A Deal with the Devil

We're All Mad Here

Maya awoke slowly. She was exceptionally warm despite the fact that the fire was out. She turned slightly and found the large, black wolf lying directly behind her. She was scared for a moment, but something inside told her that this wolf wasn’t a threat to her. It had kept her safe and warm last night. She didn’t know why, but whatever the reason, this wolf was trying to help her. She hesitantly reached out and stroked the wolf gently.

Cillian felt Maya move, but he stayed still. He didn’t want to frighten her. When her hand touched his side, however, he almost jumped up from the shock alone. No one had touched him like that since Maddy. While it had startled him, it also felt good. Wolves generally didn’t “pet” one another, and if they did it was only mates or young children. Something about Maya’s touch was so calming that Cillian didn’t want it to stop. He knew, however, that he had to get up and find help for Maya. He did so very slowly so as not to alarm her. Maya watched him warily but she didn’t look as scared.

“I thought wolves were nocturnal,” Maya remarked. “Well, crepuscular, actually.”

Cillian c****d his head to one side.

“Yeah, I read it somewhere that wolves eyes are equipped for hunting in the low light of dusk and dawn,” Maya continued. “Wait, why am I talking to the wolf? I’m going crazy.”

Cillian found Maya endearing. Maddy used to talk to him when he was in wolf form as well, except she knew he was a human as well and could understand her. Maya spoke to him even though she thought he was a wolf who couldn’t understand humans. As endearing as Maya was, however, she still needed help now, so Cillian ran off again hoping to encounter human hikers.

Maya grabbed some food out of her bag and restarted the fire. “I am crazy,” she muttered. “I’m talking to a freaking wolf.”

The smell of food hit Cillian before he heard the humans talking. He was hungry, but he ignored that for now and crept closer to the camp. There were three men and two women sitting around a campfire making oatmeal, bacon, and coffee. The bacon had Cillian salivating. Focus, he ordered himself.

“I’m telling you, I heard a wolf yesterday,” one of the men said.

“And I’m telling you, there are no wolves in Massachusetts,” one of the women replied.

“Okay, then what did I hear?” the man retorted.

“Your stomach,” another man said with a laugh.

Just then Cillian let out a howl. All five of the humans jumped up and looked around the woods.

“No wolves my ass,” the first man said. “I’m calling the rangers.”

“I’m out of here,” one of the others said, grabbing his gear and shoving it in his bag. The others also started grabbing their things, and one of the men took the food and threw it into the woods. Cillian wandered over to it quietly and ate it as he watched them pack up. Hopefully they’d alert the rangers and someone would come out here. He just had to be patient.

Sure enough, a few hours after scaring the campers, two rangers came out with rifles. Cillian had to laugh. Human weapons would sting a bit, but they wouldn’t do permanent damage. Now, he just had to get them closer to Maya. Werewolves were stealthy creatures by nature, so Cillian had to deliberately make a lot of noise and leave clues for the rangers to follow.

Maya was still trying to dislodge her foot when Cillian arrived back at her camp. For a moment she looked almost relieved to see him. “I thought you’d left,” she said with a laugh.

Cillian kept gesturing with his head in the direction the rangers were coming from. It would be a while before they were close enough to hear Maya, but he wanted her to know help was coming. She didn’t seem to understand though. Finally, he sat down and let out a howl. He knew the rangers would hear that echo.

“Ow, okay, that was loud,” Maya said, uncovering her ears. “I know you’re trying to tell me something, but I don’t get it. You just came from that direction.”

Yes, Cillian thought. There’s a trail with people on it, and people mean help.

“Wait, did you find help?” Maya asked.

Cillian flopped down.

“Please be a yes,” Maya said. “If I’m not back tomorrow Chloe will call the rangers anyway, but I don’t think I can make it another night like this. My leg is killing me.”

Cillian got up and went over to inspect Maya’s leg now that she seemed more at ease with his presence. Her ankle was definitely fractured if not broken. Maya had managed to cut the leg of her pants, probably in an attempt to survey her injury, and while the scraps were minimal, the swelling and bruises ran all the way up to her knee.

“Yeah, it’s not good,” Maya groaned. “It stopped hurting, which isn’t a good sign.”

Cillian walked a few paces away and howled again. For some reason seeing Maya in pain was hard for him. He blamed it on the memories of Maddy and her fragile humanity.

After what felt like more hours than necessary, Cillian heard the rangers approaching. He went over to Maya and nudged her a few times before howling lowly. He couldn’t stay with her, but he’d be nearby. He hurried off and made sure to obscure himself somewhere nearby where he could see Maya still. It was another half hour or so before Maya heard the noises of the rangers. She called for help, and they abandoned their wolf hunt to call in a medical team for help. Cillian sighed in relief and made his way back home.

*****

“You’ve been in the human world again,” Liam remarked as Cillian returned and shifted back into his human form.

“Your point?” Cillian asked as he headed toward his room to shower.

“What’s there for you, Cillian?” Liam questioned. “Maddy’s gone, and whatever you’re finding there is just your way of staying close to her.”

“You don’t even know what I do when I’m there,” Cillian retorted coldly.

Liam silently agreed. “I’m just worried about you. We all are.”

“Don’t be. I was just in the woods there,” Cillian replied. “I’ll be ready for training in an hour.”

Liam sighed. There was no stopping Cillian. Once he got something in his head, he’d continue to do it until he decided to stop. Liam just didn’t understand what the pull was. The human world wasn’t all that great. In addition to being full of humans, it was boring. It was dangerous to shift out there, and there didn’t seem to be any reason Cillian would want to spend his time there.

“He didn’t tell you what he was doing, did he?” Liv asked as Liam entered the training grounds.

