A/N: So I decided to split this chapter up too. They're all longer than I planned. I really need to work on my outlining and making the chapters the same length...
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Four
-The Wolf in Cabin Three-
Part I
*Ryan*
In the year I had been a werewolf I’d gotten used to waking up in places I didn’t recognize with the smell of blood clinging to me. Usually the place was the woods or some other deserted area and the blood belonged to an animal I had killed the night before.
That was however not the case today.
Today I was in a shack, rolled in a thin sleeping bag with some odd sort of blanket that was all silvery on one side covering me. And the blood I could faintly smell wasn’t from any animal. No, it was my own blood. Sitting up I felt groggy and somewhat bewildered.
How had I gotten here and why was I here? Where was here? And why did I smell of my own blood?
I suddenly had a vague memory of stumbling through the woods using a girl as a crutch. The girl I remembered had gotten me out of the trap. Pain in my lower leg suddenly made me remember both why I was here and why I smelled of blood; the bear trap. With a sort of sickening lurch everything came back to me with remarkable clarity. The last night of the full moon, just before dawn, the trap, the long cold day of alternating between attempting to get free and passing out from the pain and then the wolf. Or the girl. It got a little fuzzy right about then.
Assuming if whoever I had been in contact with had been a wolf I would have either been dead or still stuck in a trap I decided there probably hadn’t been any wolf just a girl. Had I told her not to take me to a hospital? Because remembering my foot I was fairly certain the hospital was where most sane humans would have sent me. Whatever the reason I wasn’t at a hospital I was grateful. I had no idea just what any blood tests or scans of me would show and had no desire to find out. If anyone learned what I was I didn’t doubt for a second they would lock me in a cage and throw away the key.
Still a little groggy I pushed the sleeping bag and blanket off me. I was wearing sweat pants, but one of the legs had been thorn off at the knee. I guessed to accommodate my foot. Which looked worse than it had when I last saw it. Not a good sign.
Normally I healed very fast and my scars faded quick. Only wounds inflicted with silver, like the one above my eyebrow which had been caused by a large silver ring, healed at human rate and scarred. So the leg should have been fine by now. Or at least better. Not worse. Instead it was still tender, and hurt like the devil when I tried to move it. At least the previously ragged wounds had almost closed up, making me glad the girl that had saved me hadn’t bandaged them. The bandaged might have stuck to the wounds as they healed which would have been nasty since that would have meant I’d have to tear them out of my healed skin. I frowned as I tried to shift a little weight onto my damaged leg. It wasn’t supporting any of my weight.
I thought it might be the food or more like lack of it. That would slow my healing. Thinking back I tried to remember when I had last had a good meal. The diner on Saturday afternoon I’d had the steak and potatoes. Then I’d bought myself a big slam of ham to bring to the forest for Sunday. I could barely remember eating it but was sure I had. I wondered what day it was now. Tuesday? Wednesday?
Pushing against the wall I managed to get up with only one foot supporting me. There was a door across the room and one small window on the wall opposite from my sleeping back. I was glad for the window since it seemed to be my only source of light. Using the wall for support I hobbled over to the door and tried to push it open. It wouldn’t budge. I pushed harder. It still didn’t move.
Feeling panicked and a little dizzy I leaned against the door and sank to the floor. I wondered if I had enough strength to get to the window and leave. I would just have to. Staying trapped was not an option. I had to get up and go, find the bag with my clothes and cash and get the H out of this town. If I could just close my eyes for a few moments first. Yes. Just a few moments.
Only when I next opened my eyes the faint light that had been coming through the little window was gone and the cabin was dark. There was a scratching sound, which I realized must have been what woke me up. Feeling a fool for falling asleep with my back to the door, leaving me open to attack by whatever was coming through I rolled slightly away, into the corner.
The door slid open and fresh air flowed in. Until that moment I hadn’t realized just how stuffy the cabin had been.
“Hello,” a female voice said. It belonged to the girl, I realized. The one that had helped me. Yeah. I knew that voice. “Ryan? It’s me.”
The girl stepped into the cabin and I considered trying to go for the door. To run. But my leg wouldn’t let me get very far and this girl hardly seemed a threat. And if she’d kept my secret this long, because I was fairly certain she knew I wasn’t human, what was the point of running now.
I made a sound to get her attention but she had already looked passed the blankets and sleeping bag and was scanning the small space. I got the feeling she could see me as clear as day. My stomach growled, but not because I was imaging sinking my teeth into her neck or thigh. No. She had food with her. A bag filled with…I smelled the air. Hamburger and fries.
Clearly noticing my growling stomach she smiled, her white teeth seeming somehow unnatural in the dark, and pulled out a brown paper bag from a backpack and tossed it to me.
I caught it one handed.
“So do your eyes glow like that a lot or am I just special?” she asked as I tugged the bag open and took deep breaths, trying to inhale the stuff inside. Food. I was hungry. So very hungry.
“What?” I asked, realizing what she’d asked. Where my eyes glowing? I knew they did that when I got angry or upset but I could usually tell. I got this weird pinching feeling –kind of like when I changed during the full moon- only there was no feeling at that moment. I felt normal.
“Your eyes?” she said moving a little closer, sounding like she thought I might be a bit daft.
“No,” I said and took out the burger and looking anywhere but at her. “They usually don’t do it a lot.”
“It’s still pretty darn cool.” She walked around the little cabin as if wanting to inspect it. I thought she must have already done so though since she had to be the one that had taken me here and set me up with the sleeping bag. I ignored her and began to, pardon the pun, wolf down the hamburger. “I wish I could do it,” she said after a moment. “What else you got?”
