Chapter 13
Thirteen
NINA
Ruby is the only one to see me before I sneak off to bring Hunter some breakfast. She doesn’t question me as I pile twice as much food, some coffee, and few large jars of water onto a tray. She asks if she can help, but I don’t want her knowing where I’m going.
I like Ruby because she’s the one I relate to most. She’s cheerful, attentive, and genuinely kind, with a love for cooking and gardening. In many ways, she’s the kind of normal I aspire to be.
The sun’s been up for at least an hour by the time I get to the barn. Luckily, I don’t cross paths with any of the townsfolk. After saying good morning to Frostbite and Tumbleweed and refilling their hay and water, I take my tray full of provisions underground, straight to Hunter’s room.
The second I unhook the latch, defensive growls fill the air.
“It’s only me,” I say, easing my way through the door with the oversized tray.
The jars of water wobble, clanking against each other as I hasten to set the tray on the packed dirt.
The growling stops, and while shutting the door, I look over at him.
He’s low to the ground, head up, watching me with those yellow eyes.
Beneath his front legs is the blanket I brought over earlier this morning.
Unsure of how much lead the chains allowed, I tossed the blanket over to him from the door where I knew he couldn’t reach.
“Good wolf,” I say, closing the door behind me.
I set up a picnic across the room with my food and coffee and then offer some of the bacon to him.
I approach him slowly, holding out the three strips of bacon in one hand.
His yellow eyes remain locked on my face rather than the warm meat.
When he shows his teeth, I know that’s close enough.
“Here you go.” I toss him the bacon just as I did with the blanket, which he must appreciate it because he’s sitting on top of it. Not sure about the bacon though. He doesn’t give the meat any consideration, keeping his attention fixed to the stranger closing in on his personal space.
I return to my picnic blanket to eat my breakfast and drink my coffee, and eventually Hunter sniffs the bacon thrown at his paws and eats.
When my stomach is full, I pick up the book I’d brought down earlier with the blankets and hold it in my lap.
The tray sits close by, with enough food and water to last through lunch, knowing I’d want to spend the day down here earning the wolf’s trust.
Before I start reading to Hunter, I feel the urge to tell him a little about myself.
“Being social and overly curious has always been more Bex’s way. I tend to avoid people. Part of it is not wanting to be seen as different, and part of it is the habit of keeping my guard up. I never had trouble using Levi’s old rifle on the farm, but put me in a room full of people and I panic.
“It’s different here. I don’t feel that anxiety as much when I’m with Maureen, Ruby, or even Garrett. There’s something about this place that feels right. Like I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not, even if I don’t yet know who I’m meant to be.
“So I take it one day at a time. Maybe that has something to do with my northern heritage. I barely remember that life after running away so young. All I have now from that part of my life is my connection to the whispering winds. The voices that sweep into my thoughts, riding the wind like a wild stallion. I don’t know who they are or why I can hear them, but their voices have been with me for so long I can’t imagine a life without them. ”
Hunter’s head rests on his two front paws. His eyes are closed. I like to think he enjoys my company, so I keep my efforts going and read from the book to him.
Some time later, after finishing up the chapter, I quietly close the book, trying not to wake the sleeping wolf.
He’s so beautiful with that thick coat blending in different shades of dark brown and a hint of white trailing his underside.
His paws are almost as big as my breakfast plate.
And strangely, for being locked up in an underground room, he doesn’t smell awful.
There’s a faint pine tree scent mixed with fresh soil.
He smells like an enchanted forest—if ever one exists.
Fresh morning dew on the leaves of a thick forest, fog rolling along the ground, while morning sunlight breaks through the treetops, illuminating the forest in a magical atmosphere.
That’s what I picture when I try to place his scent.
I lay my head on the extra blanket I brought and close my eyes, allowing myself to drift off to sleep. My thoughts explore what it might be like to find such a magical forest.
A gentle wind caresses my face, sweeping me away into a dream.
I’m walking between giant trees, the bark dark with rough detailing.
Hunter comes up from behind, the top of his head grazing my fingers.
He steps ahead of me, letting my fingers trail down his back through his thick, soft fur.
The wind rushes at us as the day instantly turns to night.
A full moon lingers through a break in the treetops.
I’ve never seen the moon so close before, and it keeps growing in the sky as if coming straight for us.
Strong fingers lace through mine, and I look to see a tall man standing beside me. His brown hair is familiar, wild as it blends in with his short beard. Bushy eyebrows hood his glowing yellow eyes while a thin tuft of dark hair trails the bridge of his nose.
“Hunter?” I ask, already knowing in my heart it’s him.
He smiles down at me and says, “Thank you, Nina.”
“For what?”
“For treating me with kindness, and not like a monster.”
“I don’t believe in monsters.”
He turns fully toward me, and I face him in return.
“I will protect you,” he says, cupping my face in his hand. His claws rest against my cheek, careful, almost reverent. “Because monsters are real.”
“And I will protect you,” I whisper, smiling as the truth settles. He doesn’t frighten me. He’s in there, inside the wolf sleeping not ten feet away. “I will find a way to free you.”
“Nina,” he says my name softly, but there’s a warning in it. “The wolf you see out there… it’s me, but also not me. I’ve been cursed to live my days as a feral beast. When I wake, the memory of who I am fades like a dream I can’t hold onto.”
His condition breaks my heart. Tears burn behind my eyes.
“The human part of me is still here,” he continues, his thumb gently wiping away a tear that’s escaped. “But it’s buried. Imprisoned deep within my mind by a spell I cannot break. Every morning, I lose myself again. And I don’t know if there will ever be a day I wake and remember you.”
“I won’t give up on you.” I take his other hand and press it over my heart. “What is it you need, or want?”
His hand flexes against me. “I cannot have what I want right now. But I will do everything I can to find a way out. You’ve given me a new purpose. A reason to live.”
The wind swirls around us, rising and falling until our heartbeats move in sync. “I believe you won’t forget me when you wake.”
He glances at the air as leaves and small flowers lift around us. “Are you doing that?”
I nod. “It’s time I embrace who I truly am and use whatever power I have to help free you.”
We lie together in the heart of the forest, holding one another. I don’t know what it means that Hunter exists as a man within my dreams, only that I want to stay here with him, where he can protect me from the monsters.