To love is to feel an emotional pain that feels crueler than death. It can be a welcoming pain to some, and a hunger in others. There are many different types of love. Love for family, love for friends, love for habits, lovers, and then there is lust. My name is Alec Night and this is my story.

Another day of the same thing as the day before, but I almost pray for something new. Every day, I cannot wait to start my hunt for food and herbs for the village.

“Alec? Are you awake?” I heard a female voice call for me.

I opened my eyes and slowly got up.

“I’m coming!” I yelled out.

I stumbled a bit as I got to the door. I opened the door and saw my childhood friend with her baby in her arms.

“Alec, can you help me? Melody is burning up.”

I reached out and lightly touched her forehead. Burning up was an understatement, she was so warm that I could almost imagine a fire on her head.

“Bring her in and lay her on the spare bed.”

She walked to the corner bed as I walked to my kitchen.

“Has she had anything to eat?”

“She ate a small bowl of porridge, but she threw it up a few moments later.”

I started to mix crushed herbs and some sweet honey in a small bowl of porridge. Growing up with Piper was great when we were kids, but as soon as we got older, it changed. The whole village expected us to marry each other. The leader’s daughter and the hunting healer. I love Piper as a sister and I treat her little girl as if she was my real niece.

“Have her eat this slowly.”

I gave her the mixture but Melody refused to eat. The way that she was chewing on her hand made me realize the problem; she was teething badly. So, I put a special crème on my finger and brushed it against her lip. She opened her mouth and she started eating.

“You are amazing with children, I can never understand why you don’t have any.”

“Never found anyone to have some with.”

“Orion seems willing to adopt children with you.”

“He is an asshole. Why would I want to raise asshole children with him?”

She laughed as the baby giggled.

“Even Melody knows that Orion is an asshole.”

After Melody stopped giggling, she yawned and closed her eyes.

“I better take her home to leave you to your duties. Thank you.”

She slowly got up, so she wouldn’t wake the little one, and she left. After she was gone, I started gathering my tools, and then I made a list of herbs that I need to restock. Right as I grabbed my bow, someone slammed my front door open.

“Will today be the day that you finally marry me?” Orion yelled out.

“No, but my arrow would love to meet your face.” I told him as I put on my red cloak.

“You wound me with your words!” He gripped his chest as he spoke.

I got mad as he walked into my house as if he owned the place.

“Not hard enough if you keep coming back to bug me.” I started to push him out as I spoke. “Go flirt with some of the other villagers that actually would like it. I have some work to do.”

“When you get back, I shall give you a welcome back kiss.”

“I would rather kiss a toad.”

I closed my door and quickly locked it, before walking away from him.

“If only I could marry someone with the same love of the forest as me.” I said to myself as I wandered deeper into the forest. “But, no one in the village shares the same love as me. They are all terrified of some invisible monster hidden here.”

“No more sappy thoughts, I have a job to do.”

I leaned down to the ground and looked for tracks. A squirrel passed by here two days ago, four rabbits yesterday, and a small herd of deer a few hours ago.

“Deer would be good for the village.” I looked closer and saw another set of tracks. “I have to be careful with a wolf hunting the same prey.”

I knew that there was a stream nearby and that would be the perfect place to hunt them. Because most deer prefer to stay near their water source. I saw a few of the herbs that I needed, and I grabbed some but not too many.

“Thank you lords and ladies of the wild with this gift so I can heal others.” I whispered a quick prayer to the deities for the blessing of the herbs.

As I got closer to the stream, I could hear the deer moving around. I readied my bow, as I got closer to them. Because of my red cloak, I had to hide in the thicker bushes to keep out of their sight. I waited for the right moment to strike, so I wouldn’t waste any arrows, as I finally got view of them. I shoot the first arrow and was able to shoot two more before the herd started to bolt.

“Three deer should be enough but I should get one more just in case.” I whispered to myself as I prepared an arrow.

I let the arrow free to get the closest deer to me. A large silver wolf leaped out of the nearby bushes to attack the same deer I was aiming for. I could only watch in horror as my arrow continued its course, and it hit the poor wolf in its back left thigh. It gave such a painful yelp as it landed on the hard ground. I left my hiding spot and slowly walked over to the wolf. It was licking the wound and it was paying no attention to me. It stopped as I kneeled down near it.

