you anyway?”
“Just Wolf.”
We made our way out of the cave, picking our path through boulder fields. I was thankful I had my hiking boots. The extra traction and support gave me a better chance of avoiding a broken ankle.
Once we were free of the boulders, he sped toward the tree line. I let him run and turned back to face the boulders. Marianne had to be in there somewhere. No matter how screwed up this whole situation was, I couldn’t let a bunch of giants eat or do whatever it was they did to kids and people they caught. She had to be here. Maybe in a cave, like I was. I crept up behind a boulder to examine the mountains.
“What are you doing?” Wolf snapped in my ear.
I suppressed a yelp, almost tumbling backward. I would have if he hadn’t caught me.
“I can’t just leave Marianne here,” I hissed back, not at all comfortable being this close to him.
He made a noise like a half growl that sounded like “Rrrrr.” He stared at me, obviously displeased. “This is a bad idea. If the giants should catch us they may let me go, but certainly not you, and I might not be able to get you out again.”
“What?” I whispered loudly. “Why would they let you go and not me?”
“Because I’m a wolf. Wolves are supposed to be in the forest. Humans are always sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”
“Well I wouldn’t have been all tied up if you hadn’t tried to kill me!”
He rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “I told you, I wasn’t going to kill you. You’re much too scrumptious.”
“Oh like that makes any goddamn sense.”
“And if I recall correctly, you attacked me first.”
The both of us shut up at the sound of grunting and the ground shaking ever so slightly. The giant with the club sauntered out of one cave to relieve himself against the side of the mountain.
“Oh gross,” I winced, averting my gaze.
Once he was done, he went back into the cave, talking and laughing, hopefully with the other four.
“I have to get up there to see if Marianne’s in that cave,” I said, inching around the boulder.
My would-be killer/rescuer made an aggravated noise in his throat and grabbed my shoulders, dragging me back down.
“No you will not. It’s too dangerous.”
I gawked at him. “Says the man with the twelve-inch knife.”
“I don’t have the knife anymore!” He huffed to himself. Then he lifted his right leg a little and shook his foot. Then he slammed it down again as though aggravated about something else. A weird tingle nagged at me for a moment and then disappeared. “All right. We’ll see if the girl is in there, but you stay out of sight. Let me do all the talking.”
He slunk up the boulder field toward the cave. I stayed right behind him most of the way and then ducked out of sight around the side of the cave.
“And just in case,” he muttered. He pulled out the rope I’d been tied up with and looped it around one boulder beside the cave. Then he crept to the opposite side and tied it off on a second boulder. He paused at the opening, took a deep breath, and then plastered a grin on his face and strolled right into the cave.
Chapter 3
“Good evening chaps,” Wolf announced, holding onto the lapels of his coat as if he visited giants every day.
The giants all sat around the fire, eating something that was cooking on a spit. Much too big to be Marianne. They stopped talking at once and turned on the newcomer.
“Today seems to be a very fruitful day,” one of them said, a smile forming on his face.
“A fine day indeed,” Wolf said, looking around as if considering where best to make himself at home. “Have you, by chance, come upon a young and very tasty morsel lately?” He smacked his lips. “I seemed to have let her escape by accident.”
“Did you?” said another. “We caught two trying to traipse through our fields here. Snapped them up mighty quick. But you say you just lost the one?”
Wolf smoothed his mane of sable hair. “Well, the larger one is what interfered with my, ah, meal the first time around. Do what you like with that one. Gangly and gamey I’m sure she’ll be. I’m simply interested in the little lambkin.”
“Mm,” said the one with the club. “Sure enough we caught that one.” Then he