Chapter 2 - Holly

For a moment, I just stayed there, wondering if at some point I would wake up again, falling out of bed in my basement room. But no matter how many times I blinked, the man remained motionless on the ground. And the snow around him remained stained red.

“Uh…” I let my voice wander through the silent forest “Hello?”

I waited. And waited. Until I realized I was standing there like an idiot, while a member of the pack was possibly bleeding to death right in front of me.

“Oh, Holy Moon…” I gasped, hurrying to him “Can you hear me? Can you move? Hello?” I placed both my hands on his shoulder to try and shake him, but I couldn’t move him even a little “Uh… Is anyone there?” I called out, looking around nervously “Is anyone looking for a friend? He’s not well, you should go get him…”

I chewed my lip while waiting for someone to come, but again, nothing happened.

It had to happen eventually, however. Not only because the hearing of the other wolves in the pack was nothing like mine—they could hear anything from miles away—but also because that man was probably someone important in the pack.

I mean, he was huge. Well, most male werewolf shapeshifters were burly, but that stranger was a giant. I wasn't a war strategist or anything, but it seemed a waste not to have him as a warrior when there was a war going on. He seemed all muscle under my touch, and just thinking about who could have taken down that wolf made my blood colder than the snow around us.

What if we were under attack or something? Like in my dream?

“You should get up.” I pleaded again, trying to suppress the trembling in my voice “Come on, I know you have friends or family who will probably come to get you soon, but you could get necrosis if you stay in the snow for too long. Not even wolves are immune to it. I read about it in a book once.”

Again using both my hands, I tried to push him, wanting to dig his face out of the snow, but not even all my strength was able to move him a single inch.

“Oh, my… What are you made of? Lead?” I lamented, breathless “Listen, I have weak nerd arms. That’s what my brother always says. So, if you don’t want to freeze, you need to help me.”

I said, but what I really wanted was for him to show any sign of life beyond the shallow movements of his breathing.

“Our other alternative is for me to grab a branch and try to use it as leverage to turn you over.” I tried to persuade him “But it won’t be very comfortable. So, can you do it for me, big bud?”

To my surprise, he made a low sound, almost an angry grunt, and the next instant he was no longer lying face down. His eyes, however, were still not open. But I could barely process that.

I was too busy blushing.

Big Bud was… Handsome.

And realizing the word I'd used to describe him only made me blush even more. I'd never thought anything like that about a male in my pack before. Well, if I were reasonable, Big Bud wasn't like the charming princes from my old fairy tale books.

He was… Sharp.

His features weren't friendly, but intimidating. Even now, still unconscious, his brow was furrowed as if he were annoyed.

Furthermore, he had scars. One on his chin, one cutting across his eyebrow, and another at the corner of his mouth. Nothing large or grotesque like mine, but he had clearly healed from quite deep wounds before. Which only confirmed my theory that he was a warrior.

Probably one who had been on the front lines, protecting the pack, more than once.

He was a big hero, maybe.

“Thanks.” I smiled “Now, let’s check if… Oh! Holy Moon, you have a fever!” I gasped when a touch his forehead, burning like fire “Oh, no! You need to be treated! But… How could I…?” I looked between his enormous body and the snow-covered forest around us “I could go to town to ask for help, but I don’t think they would listen to me…”

My stomach clenched with apprehension at the mere thought of asking the pack for anything. My friend Jean was out of town with her father repairing his forge, so there was no one I could turn to.

And it wasn't like there was anyone else willing to help me, instead of running in the opposite direction of the Moonjoy’s cursed daughter.

I couldn't let that stop me, though. While I was wasting time with my cowardice, the stain of his blood in the snow was getting bigger. There was no time to lose.

“I’ll do it.” I promised him “But first, I need to give you something to bring down your fever. That way you’ll hold out until I find someone who can help. Let me see… There were some herbs around here last time… Here! This will be enough.”

“Now, help me again, okay?” Carefully, I crushed the leaves in my hands and tried to open his lips “You need to swallow. Come on, Big Bud, I promise this will be the last thing I ask you…”

I was busy trying to get him to open his mouth. So busy I didn't notice his nostrils flare, his breath coming in deeply. And I also didn't notice his eyes opening.

Not until it was too late.

In one second, I was leaning over him, and in the next, my back was pressed against the snow. One of his hands was pinning both my wrists above my head, and the other was around my throat. His enormous body eclipsed everything in my line of sight, until all I could see were those dark, almost black irises, beginning to turn silvery as his wolf peered at me.

I thought he needed help, but maybe… Just maybe…

I was the only one in danger now.

“Who are you?” he growled, his fangs peeking out from between his lips as he inhaled again “Who sent you?”

“Uh…” I swallowed hard, trying not to panic “I… I’m so sorry. I was chopping wood and saw you passed out. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I swear. I was just trying…”

“You think you can fool me?” His voice grew even deeper, and although his hand wasn’t actually hurting my neck, I could feel his fingers tighten a little more “No one would send a weakling like you to gather firewood in the middle of winter!”

"Uh..." It wasn't the first time someone had doubted that my parents could be cruel, so I didn't even try to explain.

“Tell me who sent you here to try and poison me…” His tone was low, but that only seemed to make his anger even more apparent “And maybe I’ll be merciful to you.”

“Poison?” I repeated, incredulous “No! No, no, no! They’re just herbs, I swear! You had a fever and I…”

“Don’t think you can fool me, woman.” His enormous body pressed me even harder, making me sink into the snow like an improvised grave “I don’t know who told you I’d be an easy target, but I can show you that was a lie, if that’s what you want.”

“Can’t you taste it?” I squealed, realizing that might sound like a threat “I-I mean, the little bit I put in your mouth doesn’t taste like poison, does it?”

With my breath caught in my throat, I watched the tip of his tongue peek between his lips, tasting the small speck of green that still lingered there. I didn't know anything about poisons, but it wasn't like any of them tasted like arnica and echinacea… Right?

Or perhaps it had, and that would be my end. Crushed like a sheet of paper between the hands of one of the pack's warriors.

Violet always said I didn't die in the fire because I deserved an even more pathetic death.

Maybe she was right, in the end.