Sonya

Sonya


The grey wolf left the sparse den in search of food for her pups.  A soft nature bed cradled their bodies, soft and warm, as they slept side-by-side nestled in the far corner.

Weak from hunger, Sonya pushed through the late spring snow that lasts longer in the North.  Alone, she bordered the forest clearing, hiding since winter, when she was forced from her pack by the alpha wolf.

Without a pack, death is eminent.  Starvation is a cruel killer, and Sonya could no longer ignore the gnawing in her stomach.  Mostly, she worried about her babes.

She stood regally on the elevated terrain and smelled the cold morning air.  Sonya sniffed with longing and listened.  It was there and it was fresh.  The coveted scent!  Alert ears pinned back, the grey wolf surveyed the territory she invaded and headed further west where the heavy wind shoved the strong aphrodisiac down her nostrils.  With tail tucked under, Sonya trotted with razor sharp stealth along a ridge of snow.

Her pursuit lay caught in a hunter's trap.  A trap probably meant for Sonya's kind.  The whitetail deer was still, except for the pounding of her heart.  Blood smeared her surroundings.  The deer instinct is to struggle in vain until exhaustion.
         
The grey wolf mother circled the helpless deer, perhaps a mother, too.  For a moment, two pairs of eyes stared each other down. 

Resignation flickered in those of the deer who knew she could never win.  They fluttered once, and then rolled shut.  Pleading was useless.  She would yield to her consequence.

Sonya caught and silenced her own whimper before it escaped, letting a steamy cloud of air exhale instead.  Howling in the distance warned Sonya that soon she would be the object of chase, but she paused and stood vigil long enough after the last heart beat.          

Then she tore a jagged hole.