I don't know how long I laid there for, if I was even really there at all. My only focus was the ringing in my ears that throbbed the sharpest of shrills in a state of hypnotic rhythm.

I was too scared to breathe. But like every animal, one's instinct is to survive, so tentatively, and as if barely registering, I stayed in my cocooned form on the snow trying desperately to pretend I was dead.

Were they toying with me? Had they decided to draw it out, was my death not satisfaction enough?

And then I heard him. The first of an echo of symphonic gnarling snarls that hovered from above. The heat of him seeping into my exposed cheek as I yearned for a quick end.

"Please..."

I didn't know who I was pleading to. Barely audible but to myself, I dared not move as I felt his monstrous form atop me.

Darting and turning, dizziness encased me as I watched four black paws spin around my vision, growls erupting with each turn as snow spat across my face with each sudden movement from the beast.

Wisps of fur stroked my exposed skin as he moved from above. Each stroke sliced like a knife, my body in a state of hyper-arousal as he refused to get off of me.

Was he protecting me from the others?

And as quickly as I realized he was atop of me, the bitter cold of the terrain slapped me to my senses as he lurched off of my body, and into the neck of an oncoming wolf.

Struck my momentary madness I tried to push myself upright as I watched aghast at the scene before me.

He. The wolf. The leader, lunged at another, before hastily throwing it down into the snow. Its whimpers whistled through the trees as the behemoth form above it held onto its neck until a sickening snap silenced all others.

The rawness of my hands left me numb as I clawed to anything behind me. Blindly feeling for a tree root, a stick, a rock- anything to defend myself.

I watched in horror as the leader's display of ferocity bent the others to his will, as the pack that was chasing me before scattering into the distance like flecks of ash against the lace covered backdrop.

Until... until it was just he, and I.

Refusing to take my eyes off the beast, he kept his back to me as he stood still. Too still.

This was it. Him versus me.

Scampering backwards, my hand brushed the base of a tree as I dragged myself against it. I wasn't naive enough to believe it could shield me from him. It had the opposite effect as it forced me to stay upright, baring witness to the display before me.

Sweeps of the lilac sunset patterned the snow. I was thankful that before I died, I would witness something beautiful. It was a odd focus of course, but it brought me a split second of tranquility before he turned to face me.

Keeping my vision on the sunset sky, I took my time closing my eyes, knowing it would be last time I'd ever do so. I didn't want my final moments marred by the beast. I had accepted that he would take me, but I was going to at least choose to face it without fear, without granting him the pleasure of seeing my face etched with terror before he gripped my neck like the wolf before me. No.

Squeezing my eyes tightly, I let a steady breath out as I heard the squelching of his paws near me. Closer, and then closer still.

His movements were slow. I couldn't tell if he was trying to scare or make me feel safe in his presence because as each step grew nearer, weariness or boredom got the better of him, and he stopped.

Keeping my eyes shut, I waited. Before not one, or two, but a cascade of rippling cracks resounded before me.

They say that when you die you don't feel any pain. Which in that moment I was thankful for, given I was certain the cracks I was hearing came from my own body. Which was why, when I felt two hands, two very masculine hands,  grip either side of me before pulling me upward, I completely lost it.

Opening me eyes, I let out a blood curdling scream before my legs buckled beneath me. Attempting to shake myself from his grip, I thrashed and clawed at his chest, his very bare chest.

"Phe...lan..."

My voice quivered, broken and uncertain as I took in my surroundings. There were no longer any wolves around me, around anywhere at all.

Cautiously and slowly, he walked me backwards before placing me on the ground, but he did not let go. Kneeling beside me, I was aware of his fingers gently moving the hair from my face as I began shivering violently.

"The... the... wolves, where did they go!?" My voice was shrill. Desperate. I was pleading with him to promise our safety.

Digging my heels into the snow, as if trying to anchor myself to reality, I rocked myself back and forth, heaving relentlessly as panic enveloped me. I was losing myself and my sanity, my mind teetering on a knife point as I trembled, aware that despite still being alive, that something much more sinister was at play.

My vision had no focus, my brain just as wired as I replayed the scene in my head. "What the fuck just happ-" I shook my head with incredulity, before he attempted to calm me.

His words had a tenderness to them that were spoken in such a way that hinted as if they were laced with something else... Guilt? Sorrow?  "You're okay now Edie. They're gone."

His words were confirmation that it had been real. That he too, saw them, and somehow managed to scare them away. The realization that I'd cheated death had me burying myself in the crook of his neck.

I was alive.

As I leaned against him, I held on for dear life and was in no state to question why he was out here, in the middle of nowhere with me. I was just thankful that he had turned up when he did.

As he cradled me in his arms, I felt the tension leave my body as I came to terms with what had happened. Feeling calmer, I released my hand from his neck, before grazing it accidentally across his jaw as I did so.

Confused and perplexed, I felt the stickiness first. Slowly, my hand quivered as if I already knew what I'd find before I did as I held my hand out in front of my face.

He knew what I had noticed... grabbing my wrist before I could make a move and run, "It's not what you're thinking Edie."

His calmness had the opposite effect of what he'd intended. I nudged myself away from him, kicking snow in his direction as I tried frantically to release myself from his grip.

"You! You're the... you're the wolf!!"

My voice was stained with my panic, the words tumbled out, indecipherable and incoherent as he placed me gently on my side.

Curling into a ball, I began mumbling as my tears sliced my cheeks like razor blades, "You..."

His eyes locked with mine. His jaw clenched. It was then I could see in full view the blood splattered remnants of his actions.

As if like some sadistic scene from a play, I didn't even care if I was hallucinating or not anymore as he spoke the next words carefully.

"I didn't want you to find out like this..." he paused. Tinted with regret, I wasn't even sure, but he said something I knew I'd never forget. "I am exactly as my name suggests, a wolf."

Overcome, I gave in to the darkness, letting it wash over me and submerge me into the depths of the unknown. I felt his fingertips dance on my face like butterfly wings as I let myself go. And I didn't bother fighting to get to the surface before the blackened expanse consumed me as I laid like a fawn cornered by the claws of a wolf on the wintered forest floor.