"Halt! Where are you going?"

I frowned, glaring down at the city guards. Their deep blue ruffles weren't nearly as intimidating as Askance’s soldiers’ sleek red and gold uniforms. "Aren't you supposed to question people coming in the city, not leaving?"

One of the guards gave a short half bow. "My apologies, miss. We simply try to limit lycan thievery. Seeing as you have two lycans and no manager, questioning you is mandatory."

I sighed, leaning back on my mount. "I am Desire. Surely you know I'm the only trainer to ride her lycan, so that should be proof enough." I patted the side of Cerberus's neck. He growled. "And I'm not leaving. I'm letting my albino out for a run. He needs to work out a little energy."

The other guard eyed the massive canine. "You plan on letting that one loose?"

My fingers tangled in thick white fur. "Yes, out in the forest. Or would you rather he break loose in the city?" I didn't appreciate the delay. Judging by Cerberus's second growl, neither did he.

At first, I thought they would refuse. Fortunately, they seemed to collect their senses and nodded in unison. The west gates swung open, allowing Cerberus and River to run through. I waited until we were well out of earshot to speak.

"This should be far enough."

My mount slid to a halt, closely followed by the gray female. I vaulted off his shoulders before turning around and slipping off his muzzle. He flexed his jaw, then nodded his thanks. I turned to River.

"I'll let you join him after you gain a little weight. Oh..." I tipped my head. "You've never hunted before, have you?"

The female shook her head.

"I'll teach her when she's stronger," Cerberus said. "For now, she should be watching you. What you did with that trainer was foolish." He glanced to River. "In the arena, even more so."

I pursed my lips. "I know what I'm doing."

The albino lycan growled. "You were smarter when you feared my kind. These lycans may be smaller, but their fear and hunger only make them more vicious. As long as you call yourself a trainer, they will hate you, and you have no poison to protect yourself."

"I know that!" I huffed, turning away. "Don't you think I hate being a trainer, too? But it's the only way for us to stay together in this foul place!"

I began to march back toward the western gate. A furred, paw-like hand caught my shoulder, turning me around. Cerberus pressed his forehead to mine, red eyes boring into me. "We can still run away," he snarled softly. "We are not far from the next country. We can beat the snow."

I paused, staring into those crimson irises. After a moment, I sighed. My hand pressed gently on his chest. "And what if the next country is just the same?" I whispered. "It hardly matters. I'm not here for the shelter. I'm here to keep my promise."

Cerberus pulled away. He released a great huff through his nose. "As my lady wishes. Just don't do anything rash."

I nodded, once again turning back to the city. River hesitated, then followed me. The dry leaves crunched under Cerberus's weight as he ran off.

It was only a short walk back to the western gate. The guards looked me over as I led River through the wooden doors.

"I think you've just lost a prize lycan, miss," one of them remarked.

I shook my head. "Don't be too alarmed when he's waiting here come sundown."

***

I walked River through the mass of people in the market. Some of them made skin contact, but I found the intertangling of robes and constant bumping more of an annoyance than anxiety. Somewhere in the last few weeks, I had become accustomed to the crowds, though I still didn't like them. They made sure to part for River.

"That's a pretty lycan you have there!" A middle-aged woman called out to me from under a tarp tent. "Care to breed her? I have a fine selection of studs."

I turned, putting on my sweetest smile, though I secretly wanted to sneer. "No thanks, I've got my own."

The woman nodded, flicking a strand of stringy blond hair from her face. "That's wonderful! In that case, would you like to register him in my accounts? I take ten percent of your fee, but I'll find you lots of clients!"

I waved my hands in a cheerful, dismissive gesture. It was coming back now, the false smiles, the easy demeanor. But this time I wasn't a puppet, I was an actress. I played by my own rules. "Sorry, I'd like to get a few successful litters out of him myself before I go offering his services." There was no way I would force that on Cerberus. I couldn't even ask. Would the little females Preene kept be able to handle the large offspring he would produce? Even if they could, I wouldn't sell his cubs into slavery so they could be mutilated and mistreated, even killed if they happened to inherit his albinism.

"Well, let me know when you do. I'll arrange all the surgeries and sales for you."

"Sure thing," I said with a wave. She should have her vocal cords cut, then perhaps she would think twice before buying and selling life.

As I turned to walk away, two men passed me, one leading a rusty female, the other with three cubs. River stopped. I paused as well, following their progress with my eyes.

"About time," the saleswoman scolded as they stopped in front of her tent. "You said you would be here early."

The elder of the men was surely in his sixties, with salt and pepper hair and more than a few scars. He huffed as he dragged the three cubs forward. "Had some trouble getting a muzzle on the little one."

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"Right," she huffed. "You didn't say this was Missy's litter. Isn't she a bit small? This is the capital, after all."

The man growled in his gruff voice. I wondered if it had anything to do with the tooth marks around his neck. Someone had tried to tear his throat out. "She births 'em just fine. I've been doing this longer than anyone, Sara, and ya still got no faith."

"Whatever." The woman held out her hand expectantly. "Let's just get this scene over with." The man handed her the three leashes.

The moment the leather hit her hand, the female exploded. Faster than would be expected of his age, the grizzled man spun around, striking her with an electric whip. The female fell back, then lunged again. She managed to drag her handler several feet before he dug his heels in the ground. As small as she was, he still shouldn't have been able to stop her. The cubs strained against their leashes, their calls rising in a shrill accompaniment for their mother's silent screams. The breeder lashed out again and again. Electricity hummed in the air. The whip snapped with the force of a thunderbolt.

