Chapter Nine: Savior

Josh Hunter stared at the girl that had fallen to the ground. Her face was dirty with mud stains so he could not get a clear glimpse of her complexion. Her hair seemed to be a blonde colour but it had been matted by mud, making it hard to discern.

He squatted on the muddy forest floor, the rain beating him relentlessly. Slowly, Josh placed his hands on her cheeks to feel for a temperature but she was unusually cold. He checked for a pulse and was glad that although it was weak, it was enough to tell him that she was alive.

He picked her up gently and threw her over his shoulders. From her weight, he knew she was below the standard weight for a woman her age.

Josh wondered what her story is as he approached his usual cave.

He laid her gently on the ground and could not help but notice that she was severely malnourished. It was quite evident that she wasn't well fed.

He stared at her and shook his head. He had to take off her damp clothing but that was inappropriate for him as a man to do. At the same time, he knew that she was going to get a fever if left in wet clothes.

He lit a fire inside the cave to give her some warmth and used a small cloth he had packed in his bag to wipe her face and the public parts of her body.

"I'll have to leave this to Jean," he said, sighing to himself. Jean was his retired maid servant that had been with him since he was little.

In the pouring rain, Josh knew there was nothing he could do. He sat close to the entrance of the cave at an angle where he could see both the outside and monitor Olivia.

There was a strange smell the wind carried; Josh noticed after more than two hours of sitting down. It was pitch dark already and the only light source was the dim one provided by the fire. The moon seemed to have disappeared into oblivion.

The smell seemed very familiar— like the scent of a person he knew. However, Josh could not really tell who it was as the smell of the rain had masked everything.

He got up and decided to take a look around.

Lightning flashed over head and he heard the footsteps of a person. With harder concentration he realized they were the paws of a wolf.

He stood up slowly and decided to shift into his wolf form, ready to look around but a sneeze from the girl in the cave made him to glance at her. He walked back to where she was, slightly shivering and placed a hand on her forehead.

The girl stirred a little.

Josh observed her and then decided to shift into his wolf form. He knew that she might be terrified a little but since she was also a wolf, maybe she would not be.

Just in case she had to be in the pack house for a while, Josh did not want her to recognize him as the alpha so he had to switch to his wolf form.

After he did so, he drew closer to her and sat beside her close to the fire. He placed his body very close to hers, knowing that the fur on his skin would provide her warmth and maybe she would stop shivering.

She sneezed again, followed by fits of coughing and then a groan. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Olivia was in shock when she woke up. She found herself lying beside a wolf that gazed upon her with the kindest eyes she had ever seen on her life. She enjoyed the warmth that emanated from it, but instinctively she moved back a little.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to recollect the moments from before. She remembered how she had rolled out of the cart and had gone in a direction that seemed promising. Then a wolf had chased her.

Could it be that it was the same wolf?

She furrowed her brows intently, trying to study the wolf beside her under the fin fire light. It seemed impossible to know as she hadn't seen much of the wolf that has chased her in the rain.

Had the wolf chased just to help her out?

She shook her head.

It had to be a different wolf.

She tried to stand up but failed brutally. All her muscles were sore and weak from the pain that had been inflicted on them in the past few days. She rubbed her throat, suddenly craving for something the drink.

It was as though the wolf understood because it stood up in its full regalia, making Olivia suddenly feel small. With careful steps, it approached a corner and began to shift around with its paw. Then it rolled a waterskin towards her.

She picked it up, eyeing the wolf warily.

Under normal circumstances, she would not drink what was offered to her by a stranger but her desperation was intense. Moreover, she didn't think a stranger wolf would poison her for no reason.

"Are you a werewolf, or just a wolf?" She asked after several minutes of silence.

There was no answer from it. Rather it circled the area and curled up, as though preparing to sleep.

Summoning a little bit of courage, Olivia reached out her hand and began to stroke the ears and head of the wolf. It shook it's head vigorously to get her hands off but she remained undeterred as she loved the feeling of warmth it brought her.

Once again, she sank her fingers into it's fur and scratched softly. Doing that, made her temporarily forget all that had happened to her.

She smiled at the wolf— it seemed to like the gesture.

Josh was very amused at the strange girl he had taken to the cave.

Wasn't she a werewolf?

Why on earth was she petting him? He asked himself.

However, he couldn't deny that certain physical responses were signaling to him—he he enjoyed the feeling.

He looked at the young girl before him, a spark of desire igniting in his eyes.