Chapter Two – If You Go Down To The Woods Today

The young Russian backed away slowly, one of her hands held in front of her in a surrendering manner, the other digging deep red indentations into the muscle of Bo's tensed arm as she tried in vain to tug the succubus back behind the boulder with her. The...wolf?...yeah, she was pretty sure it was a wolf, let out another loud howl, ears almost the size of Kenzi's hands flattening back against its head and corded muscles tensing visibly beneath it's coat as it pressed forward, almost as though it was trying to get to them but couldn't.

Which, Bo realized suddenly, was exactly what was happening.

Now that the creature had moved slightly she could see the thick chain wrapped tightly around the pillar, two extensions shorter than the length of a ball-point pen leading to another chain wrapped around it's neck, effectively pinning the animal fast against the ancient stone. She winced as she looked at the wolf's neck again. The blood clotting it's fur was obviously it's own, collateral damage from the chain. It must have been struggling against it in vain for quite some time to inflict that amount of harm. Her eyes flicked back up, and she found the animal gazing back at her, before it snarled and strained hard against the metal holding it captive, paws scrabbling fruitlessly against bare dirt as it fought to pull free. Without even realising what she was doing, Bo found herself taking a step forward, much to the horror of her best friend.

"Bobo! What the fuck are you doing?"

"He's hurt Kenzi! Look, there's blood all over his neck from the chain. We need to get it off."

The girl blinked at her incredulously. "Take it off? Take it OFF?! Are you crazy woman? Who cares if it's hurt, LOOK at that thing!"

The succubus gave her a frown. "We can't just leave him here like this, it's cruel. Besides, he's stuck! He'll probably die if we we don't free him."

Kenzi's eyes boggled, having difficulty telling Bo was joking, or if she had – in fact – completely lost her shit. "And we'll probably die if we do! You don't go around releasing crazy feral monsters in the woods...speaking of which...why the hell is there a crazy feral monster chained to a hunk of rock in the middle of nowhere?! Last I checked, this wasn't Middle Earth or some shit!"

She had a point there, Bo realized. This wasn't exactly an accidental entanglement – the animal definitely hadn't gotten here by itself. The only logical solution seemed to be that, for whatever purpose, it had been brought and left here by the missing druids who had been living in the house. Perhaps they hadn't had time to fetch and secure it before they fled?

"I don't know Kenz, maybe it was some kind of pet?"

"A pet? Really? Well, they are supposed to be evil I guess. Doesn't look very tame for a pet though, does it?" She was fairly certain that this was the kind of 'pet' that would, in fact, bite the hand that fed it...then the arm, and the leg, and the head. She'd take a boring old tank of tropical fish any day, thank you very much. If only Bo felt the same.

"I think anything would be pissed off at being tied up that tightly and left behind for god-knows-how-long." The succubus was unexpectedly sympathetic towards the creature, left here like this. No animal was meant to be chained up, especially not a wild one, and especially not so brutally.

Kenzi, on the other hand, simply couldn't believe that her friend was seriously considering getting closer to the creature, let alone setting the damn thing loose. As far as she was concerned, those teeth alone should be reason enough to flee back to the car as fast as their legs could carry them. This was most definitely not what she had signed up for on this mission. Apparently she was the only one with such common sense however, as Bo had already shrugged off the grip she had on her arm and stepped into the clearing.

As soon as she moved forward, the wolf roared, struggling harder against it's bonds, and bringing the succubus screeching to a halt. Intellectually, of course, she knew that she should take Kenzi and go, perhaps let Dyson and Hale know about the wolf, and allow them to investigate and deal with it. Unchaining the creature certainly wasn't a smart thing to do, in fact it was probably down right stupid, but for some reason the thought of leaving the animal shackled so helplessly made her feel sick. She didn't know what to do, her instincts told her to release it, while at the same time she was afraid that...wait a minute – afraid?

