Release Day

Today my first short story comes out! Yay :)

The Wolf in the Woods is part of the Torqued Tales M/M Anthology. There is also, if you are interested, a Torqued Tales F/F Anthology.

I talked a little about my writing process for this story here so I won't bore you with all the details again. Instead, I'm going to share a bonus scene and some inspiration for the story. The bonus scene happens before the story takes place.


Here is my bonus scene:

Malachi stumbled out of the house and into the woods, clutching his chest at his labored breathing. He finally collapsed out of sight from the house, but it didn’t matter. She could find him if she wanted to. She could see him now if she wanted to. She probably was watching him. She would want to see him transform into a beast, the beast she had cursed him to be.

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. The witch was supposed to be his friend, and yet, she had cursed him.

The pain was excruciating. It was what he deserved, she had told him. The transition back to human would be easier, she had said. He would have earned it then, she had added.

Malachi howled in pain, an irony considering what he was about to become. He spat and cursed, and heard laughter on the wind. He knew she was watching him. She laughed at his pain, his suffering, though she had been the one to cause it.

He could feel his bones breaking and reforming, his organs shifting. He was becoming a beast.

According to the witch, he would remain a beast until he could form a bond with another human. He wasn’t sure what the meant. How was he supposed to form a bond with a human if he was a beast? This wasn’t a fairy tale.

He pulled off his clothes before they could be shredded by his transformation. Black fur was beginning to sprout along his body. The shifting was becoming more painful. The pain was too much to take, and rather than keeping him awake, he was beginning to lose consciousness.

Malachi let out one last long, pitiful howl. Before the blackness took him, he noticed how the howl had already sounded more wolf than human.

***

Awareness came back to him slowly. The world sound different with his new ears. The world smelled different with his new nose. He pushed himself up unsteadily- four legs instead of two.

The witch had done it. She had turned him into a wolf. He was doomed to live a lonely life until he could find that one person who would befriend him despite the fact that he was a beast. Which meant he was doomed to stay this way forever.

He wanted to kill the witch. He wished that he could. It would be a wasted effort. If she had the power to turn him into a wolf, then she certainly had the power to prevent him from attacking her.

He howled, a low, mournful howl- the howl of a lonely wolf instead of a human in pain. It sounded more pitiful to his ears. Even worse, no other wolf answer his call. He truly was alone.

Malachi set off into the woods, wanting to put as much distance between him and the witch as possible. It was time to start his long, lonely life as a wolf.

Inspiration for this story was a combination of 'lil Red Riding Hood by Amanda Seyfried and Derek/Stiles (Teen Wolf) feels. In fact, I've written some Derek/Stiles fanfic if you're into that sort of thing. I always wanted to do a Little Red Riding Hood retelling because of these two things, and now I have.