Saving Her Wolf Pup

It was mid-afternoon, mid summer, and 21-year-old Alice Marie Ward walked through the forest that was near her house, a house left to her by her grandmother. Her best friend was waiting, a friend who she had bonded to and acted recklessly about protecting whenever she was in danger. A friend who, in turn, treated her like her own daughter, even though they were only months apart in age. By the time Alice reached the house, she was back to her human form. She walked inside and found Crystal Colleen Bennett cooking dinner for them. That night's meal was going to be steak, and it was almost done. "Alice, do you want your steak a bit more done this time?" "No, thanks, momma. Keep it just a little cooked as usual, please," she said as she went by the stove and watched. "I knew you would say that," Crystal replied with a smile as she turned the stove off. "It is a good thing I had just started it not too long ago." "Yep," Alice chuckled as she just grabbed her steak and bit into it, holding it in her hand. Crystal glanced at her and sighed before taking her own plate to the table and cutting up a bite. "When you are done eating like an animal, yet again, please change your clothes. It looks as if you have been rolling around in the dirt." Alice set her steak down on the plate by the stove and changed her form back to that of a white wolf, making Crystal look at her and laugh at her smart-ass response, then padded up the stairs to her room. Once she shifted back, she put on a pair of gym shorts and dusted off her black tank top. She went back downstairs and sat at the table with her plate. "I don't want to go to college anymore. There is nothing there for me anymore. I know everything I need to know, and I have my degree now." "College is important. It'll kind of help us pay the bills, too, thanks to the financial aid and self betterment towards a great career, plus you only have your associate's. You may want to leave this part of life behind, and you may know about life in the middle of nowhere, but it is still important. And what about your brother? You won't leave him behind. You need to be able to support him if something were to happen." That struck a bit of a nerve. Alice's little brother was legally taken by her birth-mother, Allison, a year ago when she was awarded full custody over him. During the long struggle for, and loss of, custody over him, their grandmother died. Alice was heartbroken over the loss of the two of them and wished for nothing but to be free. It was then that her powers awakened and she became a shapeshifter. She first went to Allison's house to see Frederick. Her brother was out in front of the house, playing in the yard and street while Allison was inside doing who-knows-what instead of watching him. Frederick had looked up to see a white wolf, not knowing it was his sister. Loving animals, he called to her. Alice went to him and licked his hand. Then she shifted back into her human self. She made sure he had his phone then and that he would keep it away from Allison so that they could talk to each other. Then Allison came out, waving a knife, threatening Alice to get away. Alice left, going to find Crystal. Frederick had just turned nine then. A year had passed. Frederick was ten years old. He was still living with Allison. He was abused almost every day. He was struggling in school, only really enjoying being outside. He still had the phone. He learned how to text and Alice received a message occasionally. Coming back to the moment, Alice looked down at her plate. "I can afford the bills no matter what. I'll even get a job if it makes you feel better. We both know I can do just about anything. How about I'll take a break and go back at another point for my bachelor's? You know I plan on writing, anyways, which doesn't require a higher degree, or technically any for that matter." "I guess that's alright. We'll discuss it later, down the line when it becomes more relevant." After dinner, Alice and Crystal went on their normal walk, as they did every night. Alice was in her usual white wolf form, trotting through the trees in circles around Crystal, who was huddled into her sweater, cold. After a while, Alice started to smell food. There was a camp a couple miles away. Alice believed this to be unusual since the forest generally didn't have any visitors. She started to run towards the camp, leaving Crystal to try and catch up with the flashlight. Alice howled as she approached to let Crystal know where she was in the dark. Crystal called out to Alice, telling her to come back. "Don't scare the poor people! You know, wolves aren't very interactive with humans!" She stumbled over a root and had to stop to catch herself. Alice stopped and howled in mock defiance. She trotted a bit further then poked her head through a bush and saw a guy with black hair sitting on a fallen tree next to a fire. He was cooking bacon into some sort of stew and looked at Alice almost immediately. Alice froze and there was a flash of light behind her as Crystal grew near. The guy sat up straight and called out. "You can come join me if you'd like." Alice perked her ears up like a curious wolf would do. She