Considering, for a moment, the position the animal was in, Bo suddenly realized the reason for it's continued aggression. Threat, oh yes, the wolf was definitely dangerous, but also...fear. It was wounded, and unable to escape or properly defend itself. Deciding to go with her instincts, she sheathed the knife in her hands, raising them slowly as she forced herself to loosen her posture. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, but was relived (and more than a little surprised) when the animal immediately stopped growling, tilting it's head as it eyed her suspiciously, but with significantly less...well, murder, in it's eyes.

Feeling more confident, Bo approached the wounded animal slowly, talking softly to it. The wolf watched her closely, ears still pressed flat against it's skull, a low continuous rumble from deep within it's chest serving a blatant warning.

"Hey, shhhh, it's ok boy, I'm just going to take that chain off. I'm not going to hurt you..."

The animal didn't snarl at her again, but it didn't relax its aggressive stance either. As she got closer, she noticed that it's claws were digging deep gouges into the packed ground beneath it's massive paws, and once again questioned the wisdom of what she was planning to do. 'He definitely does not look happy, what if he turns on us as soon as he's loose? Hell, what if he rips me apart before I can even LET him loose?' But even though Kenzi was hissing at her to back away and leave the animal, Bo found that she couldn't. She just couldn't abandon it there, stuck and in pain. So slowly, cautiously, she took four final steps, coming to a halt near the creatures left shoulder. It had turned it's head to follow her movements warily, and she found herself staring once again into deep, emotive eyes. What had looked like solid colour from a distance was now revealed to be many shades of green, as though the very nature of the forest was reflected in the animals gaze, speckled with gold. For a several long heartbeats, she was unable to look away, until the sound of the wolf's harsh panting drew her focus back to the situation.

"I'm...I'm going to get you out of here, okay boy?"

Bo jumped as the wolf let out a rumbling huff at this, but her alarm faded as she realized that the creature had finally stopped snarling. Now that she was no longer looking straight at such an imposing set of teeth, she was able to relax enough to lean forward, carefully reaching out to touch the chain around the wolfs neck. For the first time she suddenly wondered how on earth she was actually going to get the chain off. She didn't exactly carry a set of bolt cutters or a welding kit with her, and if the wolf couldn't break free of it with brute strength then she didn't probably stand much of a chance at snapping it either. Frowning, she ran her fingers over the thick, dark links. Sticky blood slicked beneath her fingertips and she hissed in sympathy as she saw how deep into fur and flesh the unforgiving metal had bitten. Despite how close it was to the wolf's skin it was surprisingly chilled to the touch, and upon looking closer, she saw that there were strange runes carved into each link. Tracing the chain around under the animals neck, she finally found what she had been looking for, a thick, ancient padlock that kept the loops locked securely together. Anger surged in her chest as she noticed nearly a dozen extra links hanging free from one end of the chain and realized that whoever had put it on had had deliberately tightened it well beyond what would be necessary to hold the animal. No wonder it had caused so much harm – it was a miracle the wolf could even breathe.

Crouching down, she turned the worn lock in her hands, wondering how to release it. Assuming there weren't any fae tricks involved Kenzi could probably pick it without too much trouble, but a glance back at her anxious face confirmed that no amount of begging or bribery was likely to convince the girl to come close enough to do so. She was just considering the merits of trying to pick it herself with the tip of her knife when she remembered the old key Kenzi had found hidden in the shack. The chances of it being the right one seemed impossibly slim, but now that she thought about it...it had looked like it was made out of the same metal as the chain, and the symbol on it...maybe it was...yes...she was certain that it matched one of the runes on the chain, down near where the lock was.

Slowly standing up, not wanting to startle the animal least it panicked and ripped her to shreds, she called out in as normal a tone as she could. "Hey Kenzi, can you chuck me that key you found please?"

"Are you absolutely sure about this? 'Cause that thing might have calmed down a bit, but once it's free I don't think we're gonna be able to stop it. Who knows how long it's been chained up? He 's probably feeling more than a little bit peckish, and what ravenous beast wouldn't want a Bo lunch, followed by sweet little moi as dessert?"

