Page 15 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

Still, I couldn’t help but be worried about his diet, so after I set the food in front of him, I reluctantly told the wolf it was time for him to go.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy having you here, but don’t you think you need to move on and hunt for yourself? This can’t be enough for you.”

It was sobering to say it out loud, but I was relieved when he completely ignore the sentiment and happily crunched down on an egg, the yolk getting everywhere. I didn’t exactly go for round two of convincing him, and instead sat down to talk again.

“I’m hoping to get some good work done in the garden today and harvest my radishes. They’re French Breakfast, you know. You’re welcome to try them.”

He didn’t answer, but the flicking of his ears told me he was listening, so I was happy to blather on. I heard a soft meowing, and I turned around. Goober had come through the cat tunnel connected to the greenhouse and was sitting inside, staring at us. Either his survival instincts were just as messed up as mine, or he could tell the wolf wasn’t a threat.

It certainly was a far cry from their surprise meeting in the kitchen, and I watched for a bit to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. But, no, my Maine Coon jumped up onto one of the few clear spaces on my shelving and began to groom himself like nothing was amiss.

That was pretty encouraging.

While I was staring at my goofy Goober, the wolf got up again and came over to me. I’d hoped he would want the close proximity we’d shared the night before, but I hadn’t dared to make it happen on my own. That felt far too much like tempting fate.

As he ambled over to me, I expected him to sit next to me like he had the previous night. But, no. He lay slightly in front of me and placed his massive head in my lap.

Oh.

My.

God.

I sat perfectly still, marveling at how his skull literally took up the entire expanse of my thick thighs before I worked up the nerve to rest my hand on top of his head. When he didn’t react to that, I began to pet him like he was any of my cats, except about a million times bigger.

Holy shit, I was petting a wolf! Every single Disney princess could step aside, because there was a new girl in town.

“You’re strange, you know that?” I murmured softly, fondness welling thickly in my chest. As I stroked through the thick fur, I felt soconnected, like the wolf and I had a thread binding us together. Just two lonely, hurt souls looking for comfort in strange places. “But I guess I’m rather strange too.”

The wolf tilted his head up, those sharp teethfartoo close to my face. That flicker of fear flashed up in me, quick as lightning, but it faded just as quickly as he licked my face like a dog.

Ow!

His big, rough tongue hurt more than I expected, but I laughed anyways. In fact, I laughed pretty hard, because who had to deal with an ouchie from being licked by awolf?

“Hah, thank you, Wolfie. You’re actually a really good friend.”

I’d always been close with animals, so it wasn’t entirely unusual for me to boop snoots or be friendly with pets that weren’t mine, but never in a million years had I thought I’d have that urge with a wild animal that could literally eat my face.

So, when my body moved of its own accord, and I kissed the wolf on the tip of its nose, I didn’t really think twice about it.

A crack of lightning shot through the air, and an insanely bright flash of light blocked my vision.

What the fuck?

I crab-crawled backward, utterly terrified as the entire area behind my house filled with smoke.

“What’s happening?” I cried, but of course, there was no one there to answer me. I didn’t understand what was going on, and I understood even less when the smoke cleared, and a full-on manstood where my wolf friend had been a few seconds ago.

What the actual fuck?!

Screaming, I scrambled to my feet and ran back to cabin, cats tearing through their tunnel to meet me there. Like a woman possessed, I slammed the door shut and locked it.

Was I hallucinating? Had I completely lost my marbles? I had no idea, but when I rushed to the window, the man was still standing there.

He was completely filthy, like crawled-through-the-mud levels of dirty, and dressed in rags that looked like they were rotting off. I had to be certifiable, like lock-in-a-padded-room sort of crazy, but he kind of looked like my wolf friend.

“That’s not possible,” I hissed to myself, chewing on my lip. “It’s just not. No matter how much you don’t want to be alone.”

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