Her body shook violently, and she sat up, whipping her head around, looking for the monster that was going to eat her alive. Nothing but her in the tent; the flashlight still in her hand, but the batteries had long since died. She looked at the sides of the tent, and there it was—the dark brown stains of dried blood splattered all over. No sign of her "friend." It was light outside now. She could see just fine.
She slowly crawled out of her sleeping bag and inched towards the flap, carefully lifting it with the end of the flashlight. Hey! Better to lose a flashlight than a hand! She looked out into the morning light and saw utter destruction. Her backpack had been shredded, the contents strewn all over the campsite.
Here and there were large, dark brown stains on the pine needles. It was still too early in the spring for flies to be out at this altitude, so the stains were just as they had been made. Then she spotted the remains of what might have been a grizzly bear. It was hard to tell now; there wasn't much left of it. Something had eaten most of it, leaving the rest for the crows and buzzards. She stepped around the still-wet pools of blood on the ground, scanning the area for the wolf. When she got within a few feet of the bear's remains, she heard a noise to her left. She whipped her head around, expecting to see a giant streak of gray just about to crash into her and crush her.
Instead, she was looking at a very wet but completely clean gray wolf, lying on its belly. Two eyes stared at her over the short distance; the bandages were gone. The eye she had pulled the splinter from was healed, complete, bright, and looking right into her. Then she noticed that the large bandage on his side was missing. But instead of a gaping hole, there was fresh pink skin, with just a hint of peach fuzz on it. He had yet to move a muscle, watching her face with such intense concentration that it was very unsettling.
"Wha—" she squeaked, cleared her throat, and tried again.
"What happened to your wounds? They are almost completely healed. Your eye is normal. That shouldn't be able to happen overnight. The hole is sealed, grown back. How?" He shrugged with his eyebrows, still not daring to move anything more. Then she turned and looked at what remained of the grizzly, waving her hand in the general direction of the carcass.
"And this? How? Nothing's meaner than a grizzly." Again, he shrugged with his eyebrows. She took a tentative step towards him. He scooted back on his belly, keeping the same distance between them.
That made her stop. She looked into his eyes and understood what was happening. He was scared of her—or more accurately, for her. He didn't want to show anything but utter submission to this woman.
Her vision blurred as her eyes overflowed with tears. This great, big giant of a wolf had not only saved her life, but he was also trying to make peace with the fact that he had scared her senseless right after doing it. Her legs gave out; landing on her knees, she held her arms out, reaching for him. Then he was there, lying in front of her, gently licking the tears from her face, whimpering, trying to tell her how sorry he was for frightening her so badly.
After a few minutes, she finally got a hold of herself and gently pushed his muzzle back, giggling at the tickling sensations on her cheeks. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, sniffling and smiling at him.
"What am I going to do with you?" He got a big grin on his face, and his tail started wagging back and forth.
"Whoomph!"
The force of the answer blew the hair out of her face. She giggled and reached up to run her fingers around his formerly injured—no, ruined—eye. Her long, thin fingers gently caressed the fur around the eye. She marveled at the colors! So deep! It was like looking into the deepest, bluest lake. Yet, underneath that midnight blue was something else: violet swirls that shifted with the dappled light filtering down through the pine trees. She could feel herself slipping into a dream-like state as she stared into those eyes. What was she feeling? Happiness? Yes. But underneath that was something not so happy—troubled, frightened, and...?
Then it hit her: pain! Oh GOD! The pain!! It ripped into her heart like a scythe cutting down wheat.
The sob that burst out of her throat nearly ripped her vocal cords. The wolf jerked his head out of her hands, severing that connection that had unexpectedly formed between the two. He jumped to his feet, stretched his neck out, pointing his nose into the sky, and let loose with a howl that filled the morning air with such sadness that the surrounding sunlight seemed to dim because of it. The sub-harmonics that filled the valley floor turned the atmosphere into a liquid, too thick to breathe, suffocating.
When the cry trailed off into silence, the woman found two paws holding her face; the wolf on his back, reaching up the only way he could to touch her and hold her, almost like a human lover would comfort her. His whimpering increased, and he crooned to her.
There was a hollow feeling in her chest, right where her soul should be, but it felt so empty! So cold!! Her shivering increased until her whole body was vibrating with it. Then she heard him crooning to her, trying to comfort her. The pads of his paws felt warm on her cheeks. Slowly, she started to warm up, the shivering stopped, and then she felt the love pouring through those huge paws into her face, through her blood, into her heart.
When she had finally recovered from the shock of that connection, she took a deep breath through her nose, filling her lungs to maximum capacity. She could smell him now—that deep, musky odor of MALE, mixed with the raw iron scent of blood. Slowly, she released the air from her lungs, blowing it out through her mouth, through the silky-soft hairs on the bottoms of those giant paws. She was holding those paws to her cheeks, forcing them against her skin, reveling in their softness. Finally, she was back to normal, and she slowly pulled those paws from her face. She ran her fingers over them, rubbing them, caressing them, squeezing them. She couldn't get enough of him. Finally, she gently released them, and he slowly rolled over onto his belly, laying his head back into her lap. Not looking into his eyes—she did not want to repeat THAT experience any time soon—she softly asked him, "Who are you?"