He was soaked to the bones that showed through his fur, and he couldn’t feel his toes from the cold. Still, he trudged on through the driving rain, barely able to see the muddy road he had been aimlessly following for the last ... how many days had it been? A week? Two? Did he really lose count that fast? Well, the gnawing in his stomach was making it really difficult to concentrate.

Honestly? A week or a month, it didn’t really matter. He’d escaped them. That was all that mattered. It didn’t even matter that he hadn’t waited for his Rite of Rank. That was just too far away to endure any longer. Thirteen years had been long enough. The swelling from the last black eye his father would ever give him had long since gone down, but he couldn’t blink fast enough to see through the rivulets that coursed down his face any better than when he had first fled into the night after another beating, leaving behind everything and everyone he had ever known.

No one would miss him, he knew. Certainly not his brothers and sisters. He had always been nothing more than an extra mouth. His father just couldn’t control himself so there were entirely too many hungry pups fighting over scraps. It had been the death of his mother, passing away in labor from one too many litters.

A slimy amphibian clicked and gurgled as it slithered carelessly across his path. It was meat, and meat was food, no matter how gross it felt squirming down his throat. Maybe the next one he should chew, he thought, feeling sick from the sensation of the thing writhing about entirely too long considering its lack of air.

Shivering, he continued his weary march through the day. There really wasn’t any shelter to be found along the road, anyway, so he might as well keep walking. Didn’t matter where. Anywhere but there.

At last, the storm stopped, opening up to reflect splotches of pinkly tinted sky in the still puddles all around him. Night would be upon him soon enough, but it wasn’t like he would be able to sleep in the ditches like he had considering they were full of water now. Maybe he’d just walk through the night again.

A mechanical growling was getting closer in the distance behind him. It wasn’t the first vehicle that had passed him since the start of his long journey, but it was the first one to roll to a stop after splashing past him slowly. Stopping in his tracks, he felt his heart thump with apprehension. Taking a step back, his eyes darted to the fields on either side of the road.

A muscular, leather covered arm leaned out the passenger window and a mostly white face with one brown ear poked out to peer back at him. An Alpha’s braid swung in the air while he took in the sorry sight before him.

“Hey, boy!” The man waved him over. “C’mere.”

Gulping hard and lowering himself in submission, he nervously approached, stopping several paces away. Another gray, tan and white male was peering over at him from the driver seat.

“Hey, yer not from ‘round ‘ere, are ye?”

He shook his head timidly. “No, sir.”

The Alpha raised a brow, looking him over again. “Ye hungry, boy?”

Just the word was enough for the irate beast in his belly to claw its way into his throat, and he had to swallow extra hard to settle it back where it belonged. “Y-Yes, sir,” he admitted.

Nodding slowly as though agreeing with him, the man jabbed his thumb toward the bed of the truck. “Well, hop on in. Dinner ought ta be ready by the time we get back.”

Glancing at him with a hint of mistrust, he figured the worst that could happen was what he had already escaped once and clambered up among the crates of supplies, taking a seat as the truck started up again.

The Alpha turned to look him over through the open back window. “What’s yer name, boy?”

Shuddering as the cold wind blew through his damp, matted fur, he did his best to keep his teeth from chattering. “S-Silver, sir.”

Raising a brow, the man scoffed humorously. “‘propriate, I s’pose. Well, I’m Wild River, Alpha o’ the Radkials. This’d be my brother, Iron Gale. Looks like ye been walkin’ fer a while, there, Silver.”

Clenching his teeth too tight to speak, he just nodded silently. Thankfully, Wild River did not press. Instead, he shrugged off his thick leather jacket and shoved it unceremoniously through the window at him. “Well, take it, boy, ‘fore ye freeze back there.”

It was a blanket on him. His hands couldn’t reach the holes at the ends of the sleeves. Wrapped tight, it was the warmest he’d felt in days. His receding shivers left him even more exhausted than before. Wedged in a small space between the crates, he had no idea that he’d fallen asleep until his eyes fluttered open to the sound of excited voices.