Secret Wolf

Chapter 1 - The Recconfiguration

I took in a deep breath. Inhaling all of the smells surrounding me. Dirt was the strongest one, along with the faint smell of pollen and grass. My eyes shot open as I realized I was outside laying on the ground. I looked around me only to find myself under large canopying branches belonging to what looked like an ancient tree. I got up and walked around its base; eyes wide as I realized it was the biggest tree, I'd ever laid eyes on. It had marks running vertically along the base, which piqued my interest. I stared at them wondering how they got there. The marks were paired in sets of rugged lines...they almost resembled claws.

I looked away from the tree to find something startling. A man stood about ten yards away from me with his hands resting in the pockets of his black coat. He was a rather dashing man with light brown hair, bright eyes and a smirk sitting on his face. His smile seemed to reach out and surround me with the happiness it brought him.

I felt the urge to walk over towards him, but my feet were suddenly heavier than normal. It was like trying to walk through a sea of honey or peanut butter. I looked up to him in defeat as I tried to tell him my problem but realized that no sound was coming out of my mouth. My anxiety rose as fear made its way through my bloodstream. I looked the man dead in the eyes and watched as his bright iris' turned completely black, his smile faded into nothing along with them.

He slowly moved towards me as his arms came slightly upwards, revealing the hands that had been in his coat pockets this whole time. My eyes made their way down to his hands and froze.

Claws.

My head shot back to the base of the tree as I realized those marks did indeed belong to a set of claws. His claws. I turned my face back to find him inches away from me. His smirk had returned, but there was no longer happiness residing there. No. Now he was practically the aura of fear. It hung over me like a thick cloud as the man walked a full circle around me. He dragged one of his claws against my skin as he walked, sending chills over my entire body.

He stood still in front of me, the image of his pitch-black pits of eyes burned into my mind. "Tessa," he said as he brought one of his hand up to meet the skin of my neck. I flinched, but only slightly as I felt consumed with fear. I could tell this pleased the man as his chuckles left his body to dance with the wind.

He began to walk another circle around me, completely stopping behind me. His free hand placed itself on my stomach, pulling my back into his chest. The other hand was still clamped around my very vulnerable neck. His breath was steady and hot against the back of my body causing more chills to run through me than I thought possible. The hand around my neck started to clamp harder and harder and just as I was anticipating his claws to rip my jugular out of my throat, he was yanked off of me.

I turned around quickly, my feet no longer glued to the dirt, only to see the man looking back at me from the ground. His eyes were no longer pits but were pleading to me for help. His throat was shredded, blood oozing out of him from claw marks similar to those tattooed upon the ancient tree.

A large wolf came out from behind the tree's base, and the fear that I was drowning in moments ago surprisingly left me. The man continued to bleed out, his arms reaching towards me as a last-ditch effort for me to save him, but I was unbothered. Instead, my gaze shifted back to this gorgeous yet frightening wolf. There was blood along its paws, and I knew that it was the one who saved me from that vile man. I walked to the wolf, slowly until I was kneeling right in front of it. Our eyes stayed connected in a gaze that felt more intimate than intimidating. I slowly reached my hand out to pet the wolf, and just as my hand met its fur everything disappeared.