Red: Into the Dark (5 page)

Nash

The woman in the cabin is called Red.

At least, that’s how she refers to herself. I know this because it’s been three days and she’s spent the whole damn time talking to herself.

It started the second morning. She was looking through the cupboards for something – food, I presume – and couldn’t find any.

“Well, Red, what did you expect? You can’t just barge in and assume all your candy bars would still be here.”

Her candy bars? I gulped when she said it. Those candies had been delicious and I’d devoured them my first day there.

But who is she?

She is obviously familiar with the cabin and the area of the woods, but I can’t understand why she came here. I can’t understand why she came now. I think about approaching her sometimes, but I can’t. Not just yet.

When I watch her, I’m in wolf form. There’s no point in being a human. If she happened to surprise me and see me, it would be easier to deal with her thinking I was a wolf than a naked man who happened to spy on her and jerk off thinking about her every night.

Every night.

At first, I figured she would stay a day or two and then leave, but she doesn’t seem to have any intention of making this easy on me. I don’t want to spend my life as some secret lone wolf protector, but something tells me she’s in trouble.

Something tells me she’s going to need my help one day.

I’m torn between continuing to quietly watch her and revealing myself. I want to march up to the cabin door, tear it off its hinges, and demand she tell me who she’s running from. It must be bad. For a gorgeous woman to come hide in a dilapidated cabin in the woods, it has to be bad.

Or maybe I’m reading too much into things.

Maybe she’s like me and just wanted someplace to have a fresh start.

When I left my pack, I was essentially outcast by the Alpha, but I know the other pack members didn’t want me to leave. Some of them wanted me to challenge him. Some of them wanted me to fight.

I couldn’t.

They didn’t understand that I couldn’t.

Ryder and Thorn give me updates on the full moon. I ran without so much as a goodbye, but Aunt Germaine told them how to reach me. She knew I’d come for messages when the moon was brightest. She knew I couldn’t stay away forever.

Losing Elise never should have happened. She had been so young, full of life. She had been so happy. I still remember when she told me she wanted to be with the Alpha. She told me he was going to mate her and they were going to have pups and be happy together.

They were going to be happy.

So what the hell had happened?

I still can’t wrap my head around everything. I know she was happy with him, excited. I thought the Alpha was a huge ass, but Elise didn’t. She had so many hopes for the future that would never come true.

She wouldn’t have given up on her dreams.

I’m so busy daydreaming, caught up in memories of my cousin, that I don’t hear Red come out of the cabin. By the time I see her watching me, it’s too late. She’s seen me. Luckily, I’m in wolf form, and most people wouldn’t even consider I might be a shifter.

She’s standing in front of the cabin, curiously eyeing me.

I eye her right back.

“Hello,” she says to me. This is it, I think. This is where she either chases me off or shoots me. Most campers don’t want wolves around – if that’s what I could call her, a camper. I have a feeling her situation in the woods is one she plans to deal with for a long time.

She’s made herself quite comfortable at the cabin.

My fight-or-flight response is threatening to kick in, but I gulp it down. She’s not going to hurt me. I’ve been protecting her, guarding her. I won’t leave her now. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t guarding a female. As Elise’s cousin, I was her right-hand man.

But I’ve never guarded a human before.

And I doubt this one has ever seen a shifter.

“Here, boy,” Red says, squatting down. She holds her hand out. For me to sniff? So she thinks I’m a dog. That’s fine with me. I hesitate for only a second, then I swagger on over to her. She likes my swagger. She grins as I strut over to her, confident, head held high.

“There, boy,” she motions for me to smell her hand and I do. I’ve smelled her before, but never this close, never this strong. She smells perfect. Sweet citrus and vanilla mixed with her own scent. I close my eyes automatically, wanting to savor the smell.

“Ah, yes, you’re a sweet little guy, aren’t you.” She reaches out and scratches my neck and then behind my ears, and I melt.

I fucking love this girl.

Maybe it’s because I’ve only ever mated with shifters, but I’ve never had anyone pay this much attention to me in wolf form.

I’ve never had
anyone
pay
any
attention to me in wolf form.

And now I can’t believe what I’ve been missing out on. I fight back the urge to shift and claim her right now, to push her back on the wood planks of the cabin porch and fuck her hard. Instead, I focus on staying in my wolf form, in being here for her.

“Where did you come from, I wonder?” She says, more to herself than to me. I realize, suddenly, that I might find out a lot about her this way. I might find out more than I ever hoped, actually. If she talks to me even half as much as she talks to herself, it won’t be long before I learn all about little Red.

She stands up and brushes her hands on her jeans. Red is curvy and cute, and freckles dot her nose. Her hair is long and she usually wears it back in a ponytail, but today it’s down and curls around her face and chin.

