Stray Omega by Lizzy Bequin

CHAPTER 4: EMBLA
The mean alpha, the one named Orwen, growled and tugged at Embla’s
leash.
It was daybreak.
The silvered bars of moonlight through the branches had been replaced by
golden spears of sunshine as the dawn crept over the treetops and poked
through the canopy of leaves overhead. The monotonous trill of cicadas had
faded, giving way to the loud and busy twittering of birds. And already, the
cool evening air had started to warm with the coming day.
It was that time of day when Embla would usually retreat to the safety of her
hiding place. She preferred only to move about in the shadows of the night.
But this morning, she had no choice.
This morning, she was leashed and collared.
Her struggles had been futile. The three dominant alphas had easily
overpowered her tiny body. The mean one had held her down while the
leader fastened a strip of leather around her throat and the young one attached
a leash made of braided rawhide.
Fighting them was out of the question. Embla had already tried that, and it
had ended in failure. She was lucky that she had come out of that tussle with
only minor wounds. Her thigh still smarted where she had rolled across the
hot coals, but the burns were not bad. She’d had far worse in her day.