Chapter 24.

In The Darkness

Virginia lay wrapped in her sleeping roll, looking up at the stars as they wheeled overhead. She was warm, comfortable, yet wide awake in the early hours. Around her she could hear the quiet snores and sighs made by her fellow campers. Several had taken up positions around the banked campfire as she had done, others were sleeping in the sturdy tents dotted through the clearing. It was so silent at this hour that Virginia could hear the blood pounding in her ears. She had been becoming progressively more attuned to the forest and it's rythmns, Evelyn, Shaman and the others taking great delight in teaching her the ways of things and the necessary survival skills perfected by their people. Wolf would be proud of her, she thought. At night, they sang and danced their stories around the fire at night, both for their own pleasure and to help keep their young charge from falling into black moods as she had been wont to do.

She fell to wondering what her Wolf was doing this night, whether he was happy with the way he's chosen. If he even remembered her. Her musings were interupted as she detected stealthy movements on the edge of camp. She half sat up, wondering if a coyote or fox had come to try and help itself to their supplies. She gazed into the darkness, trying to spot the intruder. She saw then the pale gleam of eyes shining in the faint moonlight. She felt something of a chill run down her spine as she realised that those eyes were looking straight at her. For long moments they bored into her and feeling a strange compulsion she didn't fully understand, Virginia got up very quietly, inching out of her bedroll as she slipped on her shoes and tiptoed away from the fire.

Shaman smiled to herself from her bedroll on the other side of the fire.

Virginia's heart was racing. Was it him, come back to her? She could hardly restrain herself not to shout his name, go crashing through the trees. She neared the eyeshine spot and began to make out that they did indeed come from a wolf, but a fullblood wolf, not the type she wanted as her hopes fell. The wolf came forward ever so slightly, never taking it's gaze from Virginia's. Then, surprisingly, it lowered it's focus, staring pointedly and unmistakeabley at Cub's little bump as it stuck out over the top of her trousers. Virginia's hand came down to cover him instinctively, but she did not feel threatened by the attention. The wolf backed up then, turning away, then looked back at Virginia. The meaning was clear. Follow me. With a growing sense of excitement, she did just that.

Virginia had crept her way nearly a mile when the saw that her lupine guide had stopped near a large thicket of fern and shrubs, bounded by many ancient trees. She slunk forward cautiously now, almost on her hand and knees, hoping that she hadn't just been lured to an unpleasant end. A pale beam of moonlight shone down on the thicket and her heart caught in her throat as she saw what was hidden there.

Two large, unmistakeably human feet poked out of the brush, the long black tip of a tail laying on the ground next to them. The feet could have belonged to any man, but she knew that tail, knew it and loved it. A sob escaped her before she even knew she was weeping. She went forward without hesitation now, only to be brought up in shock as a barely heard growl came from the figure seated in the bushes. She sat back in consternation, unable to believe her ears. He had growled at her! It was his wolf-voice, that she knew and she also recognized that particular growl. It was a warning. Come no closer.

She thought back desperately, hearing Shaman's words again. He may not know you. Or part of him may know you but the other, wild, part of him may hold sway over his actions.

Virginia began to hear a familiar sound, albeit one she couldn't understand, being as it was entirely in wolf-language. It was Wolf's two selves having a discussion of sorts. He had these types of conversations on nearly a daily basis. Anything from a simple dinner dilemma to arguements about various philosophies went through the dual identities. It was a habit known particularly to half-wolfs, he had told her, an especially those who had lived most of their lives alone, as he had. She sat listening intently, wishing once again that she could speak his wild tongue. For the moment she could do nothing but await the outcome. She wondered if she would be able to bear it if he rejected her. Would she run after him, begging? The fullblood wolf had disappeared. It was up to the two of them.

Wolf was in a greater dilemma than he had ever been in before. He had scented her coming long before she had come into view. His first impulse was to run, but the old she-wolf had bade him stay, pulling rank on him, forcing the issue. He was in a predicament for sure now, he thought, now that she had seen him. He had been unable to prevent the warning growl. He needed time to think, debate the issue, and her scent was, distracting.

"Mmm. Tasty" whispered his wolf-self.

"No. Not food. Mate!" his man-self argued back. And so it began.

"We should kill her. Then she will go away"

"Are you mad? We die then too!"

"No. We have survived. We will prosper with new friends. They have shared with us, have they not?"

"We cannot abandon our mate. It is the law!"

"She will lead us to men. Smell them on her! They will lock us up again, hurt us"

"I once said I would follow her though time. I still wish that"

"You cannot trust them. Human's hate us"

"I love her. But I am so afraid now"

"Then lets take her back with us. Live with our new friends"

"No. She is too fragile for such a life"

"What then?"

"I wish to go closer"

"To eat her?'

"No!"

After a time of whispering and growling, being careful not to make any sudden moves, Virginia lay down, assuming what she knew was a submissive, non threatening position. She lay still on her back, her throat exposed, vulnerable to him. The yipping, growling and whining had ceased and she knew he was staring at her because his eyes glowed bright green from under the bushes. They were his wolf-self eyes still, not the soft hazel ones she knew belonged to her man mate. She closed her own, hearing him creep forward.

She heard him snuffing widely all around her and when she risked a brief glance, her heart nearly broke to see that he was trembling. The irony of the situation was not lost on Virginia. Here she was, innocent maiden in the woods lying helpless before the shivering and shaking big bad wolf. No one in the 9 Kingdoms would ever believe it. She held out her hand to him and he visibly flinched, avoiding her touch. She fought to contain her rising anger. What had those monsters done to him?. She cursed them under her breath.

"Wolf. My love, my mate" she whispered at him as he sat there, not meeting her gaze.

"Do you not know me? Cub is here. We miss you" she continued, her hand rubbing her stomach. His eyes, lifted, looking at her hand as it lay over Cub. Slowly he raised his own hand and reached out and touched her gently there.

"You know I would never hurt you. Come with me" she said, voice breaking as she held out her hand once more. She could almost feel the tension in the air as the forest waited, holding it's breath as she held her own. He took her tiny hand in his own. She allowed her tears to run freely now as she stood, pulling him up gently. She ached to hold him in her arms, but some instinct told her it would frighten him. He stood uneasily, shuffling his feet, still not looking fully at her. She turned back the way she had come and he followed obediantly behind.

The sky was lightening by the time they approached the campsite. Virginia glanced back at Wolf. It felt strange, her leading him through the woods. They had camped near a small stream and on impulse she led them there. Rolling up her trouser legs, she waded out into the cool water, motioning for him to sit down in it. She drew out a headscarf that had been tucked into her shirt and using it she began to wash Wolf. He was incredibly dirty, unlike his usual fastidious self. As the caked on dirt and mud fell away she saw for the first time the real state of him. He was covered in fading bruises, cuts and gashes and what looked horribly like burn marks. His hands were the worst and she saw the nails were chipped and broken. One had even been ripped right out and the finger that next to it lay at an unnatural angle, most likely broken. She shuddered with anger. No wonder he had flinched from her touch. He sat patiently in the water allowing her to minister to him. She laid him down and let the stream wash out the leaves and twigs out of his hair and crest, using her hands to draw out the many tangles. Satisfied that he was a good deal cleaner now, she ushered him out of the water where he shook himself off, wolf fashion. He stared off towards the camp, where she could see people had stirred and her absence had been noticed.

She sighed and taking a firm grip on his arm, half led, half ushered him towards the clearing. He wasn't exactly resisting her, but she could feel his rising fear. She hoped that fear would not translate into violence.

Taking a deep breath, she started him on the way back.