"He's not going to eat us Kenzi, I promise." The succubus held out her hand.

Her friend shook her head and muttered a string of particularly colourful sounding Russian curses, but wrestled the key out of her tight pocket, and with one last sigh, tossed it to her. "If we both end up dead over this, I will hassle the eternal shit out of you, I swear to god."

Ignoring her, Bo snatched the key neatly out of the air and crouched back down so that she could reach for the lock. "Ok, here we go..." Taking a deep breath, she slipped it into the mechanism. It fitted perfectly, and, with a twist of her wrist, and a clunking metallic 'click', she was able to pull the padlock loose, and finally release the animal from its bonds, cringing to herself as she peeled the chain away from where it was stubbornly embedded in swollen flesh.

The instant it was free from it's shackles an explosion of movement from the wolf knocked Bo to the ground, stunning her. She heard Kenzi scream her name, and her eyes clenched shut automatically, waiting for the animal to strike.

Nothing happened.

After several excruciatingly long seconds passed without her being mauled and/or eviscerated, Bo gathered the courage to crack one eye open, and, not seeing the wolf, sat up cautiously.

Kenzi was still yelling behind her, voice fraught with terror, and she had just started to turn around to let her know that she was all right, when a rumbling growl from her left froze her in place, stomach sinking like a stone. Shaking finger fumbled for her knife again, gripping it tightly beneath white knuckles, and the succubus rolled quickly to a crouch, ready to defend the both of them to her last breath. It came as somewhat of a shock then, when she spotted the wolf mere meters from her and...completely ignoring them?

"BO! FUCK! ARE YOU OKAY?"

'Okayis a relative term', Bo thought wryly. She didn't seem to actually be injured, but was fairly certain she had lost a least a decade off of her lifespan, and her heart was racing so hard it felt like it would bruise the inside of her ribcage. Relaxing her death-grip on the knife, and the breath she hadn't noticed she was still holding until she was starting to see spots, she quickly reassured her frantic best friend before she decided to charge over herself. "I'm fine Kenz. Not even a scratch."

Which was true. The wolf hadn't hurt her. Bowled her over like a human sized skittle, yes, but considering what she had half been expecting, what the animal was likely capable of, she really wasn't complaining about a bruised ego. 'And possibly ass' she added to herself wryly, resisting the urge to rub said body part as it throbbed.

Feeling some of her previous confidence return, she shifted her attention once again to the source of their most recent drama.

The wolf was standing several feet from the pillar where it had been bound, eyes flicking warily between her and Kenzi, who was still holding her blade out, seemingly trying to look as threatening as possible. Eventually it seemed to come to the conclusion that neither of them were currently much of a danger and carefully stretched out each of it's powerful hind legs, as though it had just woken up from a long nap. Bo chuckled at the sight, a slight smile tugging at her lips, but her amusement faded as she noticed that the wolf wasn't putting any of it's weight on it's left front leg. She hadn't noticed that before. Was it hurt? As if in answer to her question, the animal turned and limped awkwardly back towards the stone pillar, walking only on it's other three legs and not allowing it's left paw to touch the ground. She watched as the creature bent down, seeming to inspect the chain hanging loosely from the stone, sniffing it before flopping down with a growl - apparently frustrated with something.

Bo stared at the wolf, unsure what of make of the situation. She had assumed that after releasing the animal it would either bolt straight into the forest and never be seen again, or promptly attack her. This scenario hadn't even crossed her mind, and she didn't know what to do. Should she just leave? That felt wrong somehow, though she didn't know why. Unable to resist, Bo stepped slowly back towards the wolf. It lifted its head immediately, watching her, but otherwise didn't appear to be bothered much by her presence. Taking that as a good sign, she walked over to the animal, stopping in front of it and crouching down.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Kenzi muttered, having finally relaxed and lowered her weapon, only to look up and see her best friend going back towards the beast again. "Bo he's free! Why, for the love of god, are we still here?"

