FEAR
1263 Words
NEVAEH’S POV;
There is a specific kind of fear that doesn’t scream.
It slides beneath your skin and grabs hold of your lungs like a fist. That’s exactly what I felt as I stood frozen on the sidewalk, maybe ten feet away from the… thing.
The wolf that stood in front of my house was as white as winter and massive.
Its eyes were silver, deep and sharp as we stared at each other. I couldn’t breathe. I really didn’t want to get eaten by a wolf.
My mouth opened, a scream caught in my throat. My heels clicked backward instinctively as I reached down and grabbed the only thing I could find, a small fallen twig. Not a branch. Not a bat. A twig.
Great.
“Back!” I shouted, brandishing it like I was about to cast a spell. “Go away!”
The wolf didn’t move. It didn’t growl or snarl. It just… blinked. Like it was disappointed in my weapon choice.
Sue me.
My breath lodged in my throat. My fingers turned to ice.
I stepped back, heart hammering. “No… no, no, no”
I looked around for help, for signs, for something that said I was dreaming.
Should I call the cops? What would they do?
I took another step back, heart thudding so hard I could feel it in my ears.
It tilted its head, slowly. Deliberately.
There was no threat in its eyes. No bared fangs. No advance.
Instead, it took a single step forward and sat down.
It just sat down.
My hand trembled around the twig. “Okay, so you’re… not attacking. That’s good.”
The wolf c****d his head to the left and began to pant excitedly. It reminded me of a golden retriever.
“You’re not going to hurt me… are you?”
Its ears twitched slightly, and then it did something I never thought a wolf could do. It bowed its head, lowered it toward the ground in a motion that almost looked… respectful?
My heart stopped. Then sped. Then stopped again.
The white fur. The eyes. The timing.
My lips parted in slow motion, horror and awe dawned on me.
“…Carter?”
The wolf’s ears perked.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, dropping the twig.
He didn’t move. He just sat there, watching me.
I stepped forward slowly, cautiously. My fingers trembling like I’d never used them before. “Is it really you?”
He gave a small, deliberate nod.
My knees gave out and I dropped onto the porch steps.
“What the hell, Carter,” I said, half-laughing, half on the verge of crying. “You can’t just… show up like this. As a wolf.”
He padded forward with slow, careful steps and nudged his head gently into my lap.
I froze. I literally froze.
And then, as if on instinct, my fingers moved. Brushing the fur at the top of his head, it was soft.
My insides felt funny, like something was trying hard to burst out of me.
He let out a low huff, like a sigh, and curled his body slightly against me, leaving me warm and completely blocked from the cold breeze.
I just sat there. Staring at nothing. Stroking his fur with both hands now.
“I can’t believe you’re real.” I said while chuckling
He nuzzled closer to me.
I sighed, “…I had a rough day.”
His ears twitched.
“I mean… you probably guessed that. You’re stalking me now, apparently.”
He made a little snorting sound, almost like a laugh.
I smiled weakly and kept petting him. “Harold’s mom tried to change our wedding colors. Again. To champagne. She had always mentioned that I looked better in muted tones. Which I think is rich, coming from a woman who dresses like a golden chandelier.”
Carter’s head lifted briefly, his eyes locking on mine and steady and so there. I swear, I saw him smirking in wolf form.
I laughed quietly. “I wore a blue dress. Kiera helped me pick it. It was cute.”
He shifted a little.
“And Harry …God.” I shook my head. “He dropped me off at the corner like I was some delivery package. Said he had crypto plans. Who does that?”
Carter’s chest rumbled beneath me, a faint growl that felt like a protest.
I glanced down at him, eyebrows raised. “You jealous?”
He gave me a long, slow look.
I smiled and leaned back against the porch railing, fingers still moving through his fur. “You’re not fair, you know.”
He nudged my arm in response.
“You’re warm, and you listen. And you don’t try to fix anything or change me or make me feel small.” I looked down. “You just… exist. And I feel safer with you than I ever have with him.”
He nuzzled his head deeper into my lap.
The cold night air wrapped around me, but I didn’t feel it. Not with his massive frame curled around my legs, his fur like a thick blanket keeping the world at bay. His breath was slow and steady, and somehow… mine matched it.
“Can you understand everything I’m saying?”
He licked my arm.
“Do you always turn into a wolf at night?”
He tilted his head like he was weighing how to explain his answer. Then he nodded once.
“Were you watching me tonight?” I asked.
No nod. No shake. Just a pause… and then a slow, deliberate brush of his head against my stomach and a guttural growl.
I’m not sure I understood that.
Something heavy and unspoken pressed between us.
The silence was deafening. Questions that I didn’t know how to ask. The longing I wasn’t ready to name. The comfort I hadn’t known I needed.
I scratched behind his ear and felt the way he leaned into it.
“I don’t want to marry someone who doesn’t see me,” I whispered. “And I don’t know what the hell you’re doing to me, but I think… I think you see me. Even like this. Even when I’m tired and scared and hiding behind fake smiles.”
He looked up at me then.
His eyes weren’t just silver. They were galaxies. Full of old secrets and quiet assurance.
I exhaled slowly, afraid to break whatever spell was wrapping itself around us.
He leaned in again, pressing his head softly into my chest, his whole frame enveloping me, guarding me from the cold, the night, the noise of everything else.
Time slipped past like water.
I don’t remember falling asleep, but I remember waking up to the sound of something soft and heavy shaking beside me.
I blinked groggily, just in time to see Carter (still in wolf form) shaking the dew from his fur and rising to his feet.
My phone buzzed beside me.
4:03 AM.
“Carter…?”
He looked at me, one last time.
“Don’t go,” I whispered.
Then, without a sound, he turned and loped off into the woods beyond my house, moonlight catching against his pale fur as he vanished into the trees like some ancient myth that had stayed too long.
The warmth disappeared with him.
And I was alone.
The air hit me like a slap, sharp and biting. I looked down at my legs, still curled in the shape he left.
Still warm where he’d been.
Still aching for whatever this was becoming.
- Writer