“Got?” I asked between bites of food. It was so good, even though I was quickly beginning to worry what my wolf would want to eat once the burger and fries were finished. A sudden image of the girl, all covered in blood filled my mind. I tried to push it away and just to focus on my food. It would fill me up fine. It would be enough. It had to be.
“Yeah?” the girl stopped in front of me, her feet mere inches from mine. I realized then she was barefoot, which was odd. Wasn’t it? Who walked around the woods barefoot? Maybe we weren’t in the woods? Still it was cold, she should be wearing shoes. “Like I don’t know super speed or something? I figured you have to heal faster than us because you said, or more like mumbled something about your leg probably being fine in a week. That’s impressive. I think it took Ink three weeks to heal his leg after he had an incident with a bear trap. You remember how I told you about Ink on the way here?”
“Not really,” I said, wiping my mouth with my hand. “I don’t really remember much of anything about how I got here. Or you.”
“You don’t remember me?” the girl said, sounding a bit hurt.
“I know you helped me, so thanks for that.” I honestly meant that, but was still not sure about who this girl was. Her voice was familiar and I thought I knew what she looked like even though it was too dark for me to see her properly. I remembered the bluest eyes I’d ever seen on a person and lots of curly hair. I wondered if that could be right.
“Do you at least remember what I am?” she asked, moving to the side of me and sliding down the wall to sit next to me. She smelt like those weird herbs my Granny had used to burn and of wolf. I frowned. Her scent wasn’t making my inner beast think about killing her. No he liked the smell of her, only he didn’t want to chew on her. He just wanted to keep on smelling her.
I suddenly remembered something.“You were a wolf, weren’t you. And you smell like, well you smell like one.”
She smiled again, her white teeth seeming to light up the cabin.“That’s right. Annabeth, the wolf who wouldn’t be scared of you.”
“Annabeth,” I said, testing the name, trying to remember more about her.
“Yes.”
I moved away a little from her.“But you’re not like me. You were a wolf in the day light. I can see it. I remember it.”
“Yeah, I’m a shifter.” She moved a little closer. “Can I have some fries?” she asked reaching for the bag. I offered it to her and tried not to stare at her. I wanted to see her but my eyes weren’t working. Dang it was dark. Yet she seemed to have no problem seeing me – or the bag of fries. I wished my wolf eyes would start working. Normally I could see in the dark, but tonight I couldn’t. I guessed my body was too focused on healing and recovering to give me any special powers.
“A shifter?” I asked trying to wrap my head around that. “So what’s that?”
“Well it’s kind of like it sounds. I can shift into a wolf whenever I want.” She wiggled her toes and ate a fry. “That’s how I got here. I ran. Carried the bag with the food and my clothes in my mouth. It’s really the only practical way to get to cabin three.”
“Cabin three?”
“Yeah, this one is the third cabin from my house. So cabin three.” She was quiet for a bit. I finished the fries, forcing myself not to be hungry. I wasn’t hungry. No hunger existed, I tried to tell myself. None at all. “You want to tell me about being a werewolf?” she asked then added, “I don’t know anything about anything other than being a shifter.” She turned to me and I could feel she was excited and expecting me to have some sort of wonderful story to tell her.
I scooted away from her. “I’m not a werewolf.”
“Really?” she said sarcastically. “What are you then?”
“Just a guy.”
“Right. Just a guy,” she sounded put out. “I just told you I can shift into a wolf at will and all you say is ´I’m just a guy´, that so typical.”
“Whatever,” I said even though I did want to talk to her. I wanted to ask her about what she was and if she knew anything about what I was. She’d guessed I was a werewolf so she had to have some knowledge of my specie. I just wasn’t sure how much to trust her, what to tell her. I also didn’t want to frighten her. With me hurt she was my only way to get food and water. I couldn’t afford to tell her about what a werewolf really thought about things – about the things he dreamt of sinking his teeth into – because it would surely drive her away.
The girl stood and picked up the bag. “I brought you a hoodie and some decorations. Some silver garlands and Christmas bulbs. I figured you might want to decorate or something. We got loads of this stuff.” She sounded a little odd when she said that.
“Alright,” I said, even though I wasn’t planning on staying in this cabin for long. I heard more than saw her pull out some stuff and put it on the floor.
“There,” she said and stood. “You can put it wherever when it’s light or we can do it together tomorrow. I’ll come right after school and bring more food. There is some canned peaches and chilly and water over there.” She pointed somewhere but I wasn’t quite sure where. But I figured I’d find it in the day light.
There was silence for a few moments then I said, “Thank you.” We both knew I wasn’t thanking her for the food, but for saving me. For bringing me here.
“Yeah,” she said, before opening the door. “Um, you’ll stay here right? I don’t think my dad or anyone in the pack would be too happy to find you hobbling around the woods.”
Her dad was a shifter too? And a pack? What was that about? There was clearly a lot of stuff that was different with shifters.
“I’ll suppose. Just don’t lock the door. I don’t like being trapped.”
“Okay,” she agreed. A shaft of moon light fell on her as she stood in the doorway, and I realized I had remembered her right. Blue-blue eyes and long curly hair. What I hadn’t remembered was just how beautiful she was. She stepped outside, taking the door and moon light with her. “Bye,” she said from outside, the sound barely carrying through the cabin’s timber walls.
“Bye,” I echoed.