Madeline walked through town to Liam’s meat market. The air felt cool and the sun was low, just on the cusp of setting. She’d gotten up later than she had hoped, but was not rushing. After all, the little wolf she’d connected to her hand by a short leash was trotting along behind her and taking its sweet time.

Anya had begun walking very shortly after those first few nights. Her grey coat, darker than Madeline’s fur on the back but lighter on the belly, had come in thick. She bounced between moments of frantic energy, of wanting to explore, to play, to chew, to run- and moments where she would stop and take a long, peaceful nap. This was her first time walking outside in the day, and her first time with a leash on. Her first time seeing other people out in the street. Madeline was very pleased with how well Anya was behaving herself.

Having Anya there helped make the nights less long. Since Madeline was the only nocturnal member of the village, she spent hours each night away from anyone else. She and Arin had worked to align their sleep schedules as best as they could; Arin woke up late to stay up late, and Madeline went to bed early to help wake up early. Sometimes Florence also stayed up to visit. At their most synchronized, they could spend over half the day together. Still, she sometimes missed them.

Despite that, Madeline felt hesitant to go back to the witch and reverse that part of the curse. Working at night was quite soothing. It was quiet, calm, and hidden in darkness- away from judgemental eyes. That thought dug at her, but the part of her that wanted to stop helping Rodehills out of spite was smothered underneath a growing restlessness. She had to do something. Under the light of the moon, still refusing to wax or wane, Rodehills looked gorgeous. In that beautiful view, she was more than contented to do her work alone. Perhaps it wasn’t normal to thrive in darkness or solitude like she did. But how could she honestly care about what was normal?

Of course, Anya did more than enough to fend off any potential loneliness. Ever since the little wolf had started walking, she’d shadowed Madeline basically everywhere. Anya had followed Madeline around the house so much that they weren’t really worried about her running away. And with no one else outside, there was no one to be scared of her. Anya and Madeline had free reign of the night. The puppy spent a lot of time running around, playing with sticks and chasing bugs, but would also lie next to Madeline and watch her work. She was so attached to Madeline that she and Arin had started to wonder if Anya would even go back to the forest if they tried to return her.

The night before the trip to the meat market, Madeline and Anya had gone to the cave in the mountainside, where they could carve out the glistening white rock that made up the buildings of Rodehills. It felt like a good activity, being far enough away from the village to not wake anyone up. But the work was hard, and doing it alone made it go slow. At one point, Madeline placed a heavy block on the carving table. Arms and legs sore from the weight and exhaustion, she collapsed into the chair for a chance to catch her breath before she began carving, only to then realize she’d left the hammer at the cave’s entrance. 

She turned around, only to see Anya. Her teeth had clasped onto the hammer’s handle, and the baby wolf was grunting and growling, trying to pull a hammer as big as her and twice as heavy towards Madeline. Anya managed to tug it about an inch before Madeline picked it up.

Madeline rubbed Anya’s head and smiled. Anya sat by and panted, leaning into the head pets. Apparently she wanted to be helpful too. 

The hammer felt a bit strange. A look at the handle revealed tiny bite marks punctured in the wood. Her teeth were definitely coming in. It was time to get Anya some solid food.

When they finally got to the meat market, Madeline picked up Anya and went inside. A little chime on the door alerted Liam to their presence. He stood up from behind the counter. His face flickered with concern, but he smiled anyway.

“Hey,” he said, his hand fidgeting with some wax paper.

“Hey,” she replied. Her ear twitched. She wasn’t sure if his nervousness came from a place she should be worried about or not.

“I’ve- I’ve been seeing a lot of Arin around here.” he stammered through a smile. “Y’all must be craving protein big time at your place.”

“Yeah.” She kissed the top of Anya’s head. Anya’s nose was high in the air, sniffing wildly. “That’s mostly been me, but I’m here for this little cutie right now.”

“Aww. She is cute.” Liam started to reach a hand across the counter, but quickly pulled it back. “Wolf pup, right? Any chance she’ll bite?”

“She hasn’t made any aggressive actions toward Arin or me, but I don’t know about other people. Probably not a good idea to risk it, especially since your hands probably smell really tasty to her.” The delicious smell filling the building was getting to Madeline, too, but she didn’t want to show that and make things even more awkward.

“Right.” Liam pulled his hand back and hid it behind the counter. 

A palpable silence filled the room. Madeline didn’t care to let it stand for long. “Anya here needs to start on solid food, and I was wondering if I could pick up scraps from you. I know you mostly cut off the really fatty bits, but if we could find some lean meat for her it’d be really helpful.”

