Chapter 3

His slumber was deep and restful. He was sleeping next to her and it was very nice. The accelerated healing his body was going through took a lot of his energy, but he would be okay. His wounds were healing fast. He could tell that the eye was almost completely healed and that the skin had grown back, sealing the wound in his side. The deep itch of his ribs coming back together was irritating, but it was a small price to pay.

He was reveling in the feel of her next to him. The smell of her feet didn't really bother him, in fact he rather liked it, and it was HER smell, no perfume, just her. He enjoyed giving her a hard time about it though, seeing her face go indignant as he wrinkled his nose. He loved to see her so animated, watching the play of emotions on her face; seeing that she, too, had a sense of humor. If you couldn't laugh at the world around you, it was just a miserable existence, and he had had enough of that.

His extraordinarily keen sense of hearing let him know that something large was walking straight towards their camp. Something large and on four legs, and that meant only one thing, a bear. It had been awhile since he had seen one in this part of the forest, but when the humans stopped killing them, they had slowly migrated back into the area. Now the bears were a nuisance; they were extremely territorial and they don't like to share. Well, hopefully this one will keep walking and pass them by, but he knew deep down, it wouldn't. Bears treated campsites like an instant snack source, which the foolish humans just kept providing.

The bear finally caught wind of him along with the food, it started growling and huffing. Stercus! That damn thing wants to fight instead of passing by. Well, there goes the healing process. I hope this one isn't one of the big ones, maybe I can just growl a few times and it'll get the idea that this is one campsite it will have to give up on. He slowly got up and slithered out of the tent, making sure he didn't disturb her. He didn't want her to panic and scream. That usually just pissed off the bear and made the screamer a target. He wanted to avoid that at all costs. In his weakened state, he was going to have to bluster and bully the bear, only attacking if he absolutely had to.

He stood in the middle of her camp, sniffing the air, trying to get a read on the bear. He heard it shuffling and huffing to his right. He turned and sniffed again, this time he caught the scent. O Stercus!! It was one of the big ones. This wasn't going to be pretty, those bastards play for keeps, and they fear nothing. He let loose a low growl, the hair on his neck and back rising up, his tail out straight behind him.

The bear heard him and answered back with one of its own. Nope, this was going to get ugly, it was determined to get whatever it wanted. His anger at this situation finally hit him full force, the adrenaline pumping into his blood, and something else, something unique to his kind. His muscles started to ripple, the fire in his eyes burned fiercely, glowing red-hot. He drew in a huge breath, filling his lungs to maximum capacity. The growl that started was too low for a human to hear, but the bear heard it. Dagomarus let it rip through his throat, pushing it out with all of his anger and power. The pitch rose until it was ear shattering, his fury directed at the bear.

The bear paused for a second, and then charged into the campsite, stopping just ten paces away from Dagomarus. It let loose its own challenge and pushed off the ground with its front legs. The bear hopped up and down three times and roared again. Dagomarus went silent; he knew if he wasted another breath on a growl, the bear would jump him. He slowly lowered himself to the ground, gathering his power in his legs for a leap of his own. The bear misread the body language, thinking that this was just a wolf. It pushed off one more time, rising up on its hind legs, spreading its forelegs. It let loose another roar, letting Dagomarus know that it thought he was the victor of this little spat.

However, Dagomarus was waiting for just such a move. He pushed off the ground with every ounce of strength and fury he had in him, flying right into the bear's chest, going for the throat. He hit the bear hard, but somehow it remained standing. He fell away from the bear with a chunk of flesh and fur in his mouth. He had missed the jugular vein and got a mouthful of fat and skin instead. The bear swung one of its forelegs, catching him in the ribs. He yelped while flying through the air. He hit a tree hard and landed on his back, dazed. He couldn't breathe, his muscles screaming in agony. He could still feel all four legs, so he hadn't broken his spine. He did feel four new broken ribs and there were at least three gouges that had went deep into the muscle of his side.

The bear grabbed the backpack and started shredding it, trying to get to the food inside. It ignored the wolf, figuring that nothing would bother him after that hit. Dagomarus knew that if he didn't get up now, the bear would find her inside the tent next and that would not be good. He rolled over onto his feet and got up slowly, trying to keep his movement out of the bear's notice. He moved off to the bear's left flank, positioning himself to make another attack on the wound he had inflicted the first time. The bear ignored him, continuing to shred the contents of the backpack.

Dagomarus found his spot and gathered himself for one more leap. This time the bear wouldn't be able to swipe at him so easily, or put as much force into a swing. He didn't need to have another one of those. When the bear shoved its head into the food wrappings, Dagomarus made his move. He shot forward, digging his muzzle into the open wound on the bear's neck, reaching that prize, the jugular and the windpipe in one bite. He bit down as hard as he could, locking his jaws down on those precious tubes of life-sustaining flesh and muscle.

The bear reacted immediately by pushing off the ground, standing up on its hind legs, trying to swing loose the ferocious wolf locked to his throat. Dagomarus began to rake the bear's sides and belly with his claws, trying to inflict as much damage as he could. He knew that if he were shook loose, this would be his last chance of saving her. He fought with every ounce of strength he could. The bear tried to growl and roar, but the air had nowhere to go, Dagomarus had its windpipe squeezed shut and the blood going to the brain was flowing out is neck instead.

