Felix Dox's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Greymane's warning stayed with Felix all week. He could hold the wolf when his heart was calm. But a tender moment, a real one, would test that hold. He needed to feel his heart pound and stay a man. So he walked the woods until he found someone who might make it happen. He found her at the edge of a mossy cabin, staring into the trees. Her fur was white as snow, and she stood so still she nearly vanished against the frost. She turned before he spoke. Her ears were up, alert. "You're a wolf," she said. "I smelled it." "Felix," he said. "Felix Dox." "Luna Winterpaw. My pack is lost in the Frostwood. The paths close at the solstice. I can't find them alone." She said it flat, like a list. He should have walked on. Instead he stayed. They searched the treeline together until dark. She moved fast and quiet, and he kept up. When she slipped on wet moss, he caught her arm. Her hand closed over his. She looked up at him, and something warm cracked open in his chest. The wolf rose at once. His teeth ached. His fingers curled toward claws against her sleeve. This was the test, and he was failing it. Luna felt him shaking. "Your hand," she said. She did not pull away. Greymane's words came back. Don't fight. Name it. "I'm afraid," Felix said out loud. His voice cracked. "I'm afraid you'll run when I change." Luna's eyes stayed steady. "Say it again." "I'm afraid to want this." He breathed. "I'm afraid to want you." The heat slowed. It did not stop, but it slowed. His claws pulled back. His jaw held. He stood there, half-shifted, breathing hard, her hand still on his. He waited for her to flee. She looked at his eyes, gold now, then human again. "You held it," she said. "I saw." "You're not afraid." "I hide in blizzards. My own pack can't track me." She let go of his hand at last. "A wolf inside a man doesn't scare me." Felix laughed, shaky and real. He had done it. His heart had pounded, and he had stayed himself. The panic had risen and he had named it down. He could court someone now. He could love and not run. Then Luna stepped back toward the dark trees. "The solstice is in three days," she said. "After that the Frostwood shuts. My pack dies in there if I don't reach them." Felix looked at the forest swallowing the last light. He had found someone who saw both his sides and stayed. And she was about to walk into a place that ate wolves whole. "Then we go tomorrow," he said. "Both of us." Luna studied him. "You don't know the Frostwood." "No," Felix said. "But I'm not letting you go in alone."