The Heart Has Chosen

another wolf 21

Chapter 21

The deeper I drove, the quieter everything became. No birds. No people. Just the sound of gravel crunching beneath the tires.

Then the cabin came into view. It sat in the middle of a clearing surrounded by thick woods. Small. Old. A little worn down.

Perfect. The front porch sagged slightly on one side, and the paint had started peeling years ago, but it still looked better than most places I had stayed before. I stepped out of the truck slowly. The air smelled clean out here.

Fresh. Wild. Sal inhaled deeply.

“Home.”

“Maybe.”

I walked toward the porch when a voice suddenly spoke behind me.

“You the girl renting the place?”

I spun around so fast my hand almost reached for the knife hidden in my jacket. An older man stood near the tree line holding a shotgun casually over one shoulder. Great.

“You always sneak up on people like that?” I asked.

“You always jump like a scared rabbit?”

“I’m not scared.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Sure.”

The man walked closer, moving slowly like he already knew this land belonged to him. Tall. Gray beard. Flannel jacket. The human version of a warning sign.

“I’m Henry,” he said. “Owner of the cabin.”

“Sammy.”

His eyes narrowed slightly at my name, like he was trying to place it somewhere, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he pointed toward the cabin.

“Well? You wanna look inside or stare at it all day?”

I followed him onto the porch carefully. The second he unlocked the door, the scent hit me. Dust. Wood. Rain. Forest. Sal instantly relaxed. The inside was small but comfortable. A couch sat near an old fireplace, and a tiny kitchen connected to the living room. There was only one bedroom and a bathroom in the back. It wasn’t fancy.

It didn’t need to be.

“You got electricity?” I asked.

“Most days.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Henry snorted softly. “The place ain’t perfect, but it’s quiet.”

Quiet sounded amazing. I wandered toward the back window overlooking the woods. The forest stretched endlessly behind the cabin. No neighbors. No crowds. No questions. For the first time in weeks, my chest loosened a little. Then Sal suddenly went still.

Completely still.

A low growl rumbled through my mind.

“What?” I whispered internally.

“There’s another wolf here.”

My entire body tensed instantly. Outside. Close. I slowly turned toward the window again, scanning the trees. At first, I saw nothing.

Then two golden eyes appeared between the shadows. Watching me. Not moving. Not blinking. My pulse slammed hard against my ribs. The wolf was massive. Bigger than any normal wolf should’ve been. And it knew exactly what I was. Henry noticed my expression immediately.

“You alright there, girl?”

The wolf disappeared back into the trees before I could answer.

Sal sounded tense now.

“That wasn’t normal.”

“No kidding.”

Henry studied me carefully. “You see something out there?”

I forced myself to look away from the woods. “No,” I lied quietly. “Just thought I saw movement.”

He kept staring at me for another second too long. Like he knew I was lying. Then he finally nodded.

“Forest plays tricks on people sometimes.”

Yeah. Something told me that wolf wasn’t a trick.

I ended up taking the cabin. Maybe that made me stupid. Maybe it made me desperate. Honestly, it was probably both. Henry accepted cash without asking questions, which immediately made me trust him less and like him more.

“You move in today if you want,” he said while stuffing the money into his coat pocket.

“That’s it? No paperwork?”

“You planning on causing problems?”

I thought about the bikers. The mysterious warnings. The giant wolf in the woods.

“…Probably not.”

Henry laughed under his breath. “Then we’re good.”

Before leaving, I glanced toward the trees one last time. The wolf never appeared again. But Sal stayed restless the entire drive back to town.

“He was watching us.”

“Could’ve just been a normal wolf.”

“You know that’s a lie.”

Unfortunately, she was right. The moment I pulled Walter’s truck behind the theater, Noah came jogging outside dramatically.

“She returns alive!”

“Disappointed?”

“A little.”

Walter stepped out behind him carrying a box of movie posters.

“You were gone for three hours,” he said suspiciously.

“It’s called driving, Walter.”

“You buy the place?”

“Yep.”

Walter actually looked relieved. “Good.”

“That eager to get rid of me?”

“Yes.”

“At least he’s honest,” Noah muttered.

I grabbed my bag from upstairs that evening and packed everything I owned in less than twenty minutes. Turns out running most of your life keeps things pretty simple. A few clothes. A knife. Some old photographs. That was about it. I paused when I picked up the picture of my mother. The edges were worn and bent from years of carrying it around. She smiled brightly in the photo while holding my hand when I was little.

Before everything went bad. Before the hunters. Before the blood. Before I learned monsters were real.

“You miss her.”

Sal’s voice softened.

“Every day.”

I slipped the picture carefully into my bag before carrying my stuff downstairs. Walter helped me load the truck while Noah complained the entire time.

“You know,” Noah said, “most people celebrate getting their own place.”

“Most people don’t move into haunted murder forests.”

“Fair point.”

Walter shut the truck bed firmly.

“If anything feels wrong out there, you leave immediately.”

I leaned against the driver door.

“Do you really believe those stories?”

Walter crossed his arms. “I believe people disappear out there.”

That wiped the humor right off Noah’s face. For a second, none of us spoke. Then Walter sighed heavily.

“Just… be careful, alright?”

The concern in his voice caught me off guard. People usually didn’t care enough to warn me twice.

“I will.”

That was probably another lie. The sun had already started setting by the time I reached the cabin again. The woods looked different at night. Darker. Too quiet. I carried my bags inside quickly and locked the door behind me. The cabin creaked softly around me as wind moved through the trees outside. Still, despite everything, it felt better than the apartment above the theater.

More space. More freedom. More danger. Sal loved every second of it. I unpacked slowly before lighting a fire in the fireplace. Shadows flickered across the walls while darkness settled outside. That was when I heard it. Crunch.