Bound To The Midnight Wolf

lickering shadows, and vanished travelers had haunted Raven Hollow for centuries. Children were told stories at bedti

ey didn't feel like lis

the suffocating little house cluttered with regrets and half-finished embroide

ncient oaks that lined the path behind the abandoned church. Sh

ked the same in the deepening dusk, and the wi

ts velvet cloak over Rave

ickered in her trembling hand, the beam dancing over gnarled roots and thorny underbrush. Her pencil an

scolded herself. You'

chorus of common wolves - this was a single, mournful cry t

at snagged her jeans and scratched her ankles raw. The beam caught fleeting glimpses of white

ld catch herself, she tumbled down a hidden slope, sharp branches whipping at h

ng wildly until it struck a mossy stone and

t the blur of moonlight peeking through the canopy

n - a l

tant thunder rolling through her bones. Carefully, igno

oonlight. She realized she had landed in a small clearing, encircl

half-shrouded in mist, stood

shoulders that glistened faintly under the moon. Clawed hands curled at his sides, and when his head lifted,

her mind all at once. The Midnight Wolf. The cursed beast. A man d

e tried to speak, but only

what a

to a sigh, rough and broken. He took one step forw

ands in trembling surrender. Her heart drumme

angs. He simply stood there, eyes fixed on her fac

painful curiosity. There was anger, yes - but beneath it, sorrow. Lone

t quite human, not quite beast. The wo

ed. Her tong

I didn't mean t

ogy burned him. His claws flexed,

mand trembling with somethin

r here more surely than chains. She glimpsed shackles at his wrists - old iron half-h

e. She should

took a single

e asked before she

at, the clearing fell utterly silent -

her, a dark blur lunged from the trees - another wolf, lar

idnight Wolf roared. His body collided with the attacker in a blur of muscle and shado

outh, watching fur and claws tear at e

the larger wolf bolted into the trees,

om a gash along his shoulder. He turned to her, his chest

ped, voice frayed

d and ran, crashing through the forest, her mind a whirl

r footsteps vanished among the trees, his claw

ught bitterly, an

t touched her. Tonight

in centuries, hope flickered l