She leapt onto the rotting log without a sound, swiveling her ears to catch any noises of prey on the forest floor. A fast paced heartbeat rang in her ears as a rabbit crawled out of a hole a wolf-length ahead of her. She gripped the flaking wood with her claws, freshly sharpened.
Ziara swished her tail, shifting on her haunches, rocking onto her back legs, ready to spring. The rabbit nibbled on a clover, grinding it's teeth together. She clicked her claws on the log, dragging them over the moss and fungus, imagining the taste of warm blood in her mouth. She tensed her legs to leap.
       The rabbit pricked up his ears, flicking them back and forth to pick up the sound of her excited breaths. He kicked up his feet and dashed into the woods.
       She leapt into the woods after him, kicking up dry leaves littered on the forest floor and digging up clumps of dirt as her mad dash led her deeper into the forest's shadows.
       The rabbit sped up his pace, kicking his long legs and disappeared from her sight. She slowed down to a frustrated trot. Her ears flicked forward when she heard a howl, not very far ahead of her.
       She jumped through a patch of thickets, glaring at the light grey wolf standing in front of her, a dead rabbit dangling from his jaws.
       She bared her bloodstained fangs at him. "What do you think you're doing with that?!"
       He twitched his ear in distain. "Having dinner." He growled back through the rabbit's fluff. "Back off before I claim desert."
       Rogue wolf. Her mind hissed. "You're not welcome in my territory." She snarled as fiercely as she could. "Get out while you have the chance."
       "Tough talk for a little lone shewolf." He snapped his jaws together in front of her muzzle, causing her to flinch.
       She was used to being bitten and pushed around.
       "You'll  regret this." She whispered, trembling as he leaned in toward her, a tear sliding down her cheek.
       "You're lucky my pack isn't here." He growled darkly in her ear. "Or else we'd rip you apart."
       Then he ran past her, into the woods with her rabbit, and she didn't even try to follow him. She slumped her thin, shaking body to the ground and cried into the shadows.

........................................................................

       She shouldn't have come back.
       "Where's my dinner, rat?" The ugly brown wolf, Donovan, growled to her as she staggered into the dug-out den, the one she had dug.
       She ducked her head in respect to him. "I-I don't... I didn't find anything..." she whispered fearfully, not looking into his eyes, but rather at his claws. She had felt them cut her flesh before.
       "Mom?" She heard a small voice ask uncertainly. She shifted her gaze, without standing up, to the two small pups that had just entered the den. They too were small and thin, and looking at her with the same fear she felt.
       "I'm okay." She whispered to them.
       "Did I give you permission to speak?" The wolf standing over her boomed, and she jumped.
       "N-n-no,  sir." She breathed, trembling uncontrollably.
       "I take you and your flea-infested rats into my care, and this is what greets me?! An empty table?!" He lashed out with his claws, tearing open the skin on her shoulders. She yelped in pain as the crimson blood seeped into her grey and white fur.
       Then she felt his fangs clamp down on her neck, releasing a stream of blood, staining his fangs. She could vaguely hear the two pups screaming in fear as he shook her scrawny body around, hitching her breath. She could see the black spots spreading over her vision, her paws dragging loosely over the rough edges of the den.
       "This will teach you for slacking at your responsibilities!" He growled through her sticky fur. He whipped his neck around, throwing her against the wall with a growl.
       Loose rocks and dirt fell onto her, coating her with a fine dust. She looked up into his rage-filled eyes dizzily.
       "I should never have taken you ungrateful wretches into my home!" He growled, turning on the two pups who shrunk under his glare.
       "Don't hurt them." She wheezed meekly. "It's not their fault."
       "I'm going to show them why they never should disobey me."