As summer's green heat turned into a colder fall, her folks... They suddenly left.
In turn, they'd left her with Angus' family, which would be the husband, with the mustache, the stout wife, the elder son, the middle girl, and the two younger boys, along with Opie, Wedge, and Cece. And, to be honest, she didn't exactly mesh with that crowd. Opie and Wedge, brothers, were on the main sled team. Cece never shared her toys, quite territorial, and Angus bled her dry of her energy along with Opie and Wedge. It was hard to be free of them all to go see Pexa or even Molly. She didn't like any of it. Not the noise, not the too-rough roughhousing she could never escape from submitting to, not the food, the lack of people-kisses, any of it. It made her confound herself over and over for thinking being mild-mannered had ever been a good thing.
They slept outside in the good weather. The space was good there on the deck. She curled up away from the rest of them, and though Angus did try his best to be inclusive, it didn't work.
But at night, she could see the tree-line behind the house. She could swear there were eyes in those trees, could almost smell a scent on the wind.
The worst was when they'd hear howling. Opie and Wedge would mock it sometimes. She would lay awake and listen, fear and intrigue keeping sleep from her.
As the snow came in, as the cold rolled in and the water froze and the geese were gone, they were still not allowed inside the house, which was foreign to her.
She knew there were eyes in the trees now. She met those green eyes that watched the town sometimes, with as much curiosity as apprehension in her. No one else seemed to note them. No one else even seemed to look. In the strangest way, it was comforting and nerve-wracking all the same. If it was him, then at least now she knew he had no plans to come back and cause harm, which was nice. If not... Well, maybe she was locking eyes with a beaver instead. Maybe the beaver could be her best friend and give her a warm place for the winter. She'd never really met a beaver face to face, but she'd seen them from far off, chattering to each other, though she definitely could not understand them. That would be an issue, then...
Angus, Opie, and Wedge were being extra... attentive as of late. Cece just seemed amused when Annabella snapped at the males for brushing up against her, for trying to get their legs over her back.
"Easy does it now, darlin'," Opie drawled in that accent she'd really come to detest.
"Quit it!" she barked back as he advanced further, trying to lick at her face.
By now, she knew what was going on.
She knew why they were sticking to her and fighting with each other, and she knew why other male dogs were coming around more and more lately. And she wanted none of it.
It was early evening when it happened, just after dinner time, with the setting sun making the snow on the hills glow orange and pink. Cece had tried to take advantage of the fact that Wedge was sniffing around her back side and she had to keep snapping at him to steal some of her food. Her food.
Needless to say, the scuffle that had ensued was full of flying fur.
And now Annabella was miserably laid on the deck, her shoulder bleeding, the back of her neck bleeding and stinging, though she'd won, Angus, Opie and Wedge crowding her, seeming to take turns guarding against each other. She'd seen this before around town.
Angus laughed to a retreating Opie, "Stay off, you bitch-sniffer!"
Annabella scooted away from how he was standing over her, knocking him off balance, making him lash out at her, teeth in her ruff, shaking furiously as he growled and Wedge tried to stand over her backside–
