After the monstrous anger hunt, Skylar's anger finally subsided as she walked around the shore where the moon shone at its peak, making the sea glitter like stars. She was savoring the cold wind and the splashing sound from the waves, which helped her calm down more.
"I like this tranquility." She mumbled, inhaling the soothing breeze, but something flicked into her mind that she didn't want to surface yet still does.
It was a part of her memory that she kept burying deeply in her memory while hoping it would vanish in time, but sadly, it never occurred. Skylar was taken to that memory where everything seemed to be moving perfectly. She had everything from being stable in life, a fiancé that she loved fully, a family although she was adopted, and friends that she got along pretty well with. Everything was happy despite the trouble at work and typical issues in a person's life, but something made everything fade like everything was just only a dream. It fell apart as one by one they left her; friends became cold when she didn't believe their accusations over a friend and fiancé, her family hid something from her, and a fiancé constantly betrayed her behind her back.
"Everything is messed up, huh…" Without understanding her emotions, she coldly mocked her past self.
She just lost everything, her life, especially her heart, until Vincencio happened. Only he had an impact on her life—her heart.
"Damn, why did I keep remembering the past whenever I felt hurt during our fights?" With a heavy sigh, Skylar mumbled weakly before throwing a flat stone over the sea and bouncing in five. "I hope it'll stop."
Skylar walked some more and savored the moment she was having tonight. But getting lost in the serenity of the night, she also lost her track. Instead of roaming around the shore, she suddenly ended up on a hilltop where the moon shone brightly. She loved how the moonlight glowed along with the serene breeze and splashing sound from the waves, making her painful memory fade and having a lovely night. She wanted to get close to the cliff to savor another scene of the night when she noticed the silhouette of a huge dog sitting by the cliff, staring deeply into the moonlight.
"How did a dog end up here? Where is its owner?" In stealth mode, Skylar thought as she carefully studied the dog when she realized something strange about it.
The calmness of the dog captured her attention, and she became curious. She watched the dog carefully and oddly felt calmness until her mind played something tricky—familiarity and Vincencio's face flashed into her mind, catching her off guard.
"Why did it make me think of him?" She mentally slapped herself before she glanced at the dog again. But the more she did, the more she was drawn to its familiar calmness. "How can a dog stare at the moon so calmly, like it's wishing for something to happen?"
Skylar might not see the moonlight view from the cliff, but seeing the dog's calmness brought tranquility that she only felt around Vincencio. She was enjoying the night with the dog's calmness until a slight movement made her notice how strange the size of the dog was. She knew Alaskan Malamutes or any mixed breeds of Siberian Huskies, but this dog was huge—twice or even thrice bigger than what she knew.
"A wolf?" Skylar thought as she knew how to listen to her gut. "But this is no ordinary wolf."
The wolf may have looked like any other dark grey wolf in a snowy mountain, but its size was like an enormous creature that arose from a fairytale. Its eyes held deep amber with a reddish taint, which screams it was not an ordinary wolf at all. But what made Skylar's body shiver was the dangerous aura that it emitted, and its howl echoed throughout her entire body like it was meant only for her. Her heart even reacted like it was hit by a thunderstorm, making her heartbeat tighten, making it hard to breathe, and her head was burning in the pit of a volcano.
"What the…" Confused, Skylar felt trouble with what the howl did to her body. She was trembling and groaning, not understanding what was happening to her. "What's happening to me? Why is my heart reacting like this?"
Skylar squeezed her chest to ease the erratic heartbeat like it was about to explode while the other was over her head trying to hold the buzzing ache on it. She wobbled a little, snapping a twig, which alarmed the wolf's serenity. In a split second, burning amber eyes locked with her deep hazel ones, making everything fade. Her pain vanished too quickly, but with one sneeze, Skylar snapped from having a staring contest with a wolf. Dangerously speaking, in reality, staring at any predator like wolves meant a challenging threat to them, and Skylar knew them.
"I-I'm so dead." Realizing the danger, Skylar closed her eyes over her stupidity, not wanting to meet the wolf closer. But the most foolish thing she ever did was her sudden sprint.
Skylar might be a top runner, as she ran without caring about the palm trees, bushes, broken logs, or stones scattered around the area. But being chased by a dangerous creature from a fairy tale, she must run without looking back. She didn't stop—she couldn't. She didn't even care if she got scratched or stumbled over her sprint since the only thing that mattered to her was her life—to get as much as possible away from the wolf. But sadly, she couldn't run that far since she could feel a huge presence behind her.
"Why did you have to run? Now it's running after me!" Skylar complained to herself while dashing away. "Stupid, Sky!"
It was a tiring run, causing her to slow down and take some time to regain her strength, but with the wolf's presence running a few feet away from her side, she sped up again. She was scared since the wolf was catching up, but strangely, she noticed something during her run.
"This is becoming odd," Skylar thought as she noticed a weird vibe over the chase.
Skylar sprinted at her usual speed with a few accelerations whenever the wolf caught up since she was a human regardless of how skillful she was as a killer, but being chased by a strange wolf was another case. Her fear shifted into curiosity as she tested her pace between the chase. She tried to speed up or slow her running pace and noticed the strange wolf's speed did the same like it was keeping up with her speed limit.
