Phoenix Maplewood Are there any left who haven't kissed the enemy?

The buzz of pulsing blood caged her thoughts. She could feel every inch of her body, every prickle along her nape, and she tightened her muscles until she trembled from the strain of restraining herself. Around her, the rustling forest raged. The whisper of the leaves was hot breath down her spine, the tickle of the wind a worm beneath her fur. Her breathing grew quicker, and she would have erupted again if not for the gentle voice that quieted the world and lurched her back to the present.

Nanook spun around and gazed up at the stranger with a wild stare. A woman she'd never seen before, and the Apaata's gaze grew jaded. Practicing? Nanook didn't know what she would be practicing for. Her only goal was to make their family one piece again, no matter what the cost. She'd tried to get mama to listen, and the two women who'd brought them here, but they hadn't heard her. They hadn't even acknowledged her words. Who was to say that this new wolf, even with her kind smile and gentle look, would treat her any differently?

And yet, the arrival of the tall golden woman gave new motion to her thoughts. Though the past trampled her hope to get help from anyone but herself, the kindness in the face of the other made Nanook reconsider. Slowly, she lifted her voice, still as small as when they'd left the valley, but set in her resolve. "They left papa and Xan behind." She'd spoken the same on the day they'd been found by the two women in the marsh. No one had listened then, but Nanook wasn't about to give up yet. "I gotta get them back."