sleep next to me. Get over here, now,” he demanded, then slapped the bear fur.
“Will… will you… touch me, Sir?” I asked.
His expression softened a little then and a half smile formed on his lips. “Do you want me to?”
I shook my head. “No… no, Sir, I don’t.”
He laughed. “Well, too bad, because I will… eventually. Boys your age are already working in brothels all over the land and on ships out at sea. Boys even prettier than you are, younger too. I will not touch you tonight. Besides, I have already spent my seed in your mother. My cock is well sated. Come here now.”
I really didn’t want to be near him, not after what he’d done to my parents and what he wanted to do to me still. But I knew if I didn’t move, he’d hurt me. The threat may not have left his mouth, but it was in his eyes as they stared hard at me, daring me to refuse him once more. I stood up and walked over to him and laid down on the spot where he wanted me, and he wrapped another fur around us both.
“There, isn’t this better?” he asked.
I couldn’t deny that being warmer wasn’t better, but I just wished I didn’t have to be so close to him. I could feel his body pressed against mine, and I was afraid of the thing between his legs, what he’d grabbed when he told me that I’d soon learn to please him. I was too nervous, too heartbroken and afraid to sleep. At least, not right away. I stared at a tiny slit in the opening of the tent, watching some of the other wolves moving about. There was a fire going outside of the next tent over, and that was what I focused on. The pretty embers floated up as it crackled. I used to love watching the fire burn away in our fireplace. My mother would be knitting, my father watching us both and smiling. Why had it all gone wrong?
I heard the wolf snoring, his breath hot on the back of my neck. His arm was heavy as it draped over me, keeping me close. I wanted to sleep like I would have slept had my family not been taken away from me. Had I not seen my father’s body ripped apart, his guts spilling from his torso. I wanted to be happy again like I would have been had I not heard my mother’s screams and been so helpless to help her. Would it have been better if they’d killed me too? Was I a slave here? What did they want with me and other children like me? What would become of my old pack? I didn’t know how long I lay there, tears running down my face, before I’d managed to cry myself to sleep. But when the darkness finally came in the cold night, I welcomed it.
~*~
I felt a nudging at my side, something hard pressing into me, and the sound of a voice telling me to get up. I stirred, then the solid object hit me harder, and I cried out as pain shot across my rib cage. My eyes snapped open; all sleep gone as I looked up at the wolf who’d ripped me from my happiness.
“We have things to do and you need to rise and eat,” he said, then turned to gather items he’d been packing away.
I rubbed the sore spot along my ribcage, then looked down at the berries, bread, and slices of meat he had set before me on a wooden platter. I had to piss first, so I stood up and made my way toward the opening of the tent.
“Where are you going?” he asked me, stopping me in my tracks.
“I have to piss, Sir.”
“Then I will go with you, don’t want you to wander off,” he said, then ushered me out of the tent.
Now that the sun had risen, I could get a better view of the camp. There were a bunch of men and a few women walking here and there. Some were taking tents down while others were cooking in kettles over fires. I wondered if I tried to run, just how far would I get? Probably not far at all. My legs were no match for those of grown men, let alone wolves.
“Let’s go over here,” the wolf who’d taken me in said. I wished I knew his name, I knew the names of the