Page 11 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

“Sorry, you must have been really hungry, huh?”

He might or might not have let out a huff as if to sayduh, but he never stopped ravenously tearing apart what I had brought him. While I watched him eat, a moronic compunction came over me. A temptation I’d had ever since I’d first seen his furry head. For some reason, I couldn’t ignore it anymore, so I reached out and ever so gently patted his head.

Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God,I repeated to myself as my hand sank deeper anddeeperinto his fur. Wow, what I’d read about their coats really wasn’t an exaggeration. It was thick, coarse, and somehow soft at the same time. It made me want to bury my face in it, but I wasn’t outrightinsane.

No, I was just petting a wolf that may have imprinted on me and could possibly be becoming my friend. Wild. Absolutely wild.

I was a bit rattled when I finally pulled away, but in a good way. Although my mind was scattered, I returned to my greenhouse and concentrated on the cucumbers that would be ready to go outside in three weeks instead of the voracious eating outside the door. Suddenly, I heard an ear-splittingyowl.

That was Mudpie!

6

LEO

Iwas much less hungry. Not full. Not at all. But less hungry.

That was a good thing.

The woman had fed me again even though I made her nervous. My instincts told me that was good. But it made me feel…

Melancholy.

Melancholy?What was that?

I couldn’t remember.

My whirling thoughts were cut off when a truly awful yowl came from inside the woman’s other shelter. She bolted toward it. It was the fastest I’d ever seen her move, the door of the clear house swinging in her wake.

I was concerned. If I was hanging around, it meant this was my territory, right? And if it was my territory, I needed to protect it.

I followed her to the open door of her home.

What a strange place.

I poked my head in, my instincts, once again, screaming not to go into another animal’s den. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I began to sniff the air.

There was alotgoing on. More than I could puzzle out. The next thing I knew, I was face to face with a tiny wolf.

No.

Not a wolf.

A giant fox?

No. Too silver. Smell was wrong.

The not-fox-wolf regarded me with reproach, it’s hackles beginning to rise. I very much wanted to responded with bared teeth and a snarl, but something stopped me.

Maybe the creature was a charge of the woman? If it was, I didn’t want to threaten what was hers. Not after she had cared for me.

I lay down on my belly outside the door and stretched out, appeased since I could scent the woman wasn’t in danger.

The gray not-fox-wolf held his ground, still staring at me. I focused on staying still and not alarming it, which scratched at my brain so oddly. I was bigger, stronger, faster. Why was I making myself so docile for a thing I could kill and eat without so much as blinking?

I wasn’t sure, but it felt right. Like more…me, somehow. But I was just a wolf, so what wasmebeyond that?

I was so lost in thought, I didn’t realize the woman had returned until her shrill scream filled the air around us.

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