Chapter 10
1151 Words
The air was colder today.
Crisp and clean, like mountain spring water poured over stone. Penny could feel it on her skin, sharp as it entered her lungs and settled in her bones. The kind of cold that wasn’t cruel—just honest. Alive. The kind of cold that said pay attention.
She moved with purpose, her steps measured, each crunch of frost under her boots deliberate. She wasn't chasing the black wolf anymore.
This time, she was inviting him.
Sunlight filtered through the high canopy, gilding the pines in streaks of gold. The ground shimmered beneath a delicate layer of fresh snow, blanketing fallen branches and bending the heads of wild grasses. Every sound—the creak of bark, the flit of a raven’s wings—felt like part of some breathless ritual.
The pendant at her neck throbbed faintly, its silver warm against her collarbone. A heartbeat. Her heartbeat? She wasn’t sure. The amethyst eyes caught the morning light, casting a soft purple glow across the zipper of her jacket.
She chose her spot carefully: a low clearing just off the game trail, nestled between two firs bent toward each other like old friends whispering secrets. A perfect circle of space. A meeting place.
Above her, a raven cawed and settled silently onto a high branch. Watching.
Waiting.
Penny took a slow breath and lowered herself to one knee in the snow. Her breath misted in the sunlight.
“Hey, boy,” she said softly. Her voice was teasing, light, threaded with nervous hope. “You hungry?”
Silence answered. But not emptiness. It was a listening kind of silence.
She unzipped her pack and pulled out a strip of beef jerky—the last one. She held it up like an offering, grinning.
“Hungry,” she repeated, this time pushing the word through her thoughts the way she had in her dreams. Like a pulse, like an invitation. Like bait.
She let it roll from her lips one more time, louder—half-laughing, half-daring.
“HUNGRY!”
A rustle answered her.
Her gaze snapped toward the trees.
And there—like a shadow born from the forest’s spine—he emerged.
The black wolf stepped into the clearing without a sound. Larger than she remembered. Larger than any wolf had a right to be. His shoulders brushed the low-hanging branches as he passed beneath them, snowflakes dusting his thick fur. His gold eyes glowed like fire behind glass.
He looked at her.
Not at the food.
Not at her bag.
At her.
Penny swallowed.
Slowly, she tossed the strip of jerky forward, letting it land a few feet from her boot.
“There,” she said softly. “Peace offering.”
The wolf didn’t lunge. Didn’t bare teeth.
He approached with deliberate calm, head low but unafraid, like a king stepping into his own hall. He paused over the jerky, nostrils flaring. Then, with startling gentleness, he took it between his teeth and chewed.
Penny let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Then, it hit her.
Not a sound.
Not a word.
But a thought—huge and undeniable—rumbled through her mind like distant thunder on the edge of a storm.
Mate.
Hungry.
It wasn’t just a repetition of her word.
It was a declaration.
The black wolf threw back his head and howled.
The sound burst through the clearing—long, rich, full of command. It rolled up the mountain slopes and spilled through the trees like water, echoing off cliffs and stirring birds from their perches.
And then—
They answered.
One by one, calls rose in every direction.
Some high and sharp, some low and warbled. Dozens. Maybe more. The forest vibrated with life as voices joined his, rising like a chorus.
Penny froze.
He’s not alone.
The black wolf turned sharply, his great paws pounding across the snow as he vanished into the trees like smoke fleeing the wind.
Penny scrambled to her feet. “Wait—what the hell?”
She yanked open her pack and dug for the drone controller. Her fingers fumbled with cold plastic, and then—
Whirrrr.
The small drone lifted into the air, slicing skyward through the trees like a buzzing bird. She angled it toward the ridge and watched the screen flicker to life.
There they were.
Dozens of wolves—moving like ghosts across the snow.
And at the head, unmistakable—
Him.
The black wolf.
Her wolf.
He surged ahead of the pack, powerful legs devouring the landscape. Even through the lens, she could see the difference. Not just in size, though he dwarfed the others. It was in his presence. He moved like a force of nature, not an animal. Like a shadow wearing skin.
The wolves behind him followed without hesitation.
Their movements were tight, practiced. A coordinated hunt. Penny watched, mesmerized, as they flanked a herd of elk, spreading wide like wings. She zoomed in as the lead bull faltered, spooked by the precision of the encirclement.
It was beautiful.
Lethal. Primal.
Perfect.
She caught every moment.
The turn.
The charge.
The takedown.
And then—the silence that followed.
She called the drone back, letting it hover until it landed softly beside her boots. The controller buzzed once in her palm, signaling upload complete.
She reached down to turn it off—then froze.
A rustle behind her.
Her breath caught.
Slowly, she turned.
He was back.
Steam rose from his back in delicate tendrils. His chest rose and fell in slow heaves, black fur flecked with snowmelt and crimson.
And in his jaws—
An elk leg.
Clean.
Still warm.
He padded into the clearing and laid the offering gently at her feet.
Penny stared.
A gift.
A gesture older than language.
“Seriously?” she whispered, blinking.
The pendant at her neck blazed with warmth. She touched it instinctively—and gasped.
The thought didn’t just whisper this time.
It boomed through her bones.
Mate.
HUNGRY.
Not just physical hunger.
Not just food.
Connection. Claim.
Her lips parted, a laugh spilling out—low and rich and completely disbelieving.
“Well,” she said, crouching beside the steaming limb, “I guess that answers my question.”
The black wolf stepped closer.
Not touching her.
But close enough that his breath stirred the snow near her knees.
He lowered his head.
Gold eyes met violet-blue.
And this time, the bond between them didn’t just hum or whisper.
It sang.
Her throat tightened. Her fingers brushed the fur along his massive ruff, tentative.
He didn’t flinch.
Didn’t growl.
He leaned into it.
She closed her eyes for a heartbeat. Let the warmth bloom across her skin. Let the truth root deep inside her.
He wasn’t just an apex predator.
He wasn’t just a wild thing.
He was hers.
And somehow, impossibly…
She was his.
- Writer
