The Attack

By midday, the forest felt less mysterious in the sun. Still vast and strange, but no longer hiding something in every shadow. Aurora sat by the stream, knees to her chest, watching the water flow over the stones. Her stomach grumbled. "Of course."

She'd spent the morning trying to find something to eat, but besides the berries she had no confidence in and the mushrooms that looked as though they wanted to kill her, she'd found nothing. She tossed a stone out into the water. "I should've listened when the palace cook tried to teach me." The memory tugged a smile from her lips, before quickly killing it. There was no palace cook now. No palace. No father waiting for her return. Her room, with her clothes hung neatly in the wardrobe. She was alone, and the water showed no mercy. The grief pressed harder than the hunger, but at least the hunger gave her something to do with her hands.

A rustling in the bushes made her look up. A squirrel emerged and froze at the sight of her before staring. "Hello again."

It tilted its head and something warm brushed against her mind and she went still. It was stronger this time. She could feel its curiosity, its caution, the flicker of excitement when it noticed the berries beside her. She slowly pushed one out for it and felt it sharpen in her mind. Safe. Food. Her. The squirrel darted forward and snatched it up before she could push the connection away.

Aurora pulled her hand to her chest. "What is happening to me?" For a brief, aching moment she felt as though she were being wanted.

Then the birds stopped.

She only noticed it after she registered the wrongness in the air. The light had not changed, but something else had. The squirrel ran off without taking the second berry.

A crack sounded from behind her and she spun around, finding nothing. The forest had gone entirely silent now, pressing against her ears. Her fingers found the small knife she'd found that morning. "Ethan?" There was no answer. She regretted it instantly. He was not hers to call.

Another sound, closer, unmistakable this time. A growl. Her pulse pounded as she backed towards the water and she saw them. One pair of eyes, then another, than a third. Three wolves emerged from the trees, smaller than the one she'd seen the night before, but still too large to be normal.

She gripped the knife tighter and something old and angry flared up beneath her fear. She had already been left to die once. She was not doing it twice, not for these things, not for anyone. "Stay back." None of them moved. One lowers its head. "I'm warning you."

The largest of the wolves lifted its ears as it looked past her and she turned to find a figure moving through the trees. Ethan. So much relief flooded her that her knees nearly buckled. "You."

His eyes swept over her, then the wolves, then a cold mask crossed his expression. "Get behind me."

"What?"

"Now."

Something in his voice made her move, and she was behind him as he stood between her and the wolves. One began to snarl and his jaw tensed. "You shouldn't be here."

"What are they?"

"Wolves."

"I know they're wolves."

"Then stop talking."

The leader of the pack took a step forward and his shoulders tensed. "Stay behind me." She nodded and suddenly it all happened at once. One wolf lunged and Ethan shoved her sideways so hard the creature missed him by inches. A second came from the other side and he turned to meet it, but the third was already on her. She threw up her arms. Claws raked across her shoulder and she screamed as something small and furious inside her whispered, not like this, not after everything, not out here where no one will even know.

Ethan's head snapped towards her and something inside him broke loose. His eyes flared gold. "Run!"

She didn't have time to wonder what he meant before his body convulsated and bones cracked, his shoulders twisting and dark fur spreading over his skin as he dropped forward, his face stretching until the man she had known was gone. In his place stood the wolf from the night before, same black fur, same burning gold eyes.

He hit the attacking wolf hard enough to shake the ground. Aurora stood in stunned silence while the other two growled and circled, but Ethan was faster, driving the wolf back until they finally broke and ran off into the trees.

He stood over the one he'd beaten, gasping for air, and then those gold eyes turned to her.

She stumbled back. "No." He took a step toward her. "No. Stay away from me."

He stopped. For a long moment neither of them moved. Then his body began to change again and she watched, sick with disbelief, as the wolf folded back into the man she'd met by the stream. His clothes hung in shreds. Blood ran down his shoulder. Blood ran down hers too, warm at first, cooling fast in the air, and her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

She opened her mouth and nothing came out. He looked at her wound, his gaze sliding to her face but not actually meeting her eyes. "You're hurt."

"You're the wolf." Her voice shook. "That was you. You've been watching me."

He said nothing.

"What are you?"

"Aurora."

She flinched. She'd never told him her name. The color drained from her face. "You know my name."

"I know more than your name."

Fear crept down her spine as she looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time. "Are you going to hurt me?"

Something shifted in his face. "No."

"Then what are you?"

He glanced toward the trees, as if the answer wasn't one he wanted to give her there. "You can't stay."I have nowhere else to go." The words came out smaller than she meant them to, and she hated that he heard it.

"I know."

"Then where am I supposed to go?"

His eyes came back to hers. "With me."

Her heart stopped. "No."You don't understand."I understand enough. You're a man who turns into a wolf. I don't know what you are, where you live, or why you've been watching me."

He stepped closer. She stepped back, and her shoulder throbbed with the movement, a small sharp reminder that this was real. "I won't hurt you."

"You keep saying that."

"Because you need to believe it."

"And if I don't?"

His gaze flicked to the forest around them. "Then stay here."

She followed his eyes. The woods looked darker now. Less forgiving than they had all day. She remembered the wolves. She looked at the blood soaking into her sleeve, and at her own hands.

"More will come," he said, quietly.

"Why?"

"Because they know you're here." A chill moved through her as he turned towards the trees. "We leave now."

She didn't move. "Where?"

He looked back at her. "My home."

Everything in her said following a stranger into the forest was madness. But staying alone wasn't a choice anymore. Not with her shoulder bleeding and the light starting to change. She looked once more at the stream, at the tree that had sheltered her, and at the only world she had left. Then at Ethan.

"Fine."

His face betrayed nothing but something in his shoulders eased, just slightly, as though he'd been braced for a different answer. "Stay close."

She followed him into the deepening dark, with no idea that she was leaving the only world she'd ever known, and no idea that where he was taking her was nothing like what she had expected.