Love By Feral Wolves

that day

ings. The sky was bruise color, full of hidden things, and the Ccair was heavy and perfumed with pine needles an

ot exactly. More of

ce firm. I never even asked why. People in our town didn't talk about the forest. They avoided it

t here

o many questions. My entire life, I'd felt something missing-like I was made for anoth

e beat caugh

rrected itself into something else. I moved forward. Again. Trees loomed like cathedral pillars, th

ud wrapped

leaves from last night's rain. The woods were too quiet, ominously so. No birds, no squirrel chat

as, something

ummed with awareness. I felt it, as breath, on the back of my neck. All m

st said

thing. Trees and moss and night. My fists were clenched into fis

ho

t near enough to

s. I could feel my mouth get dry. I backed away one step. My boot snagged on a root a

d howl

os

n to

oods were

knotted like hands together. I spun around, fear climbing up

e here," a voice whispere

ined f

my voice creake

was no

th

s darting just beyond reach. My heart was

y

gro

e ground.

one, very faintly, like moonlight on still w

how to

er fur glowed in the fading light. It edge

wo

urdered. I had wandered into their

silver wolf t

ued. W

Did not show tee

de of me shifted.

hat not-voice whisp

world w

-

and it

e kind of darkness where dreams hide. I lay on somethi

A throbbing pain th

kling flame trapped inside a ri

indiv

ma

t

de of the fire, in the da

d. Silver hair. Gr

s deep. Even. Too steady for a man who may

. "I. the

dn't quite reach his

et-bark-colored skin and eyes full of fire. A woman, pale and lovely, with violet-

you?" I

changed

own next to me. His eyes wer

y know," he

uld do was stand there as the fire crackled

ide me, that

r tha

rs. The one with the silver hair, whose eyes seemed to pierce through all the do

," I whispered, more t

ht. Her figure was soft but commanding, a lullaby mad

name on her lips. I had not spoken it

ou know w

cient shifted in the background of her eyes. "Th

ext. The fire only lit the corner of his cheekbone, but

re you belon

Air thickened again.

and. My legs buckled, and Raynor picked m

line that most people don't surv

that ever

he fire crackled bigger with no one to feed it. And I didn't flinch when a low howl echoed o

nside of me

___