Into the Woods

Grant

He was in the trees. He'd finally made it above the branch line, far enough away to sneak up on the little bug. Grant stalked closer, making sure he stayed hidden in the shadows.

She was crouched down, peering into a hole in the side of the tree she occupied. Her head tilted back, her hair hanging around her face. Grant watched as she ran her fingers through it, massaging the back of her skull and temples. Natalia muttered to herself, the words too quiet for him to make out.

Grant crept forward. Slow, he reminded himself. He needed to go slow. If she heard him, she would take off higher into the trees.

Climbing felt unnatural to him. Grant far preferred having all four paws firmly on the ground.

Natalia continued her conversation with herself. Grant moved closer. She spun around, pointing from a branch high above him, as if trying to calculate a trajectory.

He froze.

Her eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. "You're in my territory, wolf. I will defend it."

"I'm a warg," he called back, preparing to spring at her.

"What's the difference?"

"I have a third form that is neither human nor wolf, but a mixture of both." Grant transformed, using his more powerful hind legs to leap toward her.

She screamed and dropped. Grant roared, thinking she had fallen, when he saw the flash of her forest green tank top swing behind him.

Grant spun to follow her, but she was already several trees away.

"Last warning, Grant! Get out of my territory!" Natalia pulled a pair of glasses out of her pocket and put them on. She flexed her hand.

Like he would listen to the little pest. Grant took off after her, quickly closing the gap between them as she raced through the forest.

"Damn it, Grant! Fine!" she screamed.

He howled after her, laughing the only way he could in his warg form. Some small pest bit him in the back. Then another on the side. He swatted at them, but they dodged out of the way, only to swarm in again and again. Grant slowed down, trying to escape the little biting flies.

They zapped him with small bolts of lightning, their tiny bodies flying everywhere.

"Get off me!" Grant snapped at them. They darted away, buzzing around him. Grant growled. It was like a swarm of gnats. They were relentless.

Stopping long enough to grab one from the air, he crushed it in his palm, and realized it wasn't a bug after all, but a small machina. Restricted technology only available to the highest classes, the stuff was impossible to come by for anyone else.

Grant turned and threw the creature at Natalia. She dodged it easily, climbing a few branches higher. He growled and moved to follow, but froze when the branch he grabbed creaked. Grant barely put pressure on the limb, yet it sounded like it was ready to snap.

"If you're afraid of heights, I wouldn't look down," she told him, swinging another branch away, but at eye level.

Grant looked down. His stomach lurched. The ground was far below him. He didn't even know how high he was, but he knew it was far too much for him to jump. He whimpered and clung to the branch he was on for dear life, digging all four sets of claws in.

He hated heights. How had he let her lure him so high? It was those stupid pests. She used them to distract him, so he was too busy climbing and swatting to notice how high they had gone.

Grant looked around frantically for a lower branch to drop down to, but everything looked a mile down.

"Hey, are you ok?" Natalia's voice came from next to him. She had moved cautiously closer. Even if he wanted to claw at her, there was no way he was letting go of this tree.

Grant growled. "I hate you."

"But I don't think you do."

Grant growled louder. "Fine, I'm going to kill you."

Natalia laughed. "Go ahead. But be careful. I don't think you can fly as well as you think you can."

He glared at her. She glared at him, but it was more playful and taunting than angry. Grant wasn't sure what to make of that.

Natalia sighed. "Wolves don't belong in trees."

Grant shook his head.

"So I guess I have to get you out of this tree."

Grant's ears swiveled forward, and he lifted his head. He hoped the look in his eyes would convince her to help him. He didn't want to die in a tree, so high above the ground. So, so-so-so high above the ground. Lightyears from the ground.

"That would be nice."

"Alright," she said, and scratched her head. "But we have a truce. I will help you all the way back to the ground, but once I let you go, you have to let me go. You can't turn right around and grab me. Deal?"

Grant growled, but nodded. "Fine."

Natalia smiled. "Great. Now, let's get you down."

Grant watched her climb a few branches higher. Swinging over to another tree, she scrambled almost until she was out of sight. Grant saw her grab the end of a vine. He roared as she jumped from the tree branch she stood on into the void between.

Natalia laughed in delight as she dropped, free-falling ten or fifteen feet, before the slack in the vine caught and stopped her momentum. She landed softly on her feet and pulled herself up to her perch again.

Grant growled and stared at the place where she had been standing.

"Come on," Natalia said. "I said I would help you down. I never said I wouldn't have some fun while doing it. Can you turn back into a man?"

"I'll fall," Grant warned.

Natalia smiled. "You won't. I've done this hundreds of times. Trust me, you'll be fine."

Grant shook his head.

"Alright," Natalia said. "I guess I will just work with what we have." She gingerly stepped onto the branch he hugged, keeping her weight close to the trunk. Slowly, she inched out until she could crouch in front of him, putting his face in both a desirable and inappropriate place. He tried not to breathe in. He really did. But she smelled so good. Like spring flowers and sunshine.

"Loosen your grip a little so I can tie this vine around your chest and shoulders. You're too heavy to jump down with it, but it will slow your fall if you slip."

Grant nodded.

"That's it, just like that," she cooed. Grant had the sudden desire to hear those words screamed out in that throaty little singsong voice.

"Now, there is a branch directly under you. It's about six feet down. You should be able to reach it if you extend all the way, without letting go of this one. Ok?"

Grant nodded again. Natalia crawled over him, trying to unlatch his legs so they could drop over the side. Every place her small hands touched, he felt a burst of heat and a jolt of electricity. His fur stood on end.

He couldn't help himself. He growled.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," she said. "But it might be difficult for me to get you down safely if you don't cooperate."

Grant grumbled. He tried thinking of anything but those soft hands wandering their way through his fur.

She finally got his legs free, and he reached for the branch Natalia had pointed out. It felt as far away from the tree as he could get without falling. He stretched as far as he could, but wasn't even close to being able to touch it.

Natalia sighed and dropped to the branch below him like an expert acrobat. She grabbed his foot and placed in on the branch, several inches above where it flailed.

"Good boy," she cooed. Grant's ears twitched forward. He felt his body respond. His tail wagged behind him of its own accord. He fucking hated her right now.

"Don't call me that," he ground out.