“I am sorry for hurting you, but may I try to help you?” I tried to keep my voice calm while speaking even though I don’t think it can understand me.

Its golden eyes stared as I slowly move closer to the wound. I carefully broke off part of the arrow so I could wrap it.

“Okay, I need to find a way to get you to follow me to my home to finish patching you up.” I said to myself as I got up.

I started preparing the deer for travel, when I heard movement behind me. The wolf laid his head on my shoulder. That was a bit scary and I didn’t move until he moved away.

“Oh dear, maybe three deer was too much for me.” I said as I could only drag two at a time.

The wolf grabbed the deer’s hind leg with his teeth and started to follow me.

“You are one strange wolf if you follow me home. On second thought, I am one strange human if I keep talking to you.”

The wolf just wagged his tail at me. I saw people waving as I got closer to the village. One of the women started to run up to me until she saw the wolf.

“Alec, did a stray dog follow you home?”

The wolf started to growl either at her or her comment.

“No, I accidentally injured this wolf and he started to follow me home.”

She did a high-pitched giggle before waving goodbye. He stopped growling when she disappeared from our sight.

“At least you can growl at people, I can’t do that. I have to smile and be nice to them.” He gave a happy bark at me.

We stopped by the butcher’s shop to drop off the meat. Then, we finally got to my house and I started to reach for the door.

“Alec! Time for your welcome back kiss!”

I quickly put my hand up right as he kissed it.

“There, you got to kiss me. Now go away.” I told him.

“I want to give you one on the lips.”

The wolf started growling at him as he pouted at me.

“You did with your lips to my hand.”

He grabbed my hand and he glared at me.

“I will have your hand in marriage.”

The wolf jumped on him and started barking at his face.

“Behave! Come here!”

The wolf stopped and went to my side.

“”Look Orion, I will not marry someone that doesn’t like my way of life.”

I opened the door and then locked it behind me as soon as the wolf entered. The wolf started to sniff around my place. I patted the spare bed and he came running over to me. He climbed up and licked my hand. For a wild wolf, he acted quite tame. I slowly unwrapped the bandage to check the wound. Luckily, it didn’t look too deep or infected. I got up to grab some herbs and the wolf started to get up as well.

“Stay! I can’t have you get any worse under my care.”

His ears flatten and it looked like he was pouting at me. I shrugged it off and then I went to look for herbs. I quickly took off my cloak because I didn’t want any blood on it. Even though it is red, the smell can still stick to it and attract predators.

“A little bit to reduce the chance of infection, a pinch to stop any swelling, and just enough to get rid of the pain, but not too much to lose feeling in his leg.”

In the middle of mixing, I heard something drop to the ground with a slight ping noise. I looked at my feet to see if I dropped something, but there was nothing there. Keeping my eyes to the ground, I slowly moved my eyes towards the bed. A bloodied arrowhead was on the floor, in front of the bed. I slowly moved my eyes up. In the place of the silver wolf was a tan naked man. The man had golden eyes just like the wolf. When he got up, I started to back away from him.

“What did you do to the wolf?”

The man looked confused before pointing at his left thigh. There was a bleeding wound exactly where I shot the wolf.

“Please don’t scream or yell. I am sorry that I couldn’t change forms earlier.”

“Are you some kind of shapeshifter?” I asked him as the shock started to leave my body.

“Yep!” I tried not to laugh because it sounded like a bark. “I am from a village hidden in the forest, full of shifters!” He gave me a wolfish grin. “My name is Slade! What is yours?”

I picked up the mixture and had him sit on the bed again.

“My name is Alec. What were you doing when we met?”

“My village has a rule that once we are in the mating age, we have to stay away from the village until we find a mate. I was about to get myself some venison for dinner but I forgot to check my surroundings. Then I leaped right at an arrow.”

“How long have you been living in the forest?”

“About 24 moons, so if I remember, two years.”

