by Voss Foster Light. Beauteous, dappled light filtering through autumn leaves. SleekClaw allowed the impotent brightness to pass over his voluminous gray coat as he waited for something to appear to him. It would, in time. There. Yes, yes, off to the right, on the very edge of that eyeless vision, the sight above sight of the Crossing. The leafy treetops parted to reveal stars, gleaming in a sky too bright to ever allow them. They danced and twinkled, and SleekClaw took their meaning, piecing it together as naturally as curling his long, bald tail around the branches of the oak trees.

by Allison Thai For the first time in her life, Hvita stokked for no vaeli in her dreams. She didn’t dream at all. Instead something jumped at her—little paws that batted her fur. “Aunt Hvita, Aunt Hvita,” her sister’s kits called. “Wake up, wake up.” Hvita flattened her ears, but she could still hear the yapping chorus. “Let this poor fox have her sleep,” she groaned. “If Ylirr is not up yet, I won’t be either.”

by Amy Hammack Turner No male pheromones have ever affected the farmer so strongly.  At the entrance to a side corridor, she stops in her tracks, antennae waving, oblivious to the press of eager workers behind her.  Though she is still young, she has mated many times, and knows how to sort out the signals of age, health, and ancestry.  All of those signs beckon strongly, joined by something mysterious.  She turns and follows the tantalizing scent.

by Ville Meriläinen The wasteland opened before us, cold and bleak like we’d stepped inside a predator’s eye. Blue Girl sat on Huntress’ back, shoulders drooping, the hem of her dress ripped at the knees. She’d be fine tomorrow. Until then, the wolf would gladly ease her burden. Blue Girl had a smile to cut glass and enough heartache to kill a man, but we liked each other well enough and were useful to one another, so we journeyed together.

by Hannah Montine Finnigan wanted the weight of a world on his back. It was his right, his responsibility, his entire reason for existence as a Cosmic Turtle. Why couldn’t Grandfather Bumi understand that? “I do understand, Finn,” Grandfather said. Being several billions of years old, his intuition into the thoughts of others was all but omniscient.

by Alexandra Faye Carcich The animals hushed as the foreign princess entered the cathedral. They whispered, “What will the court do with this flesh eater on its throne? Can any animal be safe again?” She was a wolf princess from the kingdom of carnivores.

by Michelle Muenzler She dreams she is a spider. Words sail from her spinnerets, casting traps about the space she occupies and capturing the pale gray moths that formulate her entire diet. Except… she doesn’t just dream she is a spider. She is a spider. She is vast. Her abdomen bulges with words. With worlds. The universe quakes at her passage, bits and pieces crumbling into the void. Without her span, there is nothing. Formlessness rules.

by Searska GreyRaven Dragons are made, not born. We make ourselves, one scale at a time, forged from seething rage and quenched in cold hate. We string each scale together, forming chains, forming mail, armoring ourselves with these heavy plates because they feel like protection. We don’t think about how they weigh us down, or of the wings clenched tight to our backs. Dragons don’t fly. We might have been born with wings, whatever we were before— (I don’t remember what I was before.) —but a dragon’s armor is too heavy and too solid for flitting about. Deep in our lairs, we curl around a pit filled with fire. Each…