Promised To The Alpha Twins
Chapter 22

As I turned around, I almost fell upon seeing what had produced the sound that caught my attention.

In front of me, leaning on their four legs, there were two enormous black wolves.

I had never been face to face with a wolf in my life, not even in a zoo. I had only seen them on television or in internet photographs, but now, in the middle of that forest, I had two large ones right in front of me, observing me as if I were their lunch.

Of course, I was scared, but the situation seemed so ironic and strange that for some reason my reaction wasn’t to run away; besides, what would be the point? If I did, it was evident that the wolves would catch up with me in three strides. If I was going to die, at least I intended to do it head-on, without turning my back on those creatures.

I waited, petrified, for the wolves to pounce on me, with their huge mouths open, with big yellow teeth that would sink into my flesh to tear it apart. It would be painful, but perhaps in just one or two minutes, they would have bitten my neck and drained me of b***d. That would be the end of my life, in that place, transformed into the food of two beautiful creatures, because I had to admit it; they were two large black wolves with very shiny fur, almost like onyx, and cunning eyes, even intelligent, that never stopped watching me.

“Enough already. Do it for God’s sake,” I said, fists clenched, waiting for them to finish me off.

I could already imagine the look of satisfaction on Chloe’s face when she found out that I had been devoured by wolves, in the forest, on an afternoon when I was supposed to be at school. My case would be the example of why you should never skip classes, and I would even become an urban legend, a scary story for children who don’t want to go to school or do their homework. Mothers would say to their children, “You’ll end up like that girl, who not too far from here was devoured by wolves because they followed her after finding out she was skipping school.”

At least that’s how I would be remembered.

“What’s wrong with you? Are you not going to attack me? Aren’t you hungry?” I shouted again, assuming the role of the crazy person that I was beginning to get used to. It wasn’t just that voice that had been talking to me that fateful night at the party, but now I was also talking to the wolves.

They continued to look at me, hardly reacting. Then I remembered the wolves I had seen before, near the house. Perhaps they were the same ones, and guided by my scent, they had recognized me and that’s why they weren’t attacking, but as far as I knew, wolves, unlike dogs, didn’t accept masters, so it wasn’t possible for them to think that I could be their owner.

I still didn’t understand the behavior of the two animals.

“Fine. If you’re not going to do anything…”

My words seemed to encourage one of them, who locked his gaze onto me, and I even thought I saw him analyzing me, as if that were possible. His companion stuck his tongue out to the side, and I thought I saw him curl his lips, as if he were smiling, which made no sense, but that’s how it seemed. Then it seemed like they exchanged a glance, and I even saw one of them roll his eyes, as if mocking his friend.

“I’m going to sit back down, if that’s okay with you.”

Only then did I realize how tense and nervous I was when I tried to sit back down on the log, and my body protested. I was so tense that all the muscles in my back and h**s felt strained, but they began to relax as I forced them to obey my will.

I managed to do it, but I didn’t dare turn my back on the wolves, and I kept looking into their eyes, surprised by what seemed to be expressions of superior intelligence compared to what I would expect from two wild animals.

The one that had stuck out his tongue was the first to approach. He did it slowly, as if calculating each of his steps and hoping not to scare me. That surprised me even more, and still sitting, I watched closely as he took each step, first hesitantly, then more pronounced, until his head was within reach of my hand.

I have never had pets, but I know about dogs because I have known people who have had them, and I know how they behave. The wolf that approached seemed to be waiting for me to pet him. With the same reluctance he showed in taking the first step, I brought my hand closer to his head. I was afraid he would misinterpret it and bite off my hand, but by the time my finger brushed against his forehead, it was evident that he wouldn’t. He tilted his head and let me place my hand on him.

At that moment, I felt crazier than ever.

It could be that what was happening was a hallucination of mine, due to hunger, the fact that I hadn’t eaten well in the past few weeks, post-traumatic stress after what had happened at the party, a remnant of the drug I had been given, or a combination of all that, and actually, anyone watching me from a distance would see me stroking the air, sitting in the middle of the afternoon and in the middle of a forest, because I couldn’t find any other logical explanation for the fact that a wolf of that size was letting me stroke its head as if it were a puppy.

“So, you like this,” I said, feeling the wolf rubbing its head against my hand. “And your friend? Is he going to stay there? Or does he also want me to pamper him?”

The reaction of the two wolves led me to understand that, as I feared, I was crazy and both of them were figments of my imagination, because the wolf I was stroking turned his gaze towards his companion, as if he had understood my words, and he seemed to respond to him. It didn’t take long for the other wolf to approach as well, and seconds later, I was stroking both wolves.

Their fur was extremely soft and shone brightly under the mid-afternoon sun that was beating down on us. Despite feeling them, I still couldn’t believe what was happening and I feared that someone else might see me as a crazy person stroking the air.

“Well, now I have to go back home,” I said. Once again, the wolves seemed to understand my words and took a step aside. “We’ll see each other soon. Goodbye.”

When I left the wolves behind, I became even more nervous than when I had seen them, and I didn’t dare to look back for fear of not seeing them and confirming that I indeed needed to visit a psychiatrist.

I don’t know how I made it back home because on the way back I realized that I had ventured quite far into the forest, but I arrived without needing to activate the GPS on my phone.

By that time, Dub was sleeping on the couch and Aly’s car was parking. My heart was pounding as a result of my encounter with the wolves, whom I couldn’t get out of my head.

Aly told me what had happened at school and made me promise her that I would go the next day. I did, and despite my fears, the twins didn’t bother me that day. I tried not to think too much about it and carried out my shift without worrying. I went to bed early after eating some of the leftovers I could take from the restaurant that day.

The next day, while I was getting ready to fulfill the promise I had made to Aly, Lia knocked on the door of my room. Surprised because she had never done that before, I opened it with the intention of scolding her for it. It was about time she stopped pretending to be a concerned mother, but when I saw her expression, I was disarmed.

She looked like a walking corpse. I had never seen her like that.

“You need to hurry,” she said. “Your father has come.”