She rolled her shoulders out as she walked, rolling out the kinks that had appeared after hours of listening to Abby tell her about all the latest gossip rumors before excusing herself and abandoning her books. She stopped and stared at the archery range where her feet had led her too and shrugged, what harm could a few rounds do? It would work out the kinks in her shoulders, that was for sure. She smoothly picked up her quiver and strapped it onto her back before picking up her bow and letting lose a couple of arrows before she became aware that she was being watched.
She looked around, scanning the bushes but quickly gave up, whoever it was didn't want to be found and she didn't feel like entertaining anymore people today, in plain sight or not. Not bothering to turn around, she refilled her quiver and added another one to her belt before setting her bow on her back in an easy place to reach. She took a deep breath, picked a direction, and ran.
Skyla ran straight into the forest to avoid the person who was watching her, not knowing if it was friend or foe. As she ran, she soon forgot about the person who was still following her as she felt the wind blowing through her lose brown hair and making her bright green eyes water with the speed. She just kept running as fast as her legs would carry her until she was deep into the heart of the forest where she heard the shout of a warning coming too late.
She heard the sound of an arrow whiz past her head as she felt something heavy come from her right and shove her to the ground. Skyla and the thing that pushed her rolled down the steep embankment to her left, recieving deep cuts from the pricker bushes that grew there before they rolled off a particularly big rock and came to a bumpy stop at the bottom where they were hidden completely by baby ferns and the very thornbushes that had hurt them. She felt a hand cover her mouth and felt whatever was on top of her grow tense at the sound of voices coming toward them but suddenly grow very faint, as if being led away by something.
Skyla slowly opened up her eyes to see warm brown ones staring down at her before she realized that the thing that had pushed her down was a boy. "Shhh." He whispered, putting a finger to her lips before she could speak, "They're coming back." As soon as he said the words, she heard the sound of voices coming from the direction where they fell and she heard the footsteps of one brave soul who tried to walk down the path their bodies had created but soon gave up saying, "If they fell down that then they're most likely dead." At his bold statement, the voices went away once again but Skyla and the boy still waited for them to return.
When the people didn't come back, the boy removed his finger from her lips and gently got off of her and sat down next to where Skyla was. "Are you okay?" He asked, his brown eyes showing the concern that reflected in her voice, Skyla just nodded as she struggled to sit up. When she finally managed to sit up she looked at the hill and was surprised to see that they had nearly fell 20 down a straight slope, no wonder why they thought they were dead.
"Are you the thing that was following me earlier?" She asked, wincing as she turned to face him, he shook his head.
"No, it wasn't me, I was just passing through the forest when I saw the hunters." As he spoke, a light rain started to fall on them when he stood up. "C'mon, we have to get out of the rain, a thunderstorm is coming in and we don't want to get caught in it." He held his hand out for her to grab and she gratefully accepted, wincing as he pulled her to her feet.
When he saw the shape that she was in, his mouth hung open but he hurriedly closed it as she started to sway, "You can't walk, can you?" He asked gently, she just shook her head as her vision blurred with the pain. "Don't worry, I know a cave nearby where we can take shelter with a few supplies we can use." He told her as he took her arm and placed it over his shoulder and wrapped his good arm around her waist and led her to the cave where she blacked out.

*** ***

When Skyla came too, she was in the cave he had talked about laying in front of a warm fire when he came in, soaked from the rain. She giggled when he came in and shook his head like a wet dog. At her giggle he looked up, startled, before he smiled, "So you're up." At her nod he walked over and sat down next to her and tapped her knee, "I bandaged up your leg as best as I could while you were sleeping."
"Thank you." She said quietly as she looked carefully at him, trying to realize what was different about him besides the fact that he was soaking wet. "Your arm, it's bleeding."
"What?" He asked as he looked at his arm in surprise, "It mustive started bleeding while I was outside." He said before she scooted over to his arm to look at it. "How bad is it?" He asked as she tried to get a good look at the deep gashes on his arm, she shook her head.
"I don't know how bad it is, your shirt is covering it." She blushed as she relized that he would have to take off his shirt so she could see it properly. He scooted a few inches away and managed to get one arm out of the sleeve before he winced and stammered, "I can't move my arm out of the sleeve." She gently pulled his arm out of the sleeve and pulled his shirt over his head, "You can use it as the bandage, it's ripped up anyways. I have a knife right over there next to the fire."
She nodded and leaned closer to the wound, gently pulling thorns out of it before cleaning it and bandaging it up. She traced the outine of the bandage gently before she realized that he was shivering. She pulled him closer to the fire and for the first time, she saw him clearly in the firelight. He had dark brown hair to match his soft brown eyes and skin tanned and muscled from hard work in the sun. His eyes lifted up to hers before they drooped down and he fell asleep, shivering into her shoulder. She scooted him closer to the fire and laid down behind him, back to back, hoping that some of her body heat would warm him up as he slept before she, herself, fell asleep next to a complete stranger.

*** ***

I woke up in the middle of the night to see the dying embers of the fire, the girl must be asleep then. I rolled over to see her curled up against me in her sleep, her long dark hair covering her face. I gently moved her hair out of her face and stared at her for a while before I realized I didn't know her name. I was thinking about what her name could be when she rolled over, away from the fire, revealing a strange band on her upper arm before I shook my head and got up, needing some air.
I walked to the edge of the cave and looked at the moon for a few seconds before I jumped from the opening and shifted into my wolf form mid-jump. I landed neatly on all fours before I broke into a sprint, leaving all thoughts of the strange girl and her name behind me as it was just me and the wind. I covered several miles before I found the hill we had fallen down just hours ago and howled from the top of it, releasing all of my confusion and pain into the wind. I listened for a reply from my father, but there was none, the west wind had moved on. I stood there for a while before I turned to run back to the cave where the girl would be sleeping.
As I walked into the cave, forgetting to shift back onto all four, the girl stirred and... woke up. I turned to leave before she could see me, but it was too late. "Hey boy, what are you doing here?" She asked softly as she held out her hand for me to smell to see if she was friend or foe. As I smelled her hand i sighed, she smelled of the forest after a good rainfall and a warm fire after a long day. I walked closer and laid my head into her lap, enjoying the warmth of the fire and the feel of her petting my fur, but I knew I couldn't stay as a wolf in the cave for long. Sooner or later I would turn human again, let's just hope it's later, I thought as she started to whisper stories into my ear.
When I woke up it was day and somehow, I was still a wolf. "Good mornin." She said cheerfully as she laid some cooked eggs on a stone before me, where did she get those? I thought before digging in, I was too hungry to care. "Hmmm." She said, I looked up, my tail wagging involuntarily, "We need to get you out of the cave somehow without you hurting yourself." In responce I jumped up and jumped out of the cave and ran out before turning human and coming back into the cave.
"Something smells good." I said as I walked in, trying to act casual.
"Sorry, you missed breakfast. I had a visitor this morning and he ate your food." She looked up appologetically.
"It's no problem, I already ate... How's your leg?" She looked down before she said, "It's fine." I raised my eyebrows, I could hear the pain in her voice but I didn't say anything about it. "What's your name?" I asked, catching her offguard.
"It's Skyla, my sister calls me Sky though, why?"
"Just curious, that's all, it's a nice name."
"Uh... Thanks, I think. What's yours?"