Chapter 2: What the HELL ARE YOU?!

I was walking my son down from bed one morning when he woke up when a white flash happened. I couldn't see anything, but I felt a cool breeze on my face and heard growling in front of me. I opened my eyes and saw a pack of wolves in front of us. They were snarling and foaming from the mouth. I knew I was in trouble, but I couldn't stop wondering how the hell I got in the forest when I was just home a second ago.

I was sitting with Royce in my arms, so I grabbed him and moved him behind me. I wanted to do everything I could to protect him from the wild beasts. As they saw me put Royce behind me, the wolves were getting ready to pounce. All of a sudden, a man tackles them and scares them off.

He was about 6 feet tall with muscles that appeared to be glistening in the sunlight. He was shirtless and had tattered, dirty shorts that fit perfectly. His hair was long for a man and jet black, and his jawline could cut steel. His eyes glowed bright gold as he walked towards me and held his hand out. "Are you guys ok? The forest is too dangerous for a female and child to be in alone. Where is your mate?"

"We're fine, thanks to you. I'm not sure how I got here. I was just at my house a few seconds ago. And mate? What do you mean mate?" I grabbed his hand with my free one and stood up with Royce in my arms.

"Your mate, like your baby girl's father. Where is he?"

"Oh, you mean my SON'S father. He's not in the picture."

"Son? He matured already? Wow that's amazing! I can bring you to my village until you figure out where you need to go to get back home, how does that sound?"

'Matured, what did he mean by that?' I thought. "Sure, that would be great, how far is it? Is there a hotel I could stay at; I don't really have any money though…"

"My village is about 10 miles North. I'm not sure what a hotel is, but you can stay at my cave if you want. If you don't what to stay with me, I'm sure the doctor will let you stay with him. He normally houses the females that come through the village until they move on or mate with a village male."

I didn't catch when he said 'cave', so I didn't say anything about it. "10 miles! Do you have a car somewhere close that we will be driving? And I will stay with the doctor, thanks for your offer though."

"Car? Not sure what you mean by that. If we just turn into our true forms we can just run there. It should only take a few minutes to get there."

"True forms? Run there? Few minutes?" In an instant he turned into a giant pure black wolf. His eyes glowing much brighter than before, his fur glistening similar to his skin a few seconds earlier. I darted back and fell on my bottom. Scooting backwards I hit a tree. I had to save Royce at all costs, so I grabbed Royce and curled into the fetal position with my entire body wrapped around him. I started screaming and crying "What the HELL ARE YOU?! Please don't hurt us!" I felt a soft nudge from a wet nose. I peaked my head out and there he was, centimeters from my face with the cutest puppy-dog eyes sparkling in the light. It's almost like I could see into his soul through those golden eyes. I felt a sudden urge to follow this giant wolf everywhere he goes. Snapped back to reality and hid my head again.

I heard a voice coming from this giant wolf, but I could understand it clearly, "I'm not going to hurt you. If you don't have a true form, you can just ride on my back. I promise I won't hurt you; I would protect you with my life." It was the same voice as the man that saved me. I had that same urge telling me to go with him, so I did. I got on his back with Royce sitting in front of me. I leaned down to hold Royce tight between my chest and the wolf's back and wrapped my arms around the wolf's neck. "Ok, get ready, I'm going to start running now and I'm pretty fast so hold on tight." I complied and got a tight grip around my opposite wrists.

He started running, and holy shit was it fast. We were going more than 60 mph for sure, and the wind was so strong, but I held on tight. It was almost like when I used to ride motorcycles. The wind in my face and seeing the world with no doors, but this time I had no helmet or protective gear. My entire body was clenched as my anxiety played out every bad possible scenario in my head. Opposite to me, Royce was smiling and laughing the entire ride.

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The man was right, we were at a small village in only a few minutes. He slowed his pace and started walking so I let go of his neck and sat up, still holding onto Royce. People were staring at us, and I thought it was because I was new, but then I heard people asking what I was wearing, where my mates were, and why my male child wasn't in his true form. What was all this talk about true forms? Does everybody have a true form? I made a mental note to ask the doctor later once we get to his house. Then suddenly we stop at a small cave with many bushes and trees blocking the entrance so you couldn't see inside. I hop off of the wolf with Royce in my arms and the wolf turns back into the man who rescued me.

He looked at me up and down, I blushed and looked down towards my feet and realized I was only wearing a thong and a large sweatshirt, my normal early morning outfit. 'Oh shit, I've been wearing this this whole time!', I thought. The man pulled my face up by my chin, so I was looking at him in the eyes. I could see the beauty in his eyes up close now. His eyes looked like a pure gold ring that was sparkling in the bright sun. It's almost like I could see the entire world in his eyes. I could see the sun and the stars shining above a lush green forest. I could see people running and playing with each other. The warmth of his eyes started spreading into me and in my chest. I started blushing again while pulling my sweatshirt down as far as I could.