Liam waved his hand. “Ah, you don’t gotta worry about that. I can package you up some steak, lamb chops, whatever. Maybe get a mix going and figure out what she likes.”

Madeline’s ear perked up. “That seems a little excessive.”

“Nah, didn’t you hear? The traders have been doing great. They brought back more food than could feed the village twice over, with more on the way. Honestly I’ve been worried about how we’d be able to use it all before it spoils. Heck, I’ve been asking my husband if we could use it as fertilizer, but he says we’ve already got too much of that!”

“Yeah, I don’t have a lot of people keeping me up with current events at the moment.” Madeline stroked Anya’s back. “Whatever you could spare would be nice.”

Liam’s awkward smile grew even larger. He reached back into the ice boxes and started putting different meats into a bag. “Believe me, I could spare a lot more than this. In fact I’ll get you the finest cut.”

Madeline took the bag with a polite “thank you,” and started heading toward the door. This hadn’t been pleasant, but it could have gone much worse. Still she was glad it was over.

“Madeline?” Liam asked. He sounded shaky, yet sad.

An impulse commanded her to keep walking, but she ignored it. Someone actually addressing her by her name warranted a response. She turned around. All traces of fake grin had faded from Liam’s face. 

“I’m really sorry about a couple weeks ago.” His eyes kept trying to look away from hers, but he forced them to focus. “And I’m sorry I’ve been such an embarrassed coward that I haven’t already come to apologize. I’ve been so mad at myself for getting so scared that I actually listened to some young punk’s terrified ranting. I’d have never been part of that if I’d known it was you, and I should have never gone in the first place. You don’t have to forgive me, not now and not ever, but I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Madeline felt a brief flash of anger, an impulse to throw the apology back in his face, to scream at him as a release for the pressure of resentment built up by their rejection and her isolation. But his sincerity held back that scream, and the pressure was released as only a sigh. All Madeline said was, “Thank you.”

“You know, this has to have been hard on you. But I swear you look so much happier now.” said Liam.

That caught Madeline differently. She’d felt so tense, so angered. How could she look happier? She asked, “You think so?”

Liam said, “Yeah. You look mad at me right now, but that also means you’re expressive enough to look mad. I remember you as a kid. I swear nothing we did ever made you look anything but bored.”

That sounded accurate to Madeline.

“Honestly, I’m taking a shot in the dark. Maybe happy wasn’t as good of a word as expressive. But I hope things have been happy too.”

Madeline thought of home, of Arin, and the puppy cradled in her arms, still sniffing the air. She smiled, “Yeah, some of it’s been really good.”

He pointed. “See, that’s what I was getting at.”

Madeline waved her hand and walked out the door. 

Back home, Madeline and Arin ate dinner outside and watched the sunset. Anya greedily snapped up the lamb they prepared for her, then started running in circles in the field outside. 

When they finished eating, Arin scootched closer to Madeline, laid down across the bench, and placed their head on Madeline’s lap.

“You doing okay?” Madeline asked, running her fingers through Arin’s hair.

“Mhmm. I just wanted to be the one being petted right now,” they replied. They smiled up at Madeline. 

Madeline smiled back. They sat for a while, relishing in each other’s touch. A thought came to Madeline, “It’s definitely felt a lot stronger when you do this to me since I’ve become a wolf girl. Of course that could really be any number of things.”

“I think you could turn me into the cutest fox person and I wouldn’t enjoy this any more than I already do.” Arin smiled, reaching up to rub Madeline’s ears a bit.

“Fox person?” Madeline grinned. “That’s pretty specific.”

Arin rolled their eyes. “I’ll admit, you seem so pleased with your transformation that I have given it a little bit of thought. But honestly I don’t know if that’s something I would like and I’m not fully comfortable with experimenting with it at the moment. I hope that’s not disappointing to hear.”

Madeline shook her head and leaned down to kiss Arin’s forehead. “I just want you to be the most comfortable being you.”

“Thank you.” Arin leaned up to kiss her back, this time on her lips. “But yeah, if I ever wanted to experiment, I’d start with a fox first.”

Madeline nodded.

They laid on the bench for a while longer, watching Anya run around. As it grew deeper into the night, Anya’s attention turned away from the bugs and the grass and towards the moon. A howl echoed through the night, originating from some distant forest. Anya pointed her nose up and tried to reply, but all that came out were some small, strained squeaks.

“Oh my goodness, Madeline, she’s trying to howl and it’s very cute. It’s cuter than I can handle.” Arin said, tugging on Madeline’s sleeve.

They watched Anya’s adorable attempts for a bit. Anya tried over and over; the little wolf seemed intent on making this happen.

