The blizzard that was growing and growing disturbed me deeply. It fluffed up my fur and left speckled ice shaving in my eye. I snorted and kept trotting. The land was barren. Rabbits and hare had the advantage over me today, so I dared not entertain them. Deer, despite their speed, were a craving I could not push aside. So I trot and trot, ignoring all the squeaks of mice and the shuffling of other rodents. I trot and trot and trot.

  It occured to me that the deer were not around. Searching searching searching and not a bloody sound. I crinkled my face and clenched my maw and had a little sneeze, my face an icy portrait in the blizzard's mighty breeze. I slapped at some old fox bones, I had a couple hops, I danced and danced about with nobody here to tell me 'Stop.' I do admit I lost myself in these stupid little games, but whats a wolf to do in this horrid, horrid time? If I dont let out a snicker, ill lose my "fricking" mind.

  So the night did come, and it grew somehow colder, and I plopped down in the snow. I was distraught, the day had gone, and there was nothing I had caught! I had a little cry, I was going to strave and die. All my knowledge and my wisdom would pass when I did too, I burried my face glumly in the white and biege and blue.

  Thats when i did feel it, a nuzzle in my side - a female who was huge, her figure twice the size of mine. She batted her matted lashes, and led me to a cave. My knees were buckling when into her wishes I did give. I hoped for warmth and food, at least something to nibble on. To my amazement what I found was splendid, it was grand! A giant wooden table, seated tens and tens of wolves. I mistook one for a bear, infact I mistook a few. I was so filled with exitement, i practically flew!

  Inside, she told me to be quiet, to sneak and sneak behind, an unsuspecting wolf, who had nothing on his mind. He ate and ate and ate, his teeth all filled with plack - she instructed me to dig my teeth into his fatty back. I did so with a discomfort, I dont even want to rhyme.......................................It tasted like a chicken thouroughly seasoned through with thyme.

  He let out a blaring scream, which filled me with dispair. I bit and bit and bit, tearing out chunks of meat and hair. I threw him to the floor, it was hard and cold as ice. He whimpered and wept and fled away into the night. He was a fat fellow, and bleeding from the spine - he wouldnt survive...

  I took my new seat, nobody batted an eye. It disgusted me, but not so much that I didnt eat the food. The fowl and boar and Deer! My cheeks filled with it all, and she watched me and we chatted. We talked of things I could not comprehend or understand, but I totally pretended too. It didnt occur to me that she could tell.

  I stayed and I stayed, I finally had somewhere to belong! I had company and friends, surely nothing coould go wrong. But then I saw what I did dread, a familiar scene.

  A hungry, hungry wolf, teeth beared and eyes that told me he was mean. And mean he was, for he bit into the back of a less portly wolf opposite me. No! Dont take awya gre-....jef-....Sam......uuuh..huh. I sat there, watching a wolf that i never knew I never knew, getting dragged from this haven of delicious food and comfort. I didnt feel bad. His time had come. The general consensus was that when it was time to go, it was time to go. You had had your fun, now it was back out into the frozen hellscape.

  The new wolf that sat opposite me had a desperation that I had known all too well. He scoffed down the deer and boar, but disregarded the fowl. Every movement from the nearest wolves made him flinch, and he snapped at them. I decided to ignore this one. Give it time, give it time and he will come to settle.

  And he did. His greed made him ressemble the fowl that he refused to lay his teeth upon. His gut and cheeks grew some plump so quickly that I shocked even some of the other wolves. But then, after a few glances, they forgot about him. I'm not sure if they did that often. No, they did! They did it very often. How could I forget this? Strange.

  I digress...feasting was a constant. Fullness was a constant. Unique tasting drink was a constant. However, when the frostbitten maw of a starved beast, whom belongs to nowehere wraps around the scruff of your neck, you realise something. Those are not constants! Not even close! They are temporary indulgences, which could be snatched away from you at any time. And what could you do about this? Cry? Weep? Scream?

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  No.

  You could not.

  Again and again I saw it. Witnessed it. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume..........................

  Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump. Hunger. Maw. Weep. Consume. Plump.Hunger. Maw. Weep.

  UNTIL!!!

  Until I felt it. Only two of those wolves who sat here before me still sat here now. One was the female who stuck by my side even now, who was currently giving me worried glances. The other wolf was a rather conservative eater, who didnt take two much, but who didnt look weak and frail either. Unlike my female companion, he didn't care that a hungry wolf approached me. I doubt he even noticed. Either too busy watching his own back, or that nothing bothered him anymore. I got that impression from him....tangent tangent. tangent tangent!

  Worn and cold paws thudded harshly against the stone floor. Echoes filled my ears, and I felt his eyes upon my back. He was a nervous one, his arrhythmic steps gave that away. But he approached nonetheless. His lips quivered and he then parted them. In the corner of my eye, a few missing teeth I did see. How could he indulge in the meats to the fullest extent with so few teeth?! I was repulsed that he even considered that he could be apart of this meal. Someone like that would be sitting where I now sat? Something like that dared to think that he could fit in? How dare he? How dare he! I didnt feel a pang of pity, but disgust. I gazed at this table, and didnt see something I could give up. I mustn't.

  His jaw was close. So was his head, and do you know what attacthed the head to the shoulders? It was exactly THAT, in which I had ripped from him. he couldnt gasp, but fell and stayed felled.

  for once, the table drew silent. a shock that did not subside. it was quiet. i didnt realise how much i liked the quiet until now. it was lovely. i wanted to dance.

  ...Sorry!

  I do admit, friends, I felt a sense of pride!

  The female, whos name I did not know, gasped and clutched my side.

  The wolf laid still on the cave's floor,

  Unlike others who crawled out the door,

  Who I am sure never could survive,

  Outside the cozy little heaven we had forged inside.

  And so, the party raged on,

  encouraged by their lord of courage,

  who nudged them all along

  a path of song and dance,

  which he certainly joined in on.

  We all danced and sang the nights away,

  and although some were swapped and taken and slain,

  I ignored it all and downed it away in glasses of...water.

  Now here I laugh and eat and dance, and sing and sleep and play.

  I'll tell you a secret that I have not uttered til this day!

  Although the maws of hungry Joes,

  And Bobs and Sams and Jeffs,

  Tear at the scruffs of my fellows.

  I will say, not a single tooth has grazed me since

  I took the throat of a poor little wolf, reduced it to mince!

  Now heres the secret that

  i'll bury within these pages and pages of crud

  if a new wolf would dare come for my scruff, my current pride would be a dud!

  Hahahaha!

  And so i'll keep on dancing. I will, i swear!

  But when some mangy mutt decides that I finally look weak and frail.

  And the gossip at the table does not warn the beast away.

  Ill lose my back, or ill lose my neck.

  But I'd not lose my head!

  That would come later, when I discovered I could not hunt even a dying hare.

  I would fall to my knees and howl to the godess of the moon in self pity and despair.

  THE END of the wolf.