Chapter 2

 “Where are you taking me?” I whimpered as the huge wolf carried me on its shoulders.

            The path is dark. I cannot see clearly. But this white wolf, which is walking on its two feet, seems to know the path like no one else. It walks like it’s some sort of a man rather than an animal. In fact, it breathes and acts as if it's not an animal at all.

            The wolf had been walking through this forest for a couple of minutes now. It was silent in here, like the grave. Is it going to bury me alive in the middle of this dark, gloomy forest? Too bad I didn’t scream when it took me from the stone table. But what’s the use of screaming anyway? Insects and trees wouldn’t help me get away from this predator. I doubt they can even recognize my scream as a shout for help.

Heaven knows where this is, until it halted. I tried to move my head to see what’s in front of us that made it stop. Luckily, it turned me around and I can see a huge rocky wall that extends to nowhere. It seems to be a divider between this forest and whatever place is beyond that wall.

            And, despite carrying me on its shoulders, it managed to move the stone that blocks the entrance in just one hand. It turned around again in less than twenty seconds. Is it some sort of a mutant? Wolverine maybe?

            ‘Is he an alien or something?’ I whispered to myself. As soon as we entered the cave-like pathway, it then pushed the huge boulder again, blocking the entrance once more and bathing the whole place in absolute darkness.

            I was now facing the path. I prayed to whoever is listening that this is not a bad thing for carrying me in front instead, not in the back. My heart skipped a beat when it clicked its finger (or paws, I don’t know) and a flame was now floating before us.

            “Are you a wizard or something?” The huge white wolf just snorted. 

“So you can understand me, huh?” Silence just answered back at me.

            ‘At least this doggie knows and understands the human tongue,’ I mused.

            We walked for several minutes. Only its footsteps (or pawsteps) reverberated. After speaking some words of wisdom to myself, I finally decided to open my eyes. The floating fire that this wolf summoned earlier greeted me and I saw two huge wolves guarding the entrance by the end of the wall, both standing on their two feet and carrying torches.

            I tried to hide my astonished face but the black wolf smirked at me and gave me a curtsy bow. ‘What the hell?!’ I shrieked in my own mind.

            “Are you guys wolf people? Or perhaps the lost colony of Roanoke?” Those words unexpectedly came out from my mouth.

            “You will soon find out, mortal. And one thing…” The brown wolf winked at my still gaping face, “We’re a pack, not a colony.”

            My throat bobbed. Since when do wolfies and doggies talk? This. Freaking. Brown. Wolf. Just. Talked. 

Gosh, am I in heaven already? I didn’t know that heaven is as dark as this and is packed with talking dogs and wolf-like men. Or perhaps I’m within the ninth circle of hell…

            I can’t. My feet and body wanted to go home. Although I was suddenly aware that I no longer have a home to go to. I don’t mind spending time with homeless people in the homeless’ abode. I just wanted to run away from this creepy, odd, unearthly place.

            My teeth chattered as soon as we came out from the cave-like pathway. It was cold in here, as if all the frigid winds of the mountain had gathered in this place.

            It turned around and the black and brown wolf gave the white wolf, which was carrying me, a signal and a tight nod. Even here, I can see the huge wall that is made up of solid stone that extends from hell knows where. ‘Perhaps this is another marker of the equator or something,’ I wondered.

            It put me down roughly and my body landed on the murky ground. Mud stained his moon-white fur and I smirked and stuck out my tongue. I moved my leg a bit and, because of pain, I almost yelled.

            “Ouch!” I cried in a soft manner. But the wolf’s cerulean eyes just stared at my filthy body. The white dress that the man gave me earlier was now colored in brown mud.

            My whining ceased when a light flashed before my eyes and a white wolf was no longer standing a few inches from my dirty feet.

            The wolf had shifted into a man. A man with a glorious body; his muscles and abs and all of him was perfectly crafted by some god or deity or Great Spirit. His skin was mocha in color, quite identical to the mud that was covering all over me. His hair was bluish black; blue when moonlight drenched him like it was now, and black if the darkness was the only blanket shrouding all over us like that in the forest. His eyes were cerulean blue, I only managed to take a great look now because this whole place has light in every corner, contrary to the forest that we just trekked. And my favorite part is the fact that his skin was the only thing covering his entirety, nothing else.

            My eyes involuntarily slid into the bulging area between his legs. I wonder how long it was, or how hard could it be if I stood naked before him. 

‘Shut up, Elaine! Why are you so hot in front of your abductor?!’ I scolded myself, almost forgetting that I am a ‘sacrifice’ to this creature.

            A malicious grin was plastered on his face. A part of me tried to set aside the fact that I am an offering for the prosperity of the city. I just want to kiss those red, plumpy lips until the dawn breaks.

            Wait, I am an offering and sacrifice. But what kind of sacrifice?