She awoke to the sound of waves. Damp, chilling fog descended over the shore, mingling with sea-spray until sea and sky blended into gray. She could taste the salt on this beast's tongue, and smell the rot of kelp left to dry on the black rock. Her lip curled.

The hours blended into one on this unnatural shore. The first time she opened her eyes in this form had felt the same as the most recent. Yet she felt the beating of a lupine heart; felt the hunger that gnawed in her belly. She lived, despite the bargain she had made.

You will never see him again. A life for a life, or so she had imagined. Now she was left to wander, here, with no way to know if it had all been worth it. The deep cut on her palm still oozed blood if she pressed too hard. She cleaned it regularly with saltwater and what herbs she found. The pale wolf looked away from the sea and towards the treeline. If she was to find answers, she felt, it would be beyond the somber pines that encircled this grim cove. Still, she could not bring herself to move from this place. A sign; she needed a sign. But prayer could not help her now, if ever it had.

She clenched her jaws and watched the dark spaces in the forest.