I glanced to the surrounding crowd. People looked on with mild curiosity. I ground my teeth together, though was careful to keep my face expressionless. They didn't even have the decency to be appalled. No one spoke a word when the wires wrapped around the female’s face, tangling in her muzzle. No one protested when she fell to the ground. No one comforted her screaming cubs as their mother was dragged away from them by her handler.

No one saw the expression in her dark eyes as she looked back on her children one last time. No one shed a tear for the pain hidden there, because no one bothered to look.

Except me.

"I'll have the vet out tomorrow," the saleswoman said in a brisk voice, cold, emotionless. She had no sympathy for the family she had just ripped apart. "Even with their little dame, they still should be easy to sell." The old breeder nodded, then turned away.

I gripped at River's leash, wondering if it was anger or tears I was fighting. I wasn't going to ignore and forget this, not the way so many people had ignored and forgotten me. "River, I think it's time we did some hunting of our own."

***

The gray female tracked the breeder while I jogged beside her. She led me to a brick building, shorter than most in the city, but wider as well. It was also the first above-ground stable I had seen. I slipped off her muzzle before heading in the open door. The man wasn't far in. He had his back to me, arms crossed as he stared at the rusty female curled up in the corner. I paused in the doorway, collecting myself before stepping inside.

"Excuse me?" I called out timidly. The man turned around, a frown on his face. His scowl faded into an expression of surprise as he took in my sudden appearance.

"Yeah, miss?" he said. "What are you doing here?"

I crossed my arms, not quite meeting his eyes. "Sara said you're been doing this a long time. I've got a couple of lycans I've been thinking about breeding, and was wondering if you could help me out..."

The man considered me for a moment, then nodded. "Of course, young lady, but first let me decide what to do with this one. Seems the last litter took the rest out of her."

"She's sick? Let me take a look." I trotted to the female, kneeling beside her.

"'fraid it's a little late for that."

I gasped as I pulled over the limp female. Her eyes were dull and lifeless. Lines of fur were missing where the wires had wrapped around her face. It wasn't the litter that had killed her; it was the electricity. She wasn't even chained. She reminded me far too much of another rust-colored female I had known.

My heart snapped open and released a torrent of boiling blood through my vines.

"You know," I snarled, rising to my feet, "Missy is a really stupid name." I spun around. "River!"

My lycan sprang through the doorway, catching the man by surprise and pinning him to the floor. His whip rolled through the dirt. I grabbed my own from my belt loop.

"Let him up," I barked. River stepped back, allowing me to see that sweet, terrified expression I had been so familiar with in my old life. I pointed to the chains hanging from the wall. "Put them on and you will live."

The breeder scrambled to the wall as eagerly as a starving dog to a bowl. The cuffs clicked around his wrists. The collar slipped easily over his head.

"You've got a fair amount of scars," I remarked, cracking my whip on the floor. "What do you say to a few more?"

The leather snaked across his face, leaving a red burn in its wake. The man groaned. I frowned. The whip hadn't made a sound. I struck again, this time harder. The leather slit open the fine fabric of his shirt.

"How's it feel to be chained to a wall? To be beaten and know no one will save you?" The whip struck his chest. Tingles shot up my arm. "To be so utterly insignificant that you bleed for another's amusement?"

The exertion of the action strained pleasantly at the muscles of my back, urging me to hit harder. The sight of blood only excited me further. It wasn't long before dull groans turned into sharp cries of pain, punctuated by the ever satisfying crack of the whip.

But still no screams. I needed to hear them. He needed to voice the screams he had silenced.

My gaze landed on the wires at my feet. I knelt down. The man's open eye followed the movement, the other was swollen shut from my blows and already changing color. I gently took the handle into my grasp. The wires cackled as I squeezed the grip.

"No," he pleaded, voice more hoarse than before.

"There's something you should probably know about me," I purred as I lifted my arm above my head. "I'm a liar."

The elder breeder shrieked the most satisfying screams I had ever heard. I pulled the whip back, ready to strike again. He released his last breath, then grew still.

Footsteps echoed from the cement walls. The other man I had seen in the market appeared.

"Gaeton!" he called, then froze, staring at me.

I hissed, catching River's eye. "This one's yours."

***

Sunset painted the beige stones of the outer walls pink with their rays. The guards glanced from each other to the two lycans waiting on the gate's forest side, one pure white, the other deep chocolate with auburn highlights. They trotted through the open gate.

Cerberus sniffed at my arms. A growl momentarily rumbled in his chest, then he lowered his head, allowing me to slip his muzzle over his face. I vaulted on his back before turning my attention to his companion.

"Do you want to come?"

The chocolate male nodded. I didn't remember his name; there had been far too much on my mind that first day in the capital arena. I doubted he wished to keep it, anyway.

"I'll call you Crimson Claw then. Is that acceptable?"

Again, the lycan nodded.

"Right." I waved to the guards. "See you later, boys." I tapped Cerberus's neck, giving him the signal to bound off down Cicil's narrow streets, River and Crimson Claw in pursuit.

I would never see those guards again. There were already several lycans loose in the city, and I planned on setting more free by night's end.