THE BEAST

15: A Grand Epiphany

I woke up from dreams of sharp teeth and red dripping from the pines of the trees. Something soft cushioned my cheek and I felt myself lazily rub my skin against it. But then my newly resurfaced memory went back to the way Grey's fur had felt under my warm skin during our time in out meadow.

Everything came back to me then. The lumberjack, the sweet sap that knocked me out like a flip of a light switch, the sharp memory of Grey hovering over my Granny. My calf stung with the images.

Then my other senses kicked in. The pungent aroma of food wafted over to me and body instantly woke up.

I don't even remember the last time I ate. But now, maybe it was because I knew who this strange man was, but I felt my body unrightfully relax. And with that sedated feeling came hunger. 

I sat upright with a gasp and blinked my eyes until they focused in the never brightening dim light of the wolf's den. Looking down, I came to find that the softness was from the velvety material of Granny's red blanket that still cocooned around me.

The steady buzz remained in my body for a few more moments. I don't know why I thought it was Grey I was snuggling up to because his fur was one thousand times softer than the blanket.

When my eyes adjusted, they landed on a large figure bending over a wooden island of sort. The sharp sound of a knife cutting through a weaker item echoed off the stone walls. It stopped at the sound of my intake of breath.

"Good. You are awake." Grey's voice was deadly low but awfully quiet. It set me on edge.

It was impossible to miss the way his eyes raked over my messy bedhead to his plaid shirt that twisted around my torso from a night of unconsciousness. The room seemed to become hotter but I pulled the newly made cloak tighter around my body.

His heated eyes flickered back to mine. "Hungry?"

The way he said that made my body spasm. My brain went in two different directions but with much willpower, I stood up, wrapping the cloak around me like a second skin, and padded over to see him cutting up tomatoes.

I kept my distance and he didn't make a move to invade that which for some odd reason put me even more on edge. This man was a predator. It was his life's work to skirt around the edges before he made his attack. I must remember that.

What smelled like bacon was sizzling over a fire in the corner of the den and underneath that looked like porage of some sort bubbling in a bowl.

That would explain the heat in here, I thought with an exhale. I sat down heavily on a stool, bringing my feet under me as well as the cloak that I refused to take off.

Grey didn't say anymore as he went back to cutting up produce. That meant he left me alone in the den. That meant I lost another opportunity to escape. But my brain couldn't focus on that piece of information because my mind was solely on food.