MATE BY CHANCE

~WOLF?~

~EINAR~

*6 years ago*

It was one of those boring days at work. My dad had warned me about hanging out with the rowdy group of friends I had made. Little did he know that they were hunters and that we made a lot of money selling game meat. He would shiver in disgust if he knew that today, we would be hunting wolves, he loved the animals more than he loved people, more than he loved me, his only child. I wanted nothing more than to save enough money so I could leave this wretched town and today, we would be making quite the cash. Rumor had spread among the small hunting circle that a pack of wolves had been sighted around the borders. Our lead hunter was an old man who was too strong for his age. On one occasion I could have sworn I heard one of the hunters call him alpha but I paid no attention to it, I concluded it was what hunters call their leaders. He always seemed to know how to track the animals even on the darkest of nights.

Tonight, we would be heading into the forest, but for some reason my father had decided I should watch the antique shop instead, leading to us having a fight. He left for wherever he always went to and I immediately decided to close the shop and head out with my buddies. An hour after he left, I closed the shop and met up with a friend who introduced me to the hunters. At first, it seemed like they wanted something from me, always asking about my dad and his antique shop but after I reassured them that he was just a boring man, they let me continue hanging with them. It always felt like they wanted to see my reaction whenever they mentioned killing animals, wolves especially.

We met up with Collin and soon, we were on our way to our hideout so we could meet the others and head out before it got too dark.

“ I thought you couldn’t make it,” Collin said as soon as he opened the door to our hideout.

“I need the cash, you know I do. Running the antique shop isn't enough, and neither is the workshop. I need to leave this place. ” I answer him as I change into my camo outfit for the hunt.

“This hunt is a bit risky, are you sure about joining us, Al- Chris said it is too risky for a newbie like you. ” Collin says as catches himself calling the leader Alpha again.

“Then I will stay at a distance, giving you cover. Don’t let Chris know am with you, just promise to give me something out of it, I can join the next hunt. I have to save up as much money before I turn 20. ” I plead with him knowing very well he will say yes. After all, am good at being stealthy.

“Fine, but you need to spray this on, the wolves have a strong sense of smell and can sniff you from afar and so can Chris, he freaks me out,” Collin says and proceeds to spray me with a concoction that reeks of fermented herbs. He does the same for himself and soon we are out to meet with the guys, with me trailing them from a distance.

They arrive at a location that looks like an entrance to a new world. I watch from a distance, Chris seems to have given Colin and some others instructions to go the opposite side as he and his two loyal hunters always seem to give off the same vibe. For some reason, I decided to follow Chris and his boys instead of covering Collin as I had promised. I keep myself hidden as Chris and his people move deeper into the forest. I lose sight of them for a minute because when I see them next, Chris is standing side by side with two wolves. What the heck! Why is not attacking them and most importantly, I question why they are not attacking him. I am yet to recover from my shock as the two wolves run ahead and Chris follows them. Too shocked to move, I take my time trying to figure out what I just saw, my mind settles with him having trained the wolves as hunting dogs, that seems to be the only logical thought.

Once recovered, I carefully head in the direction the wolves run to. I am tempted to send Collin a message, asking him about the two wolves but my thought process is cut short when I reach a boulder of some sort. By this time the sun has totally dissipated throwing the forest into darkness. The urge to use my flashlight appears and I fight it. I position myself behind the boulder, securing my riffle snug against me, should the wolves appear. I look up at the sky and notice the thick cloud covering the moon, if that cloud passes, perhaps the moon will cast enough light in the forest, and maybe I can continue my tracking. True to the night, the cloud passes and soon the darkness is replaced with the moonlight that is bright enough to light the rocky path.

I pick up my pace, following the sounds of the howling wolves. For some reason my heart beats louder as I approach the snarls and howls, suddenly remembering why Collin said it was dangerous. I trip against something and fall to the ground, I look back at the source of my face plant and almost cry out in fright at the sight of a dead body covered with the loose leaves. I struggle to identify the body but one thing catches my eye, the clothing on the body is exactly what Colin was wearing earlier. I take my phone out and use the backlight to scan the body, starting from the head and that is when I reel back in fear as I see the bullet etched on his forehead, he was killed. s**t!

I crawled around, keeping my phone flat on the ground as I looked for our other new recruit, something within me telling me he might be the one responsible for Collin’s demise. With shaking fingers, I rummaged through Collin’s pockets swallowing the urge to throw up, I found the vail that had the concoction he’d sprayed on me together with his cellphone. I pressed the power button and was thankful when it didn’t have a password. The first thing on the screen was an unsent message addressed to me that simply read, ‘RUN’. I had no time to ask questions, whoever had shot him was still around, I shoved my phone and the vail back in my pocket after deleting the text meant for me. I resumed my walk towards the snarls and howls that had yet to seize. Something was going on and I wanted to know why Collin had to die.