"Is this wolf running at my pace?" She wondered when she noticed the wolf's speed sticking with hers. Whenever she slowed, it slowed down too, and when she increased her speed, so did the wolf, which annoyed her big time. "This wolf is belittling me."
Annoyed at being challenged, Skylar began racing with the wolf. They compete for a couple of minutes to hours around the secluded area of the resort, making Skylar realize something. Her speed felt different—lighter than before, which she began testing by maneuvering from one palm tree to another like she was swerving. She felt excited about what she learned, but when Vincencio's face flickered in her mind and their argument, she halted, almost causing her to lose her balance and stumble; luckily, it didn't happen.
"This is so not me—giving up, but I have to." While panting, she carefully thought, and with gathered courage, forgetting the fear, she turned around despite the hard drumming of her heart against her chest.
Skylar took a deep breath as she saw the wolf's shadow come closer; it caught up with her and released what she had in mind. Technically, she wasn't sure if the wolf could understand her or not, but she had to speak to it before things turned bad if she stayed challenged with the wolf.
"STOP! DON'T HURT ME, OKAY?!" With firmness in Skylar's tone, she shouted. Surprisingly, the wolf stopped twenty feet away and carefully watched her—studying her like an open book. There was tension, making her gulp, but despite the fear crawling beneath her skin, she stood firmly and thanked the wolf. "Thanks for the run. I appreciate it, but I must leave. My husband might be worried. B-bye."
Deep inside, Skylar wanted to slap herself for saying that since she knew the wolf wouldn't be able to understand her language. But slowly and cautiously, she stepped backward until the wolf sat down, making her relieved. Without looking back, she sprinted back to the resort and exceeded her speed limit until she reached their suite safely.
"That's oddly intense…" Skylar panted as she collapsed on the poolside, yet her mind drifted to her encounter where she found herself grinning. "Well, on the good side, it's a nice race. Maybe I could run faster than before, thanks to that wolf."
Like nothing strange happened to her night, Skylar stretched her body and removed her clothes, leaving only her undergarments before jumping into the pool. She soaked herself in cold water, releasing all tensed muscles all over her body. She let her body relax; however, her mind drifted to the strange wolf she had encountered a few minutes ago. She recalled all the moments she felt around the wolf, particularly when their eyes locked onto each other. She could feel a certain familiarity that lured her in and made her entire body warm. Skylar likes it, making her subconsciously smile.
"Why did it feel familiar?" she wondered as her mind compared those eyes to her like Vincencio's. It sent the same securing vibe to her like they were the same person. But she immediately dismissed that thought before sighing. "Stop it, Sky. You miss your husband."
"I miss you too." Vincencio's sad voice caught Skylar's attention.
"HUBBY! THAT SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME!" Skylar thought while controlling her erratic heartbeat and masking it by speaking coldly. "Oh, still awake?"
"Can't sleep." He honestly answered as he put her bathrobe on the chair.
"Why?" She coldly wondered.
"You're not beside me." He responded, trying to read his wife.
"You should have thought of that before rejecting me." Feeling her body relaxed, she sighed and got out of the pool.
"I'm not," he defended. It slightly froze Skylar for a second before ignoring it.
"Your actions stated otherwise." She coldly responded as she wrapped herself in her robe and gathered her clothes.
"I'm controlling myself, Skylar." He sighed and tried to talk it out.
"Controlling yourself from what?" Calmly, she demanded an answer. She wanted to know what was making him stop making love with her.
"I don't want to hurt you." With a heavy sigh, he responded, which she didn't like to hear.
"But you already did." She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she walked away. Vincencio tried to reason, but nothing was coming out, and Skylar had had enough and dropped their conversation. "Enough, Vince. Let's not…"
"NO! WE PROMISE NOT TO END THE NIGHT WITH AN ARGUMENT." He roared as he remembered what they promised each other when they argued.
"THEN TELL ME WHY YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME LIKE A HUSBAND SHOULD?!" Dropping her clothes, she snapped and pushed his shoulder as she dared him to explain himself.
"I HAVE MY REASONS!" He didn't back down.
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" She didn't believe him as she harshly gathered her clothes again and attempted to leave.
"GODDAMMIT, SKY, IT'S TRUE! I'M SCARED THAT I COULD HURT YOU—BREAK YOU WHEN I TOUCH YOU. I'M SCARED THAT ONCE YOU LEARN ABOUT IT, YOU'LL BE SCARED OF ME AND LEAVE ME!" Vincencio couldn't take it anymore and shouted his feelings that weren't easy for him to share. He grabbed Skylar's shoulder to look at him before softly adding while crying. "For God's sake, Skylar, I love you so much, and it scares me. I'VE BEEN SO FUCKING SCARED OF LOSING YOU!"
"DON'T YOU THINK I'M NOT?! I WON'T BE LIKE THIS IF YOU'RE NOT MAKING ME FEEL IT!" Being stubborn, Skylar broke free from his hold as she shouted back what he had been doing through his constant rejection.
"Sky…" He softened as he saw his wife cry again, and it was because of his stupidity.
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