The bear shuddered and let loose one last spasm of fight, but it was over. The bear fell to the ground, carrying Dagomarus with it. They landed with a huge thud; as almost three thousand pounds of muscle and bone combined hit the ground. Dagomarus had twisted his body along the bear's side to keep from getting smashed. He kept his hold on the bear until he was absolutely sure it was dead. When he couldn't feel a heart beat for several seconds, he let go. There was a slurping wet sound as he removed his muzzle from inside the wound. He had done it!! He had killed the beast! Commodum habitus es Asinus! I own your ass!

He was so relieved that he had killed the bear and saved her from certain death. He was so proud of himself that he went right to the tent flap and stuck his head inside to share his joy. A beam of light suddenly blinded him and then she screamed and passed out. O Stercus! He had just scared her right out of her mind. He felt like a complete dumbass, Asinus stultissimus; yep, that was him all right.

He left her where she was; he was dripping blood and he wasn't about to make her any angrier when she woke up. He turned back to the bear carcass and figured that it would be a shame to let all that fresh meat go to waste. He tore into the bear and ate until he couldn't eat anymore. He left the remains and went to the creek to wash up and finish healing. With that much fresh meat in his belly, it wouldn't take anytime at all for his wounds to heal, even his new ones.

She was dreaming of ferocious beasts growling and snarling at each other, when suddenly she realized it wasn't a dream. There really was something outside her tent making the most god-awful, ground rumbling, otherworldly noise she had ever heard. Her hand shot out and found the space that the wolf had occupied empty, and she couldn't see a thing. It was totally black inside the tent. Then there was another roar, but this one was different, vaguely familiar. Then it hit her--a grizzly bear made those sounds. But, that other growl! Christ!! It made her blood turn to ice when she heard it again. She could feel the concussion from that growl deep in her chest. The sound hit her like a fist.

It also set off a deep-seated fear; one that she had never felt before, completely primal, way down deep in her subconscious. This was something that primitive humans must have run screaming into the night away from. The grizzly made one more snarling roar in response and then it just stopped; then the ground shook. Something massive had just hit the ground. The next thing she heard was the distinctive sound of ripping flesh. Thick fluid splashed onto the side of the tent. Then nothing. Total silence. She could hear her heart thudding in her chest and thought it must be loud enough to hear three miles away.

Movement outside the tent flap caused her to whimper. OH GOD!! Whatever is out there is now going to rip into me! She started to franticly search for the flashlight that she always kept next to her in the tent. Her fingertips brushed up against the cool metal and she snatched it up. She quickly figured out which end was the correct one and just as she hit the button, the massive head of her 'friend' slid past the flap and looked right into her face. Two red orbs stared back at her, the massive jaws were dripping blood and there were bits of flesh caught between the fangs. She screamed and then passed out.

Her body shook violently and she sat up, whipping her head around looking for the monster that was going to eat her alive. Nothing but her in the tent; the flashlight still in her hand, but the batteries had long since died. She looked at the sides of the tent and there it was, the dark brown stains of dried blood splattered all over. No sign of her 'friend'. It was light outside, now. She could see just fine. She slowly crawled out of her sleeping bag and inched towards the flap. Carefully lifted the flap with the end of the flashlight--Hey! Better to lose a flashlight than a hand! She looked out into the morning light and saw utter destruction. Her backpack had been shredded, the contents strewn all over the campsite.

Here and there were large, dark brown stains on the pine needles. It was still too early in the spring for flies to be out at this altitude, so the stains were just as they had been made. Then she spotted the remains of what might have been a grizzly bear. It was hard to tell now, there wasn't much left of it. Something had eaten most of it, leaving the rest for the crows and buzzards. She stepped around the still wet pools of blood on the ground, scanning the area for the wolf. When she got to within a few feet of the remains of the bear, she heard a noise to her left. She whipped her head around, expecting to see a giant streak of gray just about to crash into her and crush her.

Instead, she was looking at a very wet, but completely clean, gray wolf, lying on its belly. Two eyes stared at her over the short distance; the bandages were gone. The eye she had pulled the splinter from was healed, complete, bright and looking right into her. Then she noticed that the large bandage on his side was missing. But instead of a gaping hole, there was fresh pink skin, with just a hint of peach fuzz on it. He still had yet to move a muscle. He was looking at her face with such concentration that it was very unsettling.

"Wha-" she squeaked, cleared her throat, tried again.

"What happened to your wounds? They are almost completely healed. Your eye is normal. That shouldn't be able to happen over night. The hole is sealed; grown back. How?"

He shrugged with his eyebrows. Still not daring to move anything more. Then she turned and looked at what remained of the grizzly, waving her hand in the general direction of the carcass.

"And this? How? Nothing's meaner than a grizzly."

Again, he shrugged with his eyebrows. She took a tentative step towards him. He scooted back on his belly, keeping the same distance between them.

That made her stop. She looked into his eyes and understood what was happening. He was scared of her, or more accurately, for her. He didn't want to show anything but utter submission to this woman. Her vision blurred as her eyes overflowed with tears. This great big giant of a wolf had not only saved her life, but he was trying to make peace with the fact that he had scared her senseless right after doing it. Her legs gave out; landing on her knees, she held her arms out, reaching for him. Then he was there, lying in front of her, gently licking the tears from her face. Whimpering, trying to tell her how sorry he was for frightening her so badly. After a few minutes of this, she finally got a hold of herself and gently pushed his muzzle back. Giggling at the tickling sensations on her cheeks, she finally wiped her eyes on her sleeve, sniffling and smiling at him.