My Forbidden Wolf

Alana

We were in the middle of the dirt road, and my aunt's small carriage stopped abruptly in a forest that was known to many as the most dangerous forest in all these lands; that was where the packs of the most bloodthirsty wolves were. 

It was raining lightly, and the day was already ending outside the carriage. At first, I thought we had stopped because of some problem with the horses or the carriage wheels. Aunt Mag had even cursed the poor horses when they neighed and stopped on their hooves as if they had encountered a great obstacle on the way, but well, our head there was what made us stop. Who made us stop, to put it better? 

The rain fell increasingly heavily, blurring our vision and preventing us from clearly seeing the figure in front of us. A few meters in front of the carriage stood a man with an imposing figure dressed in black. He was standing right there, blocking our carriage to continue our way, and he didn't look like he had any plans to move away. 

"Who is he, Aunt Mag?" I fearfully asked my aunt, who was sitting next to me with her inseparable fan in her hand. Her middle-aged face had twisted into a scowl. I knew all too well that her expression meant she was very angry. 

"He must be a marauding human. Some of them are bold enough to attack warlocks and witches' carriages even though they know they are going to die. Despicable race!" She said it with disdain, but just by seeing the silhouette of the man in front of us, we could tell that he wasn't a human and didn't seem to be so passionate about stealing from warlocks and witches. 

"But what if he isn't?" I asked after swallowing hard. "What if he's someone dangerous?"

"Don't be so silly, girl. I have the protection of the Lightsun House with me, no warlocks or witches will want to harm me. Now let me get rid of this b*st*rd, so we can get out of this cursed forest before the d*mn wolves show up," said the woman, who got out of the carriage and approached the man with a foolish look. 

We were traveling to Fastfall which was the capital city of the wizarding people; that was where the richest and most powerful of my people lived. Aunt Mag hadn't told me anything about it, but I knew she was going to hand me over to the Lightsuns in marriage. Something I never wanted, but it wasn't like my aunt listened to me or let me make my own decisions in my life. 

I was the orphan of both my father and mother, so I always lived under the care of my aunt, who was my mother's sister. But Aunt Mag was never an example of a mother to me, she always treated me badly and made a point of throwing it in my face that I was useless, even more so when I turned fifteen and my magic never manifested itself, just as it usually does with all sorcerers when they reach that age. Aunt Mag called me injured, without magic, and human, as in a pejorative term. To her, I was of no use, and she regretted of taking care of me because she thought she would get something in return as soon as I grew up, but without magic, it was as if I were a disabled person who would always need it. 

"Thank the Great Wizard that at least you have this angelic appearance," she said to me, "so I can try to arrange a profitable marriage for you, or else you will die in the gutter!"

But I didn't want her to arrange a marriage for me, I didn't want any of that. I wanted to be free from this woman. 

"I am Magdalena Bernadette Backingale of the house Backingale, from the south," my aunt was saying, her umbrella covering her head and preventing her from getting soaked. "This is my carriage, and I am going to the City Of Gold. I advise you to leave our way and let us pass, you wandering stranger!”

At first, I thought it was a snore or a deep growl, and then I realized that the growl was coming from the figure in front of us, it was as if he was laughing. "You witches and your exaggerated perks. What nonsense," the man said in a thick and low voice. It was at that moment that I realized that he was not human. He was something much more dangerous than humans. 

When the imposing man spoke, the horses shook as if they wanted to break free of the reins and run away. The coachman was almost knocked to the ground when he tried to pull the reins to calm them. My aunt noticed that agitation too, so now she asks more cautiously. 

"Who are you? You don't look human, and you don't have the courtesy of a warlock. What kind of species are you?" She asked.

The man didn't respond, in the middle of the rain, he slowly walked closer to us. At that moment, my heart was starting to pound with fear, and I pressed my hands together, afraid of what could happen. 

"Aren't you even going to offer me a ride? Would you have the dare to leave me here in this rain, ma'am?" He asked with heightened sarcasm. 

"I don't give rides to strangers." my aunt answered, incisively. 

"Hm, that wasn't the answer I wanted to hear," he said and then stopped right in front of my window. "I see there's something precious in that carriage of yours, witch," he said as his dark eyes were on me looking at me as if I was an object that had caught his attention. I couldn't even look at him I was so scared. 

"Then you are a thief." Aunt Mag accused him. 

"I'm not a thief, but I just felt like stealing something," he said with his eyes still locked on me. I glanced at him, his hair hidden behind a hood was black and long, his skin was brown, and his eyes were as dark as the night. He would even be handsome if he weren't so threatening. "Are you hiding, sweetie?" He asked and smirked. 

"Stay away from her, or else..!" My aunt yelled, already wanting to give her orders, but she had to convince herself that everything was already lost. 

"How much power do you two have, witches? Is it enough power to override my dominance over your horses and control them?" The stranger asked, saying that he was controlling the horses now. I took the air into my mouth in fright, only wolves had such dominance over animals, so the horses had stopped because of him, it was this strange man who made them stop. 

"Are you a wolf?" Aunt Magdalena asked in shock too, but now defiant. "Then why are you daring to be in touch with sorcerers people like us? Didn't the Council declare that our species can only communicate with each other before the court?"

"Do you see your dear Council around here, witch woman? Surely none of them would want to play in the rain like we are," he said.

"This is an affront! You will be punished, wolf!" Aunt Mag shot dismissively. 

"If you want to make your way to your beautiful sh*t city, I'll free the horses, but you leave the girl with me," the werewolf proposed as calmly as if he were talking about the weather. 

"What? You've got to be crazy!" My aunt said, starting to yell. 

But the wolfman was looking at me with his cynical smirk and a somewhat playful look as if he was having a lot of fun and said, "like you have any choice."

Then he practically ripped off the carriage door and pulled me by the waist. He was so fast that one moment I was snatched from the carriage and the next I was hanging on the broad back of a giant wolf that was running in stampede, heading deeper into the dangerous forest. 

AlanaThis simply never happened, in all time, there was never a wolf so bold that he dared to lay his hands on witch people and even kidnap them, but this wolf was doing it while dragging me through the forest deeper and deeper into his domain. My hands grabbed his abundant fur as my hair was pulled back by the opposite wind. My vision was blurry because of the speed at which the wolf was running. With every step he took, everything got darker and darker, with the treetops covering us. I got further away from my aunt and her carriage, we were already so far away now that if I didn't do anything, I could never go back. I started hitting the wolf with my feet and pulling its fur harder. "Stop! Stop!" I screamed without stopping hitting him, but no matter how much I continued, my captor didn't seem willing to give in. Frustrated, I looked at the distance to the ground. I knew that at that speed, if I jumped off his back to the grou