For the next few seasons, I wandered about the woods, though this time my intentions were different than just surviving. Granted, that was important, but I also wanted to learn. Being with Cole, even for such a short time, had taught me so many things that I hadn't known, and the thirst for information drove me closer and closer to humans. It was dangerous while in my wolf form, but I still didn't feel comfortable letting my human-self out much yet. I could walk in it... kind of, and talk in simple sentences, but I'd grown up as a wolf. It felt so much more like me then my human likely ever would.

During one especially chilly night, I found myself sauntering around the outskirts of a large town. There was a good supply of wild deer in the preserve not a mile away so it was a pretty nice spot for my wolf as well as my human. I had stolen clothing from hikers awhile back and hidden them in an old abandoned fox den for when I wanted to try being human near other ones. Deciding that the time had come to try, I shifted and stood in the knee-deep snow, immediately wanting to back out of the trial. It was freezing, and I had taken clothing for warmer weather. Before I could talk myself out of it, though, I quickly knelt down and reached into the den, snagging the clothing and pulling each piece on like I'd seen Cole do a few times when I sneaked into his room when he wasn't paying attention.

The sudden memory had my fingers pausing on the bottom of the dark red shirt I'd just tugged on. My heart felt heavy at the thought of not seeing him again. We might have fought, but he could have learned that it was okay to submit to me. I wouldn't have hurt him. The memory of that specific night sent a chill down my spine that made the cold air around me feel like I was overheated in comparison.

Mine...I didn't mean to do it.

Grinding my teeth together, I kicked a good chunk of snow into the tree above the den and began stomping off toward the street that ran along the forest. I'd walked it plenty of times as a wolf, trying to test and see if people would just start shooting at me. Thankfully, the people who did stop just did so to get photos and tell me I was a huge crossbreed dog or something of the sort that must have gotten loose. A few times, animal control had tried to catch me, though, which wasn't exactly a fond memory considering the time I'd gotten shot with three spiky things and got away just before passing out in the snow.

They had cheated. I don't know how, but that spiky thing made me go to sleep when I wasn't tired, like when Cole brought me to that weird man.

Grumbling under my breath, I looked down at my loose-fitting light brown shorts and red shirt that had slanted white writing across the front. I had no idea what it said even though I did understand some letters, I just hadn't learned enough for writing to be useful yet.

"It will have to do."

My words sounded odd to my ears since I was used to only hearing my wolf's sounds, but at least my human words were understandable. Deciding that it was time to go, I quickly made my way through the thick snow and up onto the road. I'd made sure to watch humans and learn how to copy the way they walked. So when I got close to what they called a sidewalk, I hesitantly stepped onto it, then took a deep breath as I pushed onward down its long stretch. Several people watched me from where a group sat under a fake tree with the symbol of one of those giant noisy cars on it. I caught a few of them staring at my lower body, which had my own eyes moving to my feet.

Is there something wrong with my feet? Am I walking badly?

Licking my lips, I lifted my head and decided to ignore them and keep going. I obviously wasn't doing something too wrong because no one was telling me or making a big deal out of it.

"Uh, hey, dude?"

Blinking, I stopped abruptly, only a few steps away from walking right into a guy.

Wait a second...

Sniffing the air visibly, I blinked again, then grinned.

It's the guy who helped me in the forest.

"Hi," I shouted, making the young man flinch from surprise.

Oops. Too loud I guess.

Clearing my throat, I licked my lips and shifted from foot to foot before trying again with a quieter "Hi."

That seemed to calm his nerves a little, though he still looked like I was baring my teeth at him.

I wasn't, was I?

I ran my tongue along my teeth, then pressed my lips together, deciding that I was definitely not threatening him at the moment.

"Um, hi? Just uh, I was just wondering... Where are your shoes?"

Shoes?

"Oh, I ch—," stopping myself abruptly, I felt my face warm and fidgeted. Humans didn't eat shoes, or at least that's what Cole had told me. He also said werewolves didn't eat shoes either, but the pups in his pack had totally done it so that wasn't true.

"I uh, lost them," I mumbled, not really sure how else to lie.

They had just tasted so good. I couldn't help but chew them up.

His brows went up at an odd position before he shrugged and offered me a small smile. I had to remind my inner wolf he wasn't baring his teeth but being friendly. It was weird and the complete opposite of what I was used to, but I quickly returned the gesture, although judging from the look that suddenly took over his face, I probably looked more like I was threatening him than trying to be polite.

Darn it.

"Okay. Well, it's really cold outside...do you want some shoes?"

Woo! More shoes to chew? Yes.

"Yes," I shouted, taking an excited step forward like an eager puppy waiting for peanut budder.

Mmm, peanut budder.

He jumped, having been surprised again, but this time he smiled wider and gave a quiet laugh. I tried to copy his laugh, but my voice was a little deeper and sounded a bit more like a growl.

