Wolf’s Bane

The memory was over. Eron was back in his camp. The coffee was now ready and served in his oversized tin cup. He shook the sugar at the bottom of it with his not-silver spoon, and he was about to have a sip of the very hot beverage.

His mind had been very active in the little time this morning that he had been ‘conscious’ so far, and after the massage that never happened, along with the memory of his past missions, he was deeply thoughtful.

“Maybe it’s for the best if I’m not an expert assassin anymore. Just maybe, if I really am losing it and I cannot become a killer again, I can finally do what I came here for, which is to genuinely start over, have a new life, be a new person and truly turn over a new leaf,” he thought, with a certain lady at the back of his mind all the time.

At first, he didn’t seem to realize it, but then…

“And, of course, Diwana doesn’t deserve a killer for a partner…”

He took another sip of his coffee, then froze.

“Wait, what? What did I just say? No no no no, Eron, you don’t deserve her. Maybe here you’re not under your father’s pressure, or under anybody else’s commands, but you ran away from all of it, remember? You may be putting aside the thought right now but knowing your boss, he must still be looking for definite proof of your supposed ‘current condition’ and if he finds out the truth, what will you do when that happens, huh?”

But then again, his heart was still warm with the idea of a soft, lovely body by his side while waking up this very morning…

“Dammit, just… a bit closer… maybe not her man, but I could protect her… make sure she and the kids are safe… happy… you know, stay for a while, try to… damn Eron… She’s too good for you, man… and still, I’d love to… so much that…” he suddenly sniffed… “I can…” sniffed again… “Smell her, and… hell, I can see her!”

Even while his mind continued the fight with himself, his eyes looked around, trying to find the place where the sweet, familiar, and comforting scent was coming from. And he did catch a glimpse of her from afar… or did he?

“This can’t be happening. It’s the third hallucination in one morning that my brain is putting me through. Come on, man, what did I do to you so you’re playing with me like that?” he sadly said, loud enough that if she had been very close to him, she would have perfectly heard him. “She even looks like she’s rushing to get here, lugging that oversized food basket and bag of hers. Damn, that’s one very powerful imagination you got, Eron…”

He pinched his arm so strongly that the pain made his bicep twitch, causing him to wrench his mug of still very hot coffee, which caused the steaming beverage to spill on his shirt…

And he yelled out of pain…

“Okay! Okay! I’m awake… aaagh… sheesh,” he protested and complained, still trying to stop paying attention to that wonderful feminine smell getting closer, the crackling on the leaves getting louder…

Since he was still thinking that all that wasn’t real, he calmly took his shirt off and was looking for a clean one, when he heard her voice.

“Eron!” she said, louder than usual, concern in her eyes, still rushing to him, so worried that even the sight of the very attractive, shirtless man didn’t stop her. “What’s wrong?”

He turned when he heard his name, finally realizing – in both shock and pleasure – that it wasn’t all just an illusion. For a second, he even thought he saw the worry in her eyes, which quickly disappeared, and then she sighed in relief when she saw his elated expression at seeing her.

But why?

“Ok, the pinch and the hot coffee were painful enough, so I’m not dreaming. GO HELP HER, ERON!” he thought, seeing her still a bit agitated since she was still hurrying towards him while carrying her full and heavy loads of food.

When he stood up and rushed in front of her, shirtless, he was surprised that the young woman started checking his body with both her eyes and hands. It was as if she was doing what a wife would normally do to her husband, or a mom to her child, making sure that he was okay, complete, and unharmed.

Of course, due to his accelerated healing, which was typical in his line of werewolves, there wasn’t a scratch or a mark on his flawless skin.

Her face started to get red when she noticed that her hands were grabbing, touching and sliding all over his upper body while he looked down at her, his eyes full of curiosity and his face with a charming smirk.

“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly… “I was really worried when I heard you scream in pain. I didn’t mean to cross any lines…”

“Worried, huh?” he thought to himself, wanting to hug her but stopping himself. “And we only met yesterday…”

He took hold of the items she was carrying, leaned back on a nearby tree, and looked tenderly, almost sweetly, at her.

“Why would you be worried, Miss Diwana?”

She looked at him for a second, and wondered what kind of look that was… Nobody had seen her like this before and she didn’t want to give him the wrong idea, but she couldn’t identify whatever she was reading in his eyes…

One of the reasons why she usually didn’t look at men in their eyes was because it was either hate or lust that she’d find there, and she didn’t like either. No, not after all she had been through…

But him… he made her feel safe… so comfortable, so… herself.

“I… Well, I’m also worried about…” Diwana explained as a recent story came to mind. “Did you notice anything around here last night? Noises, or yelling, or animal sounds in the forest?”

“Not really, no… I tend to sleep like a rock, more so after yesterday’s first day at work… I’m still a bit sore with the… exercise,” he said the truth, but not the one she was asking about…

“The best way to lie is not to. I’m still telling the truth…” he thought, trying to convince himself, but still failing… “I actually wish I could tell you the whole, real truth, Miss Di… I’m really sorry…”

“Oh, of course… Well, there’s a rumor spreading like a wildfire around the area. Apparently more than a rumor… People back at the village are saying as a fact that there was a wolf here last night, huge and with very dark fur, and that was not the worst…”

Eron had a hard time keeping his face expressionless, but he did it despite the feeling of dread crawling under his skin. He continued listening to her story as they started walking back to his camp.

“When the tracks of the huge wolf were lost, they came across monster footprints, too big to be of any one of the animals that are usually residing here up on the mountains. It’s even too large to belong to the wolf they say they saw… that it even might be the footprints of a… werewolf,” she said, making Eron’s heart skip a beat.

“A werewolf…? And people here believe in that?” he asked, trying to look calm, but still taking her story seriously.

“Well, you can look for yourself…” she said, extending the piece of paper, and as he took it, his hand slightly touched hers, sending that now familiar shiver down their bodies and reminding them of the curious dreams that, unknowingly, both had with each other…

But that lasted only for an instant, and they both went back to the more questionable story at hand.

He looked at the picture, internally kicking himself once again because he remembered the dream, but then, more worried about the fact that she was actually carrying proof of something that he wished she would never find out about.

Worse, this printout could actually make her believe this rumor, which was another secret he should be hiding from her. And did she really run all the way to his camp just because she was worried about him possibly being mangled by a monster?

“Is it possible that she knows something? That she might have come all the way here because she knows about me being… No, Eron, you’re being too paranoid. Why would she do that? In a rush, to see if you’re the one who left the “monster’s footprint”, really? Get a grip, Eron, you can do it. Relax and think logically, damn it!”

And then, he started to really think about the past few minutes…

She was still a bit agitated now that he took the time to carefully look, and her naturally colored cheeks because of her rushing made her look so beautiful.

“The picture of the footprint was added anonymously to the village’s newspaper, apparently sent to one of the elders’ emails in the same way… It was also posted on the village community board and when a neighbor told me about it… well… I had to… be sure… that…”

Diwana’s words were now slowing down and even stopped as she suddenly looked down…

He smiled and slightly bent his head down towards hers, hoping he could look into her deep brown eyes once again.

What was that instinct that made him want to be sweet and attentive to her? Even forgetting what the village was talking about, which was actually a very big problem that could affect him…

It was not only the physical attraction, not anymore, but the way she was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and he found himself wanting only to protect her and see her smile again…

For a second, he doubted this feeling, but it was so much stronger than him.

“Miss Di… thank you for worrying about me. To be honest, I haven’t felt that in a long time and I… well, I hardly get any of that so I… appreciate it.”

She looked back up, and now he was looking away…

“But… What about your family?” ​