I raise my head. She called me? Her fingers grasp the gate, her mouth thinner.
She did call. I bound forward.
Mate opens the gate enough for me and me only, then closes it on my useless leg.
I yelp and roll forward. My leg, my leg! I curl into a ball, forepaws to my useless leg, water running down my face.
“Quit your whining.” Mate hits my back with a stick. “Hurry up.”
I slink toward Master’s house, but not fast enough. Mate’s stick finds my back twice more before I reach the flat rock by the door. She raises the stick to strike again. I cower. The door opens.
“Enough, woman!” Master steps between Mate and me. “Get back to your work.”
She scowls but turns away.
Master pats my head. “Don’t worry about her, Beast.” He goes into the house. “Come, girl.”
I swing myself across the stone floor, and Master shuts the door behind me.
The inside is warm and thick with the smell of food, and I would thump a tail if I had one like the Others. Only my movement must be fast so that no one steps on me, for both strangers and the men of Master’s pack fill the room. But perhaps more people will mean more food.
A stranger-man at the long table looks at me and snorts. “What’s that?”
“Beast.” Master pulls out a chair and it scrapes against the floor.
“But what is it? Human? Animal?”
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