"Put my shorts on, I don't want the doctor to see you like this" I looked down and saw his shorts in his right hand and his waist was bare. I could not blush any harder than I was right now. I put on his shorts as fast as I could and rolled them a few times so they would stay on my waist. I picked Royce back up from the ground and we walked into the cave. The man pushed the bushes and tree limbs away for me and held my hand to help me up the step into a large cave with a huge fire in the first room.

The first room had a couch-like structure next to the fire. It was made out of branches tied together with vines and covered with layers of animal skins. About 10 feet away from the fire, was a step into another room that had a table with many herbs and three chairs made the same way as the couch. To the right of the fire was another room with an animal skin door, which I assumed was the bedroom. The doctor is a few inches taller than my savior. He has light brown wavy hair that just covered his ears. His eyes were a menacing red, and I couldn't even look at them without getting chills down my still injured spine. His jawline was soft, and he was much skinnier and less muscular than my hero. He was twig like; I could see his veins in his arms, and he was very pale. Everything was the opposite of my savior.

"Well, what have you brought me Alfie? Who is this pretty thing? And a matured male cub at that age? Wow, that's impressive, he is going to be a strong one. You better watch out Alfie." He stared at me as if he wanted to gobble me up. He licked his upper lip and wouldn't break eye contact with me.

"I found her in the forest about 10 miles from here. She was about to be eaten by a pack of beast wolves. I got to her just in time since she doesn't have a mate with her. And I'm sorry, I never got your name ma'am." He turned to me and gave me a sincere 'sorry' face with those cute puppy-dog eyes again.

My face got hot again and answered "Alyssa." I pushed my hair out of my face and looked Alfie in the eyes. For the first time I saw him turn a slight pink in the face as his eyes got lost looking at mine the same as I had a few moments ago.

Our moment was interrupted by the doctor again "Well Alyssa, you can call me Doc. I see your feet are bleeding pretty bad, sit down on the resting place so I can look at them." He said as he pointed to the couch. I looked down, not realizing my feet had been bleeding. I had a pool of blood around each of my feet and they were growing. I quickly sat down on the couch and put Royce next to me.

"Please look at my son, Royce, first. I'm not sure if he is injured and I want him looked at before you take care of me."

Doc looked at Royce and crinkled his brows and nose, "He's a male, I will not treat a matured male before a female, let alone an injured one." Alfie grabbed his arm and took him into the other room with the table. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I was assuming it was something about true forms since I thought I could make out those words from their lips a few times in the conversation. They came back and Doc asked bluntly, "What is Royce's father's true form?"

I didn't even know what that meant so I just responded with "I'm not sure what a true form is, but if it has something to do with Alfie being a wolf, then his father didn't have a true form. He looked like a regular person all the time. Royce doesn't have a true form either, and neither do I. We are just human." The look of shock struck both of the men.

Alfie instantly kneeled in front of me and grabbed my feet. He started licking them and said "I'm so sorry I allowed you to get hurt! Are you going to heal? Please tell me you wont die from your wounds! I've never met a full human, but I have heard they don't heal from major wounds and are easily injured."

I was struck by the concern. "My feet just have a few cuts from stones and branches on the forest floor. I don't have shoes on, and my feet are sensitive, so they cut easily. As long as I keep the cuts clean, I will heal completely in a week or two. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I said as I pulled my feet away from him. I figured he was licking them because wolves and dogs have a healing property in their saliva, but how gross is that having a stranger lick your feet without even asking for permission. I allowed Doc to examine my injuries and wrap them in leaves with herbs inside the wrappings. He examined Royce and he was completely fine, not even a scratch on him thankfully.

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Later that night Royce fell asleep on the couch and Doc, Alfie and I stayed up sitting at the table talking. They were asking me about my 'world' and how different it was from theirs. They don't have any buildings, and only live in caves. They have never even heard of a shop and only get their food from hunting. THEY DON'T EVEN EAT VEGETABLES OR FRUIT, only meat!

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A few hours later I started to yawn, and Doc said he would get his nest ready for me to sleep in. I instantly denied and insisted on sleeping on the couch with Royce saying, "I'm not taking your nest from you when I am your visitor. I will sleep on the couch—er… resting place with Royce and we will find another place to sleep tomorrow." He couldn't refuse since he could tell I wasn't giving up. I moved Royce a few inches so I could fit on the couch, and laid on my side, with Royce in front of me in between my chest and the back of the couch. I fell asleep without even noticing Alfie asleep on the other side of the fire.