A Wolf's Miracle

Chapter 7.

I had no idea why I remembered this particular wolf so fondly. Yes, it didn't attack me or eat me and it was cute despite its size. But I had a bad feeling about this. All of this. 

A knock on the wooden door startled me, and I stared at it in response. It could very well be Harlan or Selene. But I had a feeling Harlan wouldn't knock. From what I had seen he was terribly impulsive and disrespectful of personal boundaries. He would probably tear the door down. 

They knocked again. Why was the person on the other side not announcing themselves? 'Don't move, don't make a sound ' A voice in my head said—my instinct. But the knocking turned into desperate banging. Growing louder and louder every second. I cowered behind the bed as the door broke off its hinges. I heard the dresser go flying with it. 

Heavy breathing filled the room." Come out girl" a slithery voice said"I know you are here, I smelled ya' " he taunted. I could see his shadow coming closer and closer as he grabbed my arm and yanked me out of my very stupid hiding place. I could already feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins, making me extremely shaky and even more frightened.

I looked at his face as he pulled me out of the room. The best way to describe his appearance is 'disheveled'. He looked and smelled like he hadn't showered in months. He had very long hair and a beard, both were matted "Who are you? What do you want?" I knew I could buy some time if I could get him talking. He dragged me out of the room and into the hall with the big stairs.

His raspy laugh made every bone in my body shiver, it was truly a horrible, disgusting sound. He said nothing as he hurled me down two flights of wooden stairs. I tried to protect my head as much as possible, but I felt each hit harder than the next. It was all I could do not to faint as he grabbed me by my hair and threw me out of the front door."Did that hurt?" He smiled.

I could feel the warm blood pouring out of my head and sticking to everything it touched. I barely had a few seconds with him, but I could tell he enjoyed making others suffer, what he wanted was a reaction. He was going to hurt me either way, I might as well humiliate him in the process" Was that all you have?" I said as I spit blood at his boots and laughed. "I barely felt it" Oh, I was making him mad. The way his eye twitched and his knuckles turned white would probably mean an excruciating death for me, but it would be worth it. Was I too proud for my own good? Yes. Abso-fucking-lutely.

I knew I couldn't stand up at this point, so I slowly backed away as he scowled. "You insolent bitch!" he yelled. "You are lucky we need you as leverage or that filthy trap of yours would have gotten you killed," He was stupid, he had just volunteered precious information: 1, He wasn't going to kill me; and 2, he needed me for leverage. Which meant he thought I was worth something to these people. I had a feeling that if I corrected that sentiment he might just kill me. So I stayed down, on the ground.

"What's the matter? Wolf got your tongue?" before I could question what he said, he lifted his boot and pressed down on my leg. He stood on top of me as he pressed harder and harder until I could hear my femur crack. I let out the most horrible scream as he broke my leg. The pain was unbearable, I writhed trying to get his leg out from on top of me. "Barely felt that, as well?"

I had come so close to death these past few days, I had no idea what I'd done to deserve it. Was I going to die? Was this going to be it? I looked at him, wanting to see a response in his eyes, but all he did was laugh.

Suddenly the terrifying sound of his laughter was replaced by a feral growling. His face paled as he slowly lifted his leg and tried to back away. I followed his gaze, and my stomach dropped.

 Standing a few meters away were two of the most giant wolves I had ever seen, and one looked slightly familiar. It watched me with its golden eyes for a mere second before it jumped over me and began closing in on my attacker. The night I had last seen him it was dark, and I thought its coat was black, but its fur was the most beautiful dark brown.

I turned my head to try and locate the other wolf and as I saw it coming closer I tried to back away, but as it saw I was scared of it, it stopped. I surveyed the beautiful and slightly -only slightly though - smaller white wolf and realized these creatures weren't here to hurt me. It might have been the pain, but I could have sworn the white wolf was somewhat happy I had come to this conclusion. Its eyes were lilac, the most beautiful lilac I had ever seen... I had no idea wolves could have that eye color.

"Please" I heard the man say "We can talk this out," I tried to at least sit up, but my back was killing me almost as much as my leg. "Please, Harlan" I turned my head as I heard his name. I thought maybe he had arrived, but the only man there was my attacker. 

Why would he address the dark brown wolf as 'Harlan'?  I couldn't come up with an answer that made any sense. I was hurt, my leg was broken, yet I couldn't help but wonder why these creatures had come to my aid. I had always been too curious for my own good. I made a living out of prying into people's lives and trying to fix them -Of course, I never thought of my job like that until it was pointed out to me- so I couldn't really identify with the famous saying: 'curiosity killed the cat' until it was too late. As I turned to look at something I couldn't explain.

I saw that man turn into a wolf.