Find My Heart (boyxboy)

24. The Large Wolf in the Room

Cole

"Uurrgghh," I huffed in frustration after waiting on the gravel for about 15 minutes.

My backside was starting to feel a strange combination of bruised and numb from sitting on such an uncomfortable surface.

I stood up and brushed off the small bits of gravel from the back of my shorts while glancing round to see if I could see any sign of Emily or Nathan.

I couldn't see anyone, and it was eerily silent. I couldn't even hear any birds, which was a little odd.

I started pacing around, eyeing up the woodland that was in front of me. I couldn't help but wonder what possible ecological delights I might find in there.

Surely a quick peek wouldn't hurt?

I started edging into the trees, looking around to see what species I could see. There were some sycamore, horse chestnut, and beech trees as well as a variety of bush species, some native, some imported. It would definitely be an interesting ecosystem to study and I wondered whether Nathan would let me visit more often in the future.

A loud piercing scream tore me out of my thoughts and I froze on the spot, my senses on full alert.

"Emily?" I whisper-shouted, afraid of what might be out there.

It was definitely the scream of a woman.

Suddenly I heard scuffling noises, like the bushes in the forest were being shaken, and then I heard the unmistakable growl and snapping bark of a large canine.

I couldn't tell exactly where the noise was coming from, or even if it was coming from just one creature.

There could be more than one of them.

I braced myself to run back to the manor when I noticed that the noises seemed to be getting further away, not closer, and soon I could no longer hear any rustling, only the occasional bark somewhere in the distance.

I slowly made my way forward, in the direction I thought the scream came from.

Emily could be hurt somewhere close by, so I couldn't just leave her.

I edged my way through the trees, as quietly as possible, constantly on the lookout.

I stopped as I heard some more rustling directly in front of me, behind some bushes.

I stood perfectly still listening, and I could hear the sound of a soft whimper. It was the sound of an animal in pain or afraid.

I took a few deep breaths then edged forward, pushing my small body between two bushes and out the other side.

I couldn't see anything at first, then a sudden movement made me glance to the right where I could see something in a dip in the undergrowth.

I peered over and was shocked to see a grey wolf trapped in some sort of net.

"Fuck," I whispered.

The wolf's head shot round to face me and it growled and snapped it's teeth at me, making me jump back in fear.

Before my body had time to flee, my brain kicked in and I realised that the wolf was trapped and so couldn't rip me apart limb by limb.

The wolf stared hard at me for a few seconds, before it stopped growling and went back to thrashing around, clearly trying to get out of the net.

"Hey," I said gently, "hey there wolf, I can help if you like?"

I edged a foot closer, but froze when it turned to look at me again.