Tansy whimpered and turned her head towards me. The wolf was ten feet in front of her, and I was ten feet behind. Cam and Theo approached the scene quickly, but when they were twenty feet from Tansy, the wolf growled and bared its teeth.
“Tansy, can you walk slowly back to Auntie Margo, please?” Cam called. His voice was calm and flat.
Tansy stumbled back on her heels, and she took a few steps before the wolf slinked forward, leaning down on its front paws in a predatory lunge.
“Stop, Tansy,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“Daddy,” she cried.
“It’s okay, baby,” Cam called back. “You just stay right there.”
I couldn’t bear to look away front Tansy and the wolf, so I didn’t know how far away they were or if they were moving around behind us. The wolf stood up fully and veered its large head around, stretching its muscles.
I moved one step forward, then another when I went undetected. Soon, I was close enough to Tansy to grab her and push her behind me.
She yelped when I touched her and began crying. She ran to her father behind me as I was now the barrier between her and the unknown wolf. To my left, I saw Theo slidling around the trees, trying to catch the wolf by surprise when he decided to attack. He nodded to me, letting me know he was okay.
The wolf was massive, even more so when it was just in front of me. I faltered and stepped back. The wolf growled deeply in its chest, and its claws dug into the soft belly of the earth.
“Margo,” Theo said warningly from my left. The three of us formed a triangle, and we looked back and forth between each other. “Take a step back,” he ordered, his body already shaking to shift.
“I can’t,” I moaned.
“You can,” he told me. “One step. Slowly.”
I did as he asked, and the wolf bared its teeth to me. I stopped moving and an involuntary cry of helplessness. Theo growled back, low in his chest, and held his hand out towards me. I wanted to reach out and take it, but fear seized my chest, and I was paralyzed in it.
“Margo, get behind me.”
“No.” I shook my head quickly.
“Margo,” he said sharply.
“I can’t move,” I whispered with tears coating my voice.
“Yes, you can. Just a few steps away.”
I willed my foot to move, but I couldn’t make any of my limbs go where I wanted them to. The wolf knew this and eerily smirked under its fur.
“Okay, I’m going to come to you. Can you take one step towards me?”
“No,” I said honestly.
“Okay, just breathe.” He nodded. Theo walked towards me with confidence, not faltering when the wolf’s head whipped towards him and snarled. Theo grabbed my arm and swiftly pulled me behind him. “Leave,” he ordered the wolf.
The wolf made no attempt to leave, though it did begin to pace back and forth in front of us. Its muscles rolled under its fur as it sashayed and growled.
“You need to leave this territory immediately.”
Still, this did nothing to frighten or persuade the intruder. Tansy suddenly let out a cry from the other side of the trees where her father was holding her. That sparked something in the wolf, we could all sense it, and Theo pushed me forcefully behind him before shifting into his wolf form.
If I wasn’t so terrified, I probably would have screamed as Theo’s body exploded into a mass of gray and white fur. He was massive, far bigger than any other wolf I had seen. He stood his ground proudly, growling viciously at the other wolf. They moved around the small area, sizing each other up.
When the wolf got too close to me, Theo would change direction. They stayed like that for quite some time. I found it hard to look away.
The wolf leaned down, making itself small. They took a step closer and let out a howl so loud I had to cover my ears with my shaking hands. The wolf looked submissive, staring up at Theo with its amber eyes. Theo stood tall, glaring once more at the wolf before turning and moving closer to me.
He moved cautiously, gingerly taking a few steps and then allowing me to adjust to him. I tried to calm my breathing. When Theo had pushed me, I had fallen near a large pine tree, and I didn’t get up.
Theo bowed his head to me, showing me that it was safe for me to approach him. I picked myself off the ground and brushed my arms off from the pine needles and dirt. He stayed still as I contemplated what I wanted to do.
His fur was a beautiful charcoal gray with white on his underbelly and face. The coloring suited him. Hesitantly, I took a step to the right, trying to make my way towards Tansy and Cam. Theo allowed this but took a step with me. I paused.
In their wolf form, shifters often acted on their instincts. Some shifters even had a notion that their wolf form had its own personality separate from their human form. Theo’s wolf form seemed completely enamored by me. He moved each way I did, stepping close until he was near enough to rub his head along my legs and waist as he circled me.
I held my arms into my chest, fearfully keeping my fingers out of the reach of his incisors. Theo backed up and stared off into the distance, most likely getting a mind-link from someone. I turned my head to where the other wolf once was. I sighed, reassuring myself I was safe.
Cam had turned his back on Theo and me to pick Tansy up off the ground behind him where she had hidden. I blinked once, and things happened so quickly
