The wolf had spotted me.
It let out a low, dangerous growl, and I froze on the spot, torn between running for my life and standing my ground.
I decided to be brave.
"I am brave," I whispered to myself.
Yeah, sure, tell that to the wolf.
I took slow, careful steps forward. The wolf snapped its teeth at me, and I flinched, those teeth were like knives. One bite and my head would be rolling off to the other side of the forest but strangely, it wasn't attacking.
I raised my hands to show I meant no harm, but the wolf only growled louder.
Then I realized.
"Oh, shit. The dagger," I muttered under my breath.
I dropped it near my leg, close enough to grab if things went south, that's when I noticed the two small figures under the wolf's leg.
Two baby wolves, their white fur stained with blood, they looked adorable.
The mother wolf noticed where my eyes had gone and immediately stood up, ready to claw my face off.
"I know you're upset, but trust me, I'm here to help, I mean no harm," I said, hoping she understood human language.
She growled again but didn't attack, instead, she settled back down.
I quickly found a dirty bowl, rinsed it in the stream, and filled it with water. Returning to the wolf, I poured the water over the blood, washing it away, the wolf winced or at least, I think it did. Again, not fluent in wolf language.
After rinsing the blood, I looked for the wound but found… nothing.
Confused, I blinked,
"Thank you for helping."
I turned around so fast I almost tripped.
Who said that?
I looked at the wolf.
"Are you… talking?"
She nodded.
I nearly fainted.
"A talking wolf?" I blinked at her.
"My name is Sara, the Luna of the Red Moon Pack," she said, bowing her head.
Luna?
Oh, I'd heard that name before, they used it all the time in movies.
"So you're like the female leader of your pack, right?" I asked.
She gave me what looked like a wolfish grin
"What brings you to our pack?"
I had no idea if she was a friend or a foe, so I decided to tell her a half-truth.
"Uh… we're traveling through the desert," I said, not exactly a lie, but definitely not the full story.
"Alright. If you need help, we'll assist if we can," she said.
I nodded
Then she sniffed me and frowned.
"You don't smell human," she said.
I blinked. "What?"
Before I could ask what she meant, I heard my name being called.
The wolf turned toward the sound before disappearing into the forest with her pups.
"Luna, where the hell have you been?" Liam's voice was cold.
"What were you talking to?" He glanced around suspiciously.
I scoffed and looked him dead in the eye.
"Why don't you ask the trees?" I muttered and walked away.
But he grabbed my wrist, his nails digging into my skin painfully.
"Listen, if not for the king, I would never be here babysitting your stupid ass. So if you keep running around doing dumb things, like helping an injured wolf, you won't like what happens when I tie you to the Racunie with no food or water for three days."
He let go of my wrist, red marks were already forming.
He turned to leave, and I gripped my dagger, fighting the urge to stab him in the skull.