Running Red

Chapter 16 - The Greater Hate

But I had stalled enough and finally forced myself to look at him. By some blessed miracle, he was not focused on me.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, taking advantage of the distraction.

He looked up and, for the first time and much to my surprise, I did not feel intimidated. His eyes lost their flat, colorless look and a sparkle of amusement entered, though his mouth remained straight. “Always.”

I was almost instantly reminded of the way that Senrid and I had been able to communicate when we were wolves. Not with words or expressions, but with behavior and some kind of knowing.

I felt this knowing upon hearing Gleo’s voice and it said happy.

I found myself grinning as if I’d just heard particularly funny joke.

And even more shocking was the barest of smiles that lifted the corners of Gleo’s mouth as he took in my expression.

We ate in silence, though the greater part of the tension that I had been feeling ever since I had met Gleo melted and I relaxed.

It was not a very large meal and we finished quickly.

“Freezing,” Gleo mumbled.

“Yes. It is,” I agreed.

“Warmer with hair,” Gleo said, his voice sounded flat, but his eyes spoke volumes. “Naked skin not so good.”

I smiled like a loon, “Not very good at all.”

He paused, staring at the fire.

And then he stood, throwing off his blanket explosively and with a heavy dose of exasperation said, “Gah!”

I was alarmed. I thought he was angry at first, but then I realized he was just annoyed.

“Cold?” he asked me.

I stood also, though I kept my blanket. “Yes. I am cold.”

“Change. Have hair. Stay warm.”

“Change? To a wolf?” I asked. I had learned to dread moments like this when changing shapes from one to the other became a demand.

“Yes. Wolf. You can. I have seen you,” he said.

“But. . .it is night. . .the moon will be up in only a couple hours. . .”

“Fool’s talk,” he said. He walked up and put a hand on my shoulder. “We walk forest. I show you things. No more cold. Moon is small. No worrying.”

“I. . .I do not. . .”

“Dheul,” he said pronouncing my name strange in his stiff sounding accent. “Trust me.”

His grey eyes met mine, imploring, begging. I felt the same knowing as before. It said, so thickly that it could have been written on paper, honest.

A thought occurred to me. How much time did Gleo spend in his human form? More than escape from the cold, this was escape from his own special kind of torture.

“I can do it,” I said. He smiled. A real smile with teeth showing and I could not help but to smile back.

-------------

Changing was as painful and tedious as always. Gleo accomplished it almost instantly. He slipped into his wolf form like he would put on a coat. All of the crunching and breaking of his bones was condensed into a brief half a minute. It did not make the scene any less pleasant to watch, but it was incredible how smoothly he made the transition from one to the next.