She looks like she’s in her mid-20s, maybe, and for the millionth time, I find myself curious about why she’s in the woods.

I take a few steps forward and nuzzle against her leg. She giggles: a joyous sound that fills the clearing. Then she pets me.

“I’m going to go out today,” she says. “I’m starving and I’m tired of eating berries,” she admits this like it’s a secret that berries are a horrible way to live, and I wonder why I haven’t been bringing her meat. I’m an excellent hunter. If she can start a fire, she can cook meat, and I could hunt it for her, bring it to her.

I could care for her.

I brush off the thought. No, I’m only here to protect her until she leaves or finds someone else. I can’t let the Alpha get to her. He would destroy her. Easily. It wouldn’t even be hard. She’s a frail little human and he’s…well, he’s the Alpha. She wouldn’t even have to do anything wrong. Just being a human who wandered too close to his pack would be enough to make him mad. It would be enough for him to try to kill her.

I have to keep her safe.

“Hold on,” Red says, turning back to the cabin. “You can come with me.” She rushes inside and I hear her fiddling around for a second. To my surprise, when she comes back, she has a pistol shoved in the waistband of her jeans. She also has a water bottle in her hands and a little bowl. She kneels down in front of me and pours half of the water bottle into the bowl and puts it in front of me.

“I thought you might be thirsty, little guy,” she says. “Poor thing, living in the woods all on your own. Must be lonely.”

She’s barely known about my existence for twenty minutes, and already she’s caring for me. When was the last time something like
this
happened? When I was a kid? A teenager? I can’t even remember. I know my mother used to always make sure I was warm and fed and had drinks, but after her death, I was just another orphan pup in the pack.

It was just me and Elise against the world. The two of us only had each other.

And now it’s just me.

I take a few steps forward and begin to lap at the water. I don’t even hesitate. She’s right: I’m thirsty. It’s been days since I was in the cabin and enjoyed fresh, bottled water. There’s a creek nearby, which is just as well, but I love the fish-free taste of this kind.

“Thirsty boy,” she comments. I look up and Red is drinking the rest of the water bottle. She finishes it, puts it back in the cabin, and closes the door. “I can’t lock up,” she looks at me and shrugs, as if she feels like I’m going to judge her for it. “Someone took my key.” She frowns.

It was me.

I took her key.

The little hide-a-key was anything but, and I took it when I moved myself into the cabin. I didn’t want to break a window and deal with an open window during the winter months. Using the key seemed more civilized. Now, I can see it worries her.

I should return the key. Maybe I can sneak it back into the rock and she won’t notice, or I can place it near the porch and accidentally “find” it for her.

She should be locking the cabin door.

There are worse things in the woods than wolves.

Red

The wolf seems strange to me. He’s not like other animals. I spent an entire summer working at a veterinary office, so I like to think I have some idea of normal when it comes to animals.

This one isn’t skittish the way a wild wolf should be. Is he someone’s pet? I know that’s crazy. This is definitely a wolf: not a dog. Who would be crazy enough to own a wolf?

My grandmother used to tell me stories of creatures who lived in the woods. She used to talk about the wolves. Only sometimes, the things Grandmother said didn’t always make sense. Sometimes I wondered if she was going a little crazy.

Now, though, I’m seeing a wolf for the first time in these woods, and I wonder if there is any truth to the tales my Grams used to tell.

I wonder if this wolf is like Jeffrey.

Could he be part man? Wouldn’t that be just my luck? I finally find a guy who is interested in me, but he’s a changer.

A shifter.

Then again, maybe they aren’t all bad. Maybe they aren’t all like my brother. I can’t judge one wolf based on my limited experience with another. That wouldn’t be fair, now would it?

He finishes the water I set out and looks up at me expectantly, curiously. He’s much too observant for a normal animal. He’s not starved. He’s not mangy looking. No, this wolf is dark grey with bright, piercing eyes. His body is lean and tough: his fur soft. I couldn’t help myself when he came over. I
had
to touch him. It was a compulsion.

Part of me wishes he
were
different, that he were the type of wolf who could become a man. Part of me wishes he were a little bit wild, but in all the right ways.

Maybe I am going just a little bit crazy.

And I don’t know how to admit it, but I like the idea of him coming with me when I go look for food. I didn’t realize how lonely I would be in the woods, how scared I would get at night. I must masturbate five times a day, simply for something to do. I should have brought a book with me, but I didn’t think clearly when I was leaving.

I only thought about survival.

And now I know that there’s something much worse than being killed at the hands of my insane brother: dying from boredom.

“I guess there’s only one thing left to do,” I say to the wolf. “I need to give you a name.” His eyes go wide in surprise, and for a half-second, I wonder if he can understand me. I frown at him, and his eyes go back to normal.

