Another shiver wracks my body, and I wrap my arms around myself, trying to conserve what little warmth I have left. The wolf watches this action with what almost looks like concern. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking.
“Don’t suppose you’d be willing to share some of that body heat?”
I joke weakly.
“No? Didn’t think so.”
To my utter shock, the wolf rises to its feet. My breath catches, fear spiking through me once more. But instead of attacking, it takes a step closer, then another.
Panic courses through me. Why is it coming after me now? I thought we’d already established that it doesn’t want to eat me.
“What are you doing?”
I ask, my voice just a teensy bit on this side of shrill.
The wolf doesn’t answer, of course. It simply continues its approach until it’s right beside me. Then, with a grace that belies its massive size, it lowers itself to the ground once more. This time, however, it presses its warm, furry body against my side.
I sit there, rigid with disbelief, as the wolf’s warmth seeps into me. It’s like sitting next to a furry furnace.
A stinky one.
There’s also a musky scent that’s not quite unpleasant, but hard to ignore.
“Thank you,”
I tell this strange shifter who prefers to remain anonymous.
It wraps its tail around me, like a blanket warding off the frigid wind, as it lays its head on its paws, closing its eyes.
As the minutes tick by and the wolf makes no move to harm me, I gradually relax. The warmth of its body and the steady rhythm of its breathing lull me into a state of calm I wouldn’t have thought possible given the circumstances.
Every so often, a howl breaks the night, making me jerk. That’ll probably go on until morning. The wolf glances at the sky each time, ears flicking around as it listens, but doesn’t once respond.
As feeling returns to my limbs, mostly in painful pins-and-needles prickling, my mind drifts to thoughts of home. The pack house isn’t far-maybe an hour’s walk through familiar territory. But it’s cold, and I have a feeling my living furnace has no interest in becoming my portable one.
“Planning on heading out before sunrise?”
I ask, already knowing the answer.
The wolf exhales heavily through its nose, a sound that seems to say,
“Not a chance.”
I sigh, resigning myself to a night in the forest. At least I’m not alone anymore. The thought of Raphael flashes through my mind, bringing a fresh wave of pain. I push it away, focusing instead on the steady rise and fall of the wolf’s chest.
Its tail remains draped over me like a living blanket, and I find myself absently stroking the thick fur. It’s softer than I expected, almost silky beneath my fingertips.
“Why don’t you shift? We could actually talk, you know.”
The wolf’s head lifts, gray eyes fixing me with an unreadable stare. Then, without warning, it pulls its tail away. The rush of cold air takes away the warmth I gathered in a mere second, and I can’t suppress a bout of violent tremors.
Just as quickly as it left, the tail returns, curling around me once more. The wolf lets out a huff that sounds suspiciously like exasperation. Message received, loud and clear.
“Okay, okay. I get it,”
I mutter, burrowing deeper into its warmth.
“No shifting. Got it.”
The realization of what this stranger is doing for me-a human they don’t even know-has gratitude welling up deep inside, threatening to spill over in the form of tears. I refuse to shed tears over this situation. Over Rafe. Over… all of it.
“Thank you,”
I whisper, my voice thick with emotion.
“You’re very kind. I mean it.”
The wolf doesn’t acknowledge my words, simply laying its massive head back on its paws. But I swear I feel its body relax just a fraction more against mine.
As the night wears on, the adrenaline that’s been keeping me alert begins to fade. My eyelids grow heavy as I struggle to stay awake. It’s a losing battle. The rhythmic sound of the wolf’s breathing lulls me into a state of half-sleep, my thoughts growing fuzzy and disconnected.
I drift in and out of consciousness, never fully asleep but not quite awake either. In this twilight state, memories and dreams blur together. Raphael’s face swims before me, but it’s different somehow-colder, more distant. Then it shifts, melting into the warm, stormy gray eyes of the wolf beside me.
A particularly loud howl jerks me back to awareness for a moment. The wolf’s ears twitch, but it doesn’t move otherwise. I settle back against its side, allowing myself to be pulled under once more.
I’m not sure how much time passes like this. Minutes? Hours? It feels like I’ve been suspended in this strange, dreamlike state forever when suddenly, everything changes.
The body beneath me goes rigid. A deep, rumbling growl vibrates through the wolf’s chest and into mine, snapping me fully awake in an instant. My heart leaps into my throat as I scramble to sit up, every nerve on high alert.
