As I walked alone, a kind of magical quality filled the forest. Or they were just dust moats floating in the air and in my hyper emotional state I was adding meaning where there was none.
Who knows? Maybe Starry was right. Maybe my fated mate was out there somewhere, just waiting for me.
I rolled my eyes and let out a cold laugh that sounded too loud in the silence.
Yeah, right. Like that was gonna happen.
2
Bear
It was dark and loud.
Thunderous booms shook the earth. The ground trembled beneath me, above me, all around me. Nothing was stable. Everything was in total chaos.
I cried out but my voice barely made a sound. It was lost among the crashing soil and rocks.
A sick feeling twisted in my gut. I was alone. Why wasn't anyone coming to help me?
It was happening again.
I ran around wildly, desperate to find my parents, but I hit dead-end after dead-end. Everywhere I turned was a wall of crumbling earth.
Our home was caving in.
I tried to stop it. I stood up on my hind legs and pushed my small paws against the dirt ceiling as hard as I could, but I wasn't strong enough to hold back the torrent of earth pouring down on me.
I gave up, unable to stop the landslide, and ran towards what should have been the exit tunnel. But it was blocked off, just like it always was.
Muffled voices came from the other side of the blockage. Cold dread smothered me. Even before they spoke, I knew what was going to come out of their mouths.
"What about the kid?"
"Forget him. There’s something wrong with him anyway."
My stomach twisted into anxious knots, then the last of the ceiling collapsed.
And the only thing I saw through the black earth pouring down was a pair of giant, piercing green eyes.
Gasping for air, I woke with a strangled roar, bolting up right and digging my claws into the dirt floor.
I wasn't in a collapsing cave. I was in my familiar hollow—one I'd carved out with my own claws and knew was fully stable.
I snorted out a harsh breath through my nostrils. Just another nightmare. It wasn't real.
I shut my eyes and breathed until my heart stopped racing. Then I shook out my fur and stomped out of my hollow. Time to meet the day and stop dwelling on the past.
It was a clear, crisp morning. The fresh air filling my lungs was a relief after the claustrophobic nightmare. I patted the ground beneath me, coated in lush green grass. Reality filtered out the dregs of my bad dream. I was here, not there. And yet, the past still dug its claws into me. I didn't know if I'd ever truly be free of it.
I grumbled to myself and realized it had an echo. My stomach was grumbling, too. Being hungry wasn't helping my grumpy mood so I set off to find something to eat.
I ate everything. Vegetation, meat, nuts and berries… Nothing was off the menu for a bear.
I wasn't in the mood to hunt or scavenge, so I rustled through the nearby woods to find some juicy berries. I casually made my way over to my usual blueberry bush.
From a distance, I noticed the bush was shaking. I paused, tilting my head curiously. A moment later a long brown face popped up. It was a deer munching away on my berries. It wasn't alone. A small rabbit was feasting on the lower branches.
Even though I had a huge appetite, I didn't mind sharing. Ducking my head to show I wasn't a threat, I slowly pattered over to the other side of the bush where plenty of berries remained.
