Laura walked back into the bedroom on legs that still weren’t entirely steady. She put her pants and top back on, then took the stained blanket off the bed and brought it to the washing machine, a beat up old thing sitting in a small room off the hallway leading to the bedroom. She thought the dye would probably stain it permanently, but she knew that Rick wouldn’t really care.

She thought about what she would spend the day doing as she replaced the blanket, quickly deciding that she would go out hiking in the forest. During the last couple weeks her and Rick had spent a lot of time out there, and she was coming to know the trails fairly well.

Laura moved through the cabin in an unhurried way, first putting on half a pot of coffee, then going back to the bathroom to finish washing off any leftover dye and dry her hair. Missing the bus to Chicago meant that she could go on about her day at any pace she wished, and with Rick gone that pace would be leisurely.

She drank her coffee in the backyard, sitting in a wooden lounger that had been left by the cabin’s previous owners. At least Laura assumed it had come from them, since it would probably collapse under Rick’s weight. The backyard and forest were filled with birdsong, and the sun peeked out through clouds that promised to never hide it for too long.

Part of her was irritated at the added delay in getting to Chicago. It was a small part though, since she understood that one day would make no difference. They were playing the long game here, looking for any information about who Vascenti really was below the surface. She knew that he ran at least one illegal gambling operation in New York, as well as a number of bars and clubs. Apart from that they knew nothing other than that he was wealthy, at least somewhat clever, and articulate.

Her coffee disappeared quickly, and after throwing a bit of food and water into a backpack she started off into the forest. The past two weeks had seen her and Rick hiking these trails often, him sometimes walking normally. More often though, he would shift into a gigantic brown bear and plod along beside her.

It had been more than unnerving at first, walking along next to a creature that could almost certainly eat her and leave no trace. It hadn’t taken long for that fear to vanish, however. If Rick’s brilliant blue eyes showing out of that gruff bear face wasn’t enough to convince her, his playfulness and sense of humor were still there to reassure.

The memories made her smile as she rounded a bend in the trail. She was headed towards the river where her and Rick had spent their first afternoon together. The cover overhead was thick, but some beams of light managed to find their way through, dancing across the ground as a breeze sent the branches swaying.

She marveled at how good it felt to be out in the nature. Ever since she had been a child she’d dreamed of living in New York City, of spending her life climbing a ladder to the top of her profession. It had begun to seem increasingly silly over the last few weeks, however. Maybe part of it was knowing that her advertising firm had publicly disavowed her, not that she blamed them. In an industry entirely built on optics, you could not afford to be associated with an accused murderer, no matter how preposterous you might feel the charges are. Regardless, it still made her feel as if the city she called home had turned its back on her.

But that was only part of it. Another piece of her felt like she had always belonged in a place like this, a place filled with trees and animals. It was remarkable to her just how much her heart could overrule what her mind had decided on. That a lifetime of dreams and hard work could seem like something worth giving up.

Maybe the entire idea of choosing a life is just self deception she thought, head absorbed in what was happening to her. Maybe the best thing for everyone is just to try as many things as you can and see what sticks. That wasn’t the world she had lived in though, unfortunately. The world she’d lived in had involved AP classes in high school, carefully selecting a college, and painstakingly building experience through any means possible, all with a laser focus towards one thing. And she had succeeded at that one thing, but increasingly she felt that her singular drive had absorbed her so deeply that she had failed to realize that it hadn’t been what she had thought it would be.

She thought she heard a rustling to one side of the path, but just ignored it. It was probably just a rabbit or squirrel. Rick had told her that his presence in the area tended to scare off any larger animals, his scent warning them away. Her mind went back to drifting as she continued to walk.

As if to mock her nonchalance, two wolves burst onto the trail in front of her. They were big, heads coming up to her upper chest. They were mostly black, with brown fur popping out here and there. With a startled gasp she turned to run, but found a third wolf standing a good dozen feet behind her, pacing back and forth, eyes on her.

She froze, brain frantically searching for a way out, but rejecting each one as it came. She couldn’t outrun them. There was no way she could get up a tree before they were on her. It was unlikely she could fight a single wolf without a weapon, let alone three, and the black pistol she still had in her possession was sitting in the nightstand in Rick’s cabin.

All at once she realized something: these couldn’t be real wolves. Rick had told her that the pack of wolf shifters local to the area had driven off any natural wolves long ago, as they usually did. It made for less unpleasant accidents involving wolves, accidents that could draw the ire of humans living nearby.

“Jesus, you guys are some real assholes, you know that?” she almost growled, most of her fear draining away. One thing Rick had drilled into her was that no shifter would ever hurt a human unless forced to. There was too much chance of drawing reprisals or exposing the secret that kept shifter communities safe.

The two wolves in front of her looked at each other, seemingly very confused by her reaction. She heard the one behind her begin growling, however. Either she was wrong, or he didn’t appreciate her tone.