Hmm, I need to work on that.

The young man shook his head and reached forward, grabbing my left wrist before tugging me toward the edge of the sidewalk. He looked in both directions multiple times, making me want to question him about what he was doing it for, but then he was suddenly running across the street, dragging me behind him. Once we were on the other side of the street, he pulled me into a building... and I think I went to wolf heaven.

So many...shoes...

I sprinted ahead, unknowingly dragging him until I stopped and he almost stumbled into me. As it was, I noticed him trip from the corner of my eye and turned just in time to catch him in my arms with little effort. His thick coat had my hands burying in the fabric, making me want to snuggle with him.

Maybe I can take him back to the woods, I thought as he slowly wiggled his way out of my arms while I wasn't paying attention.

"So, hang on a minute. What's your name?"

I tried my smiling face again and was rewarded with one from the young man.

"Tanner."

He gave me a slight nod and patted my shoulder before turning toward the shelves of shoes I'd stopped near.

"Alright, Tanner, what size are you?"

My head tilted to the side in thought.

Size. I remember Cole saying something to me about that...now what was it? Oh!

"I am size big."

He coughed into his hand and turned away, returning his attention to me after a moment while shaking his head. He was smiling, though, so I supposed I didn't make him mad... but why did he act so weird to my answer? It was my size.

"Okay, come here, Tanner."

He motioned me forward, and I followed, sitting down when he pointed to a weird looking chair.

"What is your name?" I asked as he knelt in front of me with a metal thing and grabbed one of my ankles to press my foot against it. It felt cold, but after walking outside, it didn't bother me at all.

"Ryder," he mumbled, obviously focused on what he was doing. I'd almost let myself slip, calling him what I had heard the other two humans call him in the forest, but I knew saying that would probably confuse or scare him. This might have been my first try really interacting with humans, but I wanted to get it right.

"That is a cute name."

His head snapped up, eyes going wide with surprise at what I'd said.

Was it bad? I thought it was cute. Did I mess up what cute meant?

"Oh...um, thanks, Tanner," he said awkwardly, then stood up after setting the metal thing aside.

"Alright, you're a size twelve so we need to look over here."

He gestured for me to get up, and I did right away, following after him quietly as to not make any more mistakes with my words. I instead listened to those around me, just like I had when I was walking along the outskirts of the town or when I was with Cole.

Cole...

I felt my wolf stir inside my chest but quickly shoved it back. I couldn't afford to change here, that would cause more problems than I could ever hope to fix.

"Here we are. What do you think of these, Tanner?"

Blinking, I snapped myself out of my thoughts to see the most delicious-looking pair of black and white shoes that I'd ever seen right in front of my face. Taking in a deep breath, I nearly drooled at their smell, too.

"I like them," I shouted, forgetting that I shouldn't be so loud. Well, at least Ryder didn't seem to care this time since he just laughed and motioned me back over to one of the weird chairs between the shelves of shoes.

"Alright then, we'll try these on then."

As soon as I sat down, he was back to kneeling in front of me.

Why couldn't Cole do that? It isn't hard to submit.

Of course I knew humans weren't really submitting when they did that. That much I had learned from watching them. It was more a caring gesture usually meant to comfort or help another.

I wouldn't mind him doing it for that reason, though...

Sighing, I waited for Ryder to finish what he was doing, then looked down at my covered feet. It looked weird and felt even weirder, but I wasn't going to complain. I could just eat them later if they got uncomfortable, which was likely to happen when I changed back into my wolf.

"Okay, they look good and your toes aren't pushed forward too much. Stand up and walk around for a minute, Tanner."

I began walking around the large store, honestly surprised that my feet actually felt pretty darn good.

Wow! These things have so many uses. No wonder people wear them all the time. I guess I'll wear these if he lets me have them, then eat them when they stop working.

Thinking the idea was great, I returned to Ryder with a happy grin.

"I like them."

He returned my expression with a smile and nodded, helping me take them off before putting them back in the box they had been in. I thought he might not let me have them, but then he started to walk toward the front of the store where a woman was standing behind what looked to be a desk of some sort. I followed after him, catching up with only a few easy strides. When we got to the desk, he set the box of shoes on it and the lady took them, then ran a thing over them, which made a surprisingly loud sound. My wolf slipped a growl through before I could completely cut it off, bringing both pairs of eyes to me.

Oops!

"S-Sorry, clearing throat."

I heard humans use that to get out of saying something by mistake or being mad, and from the looks they were suddenly giving me, it worked. Ryder soon turned his attention back to the woman after grabbing something nearby and handing it over to her. She ran the beeping thing over the new item and then pressed some buttons on a machine before speaking to Ryder.

"Your total is eighty-four dollars and twenty-seven cents."

