Beauty And Her Beast

Chapter 2

A/N: The amazing picture above of last chapter's scene was made by @phoebjoydawolf on instagram!

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I walked about two steps behind him, both of our steps being slow and steady as we treaded through the grassland that separated my village from the actual forest.

The goal was to be as soundless as possible, which was why we decided to trek on foot instead of taking our horses.

Either way despite our best efforts, I was almost certain that no matter what, if we got close enough to this wolf, that it would be able to hear us effortlessly.

Plus the fact that the breeze was blowing at our backs, so if it didn't hear it first, it might catch our scents

I kept my eyes ahead, focusing on the bag my father carried as well as his pistol that he altered into a tranquilizer that sat strapped around his back.

I too carried a small backpack filled with a small number of supplies.

"I think we're close," He whispered to me as we made our way up a small hill.

How he knew that was beyond me, but he's never given me a reason not to believe in him one hundred percent.

In fact, his knowledge of things like this was almost scary accurate.

I began to figure that with all his studying, it just became an almost second language.

He stopped for a moment in front of me, fingers grazing a small patch of wild wheat before he inspected it closer.

"Oh yeah, we're close," He concluded.

"How do you know?"

I really just wanted to know how he's figured all of this out with seemingly no evidence.

He did this all the time and I figured that I would just figure it out myself.

At this point, I was willing to admit that I needed an explanation.

I stepped closer as he motioned for me too, looking over the wheat.

"You see that," He asked, his finger running over one particular strand, "the base of this isn't formed as it should be, and one of the grains is laying flat which either means that the field mice got to it early, or something heavy came by and disturbed it."

I looked over at what he was trying to say, picking up just enough for it to make some sort of sense.

I guess I saw the grains that was laying flat, but that could have been caused by anything.

Although, the heavier wildlife usually stuck to the protection of the trees and rarely came out to the grasslands.

I nodded, making a mental note to look out for more things like that.

"But it's weird," He began again," He doesn't seem to be on any set path. It's almost like he's just searching around here."

I glanced back to where he said he spotted it earlier.

Judging by the path it's followed so far, it definitely looked like it was just wandering aimlessly.

I was about to speak my thought, but a sharp inhale from my father followed by a hand on my shoulder cut me off.

He had pushed me down into a kneeling stance, his eyes pointed off to our right.

I followed his gaze, my gasping quietly myself at what I saw.

Almost exactly as he explained it, the wolf casually walked out from the dense forest about 150 feet from us.

Usually, things like that wouldn't be so easy to spot, but its stark white fur stood out quite a lot from the rest of the scenery.