She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling.

Elsa's POV

"You're insane," I decided.  Jack snorted.

"That's not how this works," he said.  "You're supposed to wait to hear what I've got to say.  Then you call me crazy."

"I don't have to listen to anything to know you're crazy.  Now get out of my house."

Jack rolled his eyes, then turned to stare out the window.  Rain was still pouring down.  The thunder had stopped.

"You don't want to kick me out," he said.

"Oh yeah?  Try me."

He sighed and looked away.  I followed his gaze to the silver dagger which still rested on the floor.

"I'll use that on you," I warned, wondering if I really had the guts to follow through with my threat.

"You won't," Jack said.  "Honestly, it's a little surprising that she left that for you.  It means she fixed the issues from her first attempt."

"You've met my grandma?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply, then paused.  His eyes were firmly fixed in the direction of the front door.

"What-"

One of his hands covered my mouth.  The other arm wrapped itself around me, trapping my arms by my sides.

"Shh."

His eyes narrowed, although I couldn't tell what on Earth had him so interested.  So much for Grandma telling me not to let strangers in.  The creep was already in the house when I got there!

Well, two could play at this game.  I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into his soft hand.

"Stop that!" Jack growled, releasing me.  He cuffed the side of my head, sending my ears ringing and my vision vibrating.  When I regained control of myself I was sitting on the ground.  Jack was examining his hand, grumbling to himself and scowling.

"Don't you get it?  I'm trying to save your life!" he hissed, still clutching his hand.

"You've got a funny way of doing it," I responded.  I wasn't letting him near me again.  No way.

"Fine.  Keep talking.  You'll lead him right to us."  Jack stalked towards me.  "You know he tracks by sound, right?  So feel free to scream.  Or, better yet, cut me again.  The only thing that attracts him more than sound is the smell of blood."

He waved his hand in front of my face.  I frowned.  His hand was probably fascinating, but what really had my attention was his eyes.  They looked slanted again, feral.

"He who?" I asked carefully.  Jack hesitated.  He marched towards the kitchen sink.

"You don't want to know," he muttered as he turned on the faucet.  Cold water streamed over the tiny puncture marks.

"You aren't helping your case."

He sighed and shut off the water.  "It's a wolf.  A really big, really bad wolf.  I call it Black.  You don't want to meet it."

"Wait.  There's a huge wolf out there?"  I jumped to my feet.  "Why didn't you tell me sooner?  Olaf is out there!"

I ran for the door, but Jack grabbed my shoulder with his good hand and held me back.

"You can't go out there!  He'll kill you!"

"He'll kill Olaf if I don't do something!"

Jack glared at me.  I stared back.  Finally, he looked away.

"We open the door.  You grab the dog.  You go back inside.  And you don't open the door.  For anything.  No matter what you see, or what you hear.  Got it?"

"Sure, got it."  As if I'd tell him if I didn't agree.  He led the way to the front door.  It opened slowly, painfully, as he peeked outside.  Then he sniffed the air.  As if he could smell the wolf.  How ridiculous could this guy get?

Before I could even react Jack had darted outside, scooped up Olaf, practically threw him at me, and slammed the door in my face.

"Remember, don't open the door!" he said through the thick wood.  I pulled Olaf closer and frowned.  By the time I peered through the window, Jack was gone.  All that was left were a few muddy paw prints.