Note: Dear reader, this is your last chance to look up what a chatelaine is and what it was historically used to carry.
When Noel placed the tie around his neck, Gaetan froze for a second, before nodding slowly. Although he didn’t quite know what the other meant by ‘together’, at least now he wouldn’t be mistaken for a wild animal. He paid it no further mind as he focused on the hoofbeats drawing closer.
Shortly thereafter, a hunter on horseback emerged from the forest. Noel hailed him with a loose hand in the air and a tensed fist holding his tie. Gaetan watched wearily as the new man dismounted. He strode over to Noel and embraced him in a warm hug before looking down and into Gaetan’s eyes, panic flashing through them as he registered the wolf. It was at this point that Gaetan identified him as Noel’s step-father. Gaetan didn’t move, allowing the other to retreat back a few paces and give Noel an alarmed look.
Noel ignored the inquiry and relaxed his grip on the tie. “What are you doing out here?” he asked.
“Madelaine called us over. She said you were missing,” Noel’s step-father replied.
Noel huffed derisively, “She just called you now? Did she tell you how long I’ve been gone?”
The other man frowned, “All night, she said. What’s going on? What are you doing with that wolf?”
“Have you noticed Madelaine has a talent for doing nothing when her husbands go missing?” Noel snarked, casually petting the wolf between the ears. He added, “You won’t believe me if I tell you, we just have to get back to the estate, then maybe I can show you.”
Noel’s step-father took a few more steps back and gave him and the wolf a deeply suspicious once-over. Noel refused to back down. He gave Gaetan another reassuring pat and readjusted his posture while he waited. Finally, the other shook his head and broke his gaze, conceding that there were no answers left to find in the forest.
Despite Noel’s step-father’s skepticism, he led the three of them back to the estate. Out of the wilderness and exposed on the lawn, Gaetan drew the notice of everyone who saw them. The attention made him uneasy, but Noel’s make-shift leash seemed to have a convincing effect on them. It perhaps didn’t hurt that Noel kept nervously reaching down to stroke his ears or touch his head, either.
When they arrived at the mansion, Noel’s father, the Count, was standing with Manon and Madelaine by the front entrance. Noel couldn’t help but notice that his newlywed wife was dressed in a grey only a few shades lighter than mourning attire. He inwardly rolled his eyes and watched for her reaction as he approached with the wolf.
“Call Alcide back, I found him,” Noel’s step-father said as they arrived.
Noel’s father nodded at one of the workers, who quickly went to call off the search. He then turned to Noel and asked, “Are you alri—”
Madelaine interrupted him with a huge, rattling gasp. “M-Mon—” she stammered loudly, throwing herself onto Manon, who swayed with the force. All eyes turned to back towards her, and it was easy to imagine a spotlight swiveling back into place to highlight her performance. Her already large eyes were thrown all the way open, her mouth slack with horror, and she clasped onto Manon so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her chatelaine jingled obnoxiously as it swayed with her movements. The only still parts of her were her pupils, which shrunk to tiny pinpricks and remained uncannily fixed on the wolf.
Noel internally dismissed her act and tried to take back her momentum. “I’m fine,” he told his father, “I’ve got it under control.” He wrapped his hand around the wolf’s head and scratched under its chin like he would with his hunting dogs. Gaetan’s placid reaction rather undercut Madelaine’s dramatic behaviour. As if to further drive home the point, Noel looked innocently at her and said, “Didn’t you want to pet it?”
Madelaine responded by breaking out into hysterics. “It’s—it’s dangerous!” She sobbed, squeezing tears from her eyes and blinking rapidly, “Get it away from me!”
“Alright then, you stay out here and I’ll go inside.” Noel rolled his eyes outwardly this time and switched tactics. He had just about lost his patience, and he could feel Gaetan getting more nervous. He would generously allow her to be the centre of attention outside for the time being; they could just quietly slip away.
At least, that was the plan— Noel tried to enter the front door, but wasn’t quite fast enough.
“NO!!” Madelaine screamed desperately, and not all of it was an act as she noticed Noel’s intentions.
Her theatrics began to have the desired effect on the people around her.
Noel’s father spoke up, “Really, wolves don’t belong in houses. Noel why don’t you explain yourself first?”
“This one does, and I’ll explain in a bit,” Noel didn’t retreat, and took another step towards the door.
Madelaine didn’t retreat either, “Shoot it! Shoot it!” she ordered in between dramatic sobs. She turned her attention to Noel’s step-father, who did indeed have a gun on him.
