• The girl sat on an old swing in a lonely playground in an empty school on abandoned property in early November. She swung her paper thin legs back and forth, back and forth, but never getting two feet off the ground. Her weak arms barely grabbed the rusty swing chain as she gasped dusty breaths. Her long tangly hair blew in the cold wind against her sore back. Her once blue eyes had faded to gray, her faded red sweater unraveling. Her torn, dirty jeans hugged her tired legs. The girl's stomach growled like a hungry lion. She hadn't eaten since dawn yesterday when she savored her last stale biscuit.
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    Sierra sighed and looked up at the stars. They were so white and beautiful. A lonely cloud drifted across the big dipper. There was a full moon in the sky. Pale shadows on its face matched the deep blue sky around it.
    She lay back in the lush, deep green grass of her front yard surrounded by trees. The occausional dragonfly accompanied the few fireflys that buzzed around her head. The occasional sound of squirrels in the trees was accompanied by the deep hoots of an owl.
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    A tiny nose stuck out of the underbrush, followed by chocolate brown eyes and tiny, furry ears. A whole head showed now. It was a pup, no more than four months old. Its gray fur glowed silver in the light of the moon. Its tiny paws left tiny prints in the soft soil, and its fuzzy tail wagged back and forth.

    That was when she realized this was a wolf pup. It walked up to her and Sierra gently put out her hand. It tentatively walked up, sniffed her out stretched palm, and shoved its little nose into her hand. It felt cold and wet.

    She found it to be a female. The she-cub parted her jaws in a yawn. Her teeth, not yet sharp, gleamed like pearls and her little pink tongue stretched out of her mouth.
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    These eyes were not cute, these eyes were not young. These were the eyes of a creature who had seen many battles, one that had matured many years.
    The elder wolf stepped out of the bush. Her paws silently took her towards Sierra untill her noble head was no more than a yard away.
    The way the moonlight glinted off her silver pelt made her fur look astonishingly blue. Lean muscles rippled beneath her coat. The she-wolf stood proud with her head held high.
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    Another wolf exited the surrounding forest into the yard. This one was larger than the first, and it’s muscles were stockier than they were lean. Its fur was thick and jet black, only just standing out from the darkness. At first, Sierra thought it to be male, but realized that this one, too, was a she. Its eyes were the purest gold, the color only broken for the blackness of the pupil. Her claws sheathed and unsheathed, her tail, held high, lashed back and forth.
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    A third wolf, much younger than the first, entered the front lawn from the rear. Her coat was a creamy off white. Her eyes were a chocolate brown and showed a wearyness that contradicted her body language. Her ears twitched back and forth and her tail waved with interest. Curiosity radiated from her agile body.