Disclaimer: ...and, I still don't own Twilight...

Chapter Eight

Riding the Wind

He was walking towards me.

His beautiful russet skin gleaming in the sunlight, his silky black hair pulled back into a pony tail at the nape of his neck, shining so brilliantly in the sun it almost glistened. He flashed me a brilliant smile, revealing rows of straight, white teeth, and effectively turned my knees into jelly. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and try as I might, I couldn't help but stare at his perfect chest, his toned but not too bulky abs, his strong arms...

I was practically standing in a puddle of my own drool as he reached me, and gently took me into his arms. He was saying something, but I was too busy staring into his deep chocolate brown eyes, strangely familiar eyes, to notice. He smiled at me again, and reached down. His lips were inches from mine, I could practically taste his sweet breath. I closed my eyes just as he gently placed his warm lips on mine and-

My eyes snapped open.

It was as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on my head. That warm, fuzzy feeling of being in a good dream had suddenly evaporated, leaving me alone, in the pitch black real world with no idea where I was, in a great deal of pain, obviously not in my bed, and with no company other than the crickets. But surprisingly, warm. The same kind of warmth I'd felt when the man in my dream took me into his arms...but, no, I must be imaging it. That guy couldn't possibly be real. Guys like that just don't exist, and if they did, they certainly wouldn't pay any attention to me.

Dismissing these thoughts from my mind for the moment, I tried to figure out where I'd wound up. It felt like I was laying on some sort of mattress, and I wasn't really sure how I'd gotten there. But, deciding that I was relatively safe for the moment, and too tired to really care, I moved my head to bury it further into my pillow, and closed my eyes again, trying to fall back into that heavenly dream and, hopefully, the man that went along with it.

And then my eyes snapped open for the second time in five minutes.

If that was a pillow, it was one strange pillow. It was soft, and smooth, and very warm, but pointedly un-pillow like. Mainly because it was moving. As was the rest of my "mattress".

I sat up as best as I could, and blindly moved my hand about in the dark, trying to find the source of the movement. All I found was a searing hot, wet nose. Ah.

Wolf.

I remembered now. I must've fallen asleep against him after my semi-break down in the tree house. I could only remember flashes after the break down, I don't think I was really conscious for most of what had happened...

But I do remember one thing. We'd had a...connection, of sorts. Even now, I could feel his emotions, in the back of my mind, not really there, but still present. I remembered wondering if he could feel my emotions, just as I could feel his. The idea was ridiculous, and suggesting it to anyone else would have me locked up in the crazy house for the rest of my life, but...it had seemed so real, and I could still feel his emotions, so, the only logical conclusion was that it had actually happened, that I wasn't losing it.

Then again, I could have been dreaming, and even now, am just imagining feeling his emotions. I could be hallucinating because of the pain in my ankle, and my wrist, and every other part of my body now that I think about it...

I tried to ignore the new-found pain. I had to get back to the house, mom would probably be calling the police soon, and I didn't want to be found. Not by the police, anyway. I don't think they'd quite forgotten me yet.

I slowly moved into a fully sitting position, desperately trying not to wake Wolf up. I was pretty sure that, given all the opportunities he'd had, he wasn't going to eat me, but, well, I'd rather just let the sleeping dog lie, to be on the safe side.

I was actually quite proud of myself so far. I'd managed to disentangle myself from his legs and tail, which were wrapped securely around me, but when I tried to get up, I encountered a bit of a problem.

The source of the pain in my ankle was, evidently, not just from lack of circulation. It was more from lack of solid, none-broken bone structure. Cursing my stupidity as I teetered and fell, with as little grace and elegance as possible, back down onto Wolf, I prayed that he was a sound sleeper. But no such luck.

He woke up immediately. I could feel his muscles coil, ready to spring at any given moment, and let out an involuntary gasp as he fiercely growled. I was reminded once again of why I'd originally been so terrified of him. However, it only took him a few seconds to realize what was going on, and, just as suddenly as he'd turned into a fierce, snarling wolf ready to attack the next thing to breathe, he was a whining and whimpering puppy, begging for forgiveness after eating his master's favorite pair of slippers.

Even in the dark, I could tell he was pulling the puppy dog eyes.

Rolling my own eyes, I reached out towards the source of the whining and whimpering, and, upon finally locating what I was pretty sure was his nose, began to awkwardly pat it.

He seemed to relax a bit, and nudged my hand, encouraging me to scratch his ears. I obliged, sighing, but I couldn't hold back a small grin, and, judging by the loud panting coming from his general direction, he couldn't either. But I couldn't just stay there all night petting Wolf.

I tried, very slowly, to pull myself up again, but to no avail. I fell right back down again, my already shaky legs unable to support me anymore than they had been a minute before. Except that this time, Wolf caught me before I fell all the way to the ground.

Now draped awkwardly over his back, me feet dangling uncomfortably far from the ground, I tried to smoothly slide down, but he started whimpering as soon as I moved. I froze, thinking I'd hurt him someway (not failing to appreciate the irony, seeing as I'd been convinced he was going to eat me just this morning), but when he didn't make a sound for a while, I assumed it was just a coincidence, so I tried to move again. This time, he gave something between a whine and a soft howl, and I could tell by the way his body shifted that he'd turned around to look at me.

"What?" I asked him, somewhat exasperated.

I didn't really expect an answer from him, considering our language, not to mention species, barrier, but apparently, Wolf failed to recognize a rhetorical question when asked one.

