"What is this place?" She asked.
Lucas was watching her from where he sat on a ruined step. He shrugged. "Who knows? There are many such places out in the wild."
"They must be hundreds of years old." She breathed, fascinated.
"Or thousands."
Her hands brushed over something and she paused. There was something smooth and cold attached to the wall, under all the moss and layers of dirt. She licked a finger and scrubbed at it.
It appeared to be a flat sheet of metal, partly rusted, but she could make out some words written on the un-corrupted half. "...no par-king." She sounded. Addy could read, but the words didn't make sense. She frowned, looking up at the werewolf, who watched her curiously. "What is ‘parking'?"
Lucas didn't know either.
They found some wild raspberries. Adrianna ate them straight from the bush, suddenly realizing how empty her belly felt. Lucas watched her as though amused, refusing to take any of the fruit for himself.
"I will hunt." He said, sniffing the breeze. "Will you stay right here? It is safe – I sense nothing around except you, me, and some animals."
Adrianna nodded, licking juice from her pink-stained fingers. Her desire to flee had wilted since hearing the banshee screech and the wolves howling in the night. Despite herself, she was glad of his protection, and felt safe with him around.
"I will be close. If you need me, just call." He told her. He turned around, and effortlessly changed form.
When she had seen him fighting with the other beast, the two had looked different – as though half-shifted. They had all the bulk and height of men, but hunched, muscles bulging and hair sprouting from their skin. At the time, she'd thought it grotesque. Monstrous.
Now Lucas took the form of a huge, shaggy black wolf. The transition looked as natural to him as breathing, and took only seconds. His leather garment was left on the ground.
He looked back at her. His head came almost up to her shoulders – far, far larger than a natural wolf. He had the same amber eyes, and stared at her with the same human intelligence. His ears twitched and tilted, picking up the sounds of the forest.
It... he... was majestic. Adrianna couldn't help but feel somehow privileged to witness such a sight, one that surely few humans had seen. Well, except maybe for the hunters, aiming their silver-tipped arrows. Her stomach clenched at the reminder and she looked away from him. How many had her arrows killed in the hands of those hunters?
The wolf gave a huff and loped off into the trees, his nose to the ground.
After she had picked all the berries she could find, she foraged a little more, circling around the outside of the ruin and scuffing in the dirt and grass until she found some of the small potato plants that grew in abundance in the forest near her home.
She dug in the soil with her hands, feeling around the base of the leaves until her fingers found the small globes hidden under the dirt. She smiled to herself, happy her woodcraft had paid off.
By the time Lucas returned she had a small pile of the potatoes, some green herbs and a stack of kindling. She sat at the top of the ruined steps that led to nowhere, her prizes stacked at her feet.
The sight of the huge wolf appearing out of nowhere made her jump, startled, before she recognized him. In his huge jaws he held the limp bodies of two rabbits.
The rabbits were bigger than any she had seen before. Perhaps everything this deep in the forest grew larger, she thought, looking at the wolf. She was taken with the desire to touch him - to run her hands through his fur and feel him move. But he unnerved her too. She held back, afraid.
He dropped his prey within the walls of the tower, and sat down for a moment. His ears twitched toward Addy as he looked at her.
"I found potatoes." She said lamely.
The next moment, he was shifting. In a few seconds he was Lucas again, crouched naked on the ground.
The two of them skinned and dressed the rabbits in silence. They had to start the fire the hard way, but Lucas was obviously practiced at it and it didn't take long. Before long the meat was roasting, the potatoes cooking in the coals.
They ate. Lucas ripped one of the rabbits apart with his hands, devouring the entire thing. He left a small pile of bones on the ground. Adrianna wondered if he even usually cooked his meat. Probably not. He wouldn't touch the potatoes.
"Lucas," she said, picking at her meat as she watched him eat.
"Hmm?" He mumbled, cracking a bone with his teeth. He looked like a wild man, the way he tore into his food and chewed on the bones.
