Page 3 of The Healer and the Wolf, Part One

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LEO

T he woman.

She was here.

I had waited for her. Woman was safe. She’d helped. Fed me. Watered me. Used magic plants?

And she’d smelled good. So good. Good enough to eat.

No, not eat.

Help.

I needed help.

She didn’t smell good now.

She smelled… scared.

Why?

Oh. Maybe because I was a wolf, and she was a human.

Wait, human? Humans weren’t safe. I couldn’t remember much, but I knew that much.

And yet… I also knew the woman in front of me was safe, even if that made no sense. The air around her was softer. Kinder.

I had thought I was dead, and maybe I had been. But then she’d stopped the red and chased off the bears who had hurt me. She’d saved me.

Would she save me again?

I didn’t know, and all my instincts were screaming at me to run, to fight . But I didn’t do either. Instead, I lay on my side and did my best to look… what was the word?

My mind churned slowly, so slowly. Thinking was so hard . Was I even supposed to think? I didn’t think so. Thoughts weren’t for animals.

And that’s what I was, right?

Right?

My head was a jumble of things I didn’t understand, so I just ignored it. Either the woman would help me, or I would die. It was as simple as that.

But after what felt like an eternity, she finally approached me. I made sure not to move a muscle, lest I scared her off like the rabbit and deer I hunted.

She was much lovelier than those, though. Softer. Sweeter. But right when it seemed the woman was close enough to reach me, she turned around and walked away.

I was… sad? Was that what I was feeling? Some part of my mind said yes, but another couldn’t comprehend it at all. Animals couldn’t have complex emotions like that.

Could they?

Footsteps drew me from my clouded mind. The woman was placing another bowl of water in front of me.

Was I thirsty? Yes, I was. So thirsty.

As I gratefully lapped at it, she left again.

I missed her presence.

She smelled good. Did I mention that? So good. Honey and chamomile, fresh moss after rain. Perfection.

But she was back before I could even finish drinking, setting a plate loaded with morsels on it.

It smelled almost as good as her. I hadn’t eaten since the scraps she’d given me before, and I was hungry . That was something an animal could definitely feel.

The world quieted as she looked at my side, then went into her clear house. Were houses supposed to clear?

I did not know.

I did not care.

The woman returned as I finished eating. She still smelled scared, but she put more magic plants on my side. Different from last time—it didn’t carry her scent so strongly—but still magic.

It wasn’t long before the pain in my side lessened, and my belly was warm. I let out a little huff and relaxed.

As for the woman, she stared at me for a long time, her dark brown eyes saying so many things I didn’t understand. Though I wanted to.

To understand.

After a while, she left, disappearing into her non-clear home. The idea of that kind of shelter felt vaguely familiar, as if I had had something similar long ago. But that was impossible.

Because animals didn’t have homes like that.

And I was an animal.

At least, I thought I was.

Troubling. All of this was troubling. I walked in through the open door of her clear house and settled in to sleep on a pile of warm pine shavings.

For once, I had no nightmares.