Her secret was safe.

After the first meeting, she met Diego a few more times. The man talked about his homeland and the human settlements, and he treated her with sweets. He taught her the names of things he carried with him. It was fun and interesting, learning about the world outside the forest. And she really liked the sound of his voice and the way he acted, being reserved and serious. Not like Spot or her carefree brothers.

The hardest ordeal was finding excuses to go on a walk alone, when usually her brothers accompanied her. But then she was free. Today, her father invited her to go hunting with him. Feeling somewhat guilty and at the same time restless, Storge declined. She couldn't wait to sneak back to the creek. But it took her longer than she expected to separate from the rest of the swarm. Finally, barely holding back her excitement, she hurried to meet Diego at the designated meeting point.

She spotted him right away. But this time, a strange smell dominated the air and overpowered all other smells. Storge slowed down, hesitating to cross the stream. She looked at the man - he had a small white stick in his hand. Smoke rose from the end of the stick. That was the smell that confused her. For some reason, Diego brought the stick to his mouth and inhaled the smoke. Storge coughed, just looking at this act. 'How silly! Why would he breathe something so disgusting?' Feeling condescending towards such a dumb human act, she crossed the creek with a few leaps.

Diego was standing beside a large bush. He noticed a she-wolf and waved his hand, smiling. Storge walked towards him. At first, she listened to his stories while staying in her wolf form, but the man seemed sad about the fact that he was talking to an animal. That's why she started to change into a human, first during the middle of their meeting, and then right after greeting Diego. Wondering what the right thing would be to do for that day, Storge approached the man.

It was then that something jumped out at her from the bushes. Storge leaped to the side, trying to escape and look at the sudden danger. But the attacker was not alone. She turned towards another rushing sound, only to see a person with a stick approaching her. To the end of the stick, a leather loop was attached. Storge hissed, thinking this would scare the humans. But the moment she was distracted by the man, another man threw a loop around her neck. The collar-like leather tightened as soon as Storge tried to escape. Two men grabbed the stick and pulled the struggling she-wolf. The man who she had tried to scare ran to help them.

Their strength, as well as the collar on her neck, scared Storge. She shook her head, resisting and pulling back, but the men's persistence prevailed. Her paws started to slide, scratching the ground beneath her claws. Storge glanced at Diego in hope that he was doing better fighting these enemies. Just to find that the man she had been looking forward to meeting so much these days was throwing away the branches from the "bush" beside him, revealing a cage.

Her shock didn't go unnoticed. The men pulled the stick with one final push, driving the she-wolf into the cage. Before she could turn and run, the iron bar walls were all around her. Trapped, Storge threw herself over the cage's walls in panic, but they didn't budge. She looked at Diego, then at the men surrounding the cage. They all had the same golden tanned skin and black hair, and their clothing was similar too. They also had swords attached to their belts. And weird iron rods that, unlike swords, were unsharpened and were thrown over their shoulders with leather belts.

"That was easy," said one of the men, attaching a stick with a collar to the top of the cage.

"That's because it's young and stupid," retorted another one, with a black beard. He stared at Storge, who was trying to gnaw at the iron bars. Then he turned to Diego. "Still, it's not young enough to be a cub. My lord, why risk your life and that of others for an adult wolf? If you want to hunt it, then sending soldiers to capture it would be the best decision."

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Diego scoffed, looking at the bearded man. "Believe me, capturing this beast is far more important than you can imagine. This will raise my status like nothing else."

The man didn't look convinced. He glanced around to make sure everyone was ready. "I hope it's worth it considering we're on another country's territory. Let's move; we need to carry the cage ourselves for a while as the trail is too narrow for a carriage."

Their words, even though some were unknown, caused a new wave of fear in Storge. They were going to take her away from the forest, from her family. She started scratching the floor of her cage and biting the bars in desperation. Her attempts to escape distracted both the humans and Storge herself. The strong smell of iron disrupted her sense of smell, and the loud voices drowned out all other sounds. Yet, some kind of incredible sense, beyond normal ones, made her look up.

Her father ran at full speed towards the humans. Seeing him cross the creek in two leaps, Storge froze for a moment. The feeling of relief flashed and gave way to fear. Her father was the strongest in the whole forest, no in the whole world. But these humans were armed and dangerous, in ways she could not predict.

They noticed the beast rushing at them, too, but with a delay. Kindhearted collided with the humans, knocking Diego down and throwing the bearded man with his paws. Two other humans were quick enough to unsheathe their swords. They stepped forward, trying to drive the wolf ant away from their companions and the cage. Kindhearted hissed and blocked the hit of the blade with chitinous mandibles.

The time his opponents were trying to win by holding the soldier wolf back was not wasted on Kindhearted either. While he was distracting their attention, Rainstorm and Hailstone snuck from the sides and attacked the humans from behind. The latter used his weight to pin the bearded men down to the ground. This was the first battle the brothers engaged in, and he was lost, not knowing what to do.

Rainstorm acted more confidently, taking his father as an example. Helping Kindhearted, he caught one of the swordsmen by the leg and threw him into the water. Kindhearted used his opponent's distraction as an opportunity and knocked them down. Pressing his paw on the man's hand, he disarmed him. Inspired by his family's victory, Storge once again pushed the bars, trying to break the wall.

The thunder-like sound stopped her. Three siblings shuddered from this sound and looked in the direction it came from. Diego was holding an unshaped iron rod pointed at their father. The smell of smoke, blood and burned flesh hit their nostrils. Diego moved his hands on the iron rod, making a clicking sound, but he wasn't fast enough. Rainstorm was already right next to him. The man tried to move away and point the iron rod at the new enemy. Rainstorm rushed forward; sharp mandibles reached Diego first. A chopped hand fell on the creek bank, followed by the man's scream.

Hailstone ran to the cage. He quickly walked around the four walls, then found the latch. Moving it with his mandibles, he finally released his sister. While humans were getting back on their feet and hurrying to help Diego, wolf ants ran into the forest as soon as they could. Kindhearted was leading them. But despite their confident pace, siblings couldn't shake off their fear. It grew into terror when blood drops started to fall onto the trail.

When the human's scent and the creek were left behind, they slowed down. Changing back into human form, Storge rushed towards her father. Kindhearted stood down, breathing heavily. The fur on his chest was wet with blood. Storge hurriedly touched him, parting the fur to search for the wound. When she found it, she pressed her hands against it, trying to stop the bleeding. Tear started dripping down her cheeks.

'Dad, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!'

The warm and rough tongue touched her cheeks. Kindhearted licked away his daughter's tears. Both brothers stood by Storge's side.

'He will be fine,' assured her Rainstorm. 'Dad is the strongest.'

'Let’s go home,' added Hailstone, nuzzling her shoulder.