"Are you sure about this?" My teeth chattered in the bitter cold outside, holding my bow and arrow to my side.
Apparently, Chase was serious about going outside and hunting.
Hunting 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵, exactly?
I wouldn't know because any animal would be nutter to still be outside in weather like this.
"Am I sure of anything?" he asked, a smirk on his face as we carried on moving forward into the woods with the snow beneath us.
"Uh, well, that one day you were very sure the peanut butter in the marshmallow would taste nice if it were-"
I got cut off by Chase's laugh at the memory.
"Yes, okay, I admit that was a bad one."
When we were about eight, Chase had the idea to stuff peanut butter in marshmallows and roasted it over a fire until liquid. He was so sure it was going to be great that I don't think he was certain about anything so strongly.
Let me tell you, that experience was never forgotten.
Looking around me, I regretted coming out because even though I wanted to hunt so badly, there was no worse feeling than going out in the cold and coming back empty-handed.
"I really think we should just go because there's no-"
"Shhh." He cut me off.
"Chase."
I stopped when I turned my head in the direction his finger pointed. Movement in the distance got my attention and I was on full alert. In this time of winter, you never know what type of beasts emerge and I certainly didn't want to find out.
Curiosity always killed the cat.
Curiosity might kill Skyler.
Moving forward, I raised my bow and arrow just in case something instantly attacked. I didn't want any mishaps happening, unlike my last encounter.
𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, that one was Hunter's fault.
Uncertainty played on Chase's face, but I raised my hand quickly to silence him and not get us noticed.
It was your idea, 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵-𝘢𝘴𝘴.
A growling erupted as our scent got filtered into a beast's nose as it noticed our much-unappreciated presence. It sounded smaller than bigger 'things' found outside, but that didn't put me at ease just yet.
Trees surrounded us from every angle as we got closer, so to pinpoint the source of the noise wasn't easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Placing my arrow to my bow, I lifted it and prepared to release at any given time.
"Skyler..." Chase started only for me to ignore and stepped around a tree. My hand almost released the arrow but stopped.
No beast.
Just a wolf pup.
A wolf slash beast pup. With developing fangs in the front.
It looked scared and aggravated and growled louder as I tried to get closer.
"Watch out."
Chase held onto my arm to pull me back away from the wolf. It watched us with intense eyes. A scar on the back of its right leg got me understanding why it was on high alert.
It didn't look much older than two months or so.
"I want to take it back with me," I said after looking at it for some time.
It looked back at me.
"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?"
If Chase's eyes got any wider I was afraid they were gonna pop.
I popped the 'p' in my head.
"I want to take it back with me," I repeated.
No matter how crazy I seemed, it just 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 right. Bet it had something to do with that infection.
Ha.
I am going to take it back with me. I looked into his gleaming eyes.
One brown, one blue.
And before you ask, "𝘖𝘩, 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳?" with your squeaky voice, let me tell you, the males have a longer snout and fluffier tail.
You can 𝘴𝘦𝘦 it.
"Hey, little fella."
His head tilted ever so slightly. I stretched my hand the teeniest bit forward to touch it.
"Skyler!" Chase said and grabbed my hand as he clearly thought this a bad idea.
The wolf slash beast jerked back and growled louder at Chase this time.
"Chase, wait." I inhaled a breath. "Let me try."
"This is a horribly bad idea, Scott."
And whose idea was this in the first place?
𝘌𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺.
"I know."
I extended my hand once again and the low grumble of a growl dispersed gradually as it watched, alert. I kept my hand quite a few inches away from its nose just in case it decided to nip me.
Reluctantly, he looked at me and sniffed my hand from a distance. This beast got some powerful senses to be sniffing at such a far distance.
Drawing near, his nose came into contact with my hand and I moved it to rub the wolf's head. His head jerked back but relaxed shortly after.
Its fur was a white-grey with light blue tips that faded. I've never seen anything like it. Stepping closer, I caught sight of a chain.
Someone chained the wolf to a tree.
𝘚𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘦.
Retrieving the knife out of my pocket, I jammed it into the keyhole and shoved and twisted until it gave way.
"Don't like being chained, huh?"
Its tail started to wag immediately. I carefully picked up the wolf and turned towards Chase.
"Right then." I walked past him as his huge eyes stared at me with his mouth agape.
"Unbelievable." He breathed.
I grinned.
I 𝘥𝘪𝘥 tell him.