Red/Wolf (Working Title)

Chapter 4: So Close Kenyon

Chapter 4: Kenyon

In bed all night I was restlessly staring at the ceiling, and then impatiently at the clock every other minute. Counting the minutes that I would see her again. Randy, made it a point to continue to joke with me until he went to sleep, about my encounter with her. Teasing over how fast I fell so head over heels with this one. I did not tell him that I had seen her before, and that she was the whole reason that I agreed to enroll on in public school only to get close to her in my human form.
Our paths had crossed on a sunny day last June. Her and her dark haired, big breasted friend had gotten lost in the woods. The side that not many human's wonder through, because it was near the hell hound territory. One of the shifters that me and my brother's kind were mistaken for, except for the simple fact that they eat human flesh, and feed at night. Lucky to them, it was the middle of the afternoon.
Generally, it was important for us to be chaperoned, especially when we went outside, Satordi's ranch, only because our kind of shifters were so rare, we were endangered of being completely wiped out. That was why Randy was betrothed to a She-alpha, of a near-by pack so that we could continue to flourish. That was why either Kit, a fox shifter on the ranch was usually our chaperon.
This day, Randy and I snuck off to hunt on our own. We were hunting my favorite; thrashers, although today the food was in short supply, almost nonexistent. We were about to head home, when we heard a loud rustle in the distance, too big to be a small animal.
Randy recognized the scent before I did and took off like I jack rabbit. I tried to follow. I darted in the direction I saw him go, but after a few yards a stabbing pain went through my leg, it almost made me involuntarily shift, but I tried to calm down as I assessed the damage. A metal barbed fence wrapped itself around my right front paw it had even punctured the skin. The grey fur around the wire was already stained with my blood.
That is when she and her friend emerged so into their conversation that they did not notice me at first. My primal instinct forced me to try and run, but the sharp wire only dug deeper into my leg. I let out an involuntary whimper, and she saw me. She looked at me curiously. It was her friend that was more terrified.
I continued to try and wiggle free, I tried to let out a howl to Randy, but it came out as more of a yelp. She began tip toeing closer, but her friend grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing Sorrell? That is a frickin' wolf! Are you out of your mind?"
She pulled away from her friend. "I can't just leave him here."
She came closer. I let out a warning growl and slowly backed away. I tried to decide if I should attack her. Satordi said respect human life, and I did not think I had anything to be afraid of, though it was in our nature to be threatened around humans. It was one of our most primal instincts.
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." She still came closer.
What was wrong with this girl? I thought.
"Beth, give me one of those jerky things your dad always puts in your lunch box."
Beth dug in her book bag and before she had even pulled whatever she was reaching for out of her bag the most heavenly aroma tantalized my nose.
Beth handed a small brown object that looked like tree bark to the girl, and then the girl walked up to me, holding out her free hand. I began internalizing her scent and her profile came to me, she was a kind heart, she was generous, and self sacrificing, with hint of insecurity.
This girl was Mother Teresa, I thought. What was her deal? I wondered if she had understood I was not the neighbors' dog. I was a wild red wolf. Then I once again caught the scent, I smelled before. My mouth began to water. She broke off a piece of jerky and threw it in my direction, and I caught it in my mouth.
As I was enjoying the delectable gamey taste of the slab of dried meat, I didn't even pay attention to how close she was. When I was finished munching on the treat, she had already freed me from the wire. She then slipped me the other half of the meat, and scratched me behind the ears. My tail swished back and forth, I was in heaven.
"Alright, Dr. Dolittle let's go now."
"Bye." She whispered.
I then sprang away. I almost wanted to turn back, but then I thought, to do what, say thank you in dog form? She would freak out.
I saw her a few more times after that. I would sneak out, try to find her scent and watch her secretly while she was coming home from school, and when she went to work, which was at a Cajun Restaurant called Madame Charlotte's.
Once she caught me, when she was taking out the trash and threw me some scraps. So I started coming a lot more, and it became a common thing. She would even talk to me about her life. I felt like I had known her, her entire life.
She spoke a lot of her family. Mostly of her mother, who used to be a jazz singer, but became an alcoholic and eventually passed away because of it. She cried on my fur after her mother was taken off of life support.
I always wondered why she came to work that day, but somewhere deep down I wanted to believe, that she needed me.
"Rufus." She would say. "Sometimes I wish you were human. I feel like sometimes you are the only one who really gets me."
That was all I needed. I decided to set the wheels in motion to get close to her in my human form, so when Randy was talking about going to high school. I decided to do my research and find out what high school she went to and when I found out that it was in district, and I knew it was fate.
Then, I nearly killed her with a door. What and idiotic impression I made. It was so much easier as a wolf.
I was counting on Randy to smooth things over. All that mattered to me is that she needed me, and I was ready to do whatever it took to be there for her.