Oh man! That is a lot. I think. The thing Cole had me watch only counted up to ten. I didn't know there were so many more numbers. Huh, I wonder how much is an eighty? That sounds so weird...

"Tanner? Come on, let's get these on you."

Looking around suddenly, I spotted Ryder over by a normal chair near the entrance and quickly ran over. I knew he would want me to sit after the first few times in this situation so I quickly sat down, getting a smile from him.

Yay!

He dropped back down to his knees and got the extra item he'd gotten pulled apart.

Oh! I know what those are. Well, no, not really. Cole always just shouted 'Tanner. Not again.' when I got one and chewed it. It was like nothing in that house was allowed to be in my mouth. Unfair.

While lost in my mind, again, I felt something soft and warm slip over one of my feet and blinked my eyes to focus back on what Ryder was doing.

"That feels good," I said, surprised that two things I normally wanted to eat actually had other uses. He gave a quiet laugh and got the other one on my other foot, then added the shoes and tied the laces.

Oh, those yummy laces. I definitely learned that word fast 'cause I always asked for them. And never got any more after the first time I ate them off of Cole's shoes while he was sleeping...

Knowing that I'd space out if I didn't pay attention while I thought, I made sure to follow Ryder out of the store with my new shoes on, surprised at how warm and comfortable my feet were now.

"Thank you."

He seemed a bit shocked by my sudden words but ended up smiling anyways.

Cute smile for a cute name.

"You're welcome. Where do you live? I can drop you off if you'd like since it seems like it's about to start snowing."

It took me a minute to figure out that sentence. I wasn't sure what 'drop you off' meant, but I did know that he was accepting my thanks and asking where I lived. So, I lifted my hand and pointed toward the forest. His eyes looked in that direction, then quickly back to me.

"You... live in the forest?"

I nodded quickly, smiling at the thought that he might actually want to come back with me. Unfortunately, his expression changed to one that I knew fairly well since Cole often wore it on his face.

Disappointment.

My wolf immediately wanted to leave, not liking the look at all. I was feeling the same way and even began inching away from Ryder, not wanting to make him mad, which often came after the disappointed look. Normally I wouldn't back down if it was another wolf looking at me like that, but I knew the difference and I knew that humans wouldn't understand my dominance. When I got a few steps away, I turned and began walking toward the street but was stopped right before I stepped onto the black surface.

"Wait."

Ryder's shout had me turning around. First I noted his hand on my right wrist, then I let my eyes rise to meet his.

Huh? Odd. They look almost worried now.

"I'm sorry, Tanner, I didn't mean to make you upset. It's okay if you live in the forest. It's a very nice place."

I wasn't really sure how to reply to that. I wasn't used to the disappointment being apologized for so I kept my mouth shut, waiting and watching to see what Ryder was going to do.

"Tanner, I know I don't know you... but it's going to get really cold tonight and..."

His words trailed off as he glanced back at a slick black car, making me think that it was his. I immediately felt myself want to growl at it, remembering the few times I'd been in a car as ending quite badly at that weird man's place. I was always made to go to sleep, then woke up feeling dizzy or hurt. Heck, usually both.

Ryder's eyes returned to me after a moment as he decided to finish his sentence.

"Will you come stay with me for at least tonight, Tanner? I have a house, and there is a spare room you could use."

Sleeping in the same place. Confined.

Everything about my former experience warned me against it. I was too dominant. Even if he was a human, there was a limit. I wouldn't be able to bend to his rules without my instincts trying to take over.

"I...I don't think it would be good," I said quietly, looking down at my new shoes to try to show that I didn't really want to talk further about the subject. Unfortunately, he didn't read the gesture because he was suddenly grabbing my hands in his smaller ones and holding them together. The action forced my eyes to rise back to his. Those soft blue eyes I remembered from the forest, the worry and slight fear, the familiarity of it had my heart warming a little.

"Why not, Tanner? I-If you have a friend or family out there, they are welcome, too. I just don't want you to freeze tonight."

What can I say to that? I thought to myself. It was hard not to just say that I was a werewolf and be done with him, but I knew that was against the rules. Even my old, terrible pack had ingrained that in me. So I decided to go with the other truth.

"I am...very...I can't..." I pursed my lips, trying to figure out the sentence so that he would understand.

"I can't listen to rules."

For some reason, it almost felt like I should be ashamed of that, but there was nothing I could do about how dominant I was. It was just me. Well, at least my words seemed to have sunk in because he was now frowning slightly, no doubt about to tell me I should be on my way back to the forest.

"I think I can manage with that if you can follow just one rule."

Tilting my head in curiosity, I licked my drying lips and asked, "What rule?"

Even in the dimming light of the encroaching snowstorm, I could see his face flush slightly before he mumbled out his response.

"No coming into my room at night without permission."