wondered why someone would talk to her like that, like she wasn't an animal. She decided to leave and go back to Crystal. The guy stood up and watched her run away. Approaching her, Alice spooked Crystal but she switched forms again. "There was a guy camping, I think." "That's strange. What did you do?" "I ran away. He spoke to me." "He talked to you?" "Yeah. He offered for me to join him." "He offered a wolf to join him? He must like animals. But who would be so cool if a wild animal approached them?" Alice shrugged, thinking that as a kid she would have done just that. And technically Frederick had done so. Alice and Crystal continued their walk back home, but Alice stopped and shifted quickly, looking behind them. Crystal took notice of Alice's stance and demeanor. "What is it?" she asked as Alice started to growl. Alice saw what she was sure was another animal of the forest. It soon disappeared. Not wanting to chase whatever it was, she assumed it was a wandering wild wolf. There were a few packs in this forest, and most members knew to stay away. When they got back to their house, Alice went to her room to change while Crystal went around to make sure the doors and windows were locked. There was a text message on Alice's phone and when Crystal went up to give it to her, she found her asleep, so she set it on the table on the charger before going to her own room and going to bed. A few hours later, Alice woke up to her phone buzzing. She had missed a call and saw that there was a text message. She read the message first, which was from Frederick looking for someone to talk to like he usually does when he was being beaten again. She saw that the call was from him and so she immediately checked her voicemail. With horror, and built up anger over the year, she listened to Frederick's cries and Allison coming in yelling that he had the phone. The voicemail stopped with the sound of Frederick's screams and the phone crashing against the wall. Alice growled as she changed into her wolf form and ran out of her room. Crystal jumped out her bed and ran out of the room, grabbing a flashlight. She began chasing Alice through the door by the now-broken window. She tried to chase her through the darkness of the forest but Alice was running much faster than Crystal. Crystal soon lost sight of her so she tried to follow the footprints. Behind her came the sound of huffing as a black wolf came up, probably in response to Alice's howls. Crystal was frightened at first but the wolf did not seem menacing and stopped to look at her. Crystal didn't know what to think and instead started to walk away slowly towards Alice's prints. She turned around and continued down a path. After a minute, she heard a man's voice. "You are going the wrong way. She went down more that way." Crystal jumped and looked around to see where he was pointing. She glanced in the direction before looking back at him. "How do you know? Who are you?" "I am like her: a shape shifter. Now follow me to her and I'll explain more," he started walking and Crystal followed. "I was in the forest a while ago when she came to my camp." "So you were why she ran off for a minute. Does she know you?" "No. I don't even think she noticed that I am like her. I was cooking and she was a wolf attracted to food. Is that her most common form to take?" Crystal chuckled lightly, "Yes. She loves food as well as freedom. So do you know what is going on?" "She is in distress. That's all I understood of what I heard. She is angry. There was so much hatred in her growls that I am surprised the whole forest isn't energized with the calls. I have noticed how the animals respect her." Crystal nodded and then thought out loud. "I think I know where she is. She is after her brother. You said you can follow her? This is pretty urgent." The guy nodded. "Call me Crimson, and get on," he said as he shifted into a larger version of the black wolf Crystal saw earlier. Crystal got on, though reluctantly and surprised, and he took off towards the edge of the forest next to the city. As the light of day started to reach the earth, Alice approached the house she had come to know, and heard Frederick's screams. She jumped through the open window to Freddy's room and saw Allison in the living room with her hand against Frederick, holding him to the wall as she held her other hand out, ready to hit him. Frederick saw her before Allison did and called out, "Aly!" before he was smacked. Alice growled and Allison turned around, muttering in confusion when she saw the large white wolf in the room. "Alice? That's just a wolf." She grabbed a pocket knife from her back pocket as she let Frederick fall to the floor. Frederick called out for Alice to be careful as Allison waved the knife towards her. Alice watched carefully, dodging Allison's attacks until she was between her and Frederick. At the last swipe of Allison's hand, Alice bit down and held on to her hand and looked at Frederick, hating the idea of him seeing violence. He was already hiding his face, and so Alice looked back at Allison, who had switched hands. Alice lunged closer,pushing her down to the ground, knowing her weakness with her left hand. The knife flew