Alpha & Omega // Ateez // P.SH

- 21 -

Hanah:

She felt like an idiot, laying her knees in front of the wolf, trying to get soup into his mouth with a spoon. His lips were kinda scary. Weirdly enough it seemed like he actually ate. Yes, she had seen that it was in fact a male wolf. It should have been obvious from his size, maybe, but she had only seen him laying down this far.

The meal was messy, but he did get some nutrition in his body, that's what mattered, right? When there was no more soup, Hanah focused on his paws. She was scared that pain might make him lash out, but the wolf kept still, he didnt even open his eyes. She cleaned the wounds on all four paws, carefully putting ointment on them before bandaging them. She didn't do it very tight. If he left before she could take them off, it would be easy for him to get them off on his own, using his teeth maybe. After all of this, she sat there, eating her snacks and just looking at the wolf.

Hanah fell asleep right there on the hay in the barn. She was laying with good distance to the wolf, but still, this was stupid. The animal could easily have killed her in her sleep. She was startled when she woke up and realized where she was.

The wolf was still on his makeshift bed, but it seemed like he had moved a little. Hanah sat up and saw that he had eaten a little meat. He was getting better, that was really good. How strange that he hadn't left through the open door.

Daylight was creeping in through the cracks in the panelling. Hanah got up and nearly jumped when the wolf lifted its head to look at her. She stumbled backwards in the hay and he pulled back, away from her.

«I j-just wanted t-to help you, w-wolfie,» she stuttered and couldn't take her eyes off of him. «The door is open, I didn't trap you.»

With a frown on her face she saw the wolf lay back down. He still seemed to be very tired.

«Do you need more food, wolfie?» she asked. «I guess you don't understand what I'm saying?» Hanah could hardly breathe when she saw the wolf tilt his head, like it was trying to say something. «If you understand me... please go back and lay down on your bed.»

She couldn't hold back a gasp when the wolf rose on shaky legs and walked back to his bed. When he sank down on it, he looked at her for a second before putting his head on his paws and closing his eyes.

«Okay, I'll go get you more food,» she said. She was shivering from the intens emotions. A wolf wasn't supposed to understand what a human said. This was nuts!

It was when she went into the storehouse again, to get more of the deer meat, that she started thinking. She had grown up with the stories of the forest. You were not supposed to go into those woods, it didn't belong to humans her grandparents had always said. They were the ones that always had made sure the storehouse always had whatever they thought the unknowns needed. That's the way they always ended up having plenty of deer meat. Sometimes they got others things, like berries, or even mushrooms. But the finest deer meat, that was the most important thing they got from whomever it was.

Hanah had never heard how it started, she just knew it had been like that for many years, since before she came to the farm herself. She had never questioned it. Now she had been alone on the farm for a while. It was more than a year since her grandmother had said goodbye and fell asleep for the very last time. Grandpa had probably been waiting on the other side, the last years without him had been tough for grandma. She always said that she wouldn't leave before Hanah was ready. It would seem Hanah was ready, she had done quite well on her own. She might only be 19, but she had lived on the farm for more than eight years now. She was okay.

She half expected the wolf to be gone when she came back to the barn with more meat, but he was still laying on the bed. She had cut the meat to make it easier for him, and it was raw, she assumed that was the best for an animal. She stood for a moment looking at him with the food in her hands. She saw his ears move a little, he heard her.