I blink, waking from my memories, hearing my feet crunch down on the dry leaves and twigs covering the forest floor. I am easily outpacing the wolves, my ten years in the wild has seen to that. I keep running, feeling my energy wane and my lungs begin to burn with exhaustion. I can hear their thoughts now, fragmented, jumbled pieces running through my mind. As we get closer I realise there is a new set of thoughts in the midst of the comforting ones of my wolves. We step into a clearing and I see him, cowering by a tree, watched by Shadow and Fade.

The boy is glancing at me, and I notice a funny expression on his face. I growl at Shadow and Fade.

"Back away from him," I say calmly in wolf talk, my voice giving away none of my inner panic. "He has a knife."

The boy is staring openly now, his eyes widening in barely suppressed horror. I duck below the knife he throws at me, spinning to pull it from the tree.