A Wolf Steps in Blood

by Tamara Jerée

I’m afraid of a fate like Shiara’s, of being shunned for being too wolf, too much. She was loud; she took up space. In school, it made her a target for bullies. In their eyes, she became ugly. She flouted the unspoken rules of femininity, and her peers made sure she felt it.

According to the guidance counselor, the principal, her teachers, she had a short temper, but really, everything she did was the result of a years-long campaign against her. If you kick a wolf enough times, she has no choice but to bite back.

The world didn’t want to understand her. It wanted her gone. It wants us gone.

“One day, you’re gonna have to show your teeth.”

And Kalta. The strength I admire in her—the strength I wish I could match—sweeps through her like tornado season in the South, unpredictable and wild. How does anyone shelter a storm?

“I’m just a useless girl who doesn’t know anything and grew up in the middle of nowhere with nothing!”