Chapter 3
Cara
Despite the glow of the moon, I can barely see anything as I run through the woods.
These shoes aren’t helping either. They were so not made to escape bad guys. I consider taking them off, but I’d lose precious time I don’t have.
I can hear him coming after me. Every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves has me nearly jumping out of my skin, but I keep going.
Don’t you dare give up, I tell myself as my lungs begin to burn and the stitch in my side grows to unbearable levels. Fuck do I ever hate running.
But it doesn’t matter.
Brad grabs me by the hair, making me gasp in pain.
It feels like I’ve just been clotheslined and suffered whiplash—all in the same moment.
He throws me to the ground like I’m nothing but a rag doll.
My purse goes flying, body stiffening for impact, but I should have been less concerned about the rest of my body and more concerned about my head.
My arms don’t come up in time to catch my face from slamming into a rock.
Oh, God.
I shake my head, disoriented, but that only makes it worse. Something trickles down the side of my temple.
Brad is still here. I can’t hear him through the ringing in my skull, but I can feel his disgusting presence.
I don’t think I’m getting out of this.
Stop it. Don’t give up now. Just get up.
Listening to the inner voice in my head, who probably thinks I’m a totally wimpy bitch right now, I manage to make it to my knees just as my vision tunnels.
No, no, no. I can’t pass out here in the middle of the woods with creepy, shitty, fucking Brad. I can’t!
“You stupid fucking bitch.” His voice is filled with hatred, but I’m more concerned with the sound of his buckle. “You’ll pay for this.”
Something dark creeps in from my periphery, but I fight against the tunnel of darkness trying to take over. Except…it’s not that.
Unconsciousness doesn’t snarl.
A massive wolf lands between me and Brad. All I can see is dark fur as my head swims and my stomach churns with nausea. The wolf doesn’t look my way even once. It remains laser-focused on Brad as it slowly closes the distance between the two.
This is my chance to escape, I realize. But when I move to stand, I know I’ve made a terrible decision.
I crumple to the cold forest floor, and just as the darkness wraps me up in its embrace, I swear I see flames surrounding the wolf.
Flames? I must be going mad.
The wolf’s terrifying growl is the last thing I hear before I finally surrender to the void.
Shivering, I reach for the blankets I must have kicked off in my sleep, but I don’t find any. My clothes are damp and cold. I must be sweating.
The scent of pine needles, moss, and dirt surrounds me, but I don’t remember lighting a candle before bed, and even if I did, I’d have blown it out before going to sleep.
Something soft and wet strokes my hairline. It takes effort to peel my eyes open, but when I do, I find a dog licking my face. I giggle, reaching up to stroke the creature’s soft fur, except all I feel is wet, matted hair.
The next lick burns, kicking my memory into overdrive.
Brad.
The dark, fiery wolf.
I scurry away from the creature, yelping a little as my head pounds with pain. My hand finds the spot where it hurts. The same spot the wolf was just licking. A massive bump has formed—and a cut that I hope won’t need stitches.
Glancing around the forest, I don’t see Brad anywhere. “You didn’t eat Brad, did you?” I ask the wolf, like a delusional person. This hit to the head really did a number on me.
The wolf only sits and stares at me. The longer I look at it, the more I don’t actually think it’s a wolf at all. If it’s a dog, it’s the largest one I’ve ever seen in my life. Maybe even in existence. It keeps staring, and I get the strange sense that it’s judging me.
It didn’t even flinch or shake its massive head about the whole eating Brad thing, so that’s super reassuring.
A breeze kicks up, making me shiver in my wet clothes, but as much as I need to get somewhere warm and dry, I don’t dare try to stand yet.
Something vibrates nearby. Once, then a second time.
My phone!
I spot my small purse just out of reach. Shit. I guess I’ll have to test these legs now. Except the wolf-dog thing pushes the bag toward me with its nose before going back to the spot it was in previously.
“Oh. Uh, thank you.” I take out my phone, but before I glance at the screen, I say, “Look. Brad was an asshole. Eating him made sense, and honestly I’m grateful, but if you could maybe not eat me, that would be great.
” Even though I say the words, I realize that somehow I’m not actually scared of this creature.
I don’t really understand it, but even if it ate Brad—which I’m still not totally sure it didn’t—I just know in my bones that it won’t hurt me.
If it were going to, I’d be like a pile of discarded chicken bones by now, that’s for damn sure.
The beast doesn’t respond—not that I expected it to suddenly start talking or anything; that would be crazy—but only tilts its head and continues staring.
