His Prisoner

The Wolf [4]

Meredith

I can't move. I know it's a wolf. It's too big to be a dog. It's piercing blue eyes stare at me through the darkness and I swallow thickly. As much as I would love to scream and then run for my life, I realise what a bad idea it is. Surely it'll just chase me down and eat me so either way, I'm screwed. If I shout, Jack could hear me but he's not exactly my knight in shining armour. I'd rather be eaten than have him help me.

As I study the wolf, I begin to feel calm. The tightening of my chest and the racing of my heart slowly disappears. I don't feel as scared as I did a few minutes ago when I first saw him. I assume it's male. He's pretty large but for a wolf, he's pretty gorgeous. His fur is pristine, almost as if he hasn't lived in the woods his whole life. And his eyes are beautiful. Bluer than mine will ever be. I feel a sense of recognition as I look into them but logically I know I can't recognise them because I've never seen a wolf before.

"Are you going to eat me?" I ask quietly. 

The wolf tilts his head to the side, studying me before a funny snorting type sound escapes him. It's almost human like he's laughing at my question.

"Your eyes are so beautiful." I murmur as I slowly slide down the tree until I'm sitting down again. 

Maybe he'll leave me alone if I just sit here and not pose a threat.

He takes a step forward and my breathing hitches. Fine. I could be a little nervous still. But really, do you blame me? I'm alone in the woods with a wild wolf. I'm pregnant and talking to it. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

The wolf doesn't stop when I freeze, he just takes another step and then another until he's close enough that I could reach out and touch his fur. He then sits down and leans down to nudge my leg with his nose.

I gasp. "Please don't eat me! I doubt I taste very nice. Surely you can go and find a little rabbit or something... no actually leave the rabbit. Too cute. A fish from the river! Oh but that's still an animal really." I babble on trying to think what he could eat that wouldn't make me cry. I'm an animal lover. Nature sucks.

The wolf whines and shuffles closer to me before laying his big and kind of heavy head in my lap. I must stop breathing for a moment because I get a little dizzy and light-headed just before the wolf whines again. I suck in some air and try to relax. He doesn't seem like a threat. If he was hungry, wouldn't he have eaten me by now?

I slowly reach out and brush my fingertips across his head. He doesn't move so I gently rake my fingers through his fur, giggling when he begins purring like a cat. I scratch behind his ear and he turns his head to face my stomach. Shuffling a little more, he gently nuzzles my stomach with his nose. I wonder if he knows there's a baby in there? Can wolves sense that kind of thing? I know animals can sense fear and that but are they smarter than we think?

"There's a baby in there." I whisper receiving a yap in response. Huh, he did know. Or Meredith, he doesn't understand what you're saying because he's a wolf so he just yapped for the sake of it.

I'm not sure how much time passes as we sit there, my fingers stroking through his fur as his body heat keeps me relatively warm. Soon he stands up and stretches, looking around the surrounding woods before nudging me. 

"What?"

He nudges me again.

"I don't know what that means." I tell him. Seriously, I'm completely clueless.

Once again he nudges me and then motions his head in the direction I came from.

"Oh! You want me to get up and walk home." He barks and I smile.

Only then do I realise how much darker it's become. Not even that streak of sunlight is filtering through the trees any more meaning it's probably late. I stand up, groaning at my stiff joints that crack as I move. I brush off any dirt from my clothes and then look down at the wolf.

"Will you walk with me? It's creepy out here." I don't know why I'm still talking to him like he can understand English but he nudges me with his nose again so I start walking.

He follows close behind me, checking the area around us for any signs of danger I guess. I walk at a slightly slower pace than usual due to the darkness, I don't want to fall over anything but soon we make it to the edge of the woods, right back at the road that I crossed earlier. Glancing behind me, I smile at the wolf, reaching over to stroke his head.

"Thanks for walking me back. I very much enjoyed your company and I felt a whole lot safer with you around."  He rubs his head against my hand before licking it. I squeal in disgust but laugh as I wipe it on my jeans.

"Real nice. Wolf slobber. Well, I'm going inside now. Maybe I'll see you again soon... I hope so." With one last look, I turn and cross the road. Just as I open my front door, I glance back into the woods and see crystal blue eyes staring back at me. I watch as he turns and disappears into the darkness before heading inside myself.

I'm shocked when after closing the door behind me, I nearly walk into Jack. He's standing with his arms crossed over his chest and a stern expression on his face. I want to roll my eyes but something is telling me not to push my luck.

"Do you know what time it is?" He demands. 

I pursed my lips as my eyes darted around the room to find a clock.

"Um nope. They don't have clocks hanging from trees in the woods." I curse myself in my head at the sarcasm that drips from my tone.

He glares deeply. I swallow fearfully.

"Where have you been? I left the woods hours ago!" I flinch as he shouts in my face. 

"In the woods." I decide not to tell him about the wolf. He wouldn't believe me anyway.

"Alone?! You should have come home!"

"You attacked me! Did you really believe I would want to come back here after that?" I burst, throwing my hands up in the air and moving away from him.

Jack sighs and rubs his face roughly.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I was angry."

"When I'm angry, you shout at me and blame it on my hormones. Shall I just accept that every time you get angry now, you'll hurt me?"

"No. It won't happen again." I scoff.

"And how do I know that? How do you know that?! You've always had anger issues, Jack. I am pregnant. I am scared of you right now. I don't want to be pushed over or thrown against a wall in anger and lose the baby." I tell him. He needs to understand how serious it could be. An apology wouldn't mean shit if I lost my baby.

Jack steps closer to me and cradles my face in his hands. 

"I'm sorry. I've had a lot of trouble at work and I'm just a little stressed. I would never intentionally hurt you or our child. Don't be scared. It will never happen again, I can promise you." He sounds sincere and I want to believe him but I can't.

But it's also late and I'm tired. I don't want to stand here and argue with him for the rest of the night and possibly cause another incident. So I give in, melting into his touch as he kisses me softly. 

"I love you." He murmurs before pulling me into a hug.

All I can think is... I don't love you.