I started to add the paste to the wound and he started to fidget.

“Stay still or you will just make it worse.” He did his best not to move. “Is it hard to change forms while injured?”

“It really depends on where the wounds are. On my thigh, it hurts a bit, but not as bad as my hand or face. Chest wounds are a big no-no on the shifting department.”

“Okay, because I was hoping that you could stay here a few days because I don’t want the wound to fester. Also, I was hoping that you could shift or hide when someone comes here. The village is not used to anything new.” I started to wrap a new bandage around it and then I used a small knife to cut it. “Done! Now could you please put some pants on?”

He looked down and his eyes widen in shock.

“I always forget when I don’t have fur to cover up.” He looked at me with the perfect puppy dog eyes. “All my clothes are in the forest. May I borrow some of your pants?”

I pointed to my closet as I started to clean up. I was shocked about Slade but I have heard of shapeshifters before. I was looking back every few moments to make sure that he wasn’t hurting himself, not to look at his great ass.

“Be careful with your wound!” I yelled out to him.

I was so focused on wiping up the blood, that I almost didn’t hear him walking up behind me. I turned my head to look at him, right as he licked my lips. I must have turned as red as my cloak.

“Thank you for taking care of me. I must find a way to repay the favor someday.”

“Later, I don’t want you to do anything crazy until you are fully healed. Could you just relax while I get some firewood and dinner started?”

He walked out before I had a chance to stop him. It wasn’t until I heard the sounds of the axe chopping, that I knew what he was doing. I got up and went to the kitchen window to watch him. He was moving with such grace that I was surprised that he was part wolf, he seemed more like a nymph. I got started on preparing a stew while keeping an eye on him.

“Oh my! He is a cute one! Where did you find him?” Piper said right behind me.

I jumped in surprise and accidently cut my hand.

“Oh dear! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I quickly covered the wound before turning to face her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Bringing you some of the deer meat and to pass you a message.”

“Are you okay? I smell blood.” Slade asked as he stuck his head out of the window.

He grabbed my hand and he started sniffing it, while Piper was giggling.

“I take it that the wolf you saved is a shifter from the forest village.” She must have seen the question on my face. “I am the leader’s daughter, so I should know the nearby villages.”

I turned to look at Slade and he was using some of the leftover mixture on my hand.

“What was the message?”

“Orion felt bad for how he treated you and wants to let you know that next week, he wants to hunt with you.”

My eyes widen at her words.

“Is he that asshole that I tried to bite?” Slade asked as he wrapped my hand.

“I guess he counts as an asshole if someone calls him that in under a day.”

“I have the firewood ready for dinner.” Slade said before moving out of the window.

“Alec! You are so brutal to him!” She started whacking my arm. “He is hurt and you are forcing him to cut up firewood!”

“He started doing it before I had a chance to stop him!”

I am thankful that she is just using her hands and not a weapon.

“Excuses!”

I stuck my tongue out at her as Slade carried in the wood. Piper left as I was cooking the meat. I had Slade lay down until the food was ready.

“Was that your mate?” He asked and I almost dropped the hot food in his lap.

“No, that was Piper; she is my sister in all but blood.”

“Oh! She is your littermate!”

I couldn’t stop my smile as his laugh mimics a wolf’s.

As the week went on, I started to get depressed as he was healing. I liked his company and worry for the day he would leave. But, I noticed that he was only limping when I was near. Every morning, I would wake up with him curled around me, in his human form; or on top of me in his wolf form. On certain days, when I allowed him, he helped out Piper by letting Melody ride his wolf back. Then, the day came when I was to take Orion out on a hunt.

“Slade, please stay here while I’m gone. Remember that the rest of the village still thinks you are just a cute wolf.” I told him as I got ready to hunt.

“I don’t want you to go! You keep the bed nice and warm!” He whined as he curled up in my blankets. “I think you are cute too.”

“You have your own bed. Why don’t you sleep in it?”

“It is not as warm and soft as yours and yours smells nice.” I almost didn’t hear that last part because he was fused within my blankets.

I grabbed my cloak, and then I smiled at him before walking out. Orion was walking up as I locked the door.