He moved so fast that I was now completely convinced that whatever he was, normal wasn't an adjective in his vocabulary. He bent down for a half a second, so that my body, which had previously been suspended a good five feet from the ground, was in free fall. Then, in the other half of the second, he expertly spun around to catch me, and now I found myself somehow straddling him, my hands buried in the thick fur covering his neck, my head by his ear, my legs, if weakly, gripping his sides for dear life.

It was then I realized that he intended to carry me home.

Shocked into silence, I didn't notice for a few minutes that he had begun walking in what was hopefully the direction of my house.

But I did notice when he started to run.

It wasn't a sprint, and I got the distinct impression that he could be going a lot faster if I wasn't on his back, but it was enough to re-awaken my vocal chords.

"Wolf!" I shrieked, the panic rising up my throat, "what are you doing?!"

He didn't make any noise to show that he'd heard me, but he did seem to slow a little bit, sensing my fear. But my heart didn't slow down.

You see, I've never been one for high speeds, or heights, or anything potentially dangerous at all. Even before...well, before the accident, I was a highly cautious person, never going on a roller coaster, or jumping off the high dive, or anything scary, or dangerous. And then...after, well, if I'd been cautious before, I was more than a little paranoid now.

I knew Wolf could feel my anxiety and fear, but he seemed to think that getting me home safely was more of a priority.

I disagreed.

Just as I opened my mouth to say so - And I was pretty sure at that point, that, no matter how crazy it sounded, Wolf could understand English- we passed through an area of the woods where the trees were thinner. The full moon shone down on us, and suddenly, as I watched the trees blur into a mass of dark green and brown, I was aware of just how fast Wolf was running.

I decided it probably wasn't such a good idea to open my mouth after all.

Shutting my eyes tightly again, I tried to focus on not throwing up, but after a while, I became aware of a strange, new sensation.

It was like nothing I'd ever felt before. It was all at once terrifying, and exhilarating, and and breath taking, and it made me feel oddly...free. Like a weight had been temporarily lifted off my shoulders.

Forgetting my earlier queasiness, I opened my eyes, and immediately wanted to shut them again as Wolf just barely missed a huge tree, but, surprising myself, I didn't. I kept my head down on Wolf's neck, but turned my face to the side, so I could see the forest. Even as a blur, it was beautiful.

I felt myself getting used to sensation now, almost liking it even. I was amazed at how smoothly Wolf ran. With the breeze tickling my face, and whipping my hair around my head, I almost felt like I was gliding on the air. Riding the wind.

But, as with most things in life, just as soon as it starts to get fun, it has to end.

We slowed down considerably as we approached my house. Wolf came to a stop just inches from the back gate. Assuming this was my cue to get down, I struggled to slid off his back, but he abruptly turned around and yipped in my ear. Then, to my utter amazement, he reached up and gently unhooked the latch with his nose.

My jaw literally dropped. Oh he was so not just an abnormally large wolf.

But I didn't have much time to contemplate this as he was already loping gracefully towards the house. Reaching the kitchen door, he glared at the doorknob, almost as though wishing he had hands to turn it.

Sensing his distraction, I finally slipped off his back as quickly as I could. When my feet hit the ground, I stumbled a bit, but Wolf, who had stopped trying to blow the door off of its hinges with his death glare (even though I'm sure he was quite capable of doing just that with one swipe of his huge paw), nudged me back on to my feet, or, foot, seeing as I was not about to put any weight on my broken ankle.

With shaky hands, I reached into the eves for the extra house key, and carefully unlocked the door. Wincing as it creaked open, I hopped inside, but then I stopped, realizing that Wolf was still standing on the threshold.

Awkwardly hopping around, I reaching him standing in the doorway, and, acting purely on an instinct I never knew I had, reached down, taking his huge face in my hands, and gently kissed him on what would have been his forehead, had he been human.

"Thank you" I whispered. He gave me the biggest grin I've ever seen, and a huge, wet, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"Eww, Wolf!" I cried, trying to keep my voice down. He just grinned again and trotted off into the woods.

Shaking my head, I closed the door, and turned around.

This was it. The home stretch. I could make it, I could get up the stairs and into my room without my mom knowing, couldn't I?

Yes, yes I could, I told myself as I hopped past the refrigerator.

Half scooting, half hopping through the living room, I used the sofa for support, and then I hopped into the hallway. Yes, I think I can I think I can...

I was at the bottom of the stairs now, looking forlornly up the staircase, wondering what kind of an moron had decided to make it so darn long. But I had to think positively.

I think I can I think I can I think I can..

Halfway there now...

I think I can I think I can I think I can...

Yes! I finally made it to the top of the stairs. Taking a moment to breath, I collapsed against the banister, intently listening for signs of life in my mom's bedroom.

Nothing. Perfect.

Almost smiling now at my sneakiness (even though I knew full well I was going to get it in the morning) I crawled the last few feet to my room, dragged myself up the molding on the doorway to my room, and reached for door handle, every muscle in my body screaming. But that would be over soon. I could collapse in bed, I could go to sleep immediately, I could...

But all my hopes and dream were suddenly crushed, as I opened the door to see my bed already occupied.

By my mother.

"Hi honey" she said in a falsely sweet, I'm-about-to-ground-you-for-the-rest-of-you-life, kind of voice. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

I closed my eyes in defeat.

She knew.

Damn.

A/N: Hi, I know I said I would update faster, and this wasn't very fast, but here it is, anyways. Please review? Please? And thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter, it's much appreciated :D

BlackBird28