Hour of the Wolf (on hold)

Finders Keepers!

Finders Keepers!

**Elle**

Slowly my senses awakened one by one and fed me bits of information that drew me from the land of sleep into the realm of consciousness.  I was toasty warm and wrapped in something fluffy.  A delicious smell of freshly baked bread hung in the air, accompanied by properly brewed coffee and the clunking of crockery.  Light filtered into my eyes and my arm hurt.

Coffee!!  My brain yelled!  ‘Not so loud, my head hurts!’  I almost yelled back, but my eyes came into focus and I was frozen at the view.

I was inside a large room of what appeared to be a cabin.  I was swaddled under a thick blanket on one of three couches in a semi-circle in front of an unlit stone fireplace.  Across from them stood a dining table and six chairs, and the other half of the room consisted of an open-plan kitchen. 

Movement caught my eye, someone was standing in the kitchen and as I slowly sat up, he turned around.

Oh.  Holy.  Crap.

There, in real life, stood the man of my dreams.  No wait, I meant, the man from my dreams.  I have only ever dreamt of him at the waterfall, was I dreaming now?

He looked the same, light brown hair cut short, green shirt and trousers, heavy boots laced tight.  In my dreams I never noticed what he was wearing before.  It never mattered; except now I could clearly make out the logo of the reservation stitched onto the shirt. 

This was not a dream.  “Dean?”

He had been standing very still waiting for me to gather my bearings, but when I called his name a look of confusion crossed his handsome features.  “Who is Dean?” 

**Dean**

I have been waiting for her to wake up.  Aiden assured me she would and that she had merely passed out from exhaustion and shock.

After I found her at the waterfall it took me a few moments to figure out that she was real.  That she was really there and I was not dreaming, and then panic set in.  She did not wake up even after I called her name and pulled her into my arms.  Blood had dried all over her arm and she had scrapes and scratches on her hands. 

I carried her back to the cabin and called Aiden, who at first thought I was joking.  Once I threatened to throw him over the waterfall he rushed over.  Gently we cleaned her wounds and Aiden stitched up her arm.  Silver Creek was a good few hours away from the closest hospital and Aiden was the closest thing we had to a doctor; he was a vet.

Apart from exhaustion, shock and a little hypothermia she was okay and would wake up when her body had rested enough.  I had watched over her while she slept and had slept little myself except for a few hours in the early morning.  After a shower I needed coffee and figured she would need some food when she woke up.

When I turned around a pair of chocolate brown eyes stared at me.  Her long brown locks draped around her as she sat up, grass and dirt stains still on her shirt.  I decided to treat her like an injured animal; make no sudden movements to scare her and let her make the first move.

“Dean?”  She asked.

“Who is Dean?”  I tried to look confused, but that only worked for a few seconds before I burst out laughing.  The look of alarm on her face was just too funny.

“I’m only joking!  I’m sorry!”  I quickly re-assured her.  “Hi Elle…”

I approached but kept my distance and sat down on the closest couch to her. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I ran into a tree,” she put a hand to her head and flinched “among other things.” 

Elle examined the bandages curiously before her eyes locked back onto mine. 

“Wait!  How are you here?  Actually, where am I?  Are you real?”  Her line of questions was interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach.

I burst out laughing.  “Relax, we’ll figure all this out, but first, let’s have some breakfast!”  I shook my head as I got up, she was the same Elle, only clearer, like how a photocopy would be the same, but the original was so much better.

**Elle**

I watched in fascination as he filled two plates with fresh bread and omelette, and poured me a cup of coffee.  Man food.  I grinned to myself as my stomach growled again.  The last time I ate was noon yesterday, and his breakfast was a far cry from a bowl of cereal.

Eagerly I leaned forward and took the plate from Dean as he put the coffee down next to me.  “Thanks now start talking!” 

He just grinned and shook his head. 

“I’m Dean, and this is my cabin.  I found you in the woods by the waterfall yesterday when I was tracking a wo..ah..wild animal.  You were unconscious so I brought you back here and Aiden checked you out and fixed you up.  What were you doing by the way?  You looked like you rolled down a mountainside.”

I chewed happily while I listened to him.  So many questions were running through my mind, so I started with the most important.  “But why are you here?”

He looked taken aback for a second.  “I live and work here.  What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to camp to clear my head.  Jenny has been the DIY Duracell bunny and there is only so much paint and dust I can take,” I answered as I put my empty plate down and picked up the coffee.

“Oh right, Jenny moved in with you, I remember,” suddenly his face turned into a serious mask and he leaned forward. 

“Elle, I know I’ve said this before, but it’s different in real life; I am so sorry about Duke.”

Sadness pushed itself into my chest and my heart ached.  I took a deep breath and didn’t dare look Dean in the eye. 

“Thanks,” it was all I could say, so I took a long sip of coffee.  “Hey, how do you know about that when I’ve only ever met you in my dreams?”

Dean looked at the ceiling before he looked at me.  “There are legends around here about dream-sharing.  People can walk in and out of each other’s dreams, talk and interact.  I don’t know how it works and didn’t even know it was true until I found you at the waterfall.  Speaking of which, what happened?”

Now it was my turn to explain, so I told him about my hike and spotting the waterfall from the hill. 

“And I followed the trail until I thought I was lost, but then this wolf chased me and I ran back to the waterfall and I fell a few times.  And I ran into a tree,” I said and I could feel my cheeks blushing at the last part so I drank the last of my coffee.  Thinking back it all seemed a bit silly now.

Dean didn’t respond he just sat there staring at the floor.

“Can I use the bathroom?”  I pulled the blankets off me and swung my legs to the floor.  Dean must have taken off my shoes because my feet landed on the polished wood.

It seemed to bring him back to the present.  “Uh, sure, it’s just up the stairs,” he pointed to the staircase in the far back corner.

“Thanks,” I got up, turned on my heel and fully intended to go get cleaned up when a dizzy feeling rushed up through me and made me see spots. 

My knees buckled and in the seconds that followed time stood still.  I could feel myself falling and counted down the seconds in my head before I would make contact with the floor.

A pair of strong arms caught me a split second before the floor rose up to greet me.

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Authors Note

Sorry about the viewpoint jumps, but I want the reader to experience the meeting from both sides, and if I put each in its own chapter, I will have a million chapters, so it's all about the scene!

Did it disappoint?

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