“Should I help her?” Madeline asked, grinning.

Arin smiled back. “Go for it.”

“Anya?” Madeline called.

The wolf pup turned around.

“Like this.” Madeline pointed her nose to the moon and let out a soft awoooo. 

Anya turned back to the moon. She tried again. Ar. Again. Aroo. Again.

Awooooo.

It was gentle, and it seemed difficult for her, but it was distinctly a wolf’s howl. Madeline and Arin looked at each other in surprise.

“Is she supposed to be able to do that already?” Arin asked.

Madeline shrugged.

From the distant forest came another howl, and Anya responded in kind. They continued, howling back and forth. But after a while, something changed. The howls were closer. 

Arin sat up, freeing Madeline to walk over toward Anya, and towards the cliff that lead to the witch’s forest below. Madeline listened close, the other wolves were definitely howling from those circular woods. The same woods where she’d found Anya. 

“Anya?” Madeline looked down at her, her expression puzzled and slightly worried. “Are you calling to your family?”

Anya howled again.

The response came from a different wolf. One far too close.

Madeline whipped her head around, trying to find the source. Her ears picked up another sound, one of many feet sprinting through a field of grass. She turned towards it and her eyes widened. A pack of wolves - six, maybe seven- were rushing up the side of the hill, heading straight for them. Madeline hadn’t seen them when she looked the first time- they were coming around from the side. Whether they were from a different forest, or were simply scouting ahead and circling around didn’t matter. She ran.

“Arin! Arin, get on the roof! Hurry!” Madeline yelled, scooping Anya in her arms as she sprinted toward them.

Arin barely had time to look confused before they heard the sound of the wolves running through the night. By the time they stood up on the bench, they saw the first of the wolves cresting over the top of the hill. With panicked eyes and shaky hands, they grabbed on to the corner of their home. They started pulling themselves up, only to feel Madeline grab the soles of their shoes and lift them the rest of the way. Arin quickly turned around on all fours and extended a hand. 

Madeline grasped Arin’s hand, but didn’t pull. The wolves should have been on her by now. She knew they were close, close enough to smell. But they weren’t attacking.

She turned around. The one that had made it up the hill first had stopped and sat down, several feet away. It stared at Madeline. The rest ran up, slowed down, and sat down beside it in a quarter-circle formation. They were dark grey, yellow-eyed, and very large. They sat with their backs straight and noses high, starting at Madeline. No hint of expression or movement besides a slow, heavy breathing.

Madeline’s right arm stayed clasped to Arin’s, while her left held Anya close. She didn’t dare to move.

Anya did. She started struggling, thrashing her head around, kicking her legs in the air wildly in an attempt to run to the other wolves. Madeline, unable to hang on to her longer, lowered her as close to the ground as she could before Anya broke free of her grasp.

Anya immediately ran toward the other wolves. The other wolves followed her with their eyes. Unable to stop herself perfectly in the center of their quarter-circle, Anya skid in the grass and turned around to correct herself. The other wolves waited patiently for her to get settled. Finally, Anya stared up at the center wolf - the first one to arrive and the largest of the pack - and let out a bark.

Unmoving, expression unchanging, the larger wolf barked back.

Anya turned around, looked at Madeline and Arin, then back at the pack leader, and barked again.

“Are they talking?” Arin leaned down off the roof to whisper in Madeline’s ear.

“Yeah.” There was something about the frequency that let her know. “I don’t know what they’re saying, but I know they’re talking.”

The conversation between the pack leader and Anya continued for a bit. Then Anya stood up, and slowly began walking back toward Madeline. To Madeline’s surprise, the pack leader also stood, and began walking right beside Anya, clearly slowing itself to keep pace with the pup. When the two wolves passed by, the other wolves stood and walked behind them. Anya and the large wolf made it to the foot of the bench, and sat back down. Madeline could feel the pack leader’s breath on her leg.

Anya looked up at her and barked once.

They all stood there for a moment. She didn’t have a clue what they wanted. But, not wanting to risk the wolves becoming impatient, she took a guess.

“Are you all hungry?” she asked with nervous smile.

Anya barked again, and gave a little nod.

“Oh. Okay, let’s see if I can do something about that.” Madeline began to slowly shimmy across the bench.

Arin squeezed her arm. “Sweetie, please, please, please be careful.”

“I will.”

Arin cautiously let go. Their eyes pleaded with her to stay safe.

Madeline made her way off the bench and softly turned around the corner of the house. An instinct told her to sprint, to see if she could make it through the front door before the wolves made it to her, but she held that down. A few steps later, they began following her. A few more steps, and she noticed that Arin was crawling around on the roof so they could keep her in their sight. Step by cautious step, she made it to the front door. The wolves stayed right on her heels.

