Drogo

After a few minutes of exploring through the trees, Samuel suddenly stopped, surprising her.

"Here they come. Be sure to stay behind me and keep calm", he instructed her with a serious tone.

Before she could enquire further, they began to hear loud growls and rustling sounds coming from shrubbery in the shadows several meters ahead of them.

Emerging out of the shadows were an enormous pack of grey wolves.

"Hang back a little. I'll take care of this", he said to her as he dropped to all fours and slowly advanced towards the growling lead wolf, presumably, the alpha male of the pack.

It stood almost a meter from the ground with a slightly bulky build and a fierce appearance; the scars on its face describing the life it had led up till this point.

Samuel approached it and upon reaching it, stood to his feet with his wings open in a challenging manner directly before the wolf and gazing into its eyes intensely.

"Should we leave?" she asked from behind, a little terrified of the situation they were currently in.

Samuel held up a finger as he continued the staring contest with the wild canine before him.

After a few seconds, the pack leader suddenly stopped growling and started wagging his tail excitedly.

"Wait...what just happened?" she asked, quite flabbergasted by the situation.

First the wolf was hostile towards them but now, it's behaving like a domesticated pup that is happy to see its master.

Her shock doubled when she realized that the rest of the wolves were portraying the same behavior.

Samuel, with his wings lowered smiled in excitement. He raised his head, looked out onto the pack and gave a loud whistle.

"Drogo!!" he called out and a wolf cub excitedly ran up to him and leapt into his arms.

"This is Drogo, my best friend in the entire world", he said as he drew closer to her.

"Go ahead and pet him", he invited her as he help up the pup to her.

"Are you sure it's okay?" she asked with an excited look although slightly hesitant.

"Of course," he assured her as she lifted her hands and slowly brought them closer to the wolf cub.

Drogo sniffed her hand for a few seconds before licking it. "He likes you", Samuel said with a smile.

"He's so cute! How did you two meet each other?" she asked as she petted the little fuzzball on the head.

"I think it was a few weeks ago. He was caught in a hunter's trap when I happened to come across him. After I helped release him and returned him to his family, they were grateful.

"Pretty soon, we bonded. I visited the pack multiple times and occasionally went hunting with them; they are fun to hang out with", he answered with a smile, scratching behind the cub's ears.

"Sounds nice", she said in a slightly jealous tone.

After a few minutes, the pack leader's ears perked up as it caught a low howl in the distance, and it turned its head to listen.

It then turned back to look at the duo, conveying his wish with a low bark.

"It's time for the pack to head back home", he said as let go of Drogo.

The cub barked excitedly and ran back to its mother in the midst of the pack.

The wolves gave off a synchronized howl and ran off into the forest as he waved goodbye.

He turned to her and smiled. "Should we continue?" he asked, pointing to the path ahead.

"What were you doing with that big wolf before? Why were you staring at each other like you were about to fight?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Oh, that?! His name is Cain. This is a tradition among wolves. There is always a competition for the position of pack leader".

"He and I have always have such a competition with a face-off. The first person to submit loses and the other becomes the leader".

"I won once again, but since I'm not a wolf, I'm more like their boss than a pack leader so Cain still carries that title".

"I've also asked him to keep his pack and other predators away from your camp site as long as you are here and also to keep an eye on you and your family wherever you find yourselves in the forest", he informed.

"Thanks for that, although I think it would freak my parents out if they saw a bunch of wolves watching them", she said with a mischievous laugh.

The sun soon shifted behind the mountains to the west as noon was far behind them.

"Well, I've got to be heading back now. It's way past lunch time, my parents would be worried", she said after taking a look at her wrist watch.

"I'll walk you back, I know a faster route", he said as he led her through the trees, escorting her all the way back to her camp.

Her parents appeared to have just returned to the camp as well. Samuel could not help but wonder if they were actually worried about their child who was missing the entire morning.

"Thank you for such a great day", she said taking his hand.

"Sure. I'm honestly surprised your parents did not freak out and search for you", he observed.

"Well, my necklace has a tracking and monitoring chip so they'll know if anything happens to me and easily find my location", she informed.

"I see...anyway, will I see you tomorrow?" he asked expectantly.

"Yeah, I'll see you at our picnic spot", she replied with a smile and run towards her camp site.

He smiled back, stepped back and spread his wings wide. With a few powerful beats, he rose quickly into the air and shot into the sky.

She arrived at the tents when he was out of sight. "Elizabeth!!" she heard her mom call.

"Why did you leave without informing us? I nearly had a heart attack when we found you gone suddenly without a word", her mother said when she noticed her.

"Sorry Mom...sorry Dad, I went to try out my kite and lost track of time ", she replied apologetically.

"You moved all over the place, almost as if you knew exactly where you were going. What were you up to?" her father asked.

"I was having fun with a new friend I made in the forest", she exclaimed proudly.

"Oh...tell us more", her mother encouraged.

Feeling unhinged, she proceeded to narrate the events of the day to her parents; the stream, the crocs, the grey wolves, and finally, and most important of all, the strange monster-like kid with wings.

"She must have been playing pretend again", her mom whispered to her dad who just smiled.

"Well, just be careful he doesn't fly away with you the next time you meet him", he said trying to hide his smile.

'They think I am making it all up', she thought to herself with an embarrassed blush.

"It doesn't really matter", she smiled to herself and turned away from her laughing parents and walked towards the entrance of her tent.

Just before she entered her tent, a thought struck her. She face-palmed after realizing she had forgotten to ask for the boy's name.

"I've been with him for almost an entire day, I can't believe I didn't ask for his name. I'm such an idiot. I guess I can ask when I see him tomorrow", she mumbled to herself with a shake of her head, and entered her tent.

....................

The next day came like a flash and Elizabeth woke up with bags under her eyes.

She had barely slept due to all the excitement she had experienced the previous day.

She sat with her family and quickly had breakfast.

"Be careful out there", her mom yelled as she left the camp site. "I will!" she responded and entered the forest.

"Do you think it was wise to let her go into the forest alone again?" her mom asked her dad.

"I think she will be alright; she is a smart girl. Besides, we are able to track her movement after all", her dad responded, showing his phone with a red dot moving quickly away from their location.

'What am I going to do with that girl?' her mom asked herself in exasperation.