainpower than it should require, I force myself to move, and I walk directly up beside him delicately, so he can feel where I am, so his jaws can find the end of my tail. We move slowly, and noisily as he drags the chain behind him. But he is strong, he is tough, and he endures his excruciating injury for a full mile and a half back to my closest hideout. He feels his way along the wall until he reaches the farthest corner of the cave, and collapses; I feel guilty, as his back brushes along the ceiling. As the rain begins to fall, he slips into unconsciousness, exhausted from pain and blood loss.
My eyes mimck the weather as it dawns on me what must be done to save his life.
---
To be continued.