Chapter 1
“Mama! Storytime!”
“Okay, Kiddos. Lay down. What story do you want?”
“Puppy!”
“Yeah! The one with the little wolf and the girl.”
“Okay, we can do that one.
“Once upon a time, in a village far far away….”
“Juliet! You better not be trying to sneak outside again.” The small red-headed girl slowly shuts the front door and turns towards her mother with a sheepish smile. She clasps her hands behind her back, avoiding eye contact with her parents.
“Oh, come on now, Josie, she just wants to play. Don’t be too hard on her.” The girl’s father gives her a quick wink before turning to face his wife.
“You know it’s not safe out there, Jonathan. She’ll overheat if she’s not careful and what if that happens while we think she’s off playing in her room? Then what?”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, my love.” Jonathan pulls his wife into a hug. Josie relaxes into him wrapping her arms around his waist. Pulling away, she turns her attention back to her daughter, who’s still standing by the front door, staring longingly out the window.
Josie beckons Juliet to her and kneels down to eye level. “Jules, Sweetie, do you understand why I don’t want you outside by yourself?” she asks in a soft tone.
“Yes, Mama” -the girl nods her head- “the Heat is dangerous.”
“Do you know why it’s dangerous?” Juliet shakes her head in the negative. “It’s because you can get too hot and not feel well. And if Daddy or I are not there with you, you could get really hurt” -Josie grabs Juliet’s hands- “if you promise to tell us where you’re going and always bring water you can still play outside. But I want you to stay in the shade. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mama.”
“Can you repeat the rules back to me?”
Juliet nods her head quickly. “Water, shade, and… tell you first.”
“Good girl, now I bet if you ask your daddy he’ll give you a water pack and you can play outside for a bit before it gets too hot.” Josie smiles at her daughter, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.
Juliet runs to her father with a giant smile, reaching up to grab the water pack and getting his help to strap it on her back. He helps her adjust the backpack-like pouch so the straw is clipped over Juliet’s right shoulder, making it easier to access at a moment’s notice.
After getting her water and double-checking that her boots are tied Juliet rushes to the door.
“Don’t go too far, Juliet. Stay where we can see you.”
“Yes, Daddy!” Juliet whips the door open, sprinting across the backyard and into the trees as fast as her little legs can carry her.
Juliet runs to her favorite climbing tree. It’s close enough to the house that she can still hear her parents call out to her but far enough into the woodland that the lower branches, the only ones she can get to, are completely shaded. Juliet loves this as it allows her to play here much longer than if she chose a tree closer to the house.
Before she climbs onto one of the lower branches of her tree, Juliet crawls under a nearby bush and retrieves a small red tackle box. Flipping the lid open, she pulls out a couple of old, worn picture books. She grabs ‘Goodnight Moon’ and tucks it under the water pouch to keep both hands free for climbing.
After 15 minutes of sitting in the tree and attempting to read, Juliet hears a loud rustling noise coming from the underbrush. Her eyes go wide and she holds herself as still as possible. No one has ever been out here besides her and her parents. The largest animal she’s ever seen around her tree is a bunny. And bunnies aren’t that loud.
While trying to hold still, she starts to lose her balance. She tries to right herself but ends up dropping her book while trying to keep herself from falling out of the tree. The book crashes to the ground, hitting every branch on the way down, making more noise than whatever creature is in the bushes nearby.
The rustling in the bushes stops and Juliet slaps her hand over her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut, hoping that whatever it is moves on. A minute goes by in complete silence. Releasing her breath Juliet slowly climbs down from the tree to go home. Once her feet hit the ground she glances in the direction the noise was coming from and see a fluffy blond animal laying on the ground. She inches closer. The small animal doesn’t look injured but its breathing is shallow.
She gets closer to the prone animal and a twig cracks under her foot. She stops moving and hears small whimpers coming from the creature. Deciding that the animal needs help, Juliet quickly runs to its side, kneeling down to get a better look.
“It’s okay, puppy.” The little girl whispers while looking over the puppy but she doesn’t see any blood or scrapes. Remembering what her mother said about water and being out in the Heat, Juliet unclips her water pack and pulls it off her back. She struggles to twist the intake cap before finally getting it off and is able to pour a small amount of water into the puppy’s mouth. After helping the puppy get some water, Juliet closes her water pack and attempts to reposition it onto her back. She wiggles to get it into the correct position before reclipping the front buckles.
Looking back at the puppy Juliet smiles and reaches a tentative hand out, hoping he’ll let her pet him.
Grayson looks up at the young red-headed girl. Before she can touch his muzzle he leans up and licks her hand as a sign of gratitude. She pulls her hand back, covering her mouth as she giggles. If Grayson was in his human form he would be grinning as wide as possible, her laughter was like music to his ears.
He lets out a small bark and nudges her free hand with his head trying to let her know she could pet him. She reaches out again and gently scratches his head. Grayson closes his eyes relishing the feeling of the scratches.
Grayson is lucky this little girl was around to give him water. He wasn’t supposed to leave the pack’s territory and especially wasn’t supposed to go onto the human lands in wolf form. He knew he should have brought a bag or looked for a water source but he didn’t think about that until he had already been gone for far too long and was already starting to overheat.
The scratches on his head stopped and Grayson opened his eyes to look at the little girl again. She appeared to be about five years old, wearing a flowy dark green dress with three-quarter-length sleeves. She has a dark gray water pack strapped to her back and is wearing light brown boots. The sides of her bright red hair are pulled back to keep it out of her face, her curls seem to have a mind of their own clinging onto leaves and small twigs like there’s no tomorrow.
“You’re a cute puppy, I like your yellow fur. It’s very soft,” the young girl whispers as she runs her hand down his side. “My name is Juliet, but Mama calls me Jules… Do you have a name?”
Grayson thinks for a second. How was he going to help her figure out his name? It’s not like he can just shift and tell her; wolves are forbidden from exposing themselves to humans who don’t already know of their existence and from the sound of it this little girl doesn’t know about them.
Remembering that she asked him a question Grayson moves to sit on his haunches and nods his head at her.
“Oh! You can understand me!” she squeals excitedly doing a little happy dance. Grayson huffs a laugh and barks to get her attention. He knows she’s never going to be able to guess it so he’s trying to think of a way to help her out. He spots her gray water pack but before he can draw attention to it a male’s voice calls for ‘Jules’.
“That’s Daddy, I have to go.” She pushes back the hair that’s stuck to her damp skin. “I hope we can play again. Bye, puppy!” She reaches her arms around his neck and he gives her a lick on her cheek. She giggles one last time before running toward the edge of the trees closest to the human lands. Grayson watches her retreating form before turning to run back to the pack lands.