Madeline left the door open, worried that shutting it behind her would betray their trust. But they didn’t follow her inside. She grabbed every bit of meat from the ice box, over a weeks’ worth of food that she hoped would satiate these wolves for a meal. She carried it outside and circled around the wolves. They turned their heads to follow the scent of the food in her hands, but didn’t make a motion toward her. Slowly and carefully, she led them several yards away from the house. Then she unwrapped the paper packages and placed them in a pile. Still, they waited.

“Go on.”

The wolves pounced on the food, greedily digging into it and ripping it apart with their powerful sharp teeth.

Madeline motioned for Arin to head inside. They took the hint, and carefully made their way down the side of the building and inside the house, shutting the door behind them. Still, she could see them peeking out the window, waiting in case it was necessary for them to fling the door back open and let her inside.

But that moment didn’t come. When the wolves had finished their meal they simply laid down. A few snuggled up against each other. Anya walked up to Madeline and sat down between her legs, resting her head on Madeline’s foot.

Before long, the pack leader also walked up to Madeline. They looked up at her, then rolled on their back, showing Madeline their belly. With a shaking hand, she rubbed it for them. They seemed to like that. She looked around at them. They were really amazing, beautiful, yet oddly silly creatures.

Madeline walked back to the house, and the wolves got up and followed her. As she did, Arin cracked open the window.

“Everything going okay?” Arin asked, apparently not sure if that was an appropriate question. 

“Yeah, I think so.” She looked at the pack behind her. “More than okay, even. They seem to be rather... peaceful?”

“That’s. Huh. That’s a thing.” Arin looked nervously at the wolves.

She looked at them and tilted her head. They tilted theirs too. Madeline turned back to Arin.

 “They might also be thinking of me as the pack leader now?”

Arin slowly reached a hand out the window to pet her head. The wolves didn’t mind. “Well, uhh, what are you planning to do now, miss pack leader?”

She shrugged. “I was carving those stones yesterday, and was planning on finishing that up after you went to bed anyway.”

Arin raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Then I’m definitely coming with you.” Arin closed the window and walked to the door. They opened it carefully. Madeline moved towards them and held onto their hand. The pack of of wolves didn’t seem to mind Arin’s presence at all.

“You sure? You’ll be up really late.” Madeline kissed their head.

“Up late? I’m worried about you being eaten by wild wolves and you’re worried about me being sleepy.” Arin stroked Madeline’s ears more. “Of course I’ll go.”

Madeline and Arin walked together toward the quarry. Ayna hurried to walk beside them, and the pack of wolves followed. The trepidation they had been feeling disappeared by the time they made it to the cave, though they made sure to take a path that lead away from people and away from the sheep pens, just in case. Before long Madeline found herself chiseling away on the same stone as before. Arin sat on the ground, surrounded by wolves, struggling with all their might to simply not fall asleep.

Eventually, she got up to begin carving another stone from the rock. What she saw when she turned around made her smile. Arin had lost the fight against sleep, and was now resting against one of the wolves, who had curled around them as if to protect them. She continued on to the wall, only to remember she’d left her hammer on the table.

When she turned around, a wolf was holding the hammer in its mouth. She held out her hand, and it passed it over to her. Madeline pet the wolf’s head.

“Good girl.”

After she finished her work, she carried Arin back home and tucked them into bed. She walked back outside to Anya and the rest of the wolves. 

“I don’t suppose you all have any plans to go back to the forest, huh?” Madeline asked.

The wolves didn’t move.

“Right. Well, you’re gonna really scare the villagers if you stay in town, so let’s all sleep around back. I can join you today but I expect you to do it by yourselves soon.” She walked around to the back and a little bit further, to what would definitely be considered “outside of town.” There, she sat in the grass, and the wolves sat all around her. Anya curled up in her lap. She felt herself drift toward sleep as the sun rose, the whole time hoping that both the villagers and the wolves would behave themselves.

Madeline awoke the next night to Arin standing over her. They were shaking her shoulder. “Honey? Honey, wake up.” 

Her bleary vision focused as she sat up. In front of her and surrounding Arin sat over a dozen wolves. She didn’t need to turn around to know there were even more behind her.

“I think we’ve made even more new friends,” Arin said as a wolf bumped against their knee.

She looked around at the massive gathering of wolves that had congregated around her. There were more than she could count at a glance. Some looked young, some old. Some were bigger or smaller. They all looked at her expectantly.

“I really hope Liam wasn’t exaggerating about how much food we have.”