I followed the sounds until I was safely behind some bushes, thick enough to hide me as I peered through into an opening, where the vicious sounds were coming from. At this point, I was so pumped with adrenaline and fear, that it may have corroded my sight as I watched in shock, Chris and the two wolves, face to face with a man holding a rifle, pointed directly at Chris. It took me a moment to see that the man was indeed my father and that he was standing over a wolf, currently whimpering at his feet. What the heck was going on why was my father here?

“Chris, stop this. Haven’t you done enough? How many more wolves need to die? ” My father said, trying to plead with Chris. Did he love wolves so much that he was willing to face two of them?

“You know that is not how it works. But I do have news for you, your son he sure knows how to hunt, did you teach him? Based on your shocked face, I bet you dint know. ” Chris says, letting out a bitter laugh.

“NO! not my son. ” my father yells out as he loads the rifle.

“You have one shot, you miss it and you are dead, you and your son. But not before I tell him everything. ” Chris dares my father and I am seconds away from pulling my trigger.

A click is heard and I instantly know why, the rifle is stuck, my dad cannot fire.

“Well, you had your chance… I will save you from pain. No need to have my wolves tear you apart. Any last words? ” Chris says as he pulls a small firearm from his pocket.

“Chris, let- ” My father doesn’t even finish his sentence when the firearm goes off and my father falls to the ground. It takes all my strength to not cry out as his body stills on the ground.

My father is dead.

“Liam, Have you found the boy, he needs to be gone. ” Chris takes out his phone and calls the other hunter who was with Collin. I did not need to be a genius to know that I was being hunted. Chris was tying up all loose ends, and I was one of them. Going back to the antique shop was out of the picture. So I did what Colin had told me to do, I ran.

I ran with nothing but my wallet and sheer will to avenge my father’s death. In the end, I found myself in a small town that was surrounded by a thick forest. I begged the spirits of the forest to pity me as I sought refuge in the forest I would have once hunted.

Every night since then, I swore to find Chris and show him the same mercy he showed my father.

******CURRENTLY**********

having lived n the forest for six years I could tell something was a miss. I couldn’t really put a finger on it but everything around me felt off. For someone who lived in the middle of the forest, there were a lot of odd things that occurred in the forest, but nothing beat the sudden change of atmosphere. I had been living in this ramshackle of a cabin for almost a year, a whole year of trying to heal from wounds deeper than medicine could heal. In that one year, I had grown accustomed to the rhythm of the forest. Daytime in the forest was full of vibrant sounds, from the wind rustling the trees, the river flowing with such grace it sounded like it was singing to the forest, the evenings ushered in the night that was my favorite part of the day. The crickets would begin their singing and soon the owls would join in. On such evenings, a wolf would find its way yards away from my cabin and just lay in the grass, watching me work on whatever piece of furniture I had on my workbench. I wondered if it was here to watch over me or watch me. Did the wolf know of my past transgressions? Did it know I was a hunter? maybe that was why it watched from a distance, to see whether I would make the wrong move. I barely left the confines of my cabin, other than to take my furniture into town, using my very old truck I had bought a year after hiding in the forest. I kept my car hidden near the main road which meant I would have to carry most of the things I made to the truck. At first, it was too tiring but I couldn't risk people following me. I showed up in the small town center only when I had to get food, medicine, and clothes, other than that, the forest provided everything I needed.

Today was the third day that the wolf had not come to watch me. I couldn't shake off the ill-feeling that gave me. Back in my hunting days, days I regret, the gut feeling was everything. We were taught to trust our instincts and that the animals we hunted, wolves especially, acted on instincts. The rhythm of the forest felt offbeat. The air was thick with tension, for a second there, the thought of hunters in the forest flashed across my mind. They couldn’t be here for the wolf, could they? I had left my coven, swearing to never pick up my hunting gear ever again, not after what happened.

When the unsettling feeling did not fade away, I picked up my infrared torch and went out for a walk, hoping everything was just my imagination. I paced around for a little bit and finally decided to go towards the river, maybe a cold dip would calm my nerves. I switched off the infrared torch as the river would be well lit by the moon. I took careful steps towards the river bank and froze in place when I came face to face with a bloody whimpering wolf.

What caught my breath was that the wolf had the same color of fur as the one my father was protecting...six years ago.