There was still some fear in Laura’s gut, but she was almost certain she was right. She looked square at the two confused wolves in front of her. “Where do you get off jumping out at me like that? And what are you even doing on Rick’s property?”

The pair to the front continued looking from her to each other, then back again. They had clearly not been expecting this from some random human in the forest. The one behind her had had enough, however, and she heard dirt spray as it bounded towards her. She turned towards it while backing away, but the wolf was coming on much too fast for her to do anything but cry out and throw her arms up in front of her.

Just before the charging wolf slammed into her, one of the others let out a sound that could only be described as something halfway between a bark and a yip. It was certainly not a sound she had ever heard from an animal before. Its effect on the charging wolf was immediate, however, as it veered off the path and around her, quickly trotting up behind the pair of wolves. It got a hard stare and a growl from one, causing it to lower its head.

Laura was beginning to take the wolf who had growled to be the leader. He was noticeably bigger than the other two, and she thought she could see something intelligent in its eyes when it looked at her. Those eyes stood out as well, a remarkable grey color that she was quite sure she had never seen in a person or animal before.

The adrenaline coursing through her had driven away most of the fear, and the confirmation that she was right served to push out all the rest. “So, fun chat and everything, but I’m going to finish my hike now. Please get off Rick’s land.”

The leader clearly didn’t like being spoken to like that, but after a low warning growl he motioned his head to the side and the three wolves began loping off into the forest. She watched as they disappeared into the trees.

A low sigh slipped out of her lips once the wolves were no longer visible, and the tension that she had hardly even noticed in the moment slowly released its grip on her. Laura Hamilton, animal wrangler. The thought made her chuckle. She supposed spending more than a few days walking through these trees next to a huge bear had done something to dull her fear of the animals she normally would have seen as predators.

After a few more minutes she continued towards the river. As always, she heard it before it came into view, the sound a quiet repudiation of the life she had left behind in New York.

It surprised her how easy it had become to accept that her former life was now gone. Even if she could clear her name and assume her former position at the ad agency, she knew that it wouldn’t be the same. Hell, it might not have been everything she had thought it would be even before this disaster. The mind could play tricks it seemed, able to paint over a life that had become cold and somewhat hollow. It had taken a tragedy to flake away some of that veneer, to let her see just what she was missing out on while living the corporate life in New York.

She was at the river then, the trees giving way to where the ground sloped downwards to the riverbank ahead. She stopped to spend a moment taking in the view, one almost as good as you’d expect to see on a postcard, the blue of the river sitting in front of rolling forested hills as far as the eye could see. After that she continued on down to the riverbank and took a seat. The sun laid across her, infusing her with a kind of warmth that wasn’t available in a concrete apartment building.

Her mind drifted as she relaxed on the bank, the low gurgle of the river a comfortable but not intrusive presence. It seemed that she was safe staying with Rick for the time being, at least. The first week after their encounter in New York had seen two visits from the state police, and one visit from some of Vascenti’s goons, according to Rick. His extraordinary hearing had allowed him to hear the closing of car doors at her Aunt Joyce’s, which was only separated from Rick’s cabin by about fifty feet of forest. Each time he had motioned for her to get inside and hide while he walked halfway through the trees to get a better place to listen from. The cops had pounded on the door a few times, demanding entry, then spent about ten minutes walking around the house, most likely peering into windows and checking for anyone hiding out back. After ensuring that Aunt Joyce’s was empty they had driven off, apparently not caring to check with the neighbors, something for which Laura was grateful. Still, something seemed off about that, niggling at the back of her mind as she thought of it.

The thugs had arrived towards the end of the week, showing up at night. Rick had stalked off into the woods again, but when he reported back it was to tell her that it was four armed men who didn’t announce themselves before kicking in the front door. What he could hear of their voices sounded similar enough to the guys they had tangled with in her apartment back in New York. They left after what Rick said had sounded to be a fairly half-hearted ransacking of the place.

Just another crime to lay at Vascenti’s feet, it seemed. They were starting to pile up. The thought of armed men trashing Joyce’s cabin stoked the anger inside of her again. That place held many of the best memories from her childhood, but those memories seemed somehow tarnished by the desecration of a place that had felt sacred to her.

Rick had gone back to clean things up the next day, which was a bit of relief. She knew she would have to call Joyce from Chicago. She needed to know it wasn’t safe to come to the cabin, but more than anything Laura had to tell her that it wasn’t her that had killed Craig. Part of her knew that Joyce would never have believed it anyways, but the idea that she might think that the girl she had basically raised was a murderer? That thought was gnawing away at Laura.

She took her socks off and dangled her feet in the water. The afternoon slipped past as she sat there idly, eating some of the food she had brought and thinking about what was ahead of her.

Laura wasn’t sure how much time had gone by when she finally stood up and put her shoes and socks back on. A few hours, at least. The sun was hanging lower in the sky, lengthening the shadows of the trees. It was time to get back and prep for the morning. Rick’s little diversion that morning had been pleasant, but there was no more time to waste. She needed information.

She needed revenge.