Page 4 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

“I swear it was here,” I said, throat tight with surprise. Surely I hadn’t imagined it all, right? Maybe I really was crazy.

No, my water bowl was still there, exactly like I left it. So, unless I was seriously hallucinating, it all had happened.

“Don’t worry, ma’am. We can see something wounded was lying here,” one of the rangers said, polite as ever. “We’ll take a look around. Why don’t you head home?”

“Y-yeah, I’ll do that,” I murmured, cheeks still pink. Had the bears circled behind me and gotten the wolf? If they had, there would be so much more blood and viscera, right?

What a strange ending to the whole thing.

I grabbed my bike and started pedaling again. Certainly not what I’d expected. It was definitely a story, though, no matter how one shook it.

Man, I wished there was someone I could tell about my adventure, but who would believe me?

2

VANESSA

“Mudpie, Goober, Fork, I’m home!” I called as I stepped into my small place. While it wasn’t spacious, with only one bedroom and a bathroom on the top floor, I loved it because it wasmine.

Ever since I’d moved out of my aunt’s house when I was sixteen, I’d lived in rooms for rent, and even a dorm for a short time. When I’d found a rental listing for a wholehousewithin my budget, I’d called so fast I was surprised my cheap phone hadn’t spontaneously combust. Sure, it meant I had about a forty-minute commute on my bike to the grocery store just on the lip between the ’burbs and the country, but it was worth it. I had my own kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, half-bath below the stairs, and a bedroom. Would an attic or basement be nice? Sure. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, and I wassohappy about my little shack.

“Where are my babies?” I called as I walked to the kitchen and set my bag down. I could hear my three cats racing down the stairs to meet me as soon as I came, but sometimes I liked to play up being a bit dramatic with my pseudo-children. “I slave away all day, but you don’t care, do you, you furry booties?”

Finally, the first of my cats rounded the corner, Tokyo-drifting in an impressive arc as he slid onto the tile. That was Fork, my orange-flavored cat and resident chaos goblin with a single orange eye to match the rest of him. He was definitely on kitty meth, and I had yet to find whatever mouse was supplying him, because he was a force of unpredictability and destruction on his own.

Next came Goober. Not my favorite name for a cat, and it didn’t match the giant, gray Maine Coon at all, but I’d adopted him from a rescue when he was two and thought it would be rude to change it that late in the game. He was about as chill as chill could be and came up to rub against my leg in greeting.

“Aww, I love you, too, baby. Just for that, extra soup for you.” That was a joke—I wasn’t feeding my kitties Campbells—but he purred, nonetheless.

Lastly came Mudpie, my tortoiseshell calico with all the tortie-tude one could imagine. She was a princess—no, aqueen—and she knew it. She liked to make sure everyone else knew it as well.

“Your Majesty,” I said with a bow before finally crossing to the cabinet. I got out a can of cat food and went about divvying it up. I’d give them some dry food in a couple of hours, too, but my kitties were picky enough that if I served them together, they wouldn’t eat at all.

Some would say I spoiled my cats—I did—but I didn’t care. My cats were pretty much all the family I had left, and if people thought it was strange I valued them like that, well, that was their issue, not mine.

With the cats taken care of, I went about clearing out my pack and reloading the flare gun. Then I changed out of my clothes, grabbed a cheese stick, and went out to the garden.

We weren’t in the thick of it, when the greenery went wild and I had to harvest multiple baskets every day, but it was beginning to ramp up. With any luck, I’d have enough for a full dinner along with my chicken of the woods, then my meal would be entirely free apart from the rice.

Being in the garden was probably my favorite part of the day, outside of hanging out with my cats, and I lingered as I walked through my beans and greens. It was still early enough in the season that I didn’t have to worry about anything bolting besides my spinach, which was often attitudinal depending on which variety I was using.

But I could only dawdle so long, even though I loved the life and inherent magic within the garden, and then it was back inside to do some chores and get everything I needed for the next day, since I had an eight-hour shift. I reallyneeded to buy a new pair of work pants so I didn’t have to wash them so often, but it wasn’t in my budget at the moment. Spring and summer were usually my chance to save up since I didn’t have to run my heat, but there had been a surprise cold snap the month before that had stopped me from seeing much of that savings. Maybe next month, as long as I didn’t run my AC too much, though I only used that when sleeping.

I also had to hope the secondhand washer and dryer I’d gotten off Facebook Marketplace wouldn’t suddenly stop working. It was a skinny unit, with them stacked on top of each other, but it wassomuch better than biking into the city to use the laundromat. That was the risk of thrifting pretty much everything I owned, but I’d rather have secondhand than nothing at all. Besides, I liked to think I was giving everything a second life. Another chance to be loved and valued.

Did I wish I had a car or land I could truly call my own? Did I wish I didn’t have to bust my ass in a dead-end grocery job just to stay afloat? Or that I didn’t have to budget so strictly that even buying a new pair of work pants was something I had to carefully consider? Yeah, of course. But that didn’t stop me from being incredibly grateful for what Ididhave. I’d worked hard for it, and I’d come so far from that fateful night when I’d watched everything I knew and loved burn to the ground.

By the time I’d settled into bed, I was outright exhausted, though that was how I ended most my days. As I put my long, wavy hair into my bonnet and pulled up the covers, I couldn’t help but think about that wolf.

I hoped it was okay.

“Excuse me, miss?”

I looked up from the flavored waters I was front facing. An older gentleman stood next to me with one of the smaller carts meant for people who only wanted to pick up a few things. Considering how expensive groceries were, that was becoming more and more people.

“Yes?” I asked, grinning broadly. Tiffany wasn’t scheduled, so I was having a great day. It sucked how much she could influence an entire shift, but it was it was.

“I’m looking forFrozen Coffee Rich.”

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