“What is it?”
I whisper, scanning the darkness for any sign of danger.
“What’s wrong?”
The wolf doesn’t answer, of course. It’s on its feet now, hackles raised and teeth bared at something I can’t see. The growl continues, low and menacing.
The wind steals every bit of the warmth the strange wolf had gathered, and I crouch behind a tree to block the worst of it.
A slinking shadow skulks forward, slowly coalescing out of the abstract darkness of the forest.
Andrew.
His lithe wolf body slinks forward, lips curled back in a snarl.
My mysterious protector tenses, fur bristling along its spine. Another low, menacing growl rumbles through its chest.
Andrew’s head snaps back, releasing a bone-chilling howl that echoes through the forest. Answering calls rise from all directions. I know those sounds. The pack is coming.
Whoever my furry furnace is, he isn’t known to the pack. Which means he’s an intruder-which means…
The massive wolf at my side snarls, snapping its jaws at the air between itself and Andrew. A clear warning for him to keep his distance.
“Shit.”
My soft whisper is enough for my protector’s ears to swivel in my direction, and I press myself against the tree trunk, hoping I don’t get in its way. No, not it. Him, I think.
His identity might be a mystery, but he still kept me warm and safe, at least for the last few hours. I don’t want him hurt.
Pressing a hand against his flank, I whisper,
“You need to go. They’re all going to come for you.”
The massive wolf beside me throws back his head, unleashing a howl that shakes the very earth beneath my feet. The sound reverberates through my chest, a primal force that steals the breath from my lungs. Even Andrew, cocky and aggressive moments ago, shrinks back, his ears flattening against his skull.
As the last echoes fade, an eerie silence descends upon the forest.
Then, like a dam breaking, answering howls erupt from every direction. The predatory sounds have goosebumps erupting, as if they weren’t already pimpling my skin, and I shudder even without the wind.
Andrew recovers quickly, circling us with renewed aggression. His lips curl back, exposing gleaming fangs as he snarls. My protector responds in kind, hackles raised and muscles coiled tight beneath his thick fur.
This isn’t my fight, but I’m somehow caught in the crossfire all the same.
The clash comes without warning-at least for me. Some signal I don’t recognize has them both darting forward in a whirlwind of fur and fangs, snarls and snaps.
My protector’s massive size gives him an advantage, but Andrew is quick and nimble. They tumble across the forest floor. Andrew occasionally escapes the strange wolf’s jaws, darting away a few steps with his tail tucked, before dashing back in.
He knows he’s unmatched, his body language screams that he’s on the defense, even to someone like me, who’s rarely seen a true wolf fight. I’m not often around when the betas fight with each other.
I can barely follow the action, but even I can see the moment the tide turns. My protector’s jaws close around Andrew’s hind leg, and the smaller gray wolf lets out a piercing shriek of pain.
The sound cuts through me like a knife. Andrew might hate me, but he’s still Rafe’s best friend. Still someone I’ve grown up with for the past several years…
Andrew wrenches free, limping badly as he scrambles away. His yelps of pain fade into the distance as he flees, leaving behind tufts of fur and spatters of blood on the forest floor.
Relief floods through me, but only for a second. Reality slaps into me as my protector stands tall and arrogant, watching Andrew’s pathetic retreat.
The rest of the pack is coming. I can hear them drawing closer, their howls growing louder with each passing second. My wolf isn’t safe.
My mysterious protector turns back to me, his storm-sky eyes gleaming with what almost looks like satisfaction. But there’s no time for that now. He needs to leave, to get as far away from here as possible before the pack descends upon us.
Without thinking, I dash forward. My palm connects with his hindquarters in a resounding smack that startles us both.
“Go!”
I yell, my voice cracking with desperation.
“Run! You need to get out of here before they come!”
The wolf whirls around in a sleek movement that has me cringing, preparing for retaliation. But there’s no time for regrets.
“They’re coming. All of them. You need to keep yourself safe. Go!”
He tilts his head, one paw raised as he inspects me. A wolf’s gaze is intense, but this time I almost feel like prostrating myself to the ground and lifting my neck. Like I’m a wolf myself.
There’s a presence to him that even Alpha lacks.
He can’t be some random shifter. He must be another alpha wolf himself-a rogue, probably.
The approaching howls have me almost in tears from frustration. The pack is close now, too close. Any moment, they’ll burst through the trees.
“Run!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.