Page 42 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
“‘They always come back to where they belong,’ she told me. Then said it was okay for me to leave. That when I need it, I would come back to where I belong. That she would be there for me.” I sighed heavily. “And now she isn’t. The room is empty.”
Silence filled the room.
Nina spoke first. “Your grandmother did love that room. We had tea in there many a time while she watched the forest. I can see why she would use that metaphor. It worked well for a child.”
I looked up and smiled. “That forest sure does seem popular lately.”
Don’s eyebrows came together while Nina frowned.
“All the animals stampeding earlier today?” I said, wondering about the reaction.
“Oh, yes,” Don said, exhaling heavily while glancing at his wife. “It was like something out of a movie.”
I nodded. “But then, this is real life. Isn’t it? It did happen.”
“Very true,” Nina said. “Though I guess the movies have to get their inspiration from somewhere. Don’t they? After all, this will be in newspapers, and I’m sure many people took pictures and recorded it on their phones. The internet will see it all. New legends will be born.”
“Yeah.” She was right, of course. “There’s probably some totally logical explanation for it all. Isn’t there?”
They looked at one another again.
“Wait.” I glanced back and forth several times. “You don’t think so?”
“Well,” Nina said slowly, “it surely didn’tseemnatural. After all, why would they choose to go down Main Street? Sure, the forest wraps around two-thirds of town, so they left the forest and went to a different part of it, but all in the same direction, at the same time? Predators and prey, without attacking? You don’t think that’s the slightest bit … unnatural?”
“But it has to be natural,” I pointed out. “What else could it be?”
There had to be an explanation. A reason.
Just like there was a reason a giant wolf with the same eyes as a forest lumberjack man would jump in front of a rabid bear for me.
I glanced out the front window of the house at the gently swaying trees of the forest across the street.
That wolf had looked at me. It had understood me. But that was impossible.
Wasn’t it?
Chapter Seventeen
Sylvie
Boom-boom.
Boom-boom.
Boom-boom.
The drums beat relentlessly in the deep dark, thunderously loud in my ears no matter how far I ran. The pattern never changed, beating like a heart. Tearing at my ears, it threatened to split my skull in half with every crescendo.
Boom-boom.
My bare feet splashed through puddles, toes sinking into mud as I raced on. Raindrops lashed at my skin. I couldn’t see the ground. Or the sky. Everything around me was pure, inky darkness.
Everything except for the amber and azure glows from behind me. Twin points of light stalked me, matching every move I made. The wolf was following me. No, not following.Stalking. I was being hunted.
And I couldn’t shake him.
I darted left. Then right. Scrambling through the pitch dark, trying with all my might to escape the beast.
