Scarlett stared into the wolf’s angry eyes and immediately regretted her decision. It was the second time on that day she had to experience pure terror. Her legs couldn’t stop shaking as she slowly stepped back.

“Scarlett, listen to me. Do not show your fear, especially do not turn your back and run, you may activate its hunting instinct!”

“I, I don’t wanna die.” The mere act of standing there by herself and facing the terrifying creature had the same inherent skill challenge of playing strip poker in front of the Spanish Inquisition.

“There is probably a reason why it hadn’t attacked you yet. Be calm.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can stand here any longer.” Scarlett was reaching her limit. There was no way for her to be calm. Sure, she had encountered other monsters before, some were even more vicious. But never had she faced any of them so close and without her wings.

Scarlett turned around and ran… or so she thought.

To her horror and relief, her body didn’t listen to her. She tried to move her arm or leg, but her body just stood there, frozen still.

“Scarlett?”

Only after hearing her own name spoken from her mouth without her doing had Scarlett understood what happened. Ryan had somehow taken control of her body.

Ryan looked around with Scarlett’s head, then he looked at the growling wolf. Amazingly, She didn’t feel a shred of fear from his link, only anticipation, and alertness.

Then her heart froze. What if that thing kills me while Ryan is in control, will he die too?

“Ryan, you don’t have to do this.” She pleaded through the link. “What if we both die?”

She felt her own mouth widen into a fearless smile.

“I don’t really plan on living without you anyways. Now that I found you, my missing half.”

The wolf seemed surprised at his sudden smile and stopped growling.

Ryan then performed his most heroic deed yet. He stared into the wolf’s eyes, kneeled down, and proceeded to curl into a fetal position.

“If I’m right, we both live. And if I’m wrong, I guess it won’t be long until we see each other again.”

The wolf stepped in closer and began sniffing Scarlett’s body. It occasionally growled and bared its canine teeth, but did not harm her. Then it seemingly gave up and walked deeper into the cave and started licking the other cubs.

“Is it going to feed me to the cubs?” Scarlett timidly asked.

“Don’t jinx it.”

As if responding to her question, the wolf walked towards her again. It opened its mouth near her face and began licking.

Scarlett could smell the rotten stench coming from its breath, but being stinky was better than being dead.

“I think the wolf has decided to treat you as one of its cubs,” Ryan said, clearly astounded.

“How is that possible? I’m not even a wolfkin.”

“There have been recorded instances of people living among wolves and interacting with them like a member of the pack. But never have I read about a wolf treating a different species as its own cubs.”

The wolf barked at the other cubs as if to tell them something. Then it walked out of the cave with the cubs following behind.

“Scarlett, I think I’ve returned control to your body.”

Before she could find joy in moving her body again, the wolf returned. It glared at her and barked a few times while nodding its head towards the cave exit.

“I think it wants you to follow,” Ryan said.

“I think I’ll stay here, thank you very much.” She wouldn’t move an inch.

After a while, the wolf grew more aggressive, making louder barks. But Scarlett refused to bulge.

Then, in an act of frustration, the wolf opened its large maw and glomped Scarlett’s body at her upper chest area.

She closed her eyes, anticipating the incoming pain, only to feel nothing as her head, legs and wing hung down from within the wolf’s mouth. It seemed the wolf had placed her gently on the rows of its teeth, allowing her belly and hips to nestle comfortably within its maw.

The wolf then carried her out of the cave and back into the forest.

“This is strange, wolves don’t usually behave in this way.” Ryan mused.

“How so? I thought they’re pretty protective of their young.”

“That's true, but this is still the survival of the fittest. The mother wolf should only care about cubs she deemed to have the ability to survive on their own in the future, not the ones that showed physical or mental deficiencies. Your behavior should tell it that you have a poor chance of survival. The correct behavior should be leaving you in this cave. Also, rarely do they change the cub’s growing den.” Ryan's voice signaled his clear confusion.

“I think they’re running away from the expanding labyrinth. Where to, do you think?”

“Maybe it's taking you and the cubs back to its pack.”

Being carried by a wolf’s maw is strangely calming. Scarlett thought as her body swayed gently up and down from the wolf’s movement. The stench would take some time to get used to, however.

Surprisingly, the wolf made sure not to touch the part of her back where her wing’s stump remained. Though she will need to re-apply the bandages later.

She opened her eyes and saw everything passing by in a blur. The wolf was taking a cautious route, under giant shrubs and massive, yet low hanging trees. The cubs had no trouble following the rapid pace. The light of dusk dimmed ever so slightly, retreating towards the horizon.

“How did you take control of my body earlier?”

“I don’t know. I only remembered having an extremely strong desire to stop you from turning your back and run away. The next thing I know, I was in control of your body. To suddenly have to face a large, scary wolf really freaked me out for a moment there. The strange thing is, even though I took complete control of a stranger’s body, I felt no sense of alienation.”

“Well, all you did as me was curling into a ball.” She snickered. “Anyway, thanks a lot. Without your help, I’d be their dinner.”

“Don’t thank yourself, that would be very weird.” Ryan laughed.

“Seriously, though, should we consider ourselves to be two separate people or the same?” He continued, ”I can see that we differ in personalities, but so many things are shared between us, even our souls probably came from the same place - Tom.”

“Dunno, don’t care.” She smiled back.

Silence persisted for a while as they continued their journey.

“Say, can you still tap into my senses without being in control?” Scarlett broke the silence

“Yes, I can see what you see, and smell what you smell and I can’t really say that's doing me much good.” He complained.

“How about I pay a visit to your body?” Scarlett asked, eager to get away from her stinky situation.

“You’re free to give it a try.”

She closed her eyes and directed her thoughts towards the connection, expressing her desire to tap into Ryan’s senses. When she opened her eyes again, the scenery had completely changed.

She was sitting in an empty carriage, the lavish and spacious interior was worthy of royalty. As she glanced around, auditory inputs began streaming into her mind. She widened her eyes as the sound of battle spread throughout the surroundings. “It looks like we’re under attack.”