Page 28 of The Howling
He clearly has hearing like a wolf…although how it’s possible to hear me doing a bit of a wheeze through nearly six foot of wall is anyone’s guess.
“Well, I’m fine. I’d like a bit of a lie down, that’s all.”
“The healer was supposed to have fixed you,” Reavely says.
“Well, I have news for you both. Humans don’t quite work like that.”
“Then let me assist you,” Reavely says, somehow becoming an absolute gentle…wolf, from being Mr. Grumpy and Feral Esquire.
These changes in his attitude are giving me a whiplash I don’t need. But also, I could probably do with directions back to the bedroom.
“Okay,” I say, and something waves behind Reavely. “Is that your…tail?” I ask him.
Reavely checks behind himself.
This wolf manactually checksbefore nodding.
“Yes,” he says with a toothy grin. “It’s mine.”
“Does it always do that?”
“Not always, not in this form.” He cocks his head on one side for a beat. “In fact usually when I’m in this form, I don’t have a tail at all.”
“But today you do?”
“Today I do,” he says as the thing waves frantically behind him. It’s glossy black and it jogs a memory.
“Did I ride you here?” I ask, as Reavely allows me to lean on his arm while we walk through one long, wide passage, lined with wooden panelling on one side and rough stone on the other interspersed with diamond pained slit windows allowing a little light in.
“You did.” The tail waves faster. “On my back.”
“On your back?”
“Yes.” Reavely’s voice is a little strangled.
“Oh.”
We walk on in silence until we reach a set of stairs. Reavely gestures for me to go first, and I make my way gingerly down until we reach the floor below.
How I ended up higher, I’m not sure I’ll ever know. But the corridor we come out into is one I recognise, open to the elements on one side, the elegant arches allowing daylight to spill over the honeyed stone flags, worn from all the footsteps.
“Have you always lived here?” I ask as I reach the door to the bedroom. “With your pack.”
A muscle ticks in Reavely’s jaw.
“This is where I was pupped, where I grew up, and where I watched my pack murdered,” he says finally. “I serve the Reaper now.”
“I don’t think you serve anyone,” I say, the words tumbling out of me like water.
“You don’t?” He sounds genuinely surprised.
“I don’t. But I’m still not marrying you.” I open the door and slip inside. “Dress or no dress.”
“Marriage or not, you belong to me, little female,” Reavely says, his voice like a deep pit of chocolate and gravel.
“Then you’re going to have to prove it,” I respond, as tiredness washes over me. “With more than a rescue and a growl.”
“What do you want?” he asks.
