Chapter 2

The side of her head hurt. She could smell the smoke from the fires scattered around the camp, as well as meat cooking over them. Aniu tentatively opened one yellow eye, then another. Her vision was blurred, partially because she'd had her eyes closed so long, but more likely because of the structure just in front of her nose. She raised her head slightly and glanced around. Surely enough, more of the thin bars surrounded her, encasing her in a small prison of sorts.

It was possible to see through the bars though. It looked like her cage was in a clearing, between several of the man-animal shelters. Quite a few of them were milling about, wearing what looked like bear fur? Although she'd never seen one until now, she'd heard a lot about them from fellow wolves. Mysterious looking creatures they were indeed.

Aniu shook her head, hoping to clear her vision, but all it did was make her dizzy and her head feel even worse. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position, which would have been rather difficult for anyone, injured leg or not. As it were, she ended up crying out as a bolt of pain shot through her probably broken left foreleg. She also managed to attract one of the small man-animals, as it approached her slowly. Its mother noticed immediately and hurriedly pushed the small child away.

Deciding to stay lying down, Aniu shifted herself so she could have a look at her injury. The man-animals had done something to it; that much could be told from the cloth that was wrapped tightly around it. She considered trying to bite said cloth off, but decided not to for fear of messing something up.

What puzzled the white she-wolf the most though, was why she had not yet been killed. She knew that man-animals had fearsome weapons that were called bang-sticks. These were capable of felling any wolf with only a thunderous bang, hence their name. The stories she'd heard from pack mates said that humans would capture or kill wolves for their fur, skinning them and then either keeping said fur as a prize, or trading it for something else of value. Aniu shuddered in fear at the thought of her fur being worn by one of the creatures around her.

She also wondered about her pack mates. What were they thinking? Were they worried about her? It was most likely they were. Aniu's father, Makota, was the alpha of a good sized pack of wolves, and he was very protective of her. The reason for this was because his mate, her mother, had died just after she had turned two months old. He was a good father, but was prone to making her decisions for her, simply because he wanted to keep her safe and ensure her happiness. While Aniu didn't like this as she got older, she never protested.

That had changed three nights ago. Since Makota so desperately wanted to protect his daughter, he had also taken the liberty of choosing a male he thought would be a good suitor for Aniu. Since he was getting old, and Aniu had been the only pup of her father's, he had to appoint a replacement. So he'd chosen a wolf named Night. He was an extremely attractive wolf, having a coat of complete black, an exact opposite of hers. Night also had green eyes that twinkled like stars, but most of all, he was a nice and respectful wolf. Aniu had also known him quite a long time, having been friends with him since she was three months old. If anything, she loved him more as a brother than as a mate. Not wanting to upset her father though, she had told Makota that she would think about it for a few days.

Since then three days had passed, but yesterday she had been caught in the trap, thus ending up here.

Suddenly a loud noise arose from somewhere in the camp, sounding like a young pups howl magnified a number of times. It hurt Aniu's ears, but thankfully it only lasted a few seconds.

After that, every man-animal in the camp it seemed, young and the old, females and males, surrounded her. Although they stayed a number of feet away, Aniu still felt horribly claustrophobic and quite afraid, but she did not let any of that show. Instead she gathered herself up, staring down any who dared get too close.

A big man, one of the same who had captured her, broke through the ring surrounding her. He pointed a stick at her.

"A wolf skin has always been valuable to the white man." He said, "They often trade foolishly for fur. Especially the fur of a white wolf. These are very rare, so we must keep this wolf in perfect condition. She is to be fed twice a day, and no one is to harm her. We have two white men coming to trade in seven days, and I know that one of them desires a wolf. We shall give him this one."

The crowd around Aniu cheered, and she felt her heart race even faster. Although she couldn't understand what they were saying, it probably wasn't good for her.

"If he likes this wolf, he has promised to give us plenty of supplies to last us the winter."

Again the crowd cheered. They were short on bullets for their guns, as well as fuel for the lanterns. But most of all, the natives desired alcohol. It was something the white men had in abundance, and would often trade it for fur. It was of similar value to the natives as the fur was to the white men.

After a few minutes, the crowd began to disperse, as night was almost upon them. Aniu was given some meat. She didn't want to take it at first, but she figured that if she was to die soon, she may as well die comfortably.

After finishing her meat, she got as comfortable as possible in the small confined space of her cage, watching the man-animals as they prepared for the night. They stoked up their fires, as the now clear sky promised a cold night. Aniu was fairly close to one of the fires, and she felt the heat radiating pleasantly onto her fur, and it wasn't long before she was lulled to sleep, her head resting peacefully on her paws.

...

I, to be honest think that this chapter is the best piece of work I've ever created. Hopefully it'll continue this way. That said, I could use a little help. I'm absolutely horrible at naming characters, seriously, it probably took me almost an hour to come up with just Makota and Night. So I could use maybe ten names, at least five husky and five wolf. Appreciate any suggestions. I do have a name in mind for our other main character, who y'all will probably meet next time.

May God bless and keep y'all safe.

-ANonymous