away. Alice took this moment to shift back. At Allison's speechless response, Alice spoke, "I will be taking Freddy. You will NOT hurt him again!" With that, she shifted back into her wolf form and walked towards her brother, nudging his arm away from his face. Frederick stood up and reached out to his sister, putting his hand on her head. She looked at him then motioned her head for him to get on her back. "No! I am the adult! You are the child. You can not take my son!" Allison shrieked. "You're right," Crystal was there now, opening the front door. Alice had smelled her and another animal nearby, recognizing the smell from the day before. Alice motioned for Frederick again and he quickly got on. Crystal spoke again before Allison could object, "She will be taking him, not as your son but as her brother. You've now seen what your actions have made her become. She will not stop until he is safe or you are dead, or both if need be. He isn't your son anymore, if he ever really was." Allison brandished the knife again, and spoke with venom, "Then I will kill you while she watches and no one will remember you, then I will kill her and no one can prove that she is dead because she is just an animal." Alice snarled and stepped in front of Crystal, intent on protecting them both. She then noticed the man standing in the hallway behind Allison. He spoke. "Well, then, if you think she is just some animal, you are mistaken. I must be just some animal as well, but I can rip you to shreds while she can safely get away with the two of them. No one will know who killed you, other than 'just some animal.' So, I suggest you put the knife down and be ready to accept a call soon. You will be losing him, or die trying to keep him from her." Allison turned around to look at him. "What are you talking about? Who the hell are you? How did you get into my house?" "Same way any creature could get in: an open window. Now, while they leave, you are going to drop the knife or be hurt. Make a choice." He motioned for the girls to get away, then turned his attention back to Allison as he changed his form to that of the black wolf he used earlier. Crystal had her hand on Alice's head as they walked out. She watched the streets and didn't see anyone so they hurried to the forest. They walked for a couple of minutes before Crystal spoke. "So, how is this going to work? If the cops, or anyone, find out you took him, there will be investigations. She might talk. You'll be locked up." Alice stopped and knelt for Frederick to get off. She changed her form and then picked him up. "I don't know. I have some papers that our grandma gave me when we were fighting for him. I've been waiting for her to slip up because I can't do anything that would agree with the system. You taught me that, remember? You found me raving like an animal tearing things apart, trying to deal with her. And you taught me to be patient, to think of how things will affect him. So, I agreed to watch him quietly." "Don't ever call yourself an animal." The man was now a few steps behind them. Alice set Frederick down and nudged him towards Crystal, gesturing for them to go. "Just follow this path as much as you can. I'll find you soon," she told Crystal. She turned to face the man when they were a little ways away. "And just who are you? And why didn't I hear you coming?" She barely started to smell him now in the breeze. “Don’t worry, I am a friend. You can call me Crimson. I am like you. You have so much to learn about our kind.” “'Our kind'?” She thought about it. “You can change! There are more out there?” “Yes, there are a number of us, though I have lost a bunch of them. We used to be like family. Now, we are slowly being targeted. There is another evil out there, and we need knowledge to help us fight it off. We need strength.” He chose to not tell her about the prophecy of their people being slaughtered, and then being saved by the strongest of them all. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know anything about, well, anything. I just stick to myself mostly, other than them. They’re all I have now. I can’t lose them.” Crimson began walking down the path with Alice. “Then I will help you. That woman, she will not have him anymore, legally. I called in a favor and custody over him will be given to you. There will be a meeting tomorrow, and we can discuss the details then. I will watch your house for the next few hours and tonight while you rest.” “Thank you. Then, you must answer all of my questions after the meeting, alright?” Crimson smiled nodded. “And I will teach you all I know about our people. Alice nodded. Soon, they approached Crystal and Frederick. Alice went up to Frederick and picked him up, hugging him. “I’m never letting you go; is that okay?” He nodded against her shoulder as they walked. When they got home, Freddy took a shower and got dressed in old clothes that Alice saved from the year before. She took him to the third upstairs bedroom that would be his. “We’ll get some of your clothes tomorrow. For now, we sleep. Get in bed, and I’ll watch over you.” He gave her one last hug, then went to lay down. She watched him in her wolf form, and they both soon fell asleep.