Chapter One
Four yearsago
Flames shotup outside the tiny cabin. Sasha’s aggressive barks fell silent. Her ears flattened, and fur raised on her hackles as she darted through the kitchen toward the doggydoor.
A rush of fire flashed through the doorway and blocked her, licking her nose. She squealed, backing up as smoke rushed into thecabin.
Gasping for breath against the thickening smoke, Sasha raced around and around the wooden cabin. The acrid smell stung her nose, and she whipped her head wildly, not knowing where toturn.
Blindly, she threw herself against the walls and doors. She dug with her paws, scratching, begging, hoping her man would come, but there was no sound other than the crackling of burningwood.
She had to get out. Had to escape. Her fur spiked on its ends, and the mewling cries whistling from her throat sounded too distant to behers.
Where was her man? Where was the large, steady hand that held her tight and made her feelsafe?
A loud boom shocked her to the bone, and all was strangely silent. A maelstrom of flames rushed at her. Horror gripped her. She reared herself up onto the sofa and pounced at the window with all of her eightypounds.
The glass shattered, and she plunged through it onto the burning porch, surrounded by dancing flames: red, yellow, andorange.
What happened to the man she loved? Why wasn’t he callingher?
There was no way out except through the fire, and Sasha wanted her man. He had to be outthere.
Her eyes and lungs burning, she dived into the wall of fire, heading for the small patch of blue sky she could barelyglimpse.
She ran, and ran, and ran, rolling in the grass to cool her burns, until she came to a tinycreek.
With her tongue and throat parched, her paws bleeding and raw, she plunged into the water and let the current carry heraway.