“Fido,” I say, jokingly, and there’s no mistaking it. This time the wolf
definitely
glowers at me. “No? Hmm, okay, how about Spot?” He sits and cocks his head to the side. No, he doesn’t like that. I should give him a real name, but what?

I sit on the bottom step and the wolf comes over to me. I pet him while I think, then finally, I place my hands on his head and smile.

“Wolfy,” I say, finally. “I’m sorry it’s not very original, but seriously. You should see how cute you are.”

Wolfy hates his name, but I get up and start walking off toward the path, anyway. If he wants to follow me, he’ll do so regardless of his new name. Surely he
must
belong to someone. He seems so tame.

Not like a wild wolf.

Not like a wolf at all, really.

I get a nagging feeling, like I should press. If he is a shifter, why isn’t he showing me his human form? If he’s a changer, like Jeffrey, maybe he’s bad. Maybe he’s evil. Did Jeffrey send him? I tense, slightly, before realizing that I’m probably being paranoid.

He’s no normal wolf, but that doesn’t make him automatically bad.

I turn and sure enough, he’s at my heels, following me closely behind. I don’t know why, but as I step onto the footpath my grandmother has marked, I can’t help but feel a little safer with him by my side. I should be worried, but I’m not.

Somehow, I don’t think he’s going to give me a hard time or suddenly attack me. If anything, Wolfy is like my very own, personal guard dog.

I wonder what he would think if I said
that
to him.

“Well, Wolfy,” I say, and I can practically hear him sigh. I chuckle. “How long have you lived in the woods? I’ve only been here three days.” Suddenly it seems like so long. “Three fucking days. Ugh.” I glance back and he’s cocked his head, like he’s listening, so I keep talking.

“I realize I’m a little crazy,” I say. “Talking to you like you can understand, but bear with me.” I step over a fallen log and jump in a leaf pile, laughing like a little kid, then I keep going. I have to.

I don’t really have anything else to do but move forward, one step at a time.

“My Grandmother used to bring me here,” I tell Wolfy. Someone needs to know. Anyone. Even a wolf. Even if he ends up betraying me. Someone should know my story before I’m gone.

Before I’m nothing.

I keep walking, my eyes scouring the woods for the next little yellow stone as I do. I know there’s got to be a place around here that’s good for hunting.

Not that I can do much with my little pistol.

What I need is a freaking bow.

“Every summer,” I say. “Every summer we’d pack up and come out here, just the two of us. She taught me to hunt, to fish, to climb trees. She taught me everything.”

I scour the woods as we walk and I can see Wolfy doing the same thing. Observant little thing, isn’t he? I haven’t seen any evidence of other people in the area, which is a good thing. It means I’ll be able to be on my own a little bit longer.

What am I going to do when Jeffrey finds me?

Do I really have a chance out here?

Is there any way he won’t discover my hiding place?

I walk along the path and suddenly, I feel scared. I don’t want to think about it, but the truth is that at some point, I’m going to have to figure out how I’ll face my brother.

He has resources I can’t imagine, resources I wouldn’t believe, so why would I even try to hide out here?

I don’t think he knows about the cabin, but all it would take is one shopkeeper to mention my grandmother’s old hunting habits, one misplaced deed, one random receipt…and he would find me.

Maybe I should go.

Suddenly, I hear a whine, and I look down. The wolf is at my feet, looking up at me curiously. He looks concerned, like he can tell I’m suddenly scared.

Like he doesn’t want me to be afraid.

“Sorry, Wolfy,” I say. “I got caught up in my own thoughts.” There’s a large boulder nearby and I go over and sit on it. Wolfy comes to me and I pet him gently. He rubs his snout against my leg and I smile.

“You’re so friendly. I’m glad you found me. You’re the only one who knows I’m here, you know?” I don’t know why I’m talking to him, except that somehow, I think if I don’t talk to Wolfy, I’m going to go crazy.

“My grandmother died. My brother killed her in cold blood. I saw everything. Now my brother wants to kill me. He was supposed to get everything, but she changed the will.” Why, oh why, did she do that? I know it was what she wanted, but part of me wishes, as horrible as it was, that she had just given in to him. Part of me wishes that he would just take the money and leave. “As soon as he finds out, Wolfy, I’m dead. I’m a little surprised I’m not already.”

Jeffrey would have played sad for the cops. He’s a perfect liar. He would have made them believe he was really sad and concerned about his lost sister. Then, at the reading of the will, he would have put on his plastic smile during the reading. He thought he was going to get everything, but as soon as they tell him he’s out, that I’m the heir, I’m dead.

As soon as he discovers that I’m the sole benefactor of grandmother’s estate, he’s going to get me.

My wolf’s fur sticks up and he snarls, almost unintentionally, and I smile. I’m not afraid of him. I feel safe with him. He makes me feel a little less lonely and a little more human.

