Heroes and Wolves [book 1]

Chapter sixty-four

Layla

My veins are singeing and still flowing with volcanic magma due to the memory of the monster. There is nothing I can do to stop them. It was goading me, using all that was close to me and my truth to get me worked up. I was stuck and made to feel the pain and discomfort of the beast's control because I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't strong enough. 

I gave up. I admitted wanting to transform for relief. 

I was weak. 

All that I trained and the time I thought I was a strong person – I believed that I was but it all went to pot. I had nothing to use, no will in my body, no words to utter as the monster's control took me and changed me. I was a witness to my own undoing and the monster succeeded. 

My blurred vision lessens but dark and pointed claws still protrude from my nail beds and I grimace from the sight of them. Damn the monster. Damn everything that's happened to me. 

I try to sit up, slowly rising to my knees when a creak of sticks snapping alerts my already heightened mind. 

     "Who's there?" I demand, looking at each tree to try and find the source of noise. 

I have no luck until it stops and a scratching sound rises in replacement. It's a constant scrape on the tree bark in front of me. Tree bark? It can't be...  

The wind picks up and causes leaves to rustle and I shiver. Since my t-shirt and trousers have rips in them, the cool air is able to freely nip at my skin. As I rub my arms to warm me up, two blue orbs show within the darkness ahead. It's a beacon of light – hope and I'm awed. 

The dark of this forest dissipates from this glowing pair of blue and they grow bigger until it frames the face of a wolf that stalks out towards me. 

Grey long fur ripples as each paw lightly treads on the forest floor. Silent and stealthily. Grey fur mixes with a white undercoat that's slightly dirty. This wonderful animal trots over to me and I don't feel scared. Although the heavy sensation still courses through me and lights my every nerve, I feel a sense of security and solace because it's the wolf that used to visit me at my shack. 

I can't believe it!

The wolf stops just in front of me, exhaling a long, sharp puff of air. Wow. I don't know what to do. I've never been this close before. I cannot take my eyes away from its light blue own. 

The wolf makes the first move, lifting its head but I don't know what this means. Sensing this unknown, the wolf walks around me slowly and comes to my right side. I'm mesmerised as it knocks my hand with its muzzle, the wet of their nose paints the back of my hand and I come to think that it's implying me to stroke it but I'm unsure. This clever wolf has made itself known and found ways to communicate with me before so maybe this is yet another one. 

     "Are you sure?" I ask as if it could even understand me. All I'm met with is a peaceful gaze.

Steadying my breathing, I reach my hand out and touch the top of its head. At the soft contact, there's a sense of calm rushing through my body. My vision clears to crystal views as this feeling soothes my burnt veins, eliminates all the pain and aches within my body and claws retract from my fingernails. All that I had just been through has been completely wiped from me. I feel refreshed. 

I take my hand away but the wolf nudges it again and brings one paw up to scratch the forest floor. 

     "I don't know what you want me to do" the wolf shakes its whole body as a response to my confusion so I place it back on its head. Smooth fur warms my palm and I smile.