I waited for John to come to bed. He told me before he went out that he had a secret that he wanted to share, and that I must wait before sleeping, but it had been a while and the waiting was tedious. I was curious at first, but now I was just tired. Sighing, I turned the TV off and put the remote down. Let him keep his secret. It had waited this long, it could wait longer. Pulling the blankets up, I curled on my side and let my eyelids close.
I woke up with the moonlight streaming in through the window and onto my face. It was bright tonight, a full moon proudly shining in the sky. There was a noise again, the one that woke me up, something hitting the bedroom door. I called out, "John?" to no reply. Throwing back the blankets, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, stepped into my slippers, and froze when the noise sounded a third time. It was less like something hitting the door, more like scratching. Shaking myself, I told myself not to be silly. I crossed to the door and opened it. The moonlight didn't reach this far, but it was bright enough to see a shape on the ground. It darted around my legs and into the bedroom, fur soft against my bare leg. Fur? I turned. A wolf stood there, and my heartbeat leapt into high gear. I froze. The wolf sat on its haunches and watched me. We watched each other like that for a while. Then the wolf flopped over on its side and showed me its belly. What? I stood still a little longer, then decided this was weird enough to take a chance. I began to slowly shuffle forward.
The wolf kept lying there, watching me with its ears pricked and its tongue lolling out. So far so good. I slowly crouched down next to it and considered what to do next. The natural inclination was to pat the wolf like a dog, but I knew nothing about this wolf and was thinking it might be unwise to push my luck so far as to touch it. The wolf made my decision for me, springing to its feet lightning fast and licking my face from bottom to top. Startled, I fell over backwards onto my arse. The wolf came forward and put its head on my knees. It occurred to me suddenly that this was very unwolf-like behaviour, and the adrenaline and oddity caught up with me. I started giggling. The wolf watched me, and I couldn't stop giggling for ages. Eventually the laughs wound down, and the wolf and I resumed watching each other. I made a decision.
"Alright, wolfie, you seem ok. It's been a while since I had a dog. Do you think you'd like to curl up on the bed with me?" I said, then laughed at myself for talking to the wolf and accepting the oddity of a random wolf in our bedroom so easily. It would serve John right, to finally come home to tell me his secret and find me asleep with a wolf on his side of the bed! I started to get up and the wolf backed off until I was standing, then it jumped onto the bed and flopped down on John's side. Well. That worked out just perfectly! I stepped out of my slippers and got back into bed, turning my back to the bright moon shining through the window and cautiously putting a hand on the wolf. It twisted its head and closed its teeth gently around my wrist. I froze again, but the wolf just gently dragged my hand until my whole arm was over the wolf and I was half lying against it, then it let go again. It twisted his head to look back at me, brown eyes intelligent and trusting. Oh yes, this was just fine. I smiled back at the wolf. "Goodnight, wolfie," I said, and closed my eyes.
In the morning, the wolf was gone and John was in my arms. Oh. Damn, I missed seeing his reaction. Maybe the wolf was already gone when he finally came to bed. Oh well. I slowly lifted my arm up and pulled it back, careful to not wake John. I always left for work before he woke up, but I'd see him again tonight after work. I'd tell him about the wolf then.