Cool. Glad that’s settled.
I unlock my phone and find several messages from Reagan.
The first one is just a slew of crying emojis because I left the party.
Then there’s one asking me to let her know I made it home safely.
There’s a missed call before another text, this one with about twenty question marks and exclamation points.
When I call her, she picks up immediately. “Babe, where the hell are you?”
“It’s, uh, kind of a long story. Are you sober enough to drive?”
“No, but Carter still hasn’t had a drop of alcohol tonight. Send me your location, and we’ll come get you. You’re kinda freaking me out right now. Are you safe?”
I look up at what I’ve decided is my guard dog, then say, “I think so.” I pull the phone away from my ear and drop a pin in our text thread. “Thank you for this. I hope I’m not ruining your night.”
“Oh my God! Don’t be silly. We’re heading to the car right now. Hang tight.”
“Bring some towels. Like eight should be enough.”
There’s silence on the other end of the line. “Eight towels? As in, one more than seven?”
I laugh, though it’s half-hearted at best. “Mmhmm. And one less than nine.”
“I so can’t wait to get the story on this. See you—”
“Ah!” I say, startled as the massive animal sidles up to me.
“What’s happening?” Reagan asks, her tone filled with worry.
The wolf-dog wraps its body around mine, making me instantly warmer. How the hell is this big beastie so damn warm when it’s more wet and muddy than I am? Must have one of those winter wolf pelts or something like huskies. Lucky dog.
“Babe? You there?”
“Shit. Sorry. Yup, all good. I just got spooked. Thanks again. See you soon?”
“Yup. We’ll be even faster than your ex was in bed, and we both know he was a two-pump chump.”
“Ugh, bye!” I say, mortified though I don’t know why.
Carter already knows all the painful details of my prior relationship, and it’s not like this animal understands human speech.
I look down at the mangy beast whose head now rests in my lap and find yellow eyes staring back at me.
Tentatively, I reach a hand out and pat its head.
The dog doesn’t move, except for the twitching of its tail. Nestled in the soft fur of the dog’s belly, I start warming up. I won’t be fully comfortable until I get out of these damp and dirty clothes, but at least now I don’t fear I’ll lose my fingers or toes.
“Thank you for getting me warm,” I say to the dog, offering one more pat to its head. “But I think I’m feeling well enough to stand now.”
As if the creature understands, it lifts its head from my lap and stretches, but it doesn’t go any farther. I wait another second and then say, “You’re going to sit there and watch, aren’t you?”
The wolf-dog lowers its snout, and I swear the thing just nodded.
“Nosy mutt,” I mumble under my breath, and then begin the slow process of getting to my feet. With how bad my head still feels, I don’t want to move too fast and pass out again, so I break it down into steps.
The first is to get off my ass and onto one knee, then the other. I take a breath before planting a foot flat on the ground. With the next breath, I press into my thigh and hoist myself upright. Success!
I tilt my head back and fist pump the air, which is quite possibly the dumbest thing I could have done, because suddenly the world spins. I fall backward but never hit the ground.
The dog is there, head pressed into my ass to keep me upright. It yelps a little as I right myself and slowly turn to see what happened. At first, nothing seems out of place, but then I see the way it favors one side.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, covering my mouth. “You should have just let me fall, big guy.”
The animal lets out a little huff that makes me think this beastie is irritated with me. I don’t blame it. I’m irritated with myself, too. How could I have let this happen? Not only did Brad hurt me, but he also hurt this animal, whose only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My instincts are usually better than this.
The sound of a car engine approaches from somewhere behind us, and I head in that direction. As I break free of the trees, Reagan steps out of the car while her boyfriend walks around the front. The wolf-dog who followed me growls low and menacingly.
“Bitch, what the fuck is that?” Reagan shrieks.
“Oh, just a dog, I think. It’s harmless.
Mostly.” I turn to the creature keeping pace beside me.
The hair along the back of its neck is raised, its teeth are bared, but somehow I’m not afraid.
“None of that,” I say, squatting down in front of it and rubbing my hands along its fur and the collar I didn’t realize was there.
“These are my friends. You can’t eat them. ”
The animal blows out a puff of breath in my face but stops snarling at least. “Good boy.”
I turn back to my friends, who are watching on in complete, worry-tinged fascination.
“This is going to be quite the story, isn’t it?” Reagan asks, not bothering to fake disinterest.
A tired, pained smile spreads across my face. “You have no idea.”