Prologue

The world had been set on fire.

Flames ignited the valley, swallowing and devouring the forest with an unquenchable hunger. These flames gave off a powerful heat wave that melted nearby rocks and roasted entire ecosystems without a care in the world. Smoke choked and strangled the once fresh oxygen supply that gave birth to the abundant wildlife that lived in the valley. Defenseless animals buried themselves underground to escape the flames; others, unfortunately, weren't as lucky. Larger animals tried to escape the destruction, only to find themselves at the mercy of yet another threat— Humans.

Chaotic bellows and chirps echoed in every angle. An audible kaleidoscope of various noises, shrieks, and howls transmitted above the roar of the forest fire. Rich, iron scented blood flooded the forest floor, leaving behind carnage that wouldn't yet be forgotten for many years to come. Stalking through these demolished forests were a gang of artillery armed Humans. They scoured the ruins in search of any possible survivors.

As the eerie quietness of the fire-devoured forest raised questions of any signs of wildlife, a fox-shaped shadow emerged from the burnt ashes of a fallen tree. Without bothering to assess the situation, the smoky forest remains became ablazed with rapid fired bullets. While some of these bullets bit and snapped at the heels of the shadow, others ripped at random objects, shattering the surfaces of tree bark and creating sparks from rocks.

The shadow passed through the creek, the dim lit moon casting a solace, softer glow on a more undisturbed section of the forest. From this moonlight, the gun wielding Humans realized this “shadow” was a young Wolf Cub. Running on adrenaline and instincts, the Wolf Cub escaped with whatever remained of its life. Its white fur was clumped into ash covered patches; its exposed skin burned and stung from exposure to the intense fire. Every muscle movement sent electric pulses of pain throughout its small, frail body.

The Wolf Cub had lost its eyesight.

Its small ears perked up and sensed the dangerous and fast approaching Humans, who were driven to hunt it down to extinction. The Wolf Cub refused to make loud sounds, even as its body ached with an indescribable amount of excruciating pain. Now cowering in the depths of a very old and abandoned Fox burrow, the scared little creature refused to make its presence known.

Even as the heart pounding, earth shaking footsteps of the Humans' boots echoed right next to and around the burrow.

Riku. Where are you?! I need you! Riku!

As the minutes turned to hours, the silence of the burrow became a sense of comfort. By this time, the Wolf Cub had fallen asleep to reset itself, only to be awoken by a softened voice of a Human woman.

She'd heard the scrunchie noises coming from the Fox burrow and kneeled down carefully to inspect it thoroughly. Inside, she found the severely burned and emaciated Wolf Cub. He'd began to viciously growl and snap at the woman's face and hands. However, it wasn't until he heard the woman's soft chuckle, did he perk up and gazed in the direction of her voice.

She was of average height for a young woman in her early twenties, sun bleached blonde hair, and aqua blue eyes. She was wearing a pencil skirt that had a small slit on the left side and a short sleeved, black colored blouse. Despite her unusual, office styled outfit, the young woman had been tasked in recovery efforts to rescue animals from the enraged forest fire for rehabilitation purposes.

She'd been wandering through the remains of the forest, hoping to find survivors, but was only met with the harsh reality of devastating carnage and destruction. That was until she'd found the Wolf Cub. He was small. Much too small to be left to defend for himself. Yet too large to be considered a runt. From that moment, the woman decided to fully dedicate herself into rehabilitating the defenseless Wolf Cub.

The Human wasn't deterred by the Wolf Cub's defensive actions as she carefully removed her lab coat. Taking extreme care not to jar the animal's wounds, she wrapped the Wolf Cub within the confinements of her coat and swaddled the creature to provide it both protection and warmth.

"Don't worry." the Human reassured, as she ran her knuckle over the Wolf Cub's snout. "You're safe now."

The Wolf Cub found himself becoming enchanted in the sound of the Human's voice, despite its instincts forcing it not to trust the woman. But because of its life-threatening and extensive injuries and physical exhaustion, the Wolf Cub gave up his efforts to fight back and fell asleep. The woman couldn't help but smile with pure joy and sympathy for the defenseless animal, who fought to the extremes just to survive.

Over the next few months of extreme patience, understanding, and endless amounts of frustration, support, and love, the once small and severely disabled Wolf Cub, grew up to be a beautiful and spectacular looking creature.

Human and Wolf had grown to have a unique and deeply special bond. But despite how much of a trusted relationship these two species had, the female researcher couldn't help but have a strange sense of belonging when she was around the Wolf.

As an invisible thread had been pulling at the depths of her soul, binding her to him.