The Lone Wolf

• Alanna Paterson, Grade 9, Eden Marine High School
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

As the moon rose and the sun set, the lone wolf emerged from his den as he did every other night. The lone wolf took in the sights, sounds and smells of the forest to search for threats. Like every night there was nothing, except for the fresh scent of his future prey and with that scent in mind he began his hunt.
Minutes turned into hours and the animals scent began to fade into the night.
Just as midnight came, he scented a new scent that mingled with his prey's blood. The lone wolf decided to trail this new scent in hope of finding the remnants of the animal he'd been tracking since early that night. The scent of blood became stronger and so did the scent of the animal who'd stolen his kill. Soon afterwards he caught a glimpse of movement in a small clearing in the trees, which was flooded by the light of the full moon. Right in the centre of the clearing was another lone wolf, her fur, pure white in the moonlight. When she sensed his presence, she turned away from her kill to give him a single, vicious warning snarl. He took her warning seriously and stood back as she finished her meal.
As she turned back to him, she growled a vicious growl, meant to challenge him. He returned that challenging growl just as viciously. She was in his territory and had hunted and killed his prey. He never allowed trespassers anywhere near his lands without a fight breaking out. His scars were proof of how many had challenged him and lost. He'd once been part of a pack but a trespassing pack had defeated every single one of them except for him of course, ever since that day he remained a lone wolf. Never looking to find a mate, never looking for a new pack out of fear of them being taken from him as well. But as this She-wolf glared at him with her ice blue eyes, teeth bared he felt a current of static electricity pass through him and all his hairs stood on end. The She-wolf seemed to have felt that same current, since she'd straightened up out of her crouch and begun to saunter over to him. Barely a foot away from him she stopped and sat, staring at him with her wary eyes. It felt as though she was looking into his soul and when she found what she was looking for she relaxed, her form became less rigid and her face softened. She grinned a wolfy grin and tilted her head to the side slightly, when he returned her grin, she closed the remaining distance between them and took in his scent as if committing it to memory. When she went to touch her nose to his he didn't feel scared, not anymore. In that moment he knew he'd found his mate, he knew he was no longer 'The Lone Wolf'.