Chapter 5 The Voice in the Clover

The sound of the cartoon coyote falling off the cliff faded away, replaced by the sound of wind rustling through high branches.

Leela wasn't in the motel room anymore. The smell of stale grease and disinfectant was gone, scrubbed away by the scent of crushed pine needles, damp earth, and sweet wild flowers.

She was in the forest again.

It was the same forest from her running dream, but this time, the urgency was gone. The air was still and warm, filled with a golden light that seemed to drip from the leaves like honey.

She was standing in a clearing, her feet sinking into a perfect circle of soft, knee-high clover.

And he was there.

The wolf sat perched on a moss-covered boulder in the center of the clearing, looking down at her. In this light, stripped of the motel grime and the gray fog, he didn't look like a wild animal. He looked regal. Ancient. A king holding court in his cathedral.

Leela stood still. She wasn't scared. A strange, heavy peace settled over her shoulders, weighing her down in the best possible way. It felt like she was coming home.

The wolf got up and jumped off the boulder. He landed silent in the clover, moving with a fluid grace that made him seem like smoke poured into a wolf's shape,

"I've waited for you for the last four days."

The voice didn't come from the air. It didn't vibrate against her eardrums. It resonated inside her skull, deep and rich like the vibration of a cello bowed in a quiet room.

Leela spun around, looking for the speaker, before her eyes snapped back to the wolf. His jaws hadn't moved, but his amber eyes were locked on hers, intense and unblinking.

"I knew you were coming," the voice echoed again. "And as for your earlier question...my name is Fennigan."

Leela stood there in awe of the magnificent creature. The name settled in her mind like a heavy stone dropping into a quiet pond--solid, real, and undeniable.

"Fennigan," she whispered, testing the shape of it, it suited him.

Then, the logic of his words caught up with her.

"Waiting for me? For four days?" She shook her head, confused. "But...I didn't leave until yesterday morning. I didn't even know I was leaving until the light bulbs again."

Fennigan took a step closer. He towered over her, but his presence wasn't threatening; it was magnetic.

"You didn't leave physically," Fennigan replied, his mental voice was gentle but firm. "But the energy shifted long before that. I wasn't hiding in some hole in the ground, Leela. I was in my bed, at the packhouse." he paused, tilting his head slightly, remembering.

"I was dead asleep. Safe. Home. And then it hit me--a pull so strong it nearly dragged me out of the sheets. It told me to get up. It told me to come to this specific motel."

"To find me?" Leeka asked softly.

"To wait for the fog," Fennigan corrected. "The instinct was clear; Go to the Starlight. Wait for the girl who brings the fog. Because the girl who brings the fog will be my mate."

He lowered his huge head until he was eye-level with her.

"You brought the storm with you, Leela. And I have been sitting in the parking lot for ninety-six hours waiting for the lightning to strike."

Leela reached out, her hand trembling slightly. SHe wanted to touch him, to see if he was real or just a figment of her exhausted mind.

Her fingers brushed the white-tipped fur on his muzzle.

It was warn. It was real.

:Fennigan," she said again, smiling.

The wolf closed his eyes, leaning into her touch.

"I am here," he rumbled in her mind. "And you are no longer lost."