Her Wolf

Ryan took Catherine’s hand gingerly and she watched in awe as he kissed the top of her knuckles and stroked her hand with his calloused fingers. “Trust me, the pleasure is all mine,” he crooned and winked suddenly.

“You’re a terrible flirt,” Catherine replied through a small fit of laughter. “Is this how you introduce yourself to all the women that come in?”

“What other women? I only see you,” he said.

Catherine swallowed thickly and pulled her lips back into a smile as her eyes remained locked on his. There was a comfortable silence that came between the two of them while the rest of the world seemed to blur away. They were strangers, but the penetrating force of their stare made it seem as if they had known each other forever and Catherine’s chest began to rise and fall at a faster pace.

“So, uh…” Catherine stammered, finally breaking the intense, albeit not awkward silence. “What is it that you do? Are you here with a date? Did you get invited on your own like I did?”

Ryan smirked in a way that would have made any woman drop to their knees, but Catherine held her ground.

“I could tell you, but I have some business to attend to, so if you’ll excuse me,” he replied through his dapper smile. “Enjoy the champagne and you should try the Dom with some strawberries. It really brings out the flavor.”

Before Catherine had a chance to protest, Ryan had his back to her and was walking away. He walked with a certain confidence about him that was unlike any other man in the room. He garnered attention, but none of it seemed to be the negative kind.

“What kind of man are you?” She asked herself as she watched him laugh and crack jokes with the other men in the room. “Why have I never heard of you before?”

“Ladies and Gentleman, if you will please take your seats, the fundraiser will begin momentarily. We will start off with a few words from the chair of the Colorado Conservation of Endangered and Rare Wildlife and that will be followed with a short film, dinner, dancing and mingling.

Please put your hands together and join me in the welcoming of our Chair and coordinator of our event tonight—Mr. Ryan Metcalfe.”

The ruffling of the crowd’s growing applause caused Catherine to pull out of the shock she had found herself in when Ryan’s name was announced. She clapped her hands together and kept her expression steadfast as she watched the same suited man who had been flirting with her, enter from stage left.

“You smooth thing, you,” Catherine snorted mentally. “You were just trying to butter me up to get a bigger check. Oh I am on to what you are trying to do. Don’t play the charm game with someone who is better at it than you are.”

“Thank you all so much for the welcome,” Ryan stood forward, speaking directly into the microphone and motioning with his hands for the crowd to sit. “And thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to join me here this evening in paying tribute to the Colorado Conservation of Endangered and Rare Wildlife. I’m sure there are a few of you wondering why you are here.”

Ryan’s eyes caught Catherine’s as he spoke his last five words.

“You can say that again,” she said beneath her breath.

“For as long as I can remember, rarities, phenomena’s and even the supernatural have been something that’s caught my attention and I know what you’re thinking already. “The Supernatural? Has he lost his mind?” And to be honest, I’ve probably lost it a long time ago. To get to my point, I never wanted to live within the confines of an acceptable imagination, so to speak. I never wanted to live in a comfort zone, either. I loved stretching the limits and I loved taking risks.”

“What does this have to do with why we are here?” Catherine wondered to herself as she glanced cautiously around her table to see the perplexed expressions on the other guest’s faces. “At least I’m not the only one.”

“I spent hours upon hours outdoors and in the mountains. Sometimes I would spend so much time out there, my fingers and toes would turn blue, but that didn’t stop me. I wanted to be with the bears, with the wolves and with the deer. My child-like and creative mind, wanted to see something crazy where all of those animals were combined. Something rare.

And I found it.”

Barely audible whispers could be heard around table number three and the rest of the generously sized room where dinner was being held. The guests were trying to figure out what rarity Ryan had seen before he told them and Catherine sported a simper.

“You’ve got everyone in this room hanging on your every word, Mr. Metcalfe,” she mused to herself. “You’re going to have to try harder than that to hook, line and sink me.”

“I saw something rare all right. I saw a grown man’s muscles break and his body twist and turn while he turned into a werewolf. How’s that for rare?”

Dead silence fell over the hall and not even the sound of people blinking could be heard. Catherine tipped her head to the side as she tried to decipher whether or not Ryan was just a serious jokester, or if he was simply mad. “Too much time spent at a high altitude?” she wondered.

Within moments, the guests erupted in a fit of laughter and both men and women were clutching their stomachs as if they were just let in on some hilarious, inside joke and Catherine appeared stunned. “Surely it wasn’t that funny,” she said to herself as she trained her eye sight back to meet Ryan’s range. He was staring at her with an almost unspoken hunger and her mouth became void of any moisture. “Hook, line and sinker,” she said quietly.

“Thank you all for the warm welcome to my comedic display, but I promise you I won’t be quitting my day job anytime soon. What I’m trying to say is I spent my childhood on the paths in the Snow Drift National Park & Forest and now developers want to clear out the space for a resort and casino? This is Colorado. We have enough luxury resorts, ski hills and casinos. There is a reason that we have such a high tourist ratio and it’s because people want to come to witness the natural beauty that our great state has to offer. You can’t visit beauty if it’s torn down and replaced with conveniences.

Not to mention the wildlife and animals that rely on that park in order to survive, it’s a balance to our ecosystem and we can’t save the forest without your help. Ask yourself this question, do you want your children growing up with a casino in your back yard?

As dinner is served, please watch this short film. I’m certain each of you will find something personal to relate to. The Snow Drift National Park and Forest is a part of each of us and some of us may not even know it.”

*****