My Problem

The woods always scared me.

From the animals that lived there to the darkness that seemed to envelop me when I stepped through the wall of trees.

It was impossible to avoid though since my father was a werewolf hunter. He would often want me to accompany him on his journeys through the woods even though I would end up running away the second I heard or saw a wolf.

Their big stature and large claws always scared me away. They would sometimes chase after me giving my father the perfect opportunity to shoot them except that wouldn’t completely kill them.

I rub the scar that runs along my arm nervously as I step carefully over a root that is protruding out of the ground.

My father who is a couple feet in front of me is holding his gun at the ready. I often think he brings me along only so I can distract the wolf long enough for him to get the perfect shot.

He thinks it’s safer for me to get bitten instead of him. Probably because females can not become werewolves.

I hear the crack of a stick and my eyes immediately dart around our surroundings.

A couple seconds pass before it appears.

A werewolf with fur as gray as my fathers hair. It looks to be a normal size compared to the other ones we have come across.

I immediately start running through the woods as fast as I can. A gunshot rings out, then another and then silence.

I turn back to see nothing except for the darkness of the forest. I look around as I rub my scar again.

I walk slowly back to the spot where my father used to stand but now he is laying on the ground, unmoving.

I gasp, putting my hand to my mouth. I rush towards him and flip him onto his back. There’s a huge gash on his chest that is seeping blood.

His gun is gone, and I shuffle around trying to find it.

Nothing.

I hear a low growl coming from behind me and I immediately freeze. My hands start to shake uncontrollably.

I turn slowly to come face to face with the dark woods. I can’t make out anything in the dark and then almost out of nowhere a pair of blue eyes appear in the forest.

I whimper as I back away and end up tripping on a root. I fall back on my ass and wince.

The wolf steps out of the thick brush and the faint moonlight that seeps through the canopy of trees aluminates the white of this wolf’s fur.

It’s huge, a lot bigger than the gray one that I saw seconds ago. It raises its head in the air and howls. The sound coming straight from a horror movie.

The wolf turns his head back towards me, the look in its eyes feral. Its lips pull back into a snarl as it takes a step towards me.

“L-leave me alone,” I stutter but I know it will do little to stop the creature in front of me. I clutch my fathers limp hand in my own.

The wolf takes a couple more steps until we are face-to-face. Instead of smelling like rotting animals which is what my father told me they smelled like the faint scent of musk and pine rolled off the wolf in waves.

Its breath fanned across my face and I inhaled deeply as I tried to get myself to calm down. The wolf’s nose went down and sniffed at my neck. I stayed frozen in my place waiting for the fatal bite to happen.

Tears of panic rolled down my face. The soft white fur of the wolf brushed against my cheek.

I felt its tongue start licking at the spot where my shoulder meets my neck.

A couple more seconds passed and the wolf finally lifted its head back up. It made eye contact with me and something different formed in its eyes.

And then all of a sudden I felt a pull on my chore that I never imagined I would ever feel and one word echoed in my mind.

Mate.