Red Roses - (FCRAs 2016 Winner)

The Golden Wolf

"Shh, stop," the voice behind her hissed as Lorelie struggled to get away. The... creature leant down, hovering inches from her. "Sorry. Sorry, please don't make a sound."

For reasons Lorelie would never know or understand, she stopped. Whether it was some defensive instinct or an insane reason to trust the hairy weight, she stopped moving.

And that was when she heard hooves. Her eyes flicked up but all she could see was bushes.

The horse – and presumably a rider – approached them at high speed, racing along the path she had been knocked from. As they passed, Lorelie was pressed closer to the ground; the breathing in her ear stopped and the heartbeat against her back sped up.

He was shaking.

The rider passed without pause and they remained still for several more minutes until the forest settled back into it nightly routine and the weight got off her.

Lorelie sat up quickly, pulling her cloak around her and looked back.

As expected, it was one of the wolves, the golden one, Grey to be exact. He was up on his feet and looking away from her, looking down the path in the direction the rider had gone, his ears straight up and his hair bristling.

Lorelie looked towards her bag and Bramble who was clambering out of it, looking disgruntled at the rough handling.

"What are you doing out here?" Grey suddenly asked and she looked around to find his snout almost in her face as he glared at her.

"I needed something for work," Lorelie said, her tone hardening at his.

"In the middle of the night?"

"I needed to go to The Grove and I only know you wolves might be out and about at night."

"What on earth did you need with The Grove?" Grey snapped then looked to her bag as Bramble shook his fur, detaching some of the flowers. "The Daya Floras?"

"Yes, I need them for a medicine."

"But at night?"

"I just said, I know I can come into contact with you lot at night," Lorelie said then looked away as he opened his mouth. "Who was that?"

"Who was what?"

Lorelie glared at him. "Who might you think? The rider you were hiding from."

"It doesn't matter, another wretched poacher," Grey said, pushing through the bushes and back out onto the path.

"You're that scared of poachers – usually we hear them come screaming out of the forests," Lorelie said, getting up and gathering her things.

"I wasn't scared," Grey said, indignantly as she followed him onto the path.

"Oh yes, I'm sure you weren't," she said, starting off down the path, Grey padding along beside her. "I heard that heartbeat."

"I've been running, it wasn't fear."

"Of course."

"Where are you even going?"

"My grandmother's house."

"Is she really alright with you being out this late?"

Lorelie didn't answer and Grey looked at her before he snorted.

"Oh, oh I see," he said, "You aren't allowed out. No one knows you're out at this moment. How shameless."

"I told you, it is for work, nothing more," Lorelie snapped, flushing red.