That night we ate our biggest meal in a long time. As I sat there with my eagle, my wolf, and my four dogs, my heart was bursting with happiness. I realised that this was my family now. The dogs had become my brothers. Eagle was my little sister, and Puppy was my best friend.

I loved them all so much.

It had been a long time since I had been separated from my human family, and though they had not come back for me I still missed them terribly. But I didn’t have much hope that I would see them ever again. Still, the longing was not as deep as in the early days. So much time had passed that it got harder and harder to picture their faces in my mind.

I looked at the marks on the car that night and even though they weren’t exactly right, they showed that something like four years had gone by. I was no longer a helpless little girl. I was now a hunter. A survivor. A leader of a pack of animals who had become my family.

Was this going to be my life forever? I didn’t know, but what I did know was that I wasn’t going to lose a second family. I would do whatever it took to keep my pack alive.

Still, as we sat there together, I could not help but remember a happy time sitting around a similar fire with Mum, Dad and Kate, toasting marshmallows over the flames. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could almost hear their voices, almost hear their laughter.

For the first time in a long time, a tear rolled down my cheek.