Heart of the Wolf

Chapter 5 - Things Heat Up

He was what? He couldn't be, could he? Why didn't she remember him if he was. Surely, she would have remembered she had an uncle? His features were so like her own though, her mind wanted to tell her he spoke the truth.

" Her dad never let me near them. He admitted one time that he was afraid Dr. Bryant or others would try and use me against him or hurt me. I argued with him many times over it, but he remained firm." He said, his voice filled with both annoyance and regret.

" Cana is all I have left of her dad, and she deserves a better life then running and hiding." He said, using his voice to almost plead with them.

The room stayed quiet as Owen thought and she felt his hand rubbing her ear. Everything felt better when he touched her, making the situation seem a little smaller and more manageable in her mind. The soothing motion somewhat calmed her now racing heart. She didn't know whether to believe him or not, she was afraid to hope and had lived in the forest for so long to avoid situations like this. To avoid caring this much about people who could hurt her.

" Alright." Owen finally decided, thinking he thought most of it through. He would take things as they came since it was clear he had no true control of the situation or what was going to come.

" I have a long shift tomorrow and I will keep an eye out for it. The next day I can take you into the park and we can start looking. Tomorrow is not an option though. " He added as an afterthought, Christian was anxious enough to push him and he still had a job to do, as well as discuss this all with Cana.

" Alright." Christian agreed after a few moments of hesitation.

" I am staying at the Wolf Pack Hotel, room twenty." He said as he got up and Owen's chest moved as he chuckled.

" I would rather stay at one that is for a good cause then one that is owned by a private owner and my brother isn't the only one in my family that has a love for wolves." Christian said to him in reaction to his chuckle. If he only knew his niece was one, Owen thought with more amusement.

" Yea I know. It was mom and dad's idea to have a hotel with animal themes and have a percentage of their income donated to that conservation of that animal." They had loved the idea when someone had come forward with it and Owen had liked the idea as well. Guessed also seemed rather excited to donate to the cause of all the animals that they would see in the park.

She had to admit it was a good idea to, Cana considered. There may be wolf lovers around here, but there were a lot of people who still saw them as monsters and nothing more. Hopefully the hotel would try to educate them about what a wild wolf was really like. That they avoided humans and only went after them when that starved or felt cornered and threatened. A starving wolf was an unpredictable wolf, she knew that better then most.

" Here's my cell number if you find anything." Christian said and handed Owen a piece of paper.

Cana jumped down when Owen got up to let him out. Afterwards, Owen came back over to her and sat next to her on the couch. They listened to a car start, then drive away. Once he was gone, Owen turned his attention fully back to her.

" What do you think of him? He seems genuine." He asked and he started rubbing her ear again. She snorted at his question. She still didn't know whether she should trust him.

" You learned quite a bit today." He said watching her and trying to use her body language to guess what she was thinking.

" You, okay?" He asked and she put her head on his leg again as she looked up at him, still unsure about all this.

She wanted to change back, so she could use words, but then he would stop touching her. She finally decided she needed to. He wouldn't relax until she reassured him, she was fine. When the change started, he got up and went into the bedroom to get her fallen clothes.