The sound of birds woke Solomon up the next morning. Instead of waking up to the feel of soft, silk sheets against his body and a soft yet firm pillow under his head, he awoke to the sight of a butterfly resting on the tip of his nose.

His nose twitched with the urge to itch it, but the rest of him didn't move.

After waiting for a few seconds, he pounced and then snorted when it was airborne before he even reached out a furry paw to grab at it.

He chuckled, the sound foreign, almost feral.

Standing up on all four legs, he stretched, working out the sore muscles that had developed after having spent the night rough, sleeping on the floor of the cave.

The cold breeze of the early morning hit him as soon as he reached the mouth of the cave. For a fleeting moment, he considered turning around and heading back into the cave and staying there until the weather warmed up a little. Perhaps he could spend the day relaxing, but then he remembered that he had to deliver the present for his God son. Ideally, he should have done that last night before running out of the house and into the woods like some animal.

He would've been able to spend the day lazing around then.

Grumbling to himself, he padded outside of the cave.

Next time, he was bringing a blanket.

It didn't take long to head out of the cave and make his way back onto the main path, but there was still quite a bit left to go until he got home. But right now, he was hungry, especially after the distance that his wolf had made him run last night.

Coming to a stop, Sol decided that he would have breakfast before returning home.

The sound of rabbit for breakfast was exciting.

It had been quite a while since he had physically caught his own food with hair bare hands – or paws.

Sol growled lowly when he found his prey. The rabbit had its back to him and was currently nibbling on some grass. It had absolutely no idea that soon enough, it would become breakfast for the vicious beast behind him.

Maybe it was better that way.

The beast grinned, slowly walking up to his meal. He walked deliberately slowly, enjoying the way that the rabbit moved in front of him. There was something special about knowing that he had the element of surprise.

A few more steps and the little creature would be within reach and no more than a pile of bones.

But alas, rabbit for breakfast didn't appear to be on the menu that morning as the rabbit turned his head at the last minute and before Sol could reach out and grab it with his two front paws, it jumped away before running as fast as his little feet could take him.

A loud growl escaped him.

Determined, he snapped his teeth, barely missing its fuzzy tail as he chased after it. But the little creature had the upper hand for he was small enough to get into places that the huge beast behind him couldn't; like the burrow in the ground that wasn't even big enough to fit his muzzle into.

It was no use, his on-the-go breakfast was gone. Now he would have to make the long trek home to make his breakfast. Great!

Cereal just couldn't live up against a live animal.

Pushing himself off the ground, he shook the dirt off his fur and began walking home. However, he barely made it back onto the main path before he came across another beast, another wolf.

Furry paws and a wet nuzzle for a nose were replaced with two wide feet and an actual nose which sniffled, still being able to smell the faint stench of fear, presumably from that rabbit that has escaped him earlier.

The transition of wolf to man was smooth. It did help that Solomon had first shifted more than a decade and a half ago and it helped that he had, had a lot of practice over the years.

After he was stood firmly on two feet, Sol stood up, cautiously walking towards the wolf lying the in the middle of the empty clearing. Well, nearly empty.

Curious, he walked closer. His steps were slow and cautionary because he didn't want to scare it off. There was also the fact that this wolf could be crazy wolf that could stand up and attack him at any moment. However, Sol didn't come across many wolves unless he went to visit Clark in his pack, and that was not very often.

Once he was stood in front of the wolf on the ground, he saw that it was asleep. He knew that it was asleep because he had reached and buried his fingers in the fur around its neck, looking for a pulse. Luckily, there was one.

It was a little quiet, but it was still there.

Sol remained crouched on the ground, naked in front of the unconscious wolf for a moment, weighing his options. The easiest one would be to leave and not look back, though he was sure that the guilt of abandoning her -yes, he checked that it was a her and not a him- would bother him all day until finally, he returned back later that day to bring her back. But by then, it would probably be too late and he would just feel worse then.

Either way, he knew that he would be taking her back with him and it was only in his best interests that he made this trip once and not twice.

Running a hand down his face, he sighed before standing up. He stretched his arms a little to loosen them up before he leaned down and placed his arms under the wolf. Slowly, he got a hold of her and lifted her into the air, her head resting against his shoulder while its tail brushed up against the side of his leg after every other step.

Sol was just hoping that she didn't wake up and claw his face off.

It took a little over an hour to reach the cabin, though that probably had more to do with the fact that he was carrying a wolf with him. If he had been in wolf form, he was sure that he could have run back in less than twenty minutes.

Grabbing the throw that was neatly folded on the back of the sofa, he carelessly spread it out on the ground the best he could before kneeling down and placing the female wolf on it.

He had learnt the hard way that she was bleeding from her side. He hadn't noticed at first because he had found her lying on that side but on the way back when he had paused to shift her slightly, he noticed the blood on his arms that had come off of her.

Pursing his lips, he surveyed the sight of the wolf lying on the ground, getting blood on one of his blankets. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to get that stain out but perhaps it was worth it.

Besides, it would be the human thing to do; to help her.

Making sure that she was still asleep, Sol disappeared into the downstairs bathroom briefly before returning with some wet wipes, bandages and plasters.

Sol had a short temper and he had spent enough time punching trees and chasing animals through the woods as a teenager to have learnt to take care of the basic cuts. But after, turning over the wolf so that he could get a good look at the wound, he knew that he was way over his head. The wound was far more than a mere basic cut.

His thoughts waffled all over the place before he decided to call his best friend, Clark. Not because he wanted to talk with him, but because he knew that Clark's pack doctor would be able to help him.

After explaining what the wound looked like and avoiding questions about how he managed to stumble upon an injured wolf in the forest, Sol rested his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he listened attentively to the instructions that the doctor had given him.

He told her step by step what he was doing.

After he had wiped away the blood, it didn't look as bad as it previously did, but he wasn't risking anything. He did just as he was told and poured a little alcohol on it so that it wouldn't get infected. He then applied some cream that he luckily had in his first aid box to help speed up the healing process before he started to bandage her up.

The wolf did whine and stir when he began to lift her up to get the bandages under her body, but that was about it.

Once he was done, he thanked the doctor and then hung up before she could pass the phone back to her Beta. It was not the time for questions.

His bandaging wasn't the greatest, and he was sure that he had used much more than he needed, but he was just glad that the bleeding had stopped.

He wasn't sure if his blanket could take any more blood before it seeped through the material and onto his floors.

Sol didn't wait around for the female wolf lying on his living room ground to wake up. He didn't poke or prod her, and he didn't call out to her to wake her up which he probably should have done. Instead, he headed upstairs for a shower and just hoped that she would be awake when he returned. 

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Layla Knight

24.09.17