The last of the sun disappears behind the trees and darkness fills the forest. Birdsong is long gone and the calm feeling I had has also flown away with it. The woods are alive in a way they were not during the day.
Luckily, the full moon is bright in the sky, giving a silver glow around me. Visibility is bad but not to the point where I can’t see. I walk quickly through darkness, branches crunching under foot which echo around me. My scarf is wrapped around my chattering teeth and my hands are in my pockets to keep warm. Just get home. An owl hoots in the distance. I stop to make sense of where it came from.
Then comes a noise.
This time it is in front of me in a small clearing up ahead. A loud crunch of a branch followed by rustling. Someone or something is in the trees with me.
I stand frozen in time, teeth clenched shut unable to make a noise. My breath catches in the back of my throat, my eyes darting between the trees.
“It’ll be a deer or a badger,” I whisper to myself for some self-comfort.
I inch forwards a little more towards the clearing. I look up towards the moon and can see smoke in the distance. Log burners. It will be the village. My shoulders relax as I make it to the edge of the clearing.
I stop. Frozen. Opposite me on the other side of the clearing staring straight back at me with intense eyes.
A wolf.
It stands perfectly still, its grey coat glinting lightly in the moonlight above us. Its dark green eyes lock on to mine. Unblinking, unafraid.
I can’t move, can’t look away. There is something in its gaze, not wild, but knowing. After what seems like an eternity, but must have been seconds, it flees back into the darkness from which it came.
My heart is in my throat and my stomach at my knees. I let out a breath. My back which is now drenched with sweat slams against a tree trunk behind me. My legs turn to jelly as I slide down to a crouching position, the tingling sensation flowing in my body.
I could have used magic to protect myself. But the wolf, it meant no harm. It is like it knew I was not a threat. Or maybe that now I was. Plus, I don’t know any protection magic!
I sit for a moment, listening for any other noises, any other shadows in the darkness, before pulling myself to my feet.
The owl hoots again.
Just get home.
I brush the leaves off my leggings and straighten my scarf.
“Harri?” a voice behind me says.
I spin around.
Sam.
He stands there, so close, with the faint glow of the moonlight on his face. He hadn’t made a sound approaching me. He was silent. His sleeves of his shirt are rolled up exposing his muscular arms. He is carrying a small hatchet in his hand.
“What are you doing out here?” he demands.
“I could ask you the same question!” I reply, half happy he has found me and half wondering why he is also out in the forest at night.
“I told you not to come out here at night alone. It’s dangerous out here and you must be freezing.” His voice is angry, but his eyes concerned. He pulls me into his body, his chest roasting hot against me. His strong body engulfs me into safety. He holds me tightly, one hand on the small of my back, the other cupping theback of my head.
I pull myself away a little. “You must be freezing in nothing but a shirt.” I look up into his eyes. Green. Emerald.
I study his eyes. The flicker of darkness within them.
“What’s wrong?” he questions, looking puzzled.
My breath is still shaky and I stumble on my words. “I saw… I saw a wolf.”
He raises his eyebrow. “Harri, we don’t get wolves out here. It was probably a farmer’s dog,” he says dismissively.
“It was not a dog, Sam. It was huge and his eyes… he had these dark emerald eyes just like—” My breath is caught in my throat. Surely not.
