Wolf's Heart

The man raised an eyebrow, “He allowed you to name him? Interesting.”

I stepped back again, repeating the process every time he walked closer. His smile stretched when I backed into a tree, a gasp of fear expelling from my lungs. He stopped walking when he was just an arm’s length away from me, tilting his head and studying me.

“You’re very pretty; I can see why he keeps you close. What I can’t see is why he’s so protective. He’s never acted this way unless it’s toward his kill or his territory. So the question is what’s so special about you?”

I gulped, afraid to move as he lifted a hand and ran a finger down my cheek, “I wonder how long Terrance will distract… Ulric. I’m hoping we’ll be able to talk.”

I silently sighed in relief when his hand fell away and he stepped back.

“But our talk’s going to have to wait until later; I can hear him barreling through the forest now.”

The man turned and walked away, not stopping ‘till he was in the middle of the clearing. I frowned as he just stood there, hearing something that I couldn’t. After a few seconds I started to catch on and could hear the snapping of branches as the earth shook under my feet.

Not long after that Ulric launched out of the forest, roaring as he stopped in front of the man. I watched with wide eyes as the man didn’t even flinch. Ulric continued to roar, standing over the man so that every sound shook through him. Once his roar ended Ulric stepped back, growling and snarling as he stared at the man.

The man wiped his face and stared back, “Don’t you yell at me, boy.”

Ulric growled again, now walking to me. He bent down and pressed his nose into my stomach, gently rubbing against me. I buried my face against head, my body still trembling as I let relief wash through me. He rumbled, the sound calming me as he lifted his head.

I smiled as he stared at me, “I’m okay. You got here before he could do anything more than scare me.”

He rumbled again, then looked back at the man and snarled once more.

The man sighed and rolled his eyes, “I was hoping Terrance would keep you preoccupied for a while longer, Lord knows that boy can get on anyone’s last nerve.”

At Terrance’s name Ulric growled, causing the man to chuckle, “Calm down. I wasn’t going to allow him to be alone with her. That’s why I’m here and his job was to keep you occupied. Apparently he couldn’t even do that.”

Ulric grumbled, this sound not as comforting as the ones he gives me.

“You really need to stop talking back to me. I won’t tolerate it again.”

I frowned as Ulric fell silent, wondering who this man is that he could order Ulric around when another Creature slowly walked into the clearing, this one red. The second Ulric saw him he roared and stood in front of me, crouching in preparation to attack.

“Terrance! Go home!” I heard the man yell, Ulric blocking my view so that I couldn’t see what was happening.

A different sounding growl echoed around the clearing before I heard bushes and branches snapping, giving me the assumption that the red Creature left. After a few minutes Ulric quieted down again, stepping back so that he was no longer blocking me.

The man turned to look at us, glancing at me before giving Ulric his attention, “I want you to visit tonight,” Ulric growled and the man held his hand up, “No, don’t argue with me, I’m still your father.”

That shocked me. This man didn’t look old, his hair color the only thing odd about him. He seemed he should have been between thirty and forty years, not old enough to have a full grown son. Then another thought hit me, if this is Ulric’s father and he can transform from Creature to man, then Ulric can too. More followed; how old does that make Ulric? What does he look like human? Will he ever let me see his other form?

“Your mother wants to see you too, so you’ll come and stay for dinner,” the man finished saying, pointing at Ulric,” Tonight. I don’t want you showing up weeks later. Bring the girl too; your mother’ll want to meet her.”

Oh, God. His mother?

The man didn’t say anything more, just transformed back into the Creature and ran out of the clearing. When he was gone I could see Ulric visibly relax, his muscles loosening and his stance reducing from attack to leisure. He turned and looked at me, his eyes soft and questioning as I just shook my head.

“I have so many questions right now, but I feel like you’re not going to answer them for me.”

Ulric sighed, his ears flattening on his head as he grumbled and looked to where his father had disappeared.

“Oh,” I glared at him, “we’re going to that dinner. Your mother and I will talk and I’ll finally have the answers to all these questions that are suddenly floating in my mind. Not to mention I’ll be able to eat. I haven’t had any food since the noon meal yesterday.”

Ulric had been grumbling through my speech, his unhappiness apparent, but when I mentioned my lack of meals he fell silent. We stared at each other for a few seconds when he sighed again and took my arm, pulling until I started walking. He turned and exited the clearing, looking back to check on me as I followed behind him.

I quickly ran to catch up, walking at his side as he slowed to accommodate my smaller steps. We walked in silence for about an hour, him staring straight ahead as I looked around and took in the beautiful forest. After a while I turned and stared at him, “So, can change to human too?”

Ulric snarled, his growl portraying how unhappy he was with that question.