My howl echoes off every tree, sounding as if a hundred wolves are howling back at me in solidarity. The pain is unbearable. Looking down, I see the steel jaws of a trap biting into my leg.
Why can’t I catch a break?
I’m completely stuck. I can’t move without risking further injury. There’s no clear way to free my leg—short of chewing it off, which I’m not prepared to do. But if I don’t get free, the master will track me down and drag me back to my prison.
As I weigh the pros and cons of living life as a three-legged wolf, exhaustion sets in. My three uninjured legs give way beneath me. Blood loss, combined with the fact that I’ve run farther and faster today than I have in the past sixteen years, finally catches up with me. My eyes begin to drift closed. I try to fight it, but I have n
