a Witch's Wolf

Episode 8 - a Spell

Episode 8 - a Spell

The last thing she had ever expected was to find a n***d Noah Riley with a mouth full of blood and she didn't want to leave him like this, alone and vulnerable, n***d on the ground in the woods. She knelt down beside him and gently opened his mouth. She had noticed blood around his mouth earlier when she'd rubbed eucalyptus on him and hoped he just bit his tongue, and the blood wasn't coming from somewhere inside. What if he was bleeding inside! What if he was in shock?

“Noah.” She finally said quietly and put her hand on his face. “Noah, can you hear me?” Maybe if she just tried to gently wake him up. “Noah Riley, wake up.” She said softly. “Noah, can you hear me?” She repeated. “Noah.” She said again a little louder. “Noah Riley.” She felt weird calling him by his name when she’d never even spoke to him before. Then she felt weird using his whole name like a celebrity or something. “Gosh. I’m so stupid.” She didn’t know what she was doing. She dug around her bag again to see if she had anything at all that might be of some use. He moved. The air changed, their eyes met, her breath caught.

“Noah.” She could barely whisper. His eyes squinted at her but he didn’t say anything or move a muscle.

“Are you okay?” She asked a little louder this time. He took a deep breath in and winced. He probably had a broken rib or two. His head was killing him and he was so thirsty.

“Water.” He barely croaked out. His throat was so dry. She looked a little embarrassed, wrinkling her nose.

“Um, I have some juice.” She fumbled nervously with her bag and pulled out a juice box. This was really embarrassing, she thought as she struggled to get the wrapper off the straw and into the hole. She remembered the blood on his mouth and held her scarf out. "Here, your mouth is bleeding." He used the back of his hand instead and she dropped her scarf. It wasn't his blood anyway, he thought.

“Here.” She slid her hand under him. “Can you sit up?” She tried to help him sit up. He barely moved.

He wasn’t sure what was real. He'd smelled her before he saw her. He felt like he was coming up from a fog, his head was heavy, his body rigid. He was cold for the first time in his life. She was inches from his face and suddenly he was acutely aware of how n***d he was, her soft breath smelled minty and sweet. She was staring at him with such interest. He realized she’d never really looked at him before. He'd never noticed that her eyes were golden, like honey. He couldn’t look away. The straw slid into his mouth and he drank it. It was cold and sweet and gone after a few swallows.

“Sorry,” She said as she tucked the empty box into her bag and fidgeted nervously. He was just staring at her and she couldn't breathe. “That’s all I have. But there’s a stream not far from here, I can go get you some.” She started to get up but he stopped her with a hand on her leg.

“It’s fine.” He said quietly. “Help me up?” He actually sounded nice for a change.

“She put her arm out and wondered if she was even going to be any help, his size made her feel so small. He managed to come up to sitting but he looked really uncomfortable, and she looked down at her sweater.

“I, uh, have some gym clothes if you want... in my bag...." she trailed off as she tried not to stare at his n***d body. Her sweater barely covered anything. "We're not that far if you want to come back to my house." She asked softly. "I’m sure my dad has something you can fit into. He’s not as big as you are but he’s tall.” She stopped talking. This was really awkward.

He wanted to say no. He should just tell her to leave him and he’d be fine but he actually wanted to go with her. How could he even start to explain this to her? He wasn't sure how much she knew about him. There was no way she would be helping him if she knew he was a wolf or maybe she was luring him. Before he could say anything, she was tugging at his arm trying to pull him up.

“Was this some kind of prank or something?” She was trying not to look at him as her sweater slid further down. “I mean,” She was grunting with his weight, trying to look anywhere but at him. He thought it was cute that she couldn't make eye contact. “How did you end up n***d?” her cheeks turned red and he tried not to laugh.

“Yeah, it was something like that.” He said softly. If she noticed the tick in his cheek as he said it, she didn’t say. She was trying to prop him up on her shoulder like a crutch. He let her. She was actually being really sweet. “Thank you.” He said quietly as he held her sweater to his waist and stood up tall.

“You’re welcome.” she swallowed. They just stared at each other. “Um. Here.” She dug in her bag and pulled out a pair of yellow shorts and a black and yellow t-shirt. It was going to look like underwear on him and she winced. “It’s all I have.” She shrugged an apology.

He took them and she turned away to walk up the hill. He came up beside her in no time and handed her the sweater. She tucked it into her bag and tried not to look at him but failed. The shirt was really big on her but it fit him pretty snug. His arms and shoulders, chest and stomach all made her mouth water and she had to swallow but then the shorts just looked so ridiculous, she choked trying not to laugh. He'd been watching her face and it occurred to him that he had looked at her that exact way when she threw off her shirt in the woods. His heart jumped. She was trying not to laugh and it made them both burst out laughing. He sucked in a deep breath in pain and she immediately stopped.

“Oh no.” She slid her arm around him and under his again. The way she looked at him made something tingle in his stomach. He should be running. He should be mean and rude and take off, but he'd smelled her and when he opened his eyes, there she was. Fog drifted around her soft face, sunlight this time instead of moonlight slid over her silky hair and she was even more beautiful than she'd been that night in the woods. It felt like he was dreaming. He just kept going along with whatever she wanted. If this wasn’t a spell, he was losing his mind.