Wilder

A stalker.

I had been called different names over the years.

A warrior. A killer. A rogue.

But I had never fit into the role of a stalker. Now that was all I had been doing, thinking about her, watching her from far as she entered the cafe. After that night when I ventured too close to the scent of another wolf, I didn't get near to her again. I did it purely out of my own curiosities, upon the insistence of my wolf not accepting refusal. I acted out of impulse and overstepped my boundaries.

I intruded into her personal space, her dorm room. I hardly climbed up the window and stepped a foot inside when she appeared on the other side of the door. It wasn't her that made me leap out of the window in a hurry, no it was the presence of another wolf in that building.

Later, I realised how foolish I had been, a minute away to expose my existence, alerted his pack and brought death upon my fate, or got captured and handed over to my alpha to deliver justice. Either way, I would be dead.

All I could hope that the wolf couldn't catch my scent. My mind scoffed hearing me said that. Who was I kidding? The wolf surely got my scent upon entering her dorm room but no way he could recognise me and that thought gave me a moment of relief. Soon, the wolf would put me out of his mind and let the matter slide and till then, I will be out of this town, on my way.

The red-haired woman exited the cafe, waving goodbye to another woman, short and slim and definitely a wolf. What was with her? Did she even know who she was surrounded with? Wherever she went, a wolf always remained nearby. This couldn't be random instances. It didn't take me long to conclude someone was keeping an eye on her. Planting people in her way so skillfully that it would seem normal. But the actual person who was behind this, was nowhere to be seen, controlling from behind the shadows.

I shook my head when my mind stretched too far. I had to keep my head in the game and fulfilled the task I came here to do in the Fallbridge and stopped my thoughts from running after her.

That woman was merely an outline of curves and dips from my spot in the shadows, never a human shape, close enough for me to touch and feel.

My wolf urged me to take a step forward to have a glimpse of the face of the person, making me let my guards downs and sowing obsessive thoughts in my mind. As if the universe purposely put her in my path to distract me from my goal and enticed me, dangling her in front of me and whenever I got too close, the universe itself squealed she was forbidden. A human.

The moonlight was pale. The shadows were dark. And the hair fell over her forehead, cut into bangs to shielded her face from my gaze.

A sudden wariness slipped my wolf's attention, put him on alert. My head darted all around to find out the cause of the ache stirring in my guts but all I could pinpoint were flickering shadows, scampering rats and thick darkness.

It was not unusual for the creatures like us to behave in such a manner during full moon night. We became more attuned to our predatory nature. Feeling restless until we surrendered to the pull, shed our human skins and shifted into the gift we were born with.

Before she came to the mouth of another bend, my sharpened senses already put the pieces together and just confirmed my suspicion when I saw the cause of my unsettling feeling standing there in moonlit glory.

A grey wolf.

My fingers stretched to her, wanting to warn her not to take the turn and turned back but the voices in my head clogged my throat and warned me not to even make a whisper to reveal my presence.

The wolf in me pacing back and forth aching to take a leap, to stand between her and the predator and met the beast's challenge head-on and showed him who was the big bad wolf here.

Instead, I watched them from the gaps of the branches, focusing on keeping my breathing as quiet as possible.

For a while, I observed their exchanges. The grey wolf was not a bloodthirsty rogue, buzzing with the madness. He was not displaying his brutal intentions to lunge at his prey the first chance he got, intended to kill and devoured her flesh.

No.

The beast was biding his time, toying with her, giving her a sense of control in her hands. When she would run, thinking she had a chance to escape only then the beast would show his intentions and attacked her.

The thought of seeing her get hurt pulled a string inside my chest. An unknown fear I had never known before, nor felt for my own life when I stared into the eyes of the death, gripped my heart in its claws and squeezed tight.

A sudden feeling to protect her engulfed me and before my mind could warn me to think straight, to decide for me, I was out of the shadows and onto the street.

The first thought that struck me almost made me chuckle at the idiocy of the grey wolf whose attention was too much onto the woman and unaware of his own surroundings.

As I took the first step, the second and the next one naturally came to me as if her intoxicating scent tugging me towards her. Calling out her saviour without even aware of my existence and almost like a puppet, I was letting her pulling the strings and surrendering my willpower to her spell.

