Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
I looked out of the glass to see him lying on his side, eyes closed, only for the rumble to sound again. It was definitely coming from his stomach.
I chuckled-what else could I do?-then headed inside to rustle up the extra protein I’d bought at work the other day with what little spare money I had. It was mostly clearance cuts of meat, a cabbage, and a watermelon. It probably wasn’t enough protein, but it was better than nothing.
As I hauled everything outside, the wolf sat up and huffed happily. I could have sworn he was grinning at me. The wolf was cute-probably far cuter than he had any right to be-but I still approached cautiously. If he so much sneezed at me wrong, I was completely prepared to chuck the food and make a run for it.
The responsible thing to do was keep my distance, but I drew closer. And closer. I was playing with fire, but I was drawn to the wolf, like the creature had its own magnetic call.
The wolf didn’t attack me, but he did make an almost impatient sound at my approach. I set the food down in front of him, and this time, I didn’t immediately retreat. As for the wolf, he went to town immediately.
“Sorry, you must have been really hungry, huh?”
He might or might not have let out a huff as if to say duh, but he never stopped ravenously tearing apart what I had brought him. While I watched him eat, a moronic compunction came over me. A temptation I’d had ever since I’d first seen his furry head. For some reason, I couldn’t ignore it anymore, so I reached out and ever so gently patted his head.
Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God,
I repeated to myself as my hand sank deeper and deeper into his fur. Wow, what I’d read about their coats really wasn’t an exaggeration. It was thick, coarse, and somehow soft at the same time. It made me want to bury my face in it, but I wasn’t outright insane.
No, I was just petting a wolf that may have imprinted on me and could possibly be becoming my friend. Wild. Absolutely wild.
I was a bit rattled when I finally pulled away, but in a good way. Although my mind was scattered, I returned to my greenhouse and concentrated on the cucumbers that would be ready to go outside in three weeks instead of the voracious eating outside the door. Suddenly, I heard an ear-splitting yowl.
That was Mudpie!
LEO
I was much less hungry. Not full. Not at all. But less hungry.
That was a good thing.
The woman had fed me again even though I made her nervous. My instincts told me that was good. But it made me feel…
Melancholy.
Melancholy?
What was that?
I couldn’t remember.
My whirling thoughts were cut off when a truly awful yowl came from inside the woman’s other shelter. She bolted toward it. It was the fastest I’d ever seen her move, the door of the clear house swinging in her wake.
I was concerned. If I was hanging around, it meant this was my territory, right? And if it was my territory, I needed to protect it.
I followed her to the open door of her home.
What a strange place.
I poked my head in, my instincts, once again, screaming not to go into another animal’s den. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I began to sniff the air.
There was a lot going on. More than I could puzzle out. The next thing I knew, I was face to face with a tiny wolf.
No.
Not a wolf.
A giant fox?
No. Too silver. Smell was wrong.
The not-fox-wolf regarded me with reproach, it’s hackles beginning to rise. I very much wanted to responded with bared teeth and a snarl, but something stopped me.
Maybe the creature was a charge of the woman? If it was, I didn’t want to threaten what was hers. Not after she had cared for me.
I lay down on my belly outside the door and stretched out, appeased since I could scent the woman wasn’t in danger.
The gray not-fox-wolf held his ground, still staring at me. I focused on staying still and not alarming it, which scratched at my brain so oddly. I was bigger, stronger, faster. Why was I making myself so docile for a thing I could kill and eat without so much as blinking?
I wasn’t sure, but it felt right. Like more…
me, somehow. But I was just a wolf, so what was me beyond that?
I was so lost in thought, I didn’t realize the woman had returned until her shrill scream filled the air around us.
Pandemonium broke out. The not-wolf-fox was joined by two other, much smaller versions of itself, with drastically differently colored coats, all hissing and yowling, their backs arching.
Now, that was just annoying.
Huh. Annoyed. Yet another new emotion. And yet I couldn’t even process it because the creatures were all still warbling like the world’s most angry crows. It grew to be too much, too quickly, and I tried to tell them to stop.