Part of the Pack

Prologue

The crackle of twigs underfoot woke me and I sat bolt upright, the top of my head brushing against the thin material of the tent above me. I looked over, squinting into the darkness, expecting to see Carla missing from her sleeping bag; the noise outside surely her needing to use the bathroom, but she lay curled up, her eyes shut tight, still sleeping soundly. I sat quietly, pulling my fleece-lined sleeping bag up under my chin and listened to the wildlife beyond the tent walls.
An owl hooted in the distance, followed by the flap of strong wings as it swooped for some unsuspecting prey. The faint scurry of night animals in the woodland between where we camped and the road provided a constant buzz of noise, and the occasional call of a bird or fox cut through the otherwise quiet night.

I shook my head, clearing it of all the scary camp fire stories from earlier that evening. Picking up the torch from under my pillow I clicked the little power button and shone it at the thin walls. Immediately I regretted my decision as the beam of light cast eerie shadows all around me. The branches of the trees created knarled hands that clawed at the sides of the tent, grabbing for me where I sat. Fumbling quickly for the button, the torch slipped and threw light on the far end of the tent where a huge shadow painted the material before the source of light disappeared, taking the shadows with it.
The crackle of the dry autumn leaves and the snap of twigs pierced the early morning atmosphere and made my skin prickle. I considered switching the torch back on but my hands were sweating and it slipped from my grasp. It bounced off my knee and hit the floor with a soft thump. I leant over and shook Carla's shoulder as the heavy pad of footsteps on the breaking twigs drew closer to the tent door.
'Carla? Carla wake up,' I whispered loudly into the darkness; afraid to move to search for the torch.
'Gerroffme!' Carla grumbled, pulling away from my grip.
'Carla! There’s something outside.' I shook her again, this time eliciting a response.
'Huh?' She sat up, scraping her head on the tent, 'What do you mean...' she trailed off as a grunt and a deep rattle of breath being drawn sounded right by the entrance to our tent.
I could feel Carla staring at me despite the near darkness pressing in around us.
'What the hell is that Izzy?' she whispered hoarsely.
'I was hoping you'd tell me it was just a fox and to stop being silly. It's huge. The shadow was huge.'
My hands shook as I ran them across the floor in search of the dropped torch.
'Shadow?' Carla questioned.
'The torch.' I clicked the little button and the giant beast took shape in front of us. I turned to Carla, her normally perfect hair all fuzzy at the back and her eyes widening at the shadow.
'What is that?' she whispered again, 'Turn the light off!'
I shrugged my shoulders to answer her first question but shook my head as a low growl rumbled before us. Shaking free of my sleeping bag I stood up in the limited space and tiptoed forward, the light from the torch guiding my way.
'What are you doing?' Carla demanded in a stage whisper as I raised my hand towards the zipper, 'Izzy? Come away!'
Her hand wrapped around my upper arm, my towelling pyjamas hard for her to grip, and she attempted to pull me back, 'Izzy stop!' she appealed.
My fingers trembled as they clasped around the cold metal of the little zipper.
'Aren't you curious?' I asked.
'Curious? Izzy are you suicidal? You have no idea what's on the other side of this tent. We’re lucky it hasn't come through it with you shining the torch at it like that. It could be a wolf or anything.' Carla sounded panicked even though her voice was barely audible.
I knew she was right. We'd heard the wolves howling at the moon the night before, and tonight it was full. Deep down I knew that whatever was on the other side of the tent was dangerous, but that didn't stop the pull deep down inside me. Carla was always telling me that I needed to be more adventurous; I'm pretty sure that this wasn’t what she’d had in mind. But I took a deep breath and pulled on the zipper, letting the thin material fall away.

Carla muffled a squeal with her hand and scrambled backwards into the safety of the tent. The dark looming shadow took form as a giant russet brown wolf stood illuminated by the full moon high in the sky. My mouth fell open as I took in the mass of muscle and fur in front of me as another low growl rumbled in the air around me. The hot damp breath that the wolf exhaled felt clammy on my face. Its breath had a sweet smell that encased me and I felt safe, despite the niggling reality that a wolf stood in front of me; close enough to reach out and bite me.
My eyes took in every detail of the wolf; from its beautiful bronzed fur that looked soft yet substantial; I really wanted to reach out and run my hands through it, to the way that its ears constantly twitched, listening to the night around it, aware of every little movement made in the darkness. Its jet black nose was damp, little beads of water crested it as if it had just been running it through the grass, collecting the dew there, and the tip of its pink tongue was visible between its teeth; huge, sharp teeth I might add!
But the most fascinating feature of the amazing creature that stood before me were eyes a gorgeous shade of chocolate brown that stared into mine, searching my soul. The longer we stood staring at each other, the more I felt the wolf could see me, see past what people saw and into the depth of who I really was. The more I stared into its eyes, the more familiar they seemed.
I’d expected to see yellow eyes, like a dog; instead, I realised, as I stared back, that they weren’t animal eyes… They were human eyes!