Wolfdale

EPILOGUE (Ruby POV)

"Can I take the blindfold off?"

"No, wait a second."

Iselen obeys patiently and remains still next to the car while I take our bags and carry them to the porch. It's getting dark but the pink light of the sunset turns the forest, with its autumnal colours, in an enchanted place and highlights beautifully my wife's silhouette, dressed with white pants and white embroidered blouse. The silver glitter on her new white Chuck Taylors sparkles for the last time before the sun vanishes behind the trees. My mate starts shivering... it's getting cold too.

"All right..." I walk behind her and start untying the knot of the blindfold on the back of her head. "Are you ready?" She nods enthusiastically and I let it drop.

"Oh wow! Where are we?" Iselen stares in awe at the beautiful log cabin, with its chimney made of stone and a big porch.

"Turn around..." She holds her breath when she realizes we're on top of one of the hills that surround the valley of Wolfdale, the city stretches far away beyond the trees that grown down the slope and lights are starting to turn on.

"This is a wonderful view..." she mumbles overwhelmed.

"It's even more beautiful from up there," I point behind me. "From the second floor window, that's the bedroom... Hey, wait! Where do you think you're going?" Iselen has started running but she stops abruptly before stepping on the porch.

"I'm going inside..." she answers confused.

"Not that way, babe..." I take her in my arms and she puts hers around my neck letting out a little squeal. "This is how it's done... wifey..." Slowly, I carry her while we walk through the door and her lips graze my cheek before I let her feet touch the floor. She looks around shocked once again. There's a big living room and dining room on the ground floor, with the fireplace in one corner: there're a couple of couches, some shelves, a colourful rug and a long table with benches. There's a small kitchen in a corner with wooden cabinets and fully equipped and a door that leads to a bathroom with a shower and a claw-foot tub. A wooden staircase leads to the second floor that's half of the size of the main floor where there's a king-sized bed, nightstands and a wardrobe, surrounded by a railing overlooking the living room and fireplace. I turn on the lights to allow Iselen to take a better look: everything's new and clean and we can see the forest and city through the windows.

"This place's so beautiful... who's the owner of the cabin?"

"It's mine," I answer while carrying our bags inside and leaving them on the couch. My wife's opening the fridge and cabinets checking that we have tons of food and all that we need to spend here a week.

"Seriously? I didn't know you had a place like this..."

"This is the first building of Wolfdale actually," I answer while kneeling down before the fireplace and lighting the fire. "I found the valley by chance and built the first cabin with my own hands, I spent here some months because I just needed some time away from it all in order to decide what to do with my life and where to go next. Years later, when the city was real finally, I kept using this place for retreat and meditation from time to time... Sometimes being connected with all those werewolves is exhausting, I can't get some rest for my mind and I come here to forget about all just for a weekend... but it's been a while since my last holidays. Of course, the first cabin was merely a hut without conveniences... The pack has restored this place, it's bigger now and everything's new, they only kept the furniture I had on the porch: my table, benches and the rocking chair where I like to have breakfast enjoying the view. This is our wedding gift, apparently. They've been working for weeks on this project."