Ten

Whisper ran beside Zane as he walked confidently through forest, her agility was something she never thought she'd ever have. Since escaping the hospital, she was struggling. She had almost been tricked into being captured by some man with food, shot by a hunter in the leg which somehow healed faster than she would have thought, and nearly ran over.

She would recognize Zane's truck anywhere and tried to stop him from driving past. He must not have been paying attention because he got too close before seeing her and almost hit a pole. Feeling bad, she laid on her stomach and whined her apology until she realized Zane was worried about her. She happily ran up to him when he said he wouldn't hurt her.

Sadly, it was obvious he didn't recognize her. How could he? It's not like she was exactly human and looked like herself. But she wished otherwise because then it would have been easier to be around him. Although his smile was infectious and he seemed to like her even if he didn't know who she was. Whisper liked having him smile at her.

Zane led her to a clearing then told her to stay while he walked off alone. She whined and he turned, raising his brows. She took a step towards him but he said to stay, so she barked and whined this time. "I'll be right back!" he chuckled.

Tilting her head to one side, Whisper watched him disappear behind a tree. With her sensitive hearing, she heard his clothes shuffling and leaves crunching, then the sound of cracking. Before she could react, he walked out as a black wolf and much bigger than she was. Her eyes widened in awe as Zane moved towards her carefully, gracefully. His bushy tail stayed behind him, swishing back and forth with every step he took, while his amber eyes were fixed on her.

He stopped a few feet away and sniffed the air, tilting his own head to one side before widening his eyes. From shock, his expression took on a horrified look and she whined, laying on her belly and flattening her ears. She could feel the power radiating off him, and heard the growl vibrating through his chest. Whisper turned fearful of Zane.

Without thinking, she upped and ran, tail between her legs. A bark sounded behind her, sounding like a command, but she was too scared to listen. She continued to run, pounding paws gaining on her by the second. Yelping, Whisper took a sharp right and into the stream, then onto the other side where she continued to run.

Too busy on her escape, she didn't notice the three wolves ahead and nearly crashed into the gray female. Yelping and whimpering, she tried to untangle herself from the unknown wolf, only to end up underneath her. Amber met amber and Whisper whined for the wolf to let her go, but the female only looked over her shoulder.

Whisper yelped and pushed the female off her with a strength she didn't know she had, then started to run again. She didn't get far when she was tackled and her foot twisted the wrong way. Whisper howled in pain, turning her head and snapping at the black wolf on top of her. He growled and wrapped his teeth around her neck. Whisper panicked…

(Hallucination)

Guy #1 tied her wrists to the pole that was originally a tree but had fallen and someone decided to make a pole out of it. Whisper leaned her forehead on the pole as a rope went around her neck as well, then both her ankles. The chilly wind picked up, creating goosebumps on her pale skin that was covered in blood.

Guy #3 pulled her feet back so she was bent forwards and he tied her ankles to a metal loop planted in the ground about two feet back. Whisper whimpered as her new wounds burned and ached and bled. Guy #1 brought out a whip and handed it to #2, then brought out another for #3. They all had whips now, three times the pain, three times the lashes, three times the fun for them…

"No falling to your knees, or we'll leave you out here all night," Guy #1 demanded and made the first slash in the air. Whisper screamed, but her pain could not be heard by others. She was alone in this place, alone to endure all the pain, alone to be entertainment for the three men.

They whipped and whipped and whipped. All three of them. On her back, on her legs, and on her backside. Sometimes her arms would be targeted and it took all her strength to hold herself up, to keep from crumpling to the ground.

A body pressed up against her and then hands went about her neck, choking the air off from her lungs. They didn't let go until she was on the brink of fainting, and gave her a few seconds of breathing before doing it multiple times again. Whisper struggled as best as she could, but the hands only tightened before a booted foot came down on hers. A silent scream left her mouth as the hands and body moved away and the whipping continued anew…

(End of hallucination)

Before Whisper could comprehend who was on top of her and what was happening, she bucked the wolf off her back and turned on him, fear and rage making her seem feral.

The black wolf looked shocked before flattening his own ears and whining. Whisper didn't care though, she attacked. Unprepared for her sudden lunge, the black wolf fell backwards with her on top, scratching and biting at his snout. Her teeth found his chest and bit hard before he threw her off and into a tree. Whisper didn't get up.

Whisper couldn't get up. It felt like something broke, like she was dying. She heard cracking before rough hands were gliding across her body. "Whisper! Shit, Whisper!"

