But his curiosity for her made them meet more times.

Two weeks had passed since the incident by the pond. On the first few days, Cassy was mortally afraid to leave the house unless absolutely necessary. She was in constant paranoia from that monster lurking in the forest, that it might jump out at any moment and eat her. It didn't help that she felt herself being watched everyday, and at nights she'd sometimes even see a pair of amber light bulbs shining brightly from the forest, staring at her. It was clear that that monster was constantly watching her.

Already emotionally beaten by the knowledge that her husband will be imprisoned for the next 5 years, and starting to feel his absence and missing him, the added paranoia from the monster in the woods watching her only made Cassy's days a waking nightmare.

Lately though, she noticed a curious thing. Despite being under the constant watch of that beast, whenever she'd turn to where the gaze was coming from, the beast would stop looking at her and run away. It fueled the idea at the back of her head that maybe….the beast didn't want to harm her.

The last two days, she'd felt a little courageous and wanted to test her hypothesis out. She started leaving her house more, and would also stay outside for longer periods of time. It was all within the vicinity of the house of course; a 5m radius to be exact. The beast's gaze would be even more intense whenever she was outside, sometimes even threatening to burn a hole through her back.

Despite this, Cassy never felt any sign of aggression coming from the beast. As usual, whenever she turned to look in the beast’s direction, it'd either hide or run away, on rare occasions holding eye contact with her for a second or two. This strengthened Cassy's hypothesis.

Today, Cassy had decided to do something absolutely risky and crazy. She was going to approach the beast. She figured that, if the beast doesn't intend to harm her, then it'd be good to know better what that thing is, and hopefully befriend it. Though shaking with nervousness and fear, she was confident that she was right.

She ventured to the porch. Immediately, she was met by the gaze of the beast. The moment they gazes met, the beast looked away and started scurrying into the forest.

“Wait! Don't go!” The beast halted and turned back to look at her. With a deep breath, she stepped down from the porch, and started walking towards it.

Tasela looked at the woman in bewilderment. What was she doing? Wasn't she scared of him? He knew that she refused to come out of her house the last few days because she feared him, that's why he'd hide whenever their gazes met, so that hopefully she wouldn't be too freaked out by him.

It was interesting to see her venture out a little more the last two days, but what was going on right now? Why did she call out to him? And why was she walking towards him right now? In spite of all the questions Tasela had, he patiently watched as she slowly approached him. He was curious to see what she was up to.

The woman stopped a short distance away from him, at the entrance to the forest. She stood there, watching him, almost seeming like she wanted him to come out. With an amused huff, he walked out of the forest.

The beast emerged from the forest and started padding towards her. It was the first time since the incident at the pond that Cassy had gotten to see it out in the open, not covered by trees or foliage. She had almost forgotten just how massive this thing was. How was it possible that a wolf grew this large? No, is this thing even a wolf?

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The beast stopped about three meters from her, its neck slightly lowered, its tail held low, its ears turned away from her, and its eyes bright with a friendly and also worried glint to them. It almost seemed as if the beast was cautious to approach her, not because it was scared of her, but because it didn’t want to scare her.

With another deep breath, Cassy raised a shaking hand, beckoning the beast to come closer. Her heart was racing, her adrenaline was rushing. She could very well be wrong about everything, and the beast will now bite off her hand and then tear her to shreds, but something about its behavior convinced her that this beast was friendly.

“Y-you won’t hurt me, right?” She mumbled, her voice shaking. The beast slowly walked closer.

It stopped just in front of her, and lowered its head to sniff at her hand. Cassy didn’t have a chance to observe the beast closely before, but now that it was standing right before her, she realized that despite its gigantic size, the beast was a beautiful wolf.

The beast was tall and wide; despite being covered by a thick coat of long black fur, she could tell that it was very muscular. Its jaw and underbelly were a beautiful shade of silver gray. The inside of its ears, the fur at the back of its thighs, and the tip of its tail were also that shade of silver gray. The nose, ears, back, and paws of the beast were a darker shade of black than the rest of its body. The fur around its eyes were dark gray, and above them was a pair of silver colored eyebrows, akin to those she’d seen on some dogs. The most beautiful part of this beast though, was probably the ring of silver fur around its neck, and the silver stripe on its back, above and in between the shoulders.

The beauty of this wolf was almost ethereal, but what brought this work of art to life though, was its eyes. The wolf’s eyes were round and almost puppylike. They were a fascinating, fiery amber, bright and clear, gleaming with intelligence. Cassy could not fathom what this beast was, it just could not be a normal wolf. It was simply impossible. She had heard tales of mythical spirits living in forests and mountains that acted as the lord and protector there. Could this beast before her be one of those mythical spirits?

While the wolf continued to sniff at her hand, Cassy tentatively raised her hand to try to pet it. It was in part because she was in awe of its beauty, but it was also in part because its fluffy fur seemed just so alluring.

The moment Cassy’s hand landed on the wolf’s forehead, it flinched and jumped back in surprise, causing Cassy to lose her balance and fall down in surprise as well. The beast looked down at her, its tail raised, ears pricked, eyes wide, and fur standing up, making it look even bigger than it already was. The air stopped for a moment, with neither of them moving while looking at each other.

Fear started to arise in Cassy at the thought that she might’ve accidentally provoked the beast and now it was angry at her. Her fear quickly dissipated though, as she saw the beast, after a moment of silence, raise a paw to its forehead, to the area she had just touched. It rubbed its paw on its forehead a few times, then put it down to stare at her in disbelief before suddenly, it turned around and sprinted into the forest, disappearing into the vegetation and shadows, leaving Cassy alone to watch it go.

She looked at the hand that she’d just used to touch the beast. What just happened?

Tasela raced through the forest, his mind swirling in confusion. What just happened? Why was he running? He came to a halt, panting. He raised a paw to the area the women had just touched again.

He remembered sniffing her hand, enjoying the comforting scent she gave off. It wasn’t mingled with the pungent smell of fear like last time, so he could better tell what exactly she smelled like. It was warm, soft and comforting like he remembered, and just as he’d thought, she truly did smell kind of sweet. This time, he was even more drawn in by her scent, could that be why he lost awareness of his surroundings and was surprised by her touching him? But then, why did he react so strongly? Why would he spring back like that from a mere touch?

He continued to rub his paw on his forehead. Was it because she was a human? But, although it was long ago when he was still a pup, it’s not like it’s the first time a human ever touched him. Even if that was the case, why did he run away? Was he scared? Was he angry? Just why did he run away?

Tasela’s mind was a mess. His heart was beating fast, and his emotions were unreadable. What just happened? Why is he being like this?

It must be because of her. She must’ve done something to me, that’s why I’m acting so weird now. Something is up with this human, I have to watch her more closely. She might be a threat to us; she’s one of those foreign humans after all.