"Were you ever human?"
His amber eyes regarded her solemnly. He finished his mouthful. "Me? No. I was born into the pack."
Despite everything she'd been taught by her family, she wasn't entirely surprised. Nothing about the way Lucas moved – or the way he ate - looked human. "Werewolves don't... turn people then?" Was it another piece of misinformation?
"They do." He answered. "Sometimes."
"Oh." For some reason, she was disheartened by that. Maybe she wanted to believe he wasn't a monster.
6.
By the time they finished eating, the sun was going down, and it was getting cold. Adrianna had only her torn chemise and dirty skirts, and her cloak to wrap around her shoulders.
She sat sullenly on the top of the stone steps, rubbing warmth into her arms and watching the werewolf. Lucas was staring at the sky as the sun set, as though waiting anxiously for something.
"What is it?" She finally asked.
"The moon is rising."
As though on cue, there came the howling of wolves. First one, then many. Lucas smiled, a feral grin that showed sharp teeth. He looked at Adrianna, the wind blowing in his long hair. He held out a hand. There was a gleam of excitement in his eyes. "Come."
A shiver went through her as she reluctantly got to her feet. "Where?"
"We run with the moon."
She took his hand, and he guided her courteously down the stairs, as though she was some Lady in an old tale. She stood looking up at him, not knowing what to expect.
His hand lingered on hers for a long moment. Finally he let go. In the next instant he changed, and she was standing next to his big black wolf form.
It was disconcerting being so close to him. She took a small unconscious step back.
He turned his great shaggy head to look at her, and stepped closer.
Hesitantly, drawn by curiosity and that strange compulsion to touch him, she put out her hand, and Lucas walked beneath it. Her fingers closed on his long fur. It was soft, with a thick undercoat and wiry guard hairs. She let out a wondering sigh, and buried her hands in it.
He nudged her, his warm body up against hers, and she suddenly knew what he wanted her to do.
"Are you sure?" She asked. He put his head down and nuzzled at her leg.
It wasn't like mounting a horse. The wolf moved more smoothly, made of wiry muscle. Adrianna gripped the thick mane-like fur around his neck and climbed up onto his back. Her weight didn't seem to faze him at all.
She let out a short laugh. This was crazy. She was crazy. But he kept still as she settled onto his back, one ear tilted back toward her, one eye watching.
Her heart was racing with nerves, but she found that once she was seated properly, it was comfortable. She gripped him firmly with her strong thighs, well used to riding.
This felt different though. When he moved, she swayed, gasped and bent forward, clutching his fur. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, feeling as though she would fall at any moment.
Lucas didn't give her an opportunity to adjust. He set off at an easy lope, then quickly into a full gallop.
There was none of the jolting she sometimes felt with a horse. The werewolf flew through the forest as though his feet never touched the ground.
He moved in a sinuous, easy motion. His mouth was open and he was breathing heavily, panting in time with his stride, but he seemed tireless. He wove in and out of trees, jumped over branches and fallen logs. He seemed to anticipate every rise, every obstacle in the landscape.
After a while, Adrianna loosened her hold and began to look around. Her fright gradually gave way to a sense of freedom.
Never had she run so fast – not even on horseback. The wind whipped in her hair and her skirts, the scenery slipped past in a blur. She had never been able to experience this flight through nature, never run freely through the deep forest.
It was beautiful. With the moon shining through the canopy, the trees seemed to sparkle. And there were flowers and fruits here – foliage she had never seen before, that didn't grow in the parts of forest near her home.
Addy sat up straighter as she grew used to the wolf's stride. Her hands tangled in his shaggy fur. There was a sense of giddy joy emanating from him as he ran. She felt it as though it were her own emotion.
She felt as though the moon pulled her own blood, affecting her as it was rumoured to affect the tides of the ocean. She thought now that she understood what Lucas meant, at least a little. She laughed into the wind.