She tried to whine, barely making a sound. More cracking and she saw three naked humans running towards them. One was Zane's friend, Nico. Closing her eyes, she did everything she could not to fall back into the hallucinations that were her past.

"What happened?" asked a female.

"She's hurt. She attacked me and wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to throw her off so hard, but I did and now she's not moving! Shit!"

"Her left front paw looks broken, but she might just be winded," said a deep male voice that sounded like Nico.

"Whisper, please do something! Bark, whine, growl, just something!" said a pained voice.

Taking as deep of a breath as she could without hurting herself too much, she let out a long whine mixed with a howl. Someone ran away as a body pressed onto hers. The feeling was too much and she started to struggle only to realize she was being hugged.

"Just relax, my little wolf," said a soft whisper. "I won't hurt you."

Someone approached and she smelled something mouthwatering delicious. "Why don't we try to get some food into her?" asked a male voice she didn't recognize at all.

The body got off her, only to pull her up and onto someone's lap, her head was resting across an arm. She blinked as someone approached slowly with a slab of steak. Whisper licked her chops and glanced at the male cautiously. He held it in front of her, enough so she could reach, but she didn't trust him. She didn't trust anyone.

"Go on, take it."

Whisper growled lowly and he pulled back. The body that was supporting her shifted and the arm under her head moved and reached for the steak. Carefully, she followed the arm to the body beside her and up to the face and blue eyes. "Come on, little wolf. You'll feel better if you eat."

She held his gaze for a moment before turning her eyes to the meat, licking her lips again. Slowly, she took it then stumbled away from all the humans a short distance so she could watch them and protect her meal. She didn't want someone else going after her again unless she was prepared. And when Nico started towards her, she grabbed her meat and backed away, glaring at him.

"Leave her be. She's spooked and probably had bad experiences with the humans taking what's hers. Just let her eat," said the male who had held her.

"Zane, she looks absolutely petrified!" said the female.

Zane breathed deeply before nodding, staring at Whisper as she tore at the steak with sharp canines. "She had another hallucination."

Whisper put her head up and stared at Zane with surprise.

He gave her a sympathetic smile. "Yes, I know. You don't have to be human for me to understand the signs. Don't worry, I'm not mad at you for attacking me."

Whisper huffed and went back to her meal while Nico said, "Is that why you were chasing her earlier when we saw you?"

"No." Zane sighed and slid on some shorts. "I was losing control. I realized who she was and got angry at those who hurt her. She must've thought it was her fault because she cowered then ran."

"I'm guessing this is her first time being in wolf form?" said the unfamiliar male.

"Yes. And it didn't go as well as I would have liked."

The female suddenly started walking slowly up to Whisper who paused her chewing to stare at her in warning. After getting a few feet away, Whisper growled and stood, her meal in her mouth, her body ready to run.

"Wren!" Zane hissed.

"I wasn't going to take her meal! I'm not that cruel!"

He walked up to her and pulled her away from Whisper, nodding to the wolf to finish eating. The four of them spoke in a huddled group as Whisper finished the steak in three bites. She looked around and went to a nearby pool of water, lapping up the cool liquid before returning. She barked and all four humans turned to her, but she focused on Zane, barking again.

"Come here," he said softly. Whisper whined, looking at the others. "They won't hurt you. They won't even intercept your path. Come here, little wolf."

"She isn't that little, you know?" the female said with a smile.

Whisper growled before Zane snapped his eyes to the female with warning. When she backed off, he turned to Whisper again, kneeling down on one knee and holding out his hand. She whined again, and started towards him slowly with her tail between her legs.

"Atta girl!" he smiled.

Whisper wagged her tail a little, lifting her ears and giving a soft yip.

Zane nodded. "That's it! Just a little farther."

The other three humans were behind Zane, watching the interaction between man and wolf with a mix of admiration and inspiration. Whisper hesitated when she got close to Zane, making sure none of the others moved, then nudged Zane's hand and licked his fingers of the leftover flavors from the steak. When her cleaning was finished, she got closer and sat down facing him, both front paws were on either side of the knee on the ground while their noses were only centimeters apart.

Zane blinked slowly which made Whisper playfully lick his nose. He laughed and scratched behind her ears. "Good girl!"

Whisper stood up and yipped again, her tail high in the air, wagging furiously while she gave him a wolf smile. He laughed and rubbed her head.

"Race?"

She barked then turned and took off. Behind her, she heard him shift and start after her. She howled and ran faster.