Laika quickly heeded her queen’s call. She ran, cursing herself. She was the furthest from the throne she could possibly be.
Lucaya sounded angry.
Laika did not want to be on the receiving end of her queen’s wrath. She ran harder. she chided herself, ”and don’t you forget it!” She didn’t stop even when a rabbit ran across her path and the smell of blood hit her nares. She ignored the sudden tug for blood. Laika’s fear of being reprimanded for lateness was, at the particular moment, greater than her lust for blood.
She hurdled a log, jumped a stump. Laika had to stop, finally, to get a drink at the nearest stream. Then she kept on going.
”Stupid, stupid, stupid Laika, never do this to yourself again!” she panted. Hawthorne was huge! She’d be lucky if she got there in time today. No, in time tomorrow. She had no idea how long she’d been running. She vowed never to do this again.
When she finally arrived, she sat down, panting raggedly, in the grass. ”Hello Queen Lucaya, I’m here.” She made note of Lucaya, Skade, Helheim, Maverick, Nephilim. There was Vladimir. He’d welcomed her into the pack all those months ago. Laika shook out her paw.


"I tried to be someone else - but nothing really changed; I know now, this is who I really am inside!”