He Came From The Wild

Chapter Five | Among Wolves

It took every inch of self-control Braydon had not to actually hurt the bear. The animal had sensed something different about the wolf and knew to leave it alone, but that didn't stop him from chasing it back to its cub and sending them across the river before going deeper back into the forest - away from the cabin. Away from Miranda.

Enough. Check on the girl.

The wolf had a point. She could have kept running, or have been hurt and all because he got angry with her, leaving her unprotected.

She saw us change.

Braydon didn't acknowledge that final point. He was too scared to admit it had happened. All he had thought about was protecting her and now? Getting to the clearing, the wolf ran around trying to pick up her scent. He became almost frantic as he couldn't trail her and following the strongest lead, he was led back to the cabin.

He didn't think she would stay put, considering the time he had been away Miranda could have got a decent head start on her escape. With a grunt of effort, he retuned to his human form and finding the shorts, pulled them on - thankful what ever magic lived in the world to make his kind even exist made it so clothing was abandoned and not ruined during the change.

Clutching the iron pot, Miranda slapped her free hand over her mouth as Braydon entered the cabin, muffling the squeal of fright. She wanted to scream, cry, run, but instead she tried to focus on not passing out from holding her breath as she followed the movement of his feet.

"Miranda?" He called softly, "are you here?"

The erratic thumping of her heart was loud enough for him to faintly detect and the barely there whimpering from under the bed told him where she was. Relief filled him as it meant she hadn't ran away, only it didn't last long as the air became saturated with her fear.

"Please don't be afraid."

Considering she was trapped, Miranda didn't see how he could expect her to be anything other than that. She had no idea what she had actually seen and slowly, the shaky, stuttered question managed to leave her. "What. Are. You?"

"I can't tell you." Braydon answered regretfully.

Bit late for that! The wolf scoffed.

"I saw, and you were there and then, you weren't. The wolf. What are you?" It defied everything she knew about the world. Things like that didn't happen. Her mind was racing as she tried to rationalize it. She had fallen; hit her head. It was a side effect of taking expired pain medication or maybe just a delayed reaction to some head trauma from the plane crash.

Then again, what if she was safe in hospital and all of this was a dream. She wasn't actually in the wild with a - werewolf? The thought had her feeling nauseas and she swallowed down the burning rise of bile in her throat

"If you come out, I'll tell you." Braydon tried to bargain, using her own method of persuasion against her.

"I-I can't."

"Why not?"

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked weakly, no longer wanting to get to know her captor. What a stupid idea that had been.

Braydon only rolled his eyes. "No. I keep telling you no. Don't you think I would've by now?"

Miranda decided he had a point. "Go outside!"

"Why?"

"Because I need you outside!" Slowly her confidence started to return, or maybe her common sense had left her. Either way the tone she used wasn't leaving any room for argument.