Did the grey wolf feel the same compulsion towards her? Halting his aggressive advances and interacting with her as far as a wolf and a human could. How could she brings out the best in us and for a moment made us forget how vicious animals we were?

She was just a human. Weak, fragile creature.

The beast noticed me and in an instant, he dragged himself out of the daze he trapped himself in. He growled, threatening me to back off and had his fun.

I responded in snarling at him, baring my teeth.

I might not be the alpha of my pack but the blood of my strong bloodline running through my veins. I showed the wolf my resolution, the dominant glimmer in my eyes and what damage I could befall him, someone to his position in the pack hierarchy. I will tear him to shreds and gloat over his death.

The grey wolf might have some sense, not some thickheaded fool, trying his luck and end up being dead.

It was not that I didn't want to spill his blood, I wanted to kill him with my bare hands the moment he terrorized her. But I didn't want any more troubles as long as I was in his territory. Though I needed to move again after this incident as the wolf had already seen my face and could recognize and found out the connection easily. I could have shifted before I emerged out of the forest but I didn't want to frighten the woman any more than she already was.

Two wolves in a single night fighting for the prize, that would surely give her a heart attack and that I didn't want. I wanted to protect her, not added to her worries.

The grey wolf didn't take too long to come to a decision. He tucked his tail between his legs and darted into the forest.

I chuckled and shook my head.

There was always a bigger monster to rule the jungle. It only took a matter of seconds to reverse the role.

A predator became the prey.

A prey became the predator. Nature dictated.

As I approached her, the woman seemed so small, so vulnerable, curling into a ball, surrendered to the power of the grey beast and it made me furious, thinking how he might have enjoyed her submission, puffed out his chest in pride.

She would submit to no one, other than me, other than pleasing my beast.

"Are you okay?" My voice croaked. I realised how I might have sounded, rough and sharp. I cleared my throat and tried again. It had been years since I showed a resemblance of concern in my voice for another person. I shook my head to toss away such disturbing thoughts.

She didn't respond. She was still in shock, trembling in fear.

It was not in my nature to console and engage with the weaker species. With humans, we only have two alternatives, either kill them or claim them.

We needed to keep the secrets of our world, safe at any cost. We couldn't take the risk to make it public.

I put my hands on her shoulders to bring her back into the present and she responded in a soft mewl. I gave her some space, taking a step back, I didn't want her to feel bothered.

She staggered then stood on her shaky legs, facing away from me. I wanted to extend my hand to reach her, to make her feel safe in my arms. But I didn't want to come out as a creep and forced her to scream and run.

I simply waited.

When the woman turned, I wanted to lighten the situation, gave her a shrug and told her it was just a wolf strayed away from his group and walked into the human habitat. A normal occurrence. But the moment I met her face, every possible thought I could conjure in my mind vanished as if the ground slid away beneath my feet and I was toppling into the abyss, I didn't think I could ever climb myself out.

Even in my worst-case scenario, I could have never foreseen this situation to greet me and stared into my eyes.

I was shocked beyond belief and started questioning my own existence. Was I dead? Did the grey wolf somehow pulled some trick and killed me and this was all just some tales I was spinning in my head.

I ran my hands over my body mindlessly to detect any wounds and her eyes trailed down observing my every action.

She was real as much as I was. Not a ghost. Not an illusion.

The rage all I had been holding back came down crashing on me. I lashed out and wrapped my fingers around her throat and pushed her away from me. The mere thought of touching her, standing close to her, even sharing the same air left a bitter taste in my mouth. I wouldn't let her go this time. She might have tricked her fate once, this time I will make sure she stayed dead.

She fought me with all her strength, scratching me with her nails, all I did in response tightened my fist around her neck and put more pressure on her windpipe to force out her strength with her last breath.

A rustle in the woods brought me back from the haze of madness controlling me. My head spun, scanning the spot for the source of any intrusion.

I found nothing and I didn't want to wait for more surprises in one single night. I had to deal with her first. I hauled her on my back and turned to spring into the forest, only to screech to a halt in my path.

The grey wolf had returned and this time he wasn't alone.