• C h a p t e r 2

    2 ½ Months Later
    I laughed along with everyone else. We were all gathered around the fire, laughing. Me and Kyo had invited all our best friends over: Angel and Max, who’d been my friends since I was 7, Max’s boyfriend, Koby, and Kiba, one of mine and Kyo’s friends.
    These were our best friends, besides each other. I loved Kyo. He’d saved me. He always watched out for me. He made me so happy. And…he loved me to.
    “Hey, you remember that time we climbed out my bathroom window, onto the roof. And when we came back in, we forgot to close the window, and my cats got out on the roof?” Max asked me laughing. “Oh yeah, I remember that,” I chuckled, “We totally freaked out!” “Heh, you’re so stupid.” Kyo joked, giving me a hug. “You ain’t too bright yourself.” I said, glaring at him, pretending to be angry at him, then I burst out laughing and leaning back, against him.
    Man, if only that moment could last forever. I felt so happy. To be surrounded by my favorite people, all of us happy and leaning back in Kyo’s lap. I loved Kyo so much.
    “Hm, we’re running a bit low on fire wood. I’m gonna go get some.” Kyo said. I remorsefully moved out of his lap. Oh well, I got to lie in his lap for about an hour, I thought, I should be thankful.
    Kyo stood up and gently grabbed my hand. “Come with me.” He said gazing down at me. His expression was hard to describe, the only way I know how to describe it was: loving. And my face got red. “Uh, why?” I asked in a wimpy, embarrassed voice. “’Cause, I don’t wanna go alone.” He said in a fake scared voice. “Take Koby with you.” I joked and Kyo frowned, “Ok I’ll come.”
    I stood up and followed him. “You better behave!” Max called and then I heard a burst of laughter. “You too. Kiba watch them!” I called back, walking backwards trusting Kyo to guide me safely. Max stopped laughing and yelled, “Hey!” Then Angel started giggling, and Kiba chuckled too.
    Kyo stopped in a small clearing. “Um, I don’t see any sticks here.” I said in a questioning voice. “I know.” He said turning towards me.
    He gazed down at me, and held both my hands. My heart sped up a little as he said, “I love you.” “I…love you too.” I said positive I was blushing. Then he leaned down and lightly kissed me on my lips. It lasted about 2 seconds, but seemed much longer.
    I thought I was going to faint, despite how girly that sounds and believe me, I hate to be girly.
    I stared blankly at Kyo. His expression changed to a worried one that said, ‘Did I do something wrong?’ And that made me snap out of my ‘trans’. “No, I….liked that.” I reassured him trying to pick the best wording I could. ‘Heh, ‘no I liked that’?” Kyo mocked me smiling. “Yeah, well, you know what I, uh, mean, um…” I mumbled totally embarrassed. Then without a word, he did it again, but this time he paused longer and it lasted about 4 seconds.
    Kyo wrapped his arms around me and I did the same to him. He held me close to him, and I rested my head on his shoulder. It was so peaceful. It made me feel so special. I felt so loved.
    Time seemed to freeze. I don’t know how long we stood there, hugging, and honestly I don’t care how long it was.
    You know what I really hate? Every time something really good happens something really bad happens right after.
    We let go of each other and stepped back. Kyo stared down into my eyes, and I stared back. His eyes clearly said, “I love you.” And I hoped mine were just as clear. Then a large net came from behind us and trapped my, immediately jerking me away from Kyo. “Iggy!” Kyo reached for me, but it was too late, I was torn away from him. Kidnapped.

    C h a p t e r 3

    I opened my eyes slowly. My head hurt, it felt like I’d been wacked with a baseball bat. Maybe I had? Wherever I was it was dark. I couldn’t see anything, or maybe it was a blindfold? My hands were tied behind my back, and my feet were also tied. There was also tape over my mouth.
    I struggled into a sitting position, and then started scratching at the ropes on my hands. No good. It wasn’t loosening at all.
    “Don’t bother to try to escape,” A voice echoed around me, “It’s impossible. And don’t worry; I wouldn’t hurt my bait…yet.” “Bait?” I mumbled forgetting about the tape. “He will be here soon.” The voice said. He? Kyo? Why would they want Kyo?
    I heard footsteps walking away; they seemed to echo a little. I figured that it was the foot steps of my kidnapper. Where were they going?
    I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t untie myself. I couldn’t scream for help. I couldn’t get up, let alone run away. How was I supposed to escape? Should I just wait for Kyo to save me? No…that’s too weak…but what else could I do?
    First off, I needed to see, and try to figure out where I was. But how? I shook my head, hoping to feel a blind-fold over my eyes. Yes, there is one, I thought some-what happy. I leaned back against something, a tree, I think. Then I sunk down, and friction pulled the blindfold off.
    I looked around. I was in a cave. I hadn’t leaned against a tree, but instead I’d leaned against a moss-covered cave wall. The cave was almost pitch black, that’s why it had seemed to dark to be a blindfold at first.
    Now, I need to get the tape off my mouth, I thought. I pushed back against the wall, holding myself about 3 inches off the ground, and then I slid my hands down, under my butt and down to my knees. Then I rested on the ground, and pulled my knees closer to me. I lifted my feet off the ground, and moved my hands around them, kind of like a jump rope. Now my hands were in front of me. “Perfect.” I whispered as I ripped the tape off my mouth.
    I set my half-canine teeth to work on the rope that was held my wrists together. This was one thing I loved about being part wolf, I could chew threw many things that no human could. But there were draw backs to being half wolf, take for instance, having a tail that people love to yank. Speaking from experience, that hurts a lot worse then being pinched, so all you sissy that cry when you get pinched would just roll over and die if someone pulled your tail.
    I chewed through the ropes in about 2 or 3 minutes, and then I untied my feet. “Oh yeah!” I cheered quietly as I stood up. I was free, and as usual, I did it on my own. I felt ashamed of myself for even thinking about waiting for Kyo’s help. That’s so weak…
    I looked around, hoping to see some light that would suggest were the entrance of this cave was, but there was no light, other then a very dim fire, in the center of the clearing I was at. I got down on my hands and knees morphing into my canine form, and started to crawl around smelling for my kidnappers sent. Got it, I thought excitedly. Reason number 2 why I love being part wolf.
    I raced down the tunnels of the cave, tracking my kidnapper, hoping they’d been headed to the opening of the cave. I loved to run in wolf form, I could run so much faster then normal boring humans. But a down side to running on all fours, is it’s a lot different then running on 2 legs. But I’d mastered both, after all, 14 years is plenty of time to practice. I could run up to 90mph as a wolf, and 65mph as a human. Its true most humans and wolves can’t run that fast, but I’m not normal. I’m a super generic human-canine cross breed.
    Light! Just up ahead! I burst out of the cave and into the woods, not stopping even for a moment. The second I came out of the cave, I lost my kidnapper’s scent, but I kept going, now following instinct alone. But where had they gone?
    It sun beamed down through the beautiful blue sky. Birds sang and animals scurried aimless through the woods. Leaves rustled on the trees in the spring breeze.
    The trees sang a merry little tune, the song of the forest.