“I’m not sure what to do,” I admit. “I…you know…” I can’t say it. I don’t want to say that I think I’m going to die or that I think my brother is going to make it hurt. One minute I feel safe: the next, I’m sure he’s hiding behind a tree or something.

“Let’s just find some food, okay, Wolfy?” I get up and keep walking. Wolfy growls slightly, but follows closely behind. After a few minutes, his ears go flat and he makes a low, sharp sound. I ignore him and take a step forward, but Wolfy jumps in front of me on the path and bares his teeth.

Message received.

My mouth goes dry and I stand perfectly still. He’s not going to hurt me. I get that. I know it, but why doesn’t he want me to go forward?

He turns and takes a few steps forward, then glances back at me. Is he trying to see if I’m standing still? I nod, slightly. No, I won’t try to follow him. No, I don’t know what’s going on.

No, I don’t know why my new pet is acting like the wild animal he is.

Wolfy runs off and I turn back to the cabin.

So much for dinner.

**

I finish masturbating and lay in my bed, exhausted. All I do these days is masturbate, but it helps me relax. It helps me calm down enough to sleep. Insomnia is something I’ve never dealt with before this week. Now it’s a constant companion.

Part of me is afraid to fall asleep. As soon as my eyes close, my brain runs with horrible visions of my grandmother and brother. In my dreams, I run and run and run, but I can never run far enough or fast enough.

Somehow, he always finds me.

Now, as I lay in bed, I begin to feel waves of exhaustion begin to take over. Maybe I’ll actually be able to pass out fairly quickly. It’s only mid-afternoon, but who cares? I don’t have anything better to do or anywhere to go. I don’t have anyone to look after me.

I don’t have anyone to care about me.

It’s not like I’ve ever minded being alone before, but then, I’ve never been
this
isolated. Though I’m a nerd through-and-through, I’ve always had books. I’ve always had writing. I’ve always had coworkers and classmates and my grandma.

I’ve always surrounded myself with people and characters and adventures. While I rarely let people get close to me and I have no best friend to speak of, I’m never entirely alone.

And now I am.

I close my eyes and will myself to fall asleep. Though I’m in the heart of the forest, the woods are noisy and loud.

Could there be any more rabbits?

That’s what I want to know.

They’re loud and bouncy and run everywhere. I wish I had a way to catch one. I know exactly how to make rabbit stew. Everyone thinks the vegetables are the key, but really it’s the meat. You have to cut your meat correctly. You can’t be lazy or sloppy. The problem is that most cooks are in too much of a hurry, so they mess up even the best cuts of meat.

And if you’re going to do poor cuts, why even bother?

My mind continues to wander and I begin to slowly drift off into nap land, but then I’m wide awake. I hear a sound at the door and I jump. What the hell? Did an animal wander up?

Is Wolfy back?

I hop up and yank on my pants. Why I’m dressing myself to answer the door for an animal, I’m not sure, but I do it just the same.

When I pull open the wooden door to the cabin, Wolfy is sitting on my porch. His head is cocked and I could swear he’s smelling my scent from where he’s at, but I shake the thought away. I’m imagining things.

A memory of one of Grandma’s stories flashes in my head, but I push the thought away. She knew more about shifters than anyone else I’ve ever met. Me? Sometimes I still pretend I’m just imagining things.

“Wolfy,” I say softly. “You came back.” He sits there, staring at me, and then he wags his tail. Could he look any cuter? I reach out and pat him on the head and he nuzzles me. “Guess Mr. Bossy isn’t so fussy anymore,” I murmur.

Then Wolfy pulls back and trots to the steps where he has, apparently, brought me a present.

Rabbits.

He’s brought me rabbits.

My stomach growls and I can’t stop the grin that covers my face.

“You shouldn’t have,” I say, but I’m thrilled. I’m so hungry and I can’t wait to skin these beasts and start eating. “Thank you.” I wrap my arms around Wolfy and give him a huge hug, then pull away.

“Let’s make supper.”

**

Time passes differently in the woods. Soon, I begin to get comfortable. Soon, I forget that I’m supposed to be hiding. Maybe I should try to leave, go to a new town, get a new identity. Maybe I should get a new job and start a new life. Maybe I shouldn’t be me anymore.

Maybe I should be somebody else.

I never expected to stay in the cabin long-term. I figured Jeffrey would find me and kill me or I’d have some epiphany of what I should do with my life, but that doesn’t happen.

Instead, I settle into a strange, comfortable life with Wolfy by my side. I’ve never had a pet, but he’s an amazing companion. He’s soft and sweet and stays close to me every day. We run through the woods together and splash together in the creeks. We eat together every day. He hunts for me and I cook and together we make quite the pair.