Under pressure, Noel’s step-father tentatively moved to secure his firearm. Seeing that he was disinclined to shoot, however, Madelaine took the opportunity to seize the gun herself, aiming it square at the wolf.
For a second, everyone froze. The wolf had tucked itself tightly into Noel’s side; there was no reasonable way to aim for one and avoid the other, and perhaps only the two of them knew how little Madelaine would care about which of them she hit. Noel squeezed the wolf with one arm to try and keep it from transforming, but before it came to that, a voice called from the distance.
“What on earth is going on!” Alcide boomed, having just returned.
Startled, Madelaine pulled the trigger blindly. There was a loud crack, and then more silence, followed by the sound of Alcide’s feet hitting the dewy grass as he ran over.
Being used to gunfire, Noel recovered quickly, confirming after a moment that neither he nor Gaetan had been shot. It had been a near thing, however. He turned to inspect the estate’s beleaguered front door and discovered that it had a new hole in it a scant inch above his head.
Noel’s step-father recovered next, quickly confiscating his gun from Madelaine and moving several steps away from her. Alcide then arrived, placing himself in between Madelaine and Noel. He took a long look at everyone, including the wolf, then asked again, “What on earth is going on?”
“We have to go look for something inside,” Noel replied before anyone else could. Not waiting to be stopped again, he quickly pushed open the doors and entered, leaving everyone else to trail after him.
“Why is there a wolf on a leash?” Alcide tried another question as he followed.
“Kill it! It’s dangerous!” Madelaine insisted, returning to her previous pleading.
“Is it dangerous?” Alcide asked the group.
This time Noel’s step-father replied, “It… doesn’t seem to be?”
“Where did Noel go last night?” Alcide asked again.
No one answered, however. Noel and the wolf had made it to the master bedroom. Noel opened the door and let the wolf in. It rushed in quickly, its ears going back as it took in the change in decoration. Noel finally let go of the tie and walked around the bed. The wolf directly jumped over it, scenting the air. Madelaine came in behind them, followed by Alcide and the rest, who stood fanned out around the bed.
Gaetan noticed quickly that, underneath the disorienting collection of perfumes, a familiar presence still lingered. It seemed that something of his must still be in the room, so he quickly began investigating the drawers and wardrobe, running his nose along the seams to catch rivulets of escaping scent. However, the smell was not as strong there as he’d expected.
Gaetan turned and scented the air again, high and then low, trying to catch onto that familiar presence once more. Finally he caught wind of it, a miniscule rivulet in the air, and followed the path on instinct. Surprisingly, the scent led not to any of the furniture, but to where Noel was standing.
Meanwhile, Madelaine had crept past the Frontenac family and up behind Noel, one hand tightly silencing the chains of her chatelaine. In the tension of the moment, she’d abandoned her performance. It didn’t matter anyways, since her usual spectators were only watching the wolf.
Suddenly the creak of a floorboard broke the silence. The wolf was sniffing and pawing at Noel’s feet, and he shifted slightly to accommodate him, provoking the noise. Noel remembered this floorboard from the night before. His stomach flipped. He stepped off the board and held his breath.
The wolf pushed one end of the board and the other lifted! It wasn’t nailed down at all. Noel grabbed the board and made to toss it on the bed.
Before he was able to, however, Madelaine pushed him aside with her full strength. He stumbled against the bed and the board clattered to the floor. With one hand, Madelaine reached down and grabbed a men’s shirt. In the other was a pair of scissors, one of many oddments she carried on her chatelaine.
Noel heard a metallic shing noise as the blades slid open. “No!” he yelled.
All pretenses disposed of, Madelaine’s eyes were wide with manic focus, pupils dilated like a cat about to strike, a slash of a grin on her face as she made to cut the fabric.
The people furthest from the action had the best view of it. Manon, who was by the door, could see clearest the look on Madelaine’s face. “Alcide!” she cried.
His wife’s words rallied Alcide to action. He pulled back Madelaine’s arm just as she was about to cut. The scissors closed on open air with a harsh, sharp noise.
Noel righted himself and wrestled the shirt from her hand as his brother held her back. He tossed it back towards the wolf and pushed Madelaine back. The woman made striking motions with her scissors, as if she wanted to stab him, but Alcide thankfully did not let go.
Noel turned around to check on the wolf. Standing in the pair of pants, it tossed the shirt over its head with a practiced flourish. As it disappeared under a pile of clothes, its outline bulged and changed, until finally a human hand reached through one sleeve cuff. The next moment, Gaetan’s blond head emerged from the neck hole, and Noel let out a long-held breath.