“He said he was in the woods.”

Liv scoffed. “I think there’s a girl.”

“In the human world? Are you crazy?” Liam retorted. “Besides, he’s still mourning Maddy.”

“Look, he may be in mourning, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t seeing someone. Who better to see than another human?” Liv pointed out.

“I guess,” Liam said reluctantly. “I just don’t think he’d care for anyone after losing his mate.”

“We all know Maddy would want him to move on.”

“Maddy wasn’t a wolf though. She didn’t know what it was like.”

“I don’t know about that,” Liv replied. “I think Maddy could feel the mate bond. I think it broke her heart to know she was risking her life to save everyone else here because she knew that meant never getting to grow old with Cillian.”

Liam looked at the ground sadly. He had felt every single blow Maddy had taken during that battle except for the last one. The moment her body knew it was going to die, the spell had broken and Liam knew she was gone. Those moments of human fragility, however, were forever ingrained in his mind. Maddy had suffered through all of that for years before she met Cillian. She truly was a warrior.

“I know you miss her, Liam, but Cillian deserves to have something that makes him happy,” Liv said. “If that means going into the human world and doing whatever it is he does, than maybe we should just let it happen. He’s seemed happier since his first visit there since Maddy’s...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word “death”. It was still too hard.

“I guess,” Liam agreed. Maybe his sister was right. If Cillian needed the human world to move on than who was he to stand in the way?

********

“I’m telling you, Chloe, it was a huge, black wolf,” Maya explained for the fourth time. It was Friday, and despite being bandaged and on crutches, Maya was still at work for the first time since her accident. Chloe had told her to take the entire week off, but Maya was getting bored at home.

“There are no wolves in Massachusetts,” Chloe said with a laugh.

“Then it was a damn big dog,” Maya replied, making Chloe laugh harder.

“Maybe you hit your head when you fell.”

“My head is just fine,” Maya snapped. “I know what I saw, and that wolf saved my life.”

“Okay, so this wolf just came out of nowhere and stayed with you all night and then alerted people and lead the rangers to you? That sounds a bit crazy. You know that right?”

Maya sighed. “I know,” she agreed. She was starting to think she imagined the whole thing too. If it wasn’t for the fact that the rangers had heard a wolf howling and followed the tracks to her, she would have sworn she had gone mad in those woods. But no, the wolf had been real. She was sure of it. She had tried to tell the rangers she thought it was tame, but they hadn’t believed that. Not that she blamed them. Chloe hadn’t believed a single word of the story at all. Before she could explain that Maya had made up the wolf as a trauma response, there was a knock at the door and Chloe buzzed in the patient.

“Cillian,” Maya said in mild shock. “What are you doing here?”

“What happened to your leg?” Cillian asked, feigning confusion.

“I broke my ankle while hiking this past weekend,” Maya answered with a hint of embarrassment.

“Tell him about your wolf. Maybe he’ll believe you,” Chloe said with a smirk.

“Okay, fine. I’m crazy. I’ll admit it,” Maya said, glaring at her friend.

“What’s this about a wolf?” Cillian asked.

“It’s nothing,” Maya said quickly.

“She thinks a big, black wolf lead the rangers to her,” Chloe said. “I think she hit her head because there are no wolves in Massachusetts. She imagined this wolf as a trauma response after being stranded in the woods.”

“Due to climate change, some wolves from the northern regions in Canada have actually begun to move further south, so perhaps you saw one of those,” Cillian remarked. “Or one someone kept as a pet, however deplorable that practice is.”

“Maybe,” Maya said, thankful that someone believed her story. “Whatever it was, I’m glad for it. I won’t be hiking for a few months, but at least I was found.”

“I told you to take someone,” Chloe chided.

“You hate the outdoors,” Maya countered.

“I’d love to go with you,” Cillian remarked.

“You hike?” Maya asked.

“Occasionally,” Cillian answered. He was trying to think about the last time he covered any substantial distance in human form. It wasn’t technically a lie since even in wolf form he was still himself.

“I’m sorry, are you here for an appointment?” Chloe said, suddenly remembering that they were still at the office.

“No, actually, I stopped by your apartment to return this,” Cillian said, holding up a book he had purposely taken from Maya’s apartment that morning when he discovered she wasn’t home. “It was in the box you gave me the other week and it didn’t belong to Maddy, so I think it must have gotten in there by mistake.”

“Oh,” Maya said, taking the book. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to come all this way to return it.”

Chloe glared at Maya. “Can you excuse us for one moment?” she said to Cillian. She gently shoved Maya into her office. “Are you crazy, girl?”

“What?” Maya asked.

“That tall, gorgeous man is clearly into you, and you’re giving him nothing to work with here,” Chloe retorted.

“What? He is not into me,” Maya said, blushing slightly.

“Maya, he offered to go hiking with you and he came to your work to return a book that you didn’t even know you lost,” Chloe replied. “He’s into you. Now go ask him out to lunch.”

“You ask him out to lunch,” Maya retorted. “I’m married.”

“You’re widowed, and he didn’t come here to see me,” Chloe said. “Now get out there and be confident.”

Maya limped her way back into the waiting room and looked at Cillian who was sitting on one of the sofas making a pretense of reading a magazine. His werewolf hearing meant he had heard the entire conversation. Clearly, he was coming on to strong.

“Sorry about that,” Maya said awkwardly.

“No, it’s fine,” Cillian replied. “Look, you’re probably busy, so I’ll get out of your way.”

“Do you want to go to lunch?” Maya asked quickly. “With me,” she added.

 “Yes,” Cillian answered without hesitation. Maybe he did have a thing for Maya. He just needed to figure out what it was.