The sounds of robins and sparrows rang through the forest as the sunlight began to peek through the tree tops. Raven jerked awake, hair wild and eyes full of confusion. “Where am I?” she thought, looking around the small clearing of grass and dirt littered with the big roots of nearby cedar and pine trees. Memories of last night’s party flooded her mind and her stomach twisted as she remembered the last scene of chaos before running into the woods. She groaned as she stood, her back stiff from leaning on the hard tree for so long. The sound of breaking leaves made her look sharply to the left. The hair on her arms rose in anticipation. Prepared for the worst, she looked around,  grabbed a broken branch, and raised it to swing. “Why don’t you just come on out,” she yelled, positioning herself to swing in any direction. 

Suddenly a gust of wind blew and Raven's wild hair whipped in front of her face. Before she could blink, a hand grabbed her wrist. “Just what are you going to do with that,” a voice asked, very unamused. 

Shaking her hair out of her face, she stared wide-eyed at the gorgeous man in front of her. For a moment she just stared. His firm grip on her wrist caught her by surprise. His dark hair was neatly pulled into a tight knot just at his nape. She noticed that he was wearing two peculiar earrings, one of the sun and one of the moon. She noticed his mouth twist into a frown before looking into his surprisingly bright blue eyes. 

“Are you…” He paused for a second, confused at her long stare. “checking me out?”  he asked frowning, loosening his grip on her wrist. Blushing, she pulled away from him. 

“No!,” she tossed the branch to the ground slightly embarrassed that he said that. He laughed before and hand over his slick hair. 

The noises of the forest began to get louder as the sun's light began to signal the morning. Raven shuddered at the loud groan of an elk in the distance. 

I’ve never been this far into the woods. I have to get back home. Janice is probably worried sick. 

“Whatever, I just need to get back to my apartment,” She finally said after a long silence. 

“Well, you can’t go back there. At least not yet,” he said matter-of-factly, looking around seeming to check the trees for something. 

He continued to check the trees as Raven stared at him for a few more moments. “Who is he to tell me what to do,” she thought, confused. She rolled her eyes and retied her shoes before deciding which way she should go. “I’m going home,” she said to him, before deciding what to do. 

Glancing around, everything looked the same to her. She sighed, “I’m not really an outside person.” She grumbled before randomly picking a direction, hoping at best she would come to a nearby road or house. The sounds of the forest seemed louder as she walked carefully avoiding the large tree roots peeking from the ground. She could still hear himshuffling around behind he, ignoring her as she walked away from him. Ignoring the tinge of annoyance she felt from him not calling after her, she decided that jogging wouldn’t hurt and it would probably clear her mind. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted forward, letting the wind tossed her hair as she silently prayed everyone was okay. “I have to get home as quickly as possible,” she said, thinking of the sounds of screams from the night before, she pushed herself through the trees. 

A light gloss of sweat hinted at her temple as she ran through the woods carefully dodging fallen branches and other obstructions. Her heart was pounding and she felt full of fire as she raced through the woods when suddenly the ground disappeared from beneath her. Her breath was caught in her chest when a sharp pain hit her side. “Ugh,” she gasped in pain, as she tumbled hitting another rock before landing in a puddle of water. Groaning she rolled to the side grabbing at her left side which was throbbing, outweighing the pain in her right side. 

Suddenly the hair rose on her neck as low growling sounds began to echo around her. She panicked as she looked around noticing that she had fallen at the mouth of a hidden cave.  Small rocks were slowly falling from above where she had disturbed the earth with her fall and the high wall of rocks and roots would be hard to climb now that it was slowly sliding downwards. She grabbed a rock and slide back, unable to stand. “I knock your head in! Stay back!” she yelled, as a menacing wolf stepped from the shadows of the cave. 

The wolf let out a loud growl and stepped out of the shadows of the cave. Fear struck her as the wolf bared its fangs, walking slowly toward her. Gripping the rock she raised it. 

 I won't die here!

She growled back at the beast before throwing the rock and quickly grabbing another one. “ You’re going to have to fight for THIS meal,”  taunted, mustering all her courage before throwing another rock at the beast, hoping it would lose interest in her. 

It took only a second before the wolf seemed to ignore the onslaught of rocks, and continued toward her. Struggling to stand, she grabbed at the sliding mud wall.  Gripping onto a tree root she tried to pull her sull up away from the wolf. “Ahhh,” she groaned, as the pains in her sides reacted to her sudden moments. Biting her lip, sweat poured down her brow as she pulled herself up fighting through the pain. Looking back, her heart dropped as she noticed that the wolf was about to jump. 

Oh, this is it. 

She clenched her eyes shut, clinging to the wall, and prepared herself to be devoured. 

“What beast are you to try something so foul?” Suddenly the man was before her, standing between her and the beast. She watched in amazement as he stared the wolf down, standing tall, looking smugly at the beast. “ Will you challenge me?” he said lowly, in almost a growl. 

The wolf circled him but he stared directly into its eyes, turning as the beast encircled him. Raven held her breath, sure that the wolf would attack him at any moment. To her surprise, the wolf circled him one last time and she shuddered when it seemed to look her way before running back into the darkness of the cave. Before she could think, he rushed to her and gently helped her from the wall. “Ouch,” she yelped when he touched her side.  frowning deeply he quickly scooped her into his arms. “Hey! What are you..” She protested, but before she could finish her statement, he leaped gracefully from the cavern and placed her carefully onto the ground. 

“Just be quiet and let me tend to you. We’ll talk after,” he said before she could ask another question. 

“Can you at least tell me who you are,” she said, still shocked by his swift movement, 

No normal person can jump like that. 

She shuddered when his cold hand touched her face. 

“I’m Dante Fireleaf. Now please.” He motioned for her to lay back on the soft ground. “Let me tend to you.”

Suddenly the pain in her sides radiated over her and she lay back and closed her eyes hoping that he could make it better as fast as possible.