"He's got an injured leg Kenzi, I think it might be broken."

"And you are going toooo...what? Look at it and see? Bandage it up neatly with your shirt and pat him on the head? You really want to end up as a chew toy, don't you?"

"Shhh...just stay there, okay?"

Bo heard the Russian mutter something offensive under her breath, but she stayed put, arms crossed over her chest. Confident that she didn't have to worry about Kenzi, she focused on the wolf again. It was still watching her with those unearthly green eyes, seemingly unconcerned with it's damaged limb and bloody neck, or with her close proximity. Unafraid now, the succubus took the time to really examine at the animal up close, fascinated by it's size and apparent strength and the unusual colouring of it's fur. She had a burning urge to reach out and touch the wolf, and, before she was even consciously aware of her actions, her hand had stretched out to do exactly that.

The animal jerked slightly as if in surprise, but didn't pull away or attack as her hand settled carefully on it's head. It's coat was thick and soft, so much softer than she had been expecting, and warm beneath her fingers. Bo breathed in deeply, amazed by the comfort she felt in what had to be one of the strangest situations of her life. It was then that she knew that she couldn't drive away and leave the wolf there, although what she was going to do she had no idea. After all, she couldn't just bring him back with her. I mean, the wolf would probably fit in the car, but...how would she convince it to come with them? How would she convince Kenzi to LET it come with them? What the hell would she do with him when they got back to Toronto? And, more importantly, when had she started seriously considering taking the animal with her?

She couldn't. Logically, she couldn't. And she shouldn't.

So why did she get the feeling she was going to try and do exactly that?

Withdrawing her hand from the wolfs head, Bo reached down, wanting to have a look at it's leg. Before she could make contact though, the animal growled, teeth snapping down at her arm with lightning speed, immobilizing it. Startled, the succubus flinched, expecting pain, but once again none came. Glancing down she snorted slightly, unsure whether she was more relived or amused. The wolf had closed its teeth not around her forearm, but on the sleeve of her jacket, puncturing cleanly through the dark leather. She tugged lightly, but the animal didn't release its grip, letting out another rumbling growl instead.

Dark eyes rolled beneath long lashes. "All right, I get the point. I won't touch your leg okay?"

The wolf blinked back at her around a mouthful of expensive leather.

"I promise?" She pulled her arm back towards her, and after a moments hesitation, the animal opened it's powerful jaw and allowed her to unhook herself.

Shaking her sleeve out, Bo lowered herself to a seated position on the ground, wondering what to do. She wanted to bring the wolf back with her. If she was honest with herself, she had wanted to since she had freed it, though she still wasn't completely sure why. The first problem (and that was as far as she was willing to worry about for now) would be getting the creature in the car – they couldn't exactly force him to follow them...unless he came along willingly? The wolf was clearly not a normal creature and appeared to be intelligent, more than it should be, and seemed to understand her when she spoke to it, maybe she should just...ask? Worst case scenario it didn't work and she made herself look like an idiot in front of Kenzi, but hell – it wasn't like she hadn't done that before. 'Ah, what the heck, it's worth a shot' she mused, straightening up so that she was looking into iridescent eyes.

"Will you come back with us?"

The wolf didn't move, but it tilted it's head to the side, which Bo took to be a positive sign. "We have a car, we're going back to the city.." The animal huffed at that but she pressed on, "I would really like you to come...you're hurt, and hungry - what are you going to do here? I can get you something to eat, and help with your leg. We won't hurt you, I promise. I just want to help."

The wolf didn't budge, and Bo trailed off, suddenly feeling ridiculous speaking to an animal that either didn't seem to comprehend what she was saying or simply didn't care. Shoulders slumping, she stood up and dusted off the seat of her pants, heading back across the clearing to talk to Kenzi before she decided what to do. She was fairly sure her friend would have some quite vocal protestations to her plan, but hoped that she would be able to calm her down enough to see that the wolf wouldn't be a threat to them.

