Fit for Fire

The day I first felt the pull was just like any other.

I was out grocery shopping, and on the way home, I stopped at a fork in the road.

There was a big green sign in front of me.

I could turn right and go home or turn left and head toward the hidden valley near my town.

Suddenly, I felt this irresistible urge to turn left, and before I knew it, I was driving toward the forest.

I didn’t know why I did it. It was like something deep inside me, my sleeping wolf, was calling me. All I knew was that I had to turn left.

I drove deeper into the forest, not caring that I’d never been this way before, or that the sun was setting behind me.

Finally, I pulled over and got out of the car. The cold air made me shiver as I looked around at the dark forest.

I was scared by the strong pull of my wolf. I hadn’t shifted in years, and my inner beast had been quiet. Until now.

She wanted to take over. She whispered promises to me about finding that missing piece of my soul.

She promised her wisdom, her intuition, and a connection that only she could provide.

I held onto her whispers.

I stripped down, hid my car keys in the back wheel well, and I changed.

I let the woman fall away and the wolf take over. My skin turned into thick fur, my nails into claws, and my hands and feet into paws.

I could hear the music the wind made as it danced through the leaves and brushed against the grass.

And then I ran, charging through the trees in my wolf form, feeling a sense of freedom I’d forgotten.

Had I really forgotten how amazing this felt? Had I really been blind to how beautiful the world was?

Suddenly, a breeze made my ears perk up. The wind tickled my fur, and I froze.

There was something else in the woods, something following me.

I sniffed the air, confirming that I wasn’t alone. Not just one, but many.

They all smelled different but similar. I was confused. I’d never encountered anything like this before.

I picked up speed, darting through the brush of a fallen tree. The glowing eyes of small animals watched me from the bushes.

I tried to head west, hoping to avoid whatever was following me.

I was worried that I would get lost and spend days trying to find my way back.

I kept running, but I couldn’t shake the scent. I kept going west, not wanting to run into whatever was following me.

But somehow, they were still getting closer.

I was sure I was smelling wolves, but their scent was strange.

Was this a pack? I didn’t know wild wolf packs could be this big.

Usually, a lone wolf wouldn’t dare approach me. I was bigger and stronger.

But the strange scent was everywhere. These wolves weren’t backing off.

Feeling surrounded, I took a sharp left. My legs ached from the strain.

I needed to go faster. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep this up.

My ears twitched at the sound of running paws and breaking twigs. Shit.

As I heard the sound of running paws and saw the shifting shapes in the trees, my heart sank. They had caught up to me.

I skidded to a stop. My fur stood on end, and I bared my teeth.

A large gray wolf lunged at me from the trees. I dodged.

He recovered and took a few steps toward me, his fur standing on end and his teeth glistening with saliva.

Another wolf hit me from the side, knocking me down. I didn’t want to expose my belly, so I bit into his neck and used my legs to push him off.

With my head low, I snarled and growled. Blood dripped from my mouth as I spat out a piece of the last wolf that attacked me.

The large wolf attacked again, biting my back leg. I yelped and twisted, catching him off guard as I bit into his shoulder.

A rush of adrenaline helped me throw him off.

A voice rang out from deeper in the trees.

“Take her down but don’t kill her. We want her alive.”

Was that a human? Alive? Where?

Looking around, I noticed these wolves were much larger than normal. Could they be…

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my left shoulder, interrupting my thoughts. A wolf had jumped on my back, bringing me down with his weight and my surprise.

I jerked my head to the side, my jaws snapping in an attempt to bite my attacker. His snout remained just out of my reach.

He yanked his head back, sinking his teeth deeper into the muscle of my shoulder.

When I tried to rise, the wolf pressed down on my shoulder as a warning, his paw resting heavily on my back, his growl clear in its intent.

Other wolves circled me, their heads low and teeth bared.

A man with dark hair walked through them. As he towered over me, I realized his scent was hidden by the overpowering smell of the wolves around us.

As he neared me, a fleeting look of cold calculation crossed his face. He was just a foot away. His large body blocked any chance of escape, even if I could somehow shake off the wolf pinning me down.

His dark brown eyes studied my paws before moving up to take in the rest of me.

The way he scrutinized me with such careful curiosity made my palms slick with sweat.

Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I inhaled slowly, gasping at his scent. He smelled like cedar, citrus, and fresh rain. A part of me wanted to bury my face in his chest just to get a better whiff.

Furrowing my brows in frustration, I scolded myself for entertaining such absurd thoughts at a time like this. Taking another small sniff, I realized that his scent wasn’t purely human, there was a hint of wolf in there too.

“Well, well, well, little rogue,” the man said, and a shiver ran down my spine at the sound of his voice. “What brings you to our territory?”

What the hell is happening? Whose territory? What’s a ‘rogue’?

He took a step toward me, then suddenly froze.

Almost instinctively, he took a deep breath before his eyes locked onto mine.

His eyes widened in surprise, and he ran a hand through his thick hair and licked his lips.

Something about the way he looked at me made me feel uneasy, but there was another sensation too, stirring deep within me.

“What should we do with her?” another voice echoed from the darkness.

The man in front of me looked around in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected to see another human in the woods tonight. The voice belonged to a second man, with long brown hair, who stepped out from the shadows. I was taken aback to see that he was naked.

The dark-haired man turned back to me, and I saw a conflicted expression cross his face.

“Should we kill her, Zach?” the naked man asked.

The man I now knew as Zach turned back to me, and I saw him weighing his options. His next words would decide my fate, I realized.

What was about to happen to me?