"Tell me you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking."

….Or not.

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me succubus. We are NOT taking your freaky new pet home with us."

"Kenz-"

"NO. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to bring home strays?! Seriously, if you want a dog, we can get a Labrador or something, but you can't just keep a giant frigging wolf babe. What is this, Dyson withdrawal? At least he was house trained!"

Bo shook her head. How could she make Kenzi understand why she needed to do this when she didn't even understand herself?

"Look, I know you think that this is a bad idea-"

"Because it is a bad idea! It's the king of bad ideas! Hell, it makes all of our other bad ideas look like strokes of Nobel Prize winning genius!"

"But I really don't think we should leave him here. He's hurt, probably starved...and he's obviously important somehow."

Her best friend blinked at her. "Important, how'd you figure that?"

"Well he was chained up like that for a reason, the druids must have wanted something from him, or to use him for something. Not to mention he's clearly not a normal animal – no regular wolf would grow to that size. I'm pretty sure he's underfae, or some kind of fae beast, and Trick might have some interesting information on him. Besides," She crossed her arms stubbornly, "If he was going to hurt us, he's had plenty of opportunities to do so. Whatever he is, I trust him Kenzi, I really do."

The Russian sighed, shaking her head. "You aren't going to let this go are you?" Bo flashed a winning smile at her, and she threw her hands into the air in defeat. "Okay fine! Fangs can come with us. IF you can get it in the car of course, which I refuse to help with because unlike you I actually value my- GAAAH!"

Kenzi yelped and jumped backwards, almost tumbling over in shock. Her grey eyes widened as they fixed on something behind the succubus. "When the heck did you sneak up on us?"

Bo spun around, bursting into laughter as she spotted the wolf. The animal had apparently decided to follow her after all, and, having padded over silently at some point during her argument with her best friend, was now seated patiently behind her, watching them both.

Deciding that it was probably best to try and get Kenzi used to the animal now rather than later, she reached out and grasped her arm lightly.

"Trust me," she murmured, "He won't hurt you. Try petting him."

She met the wolf's gaze, silently pleading with it not to react badly.

Hesitantly, the Russian stretched out her hand, gingerly resting it on the animals head. One of it's ears twitched, but otherwise it didn't move, and Bo did a mental victory dance as she saw Kenzi relax, fingers scratching lightly through soft fur. "Damn Bo, you didn't mention the eyes. That's some wicked shit right there."

Bo snorted. "Hey, it's not my fault you couldn't look past his teeth!" The wolf rumbled grumpily and the succubus put her hands on her hips. "See! You insulted him!" Another rumble.

"Ahhh, I don't think I'm the one doing the insulting Bobo..." Kenzi smirked, arching a sculpted eyebrow.

"What do you mean? What did I do?"

"Well, I don't think she appreciates the way you keep referring to her."

Bo blinked skeptically. "Wait, It's a girl?!" She peered at the wolf suspiciously. "How can you even tell?"

Her best friend rolled her eyes. "Really? You're a succubus that doesn't know the difference between boys and girls? Do I need to give you the sex talk? Explain the birds and bees? Perhaps draw you a couple of helpful diagrams?"

"OKAY. I get the point. Hilarious. What I meant was how can you tell when it's so...fluffy?"

"Annnd no fluffy junk. Hence – girl."

"Well excuse me for not focusing on what the strange animal has between it's legs. I was kinda preoccupied with trying to free it and hoping not to die. I just assumed it was male because it's so big."

The wolf apparently took offence at this and butted it's large head into her side solidly, knocking the wind out of her and very nearly bowling her over again. "All right, all right! I'm sorry girl."

She pouted, spinning around and striding back towards the two boulders that marked the opening to the trail. "Now that you two traitors have become friendly enough to gang up on me, do you think we could get out of here?"

The wolf glanced over at Kenzi and rumbled softly, standing up again and plodding after the succubus. The girl sniggered to herself, shaking her head.

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming."