Chapter 6: The White Wolf Saves Maple Heights

I spent five years living it up deep in the woods, until the ninth winter in Maple Heights. Five years—a lifetime and a blink.

The forest was a good place to heal—quiet, wild, and full of secrets. But every year, when the snow started falling, I’d find myself thinking of home.

Maple Creek overflowed, floodwaters raging for miles. Torrential rain fell for seven days. The upper dikes burst, water gushed east and west, destroying fields and homes.

The sky stayed gray for a week straight. The river grew mean, swallowing everything in its path. Folks huddled in the high school gym, praying for the rain to stop.

The raccoon maid rushed into the Wolf Lodge, face pale. “Miss! Bad news! The cornbread you love most got washed away!”

She burst through the door, apron askew, eyes wide with panic. “The bakery’s flooded, Miss Savannah! All the cornbread’s gone!”

During my years wandering among humans, I’d fallen in love with cornbread. Even after returning to the lodge, I was a cornbread-eating wolf girl.

There’s nothing like the taste of warm, buttery cornbread on a cold morning. The raccoons knew to save me the biggest piece.

So every year, the raccoon maid would sneak ashore to swipe some cornbread. She was clever like that.

She’d leave a trail of muddy paw prints behind, but no one ever suspected. The perfect crime.

The townsfolk were always puzzled—why did cornbread go missing from the bakery every year, and why did a pile of wildflowers appear out of nowhere? The wildflowers were my way of saying thanks—an old wolf custom.

I heard the townsfolk crying on the riverbank—I knew many of them. Mr. Thompson next door had even asked his wife to sew clothes for me once.

Their voices carried over the water, raw and desperate. I pressed my nose to the window, heart aching.

Their youngest had been swept away by the flood. The couple clung to each other, sobbing. My heart twisted.

I remembered the little boy—how he’d wave at me every morning, sticky with jam and sunshine. My chest went tight.

I felt awful. Without thinking, I shot up to the surface and let out a wolf’s howl, slowing the raging waters. The river seemed to hesitate, the current easing just enough for hope to slip in.

I transformed into my true form, bounding over Maple Creek, scooping up people one by one like a claw machine, and tossing them onto the soft sandbanks. Each rescue felt like a promise kept, a debt repaid.

I’m the noble white wolf of the woods, daughter of the Alpha. Everyone who’s seen me says I’m as beautiful as they come.

My fur shimmered in the rain, the floral jacket flapping behind me like a superhero’s cape. I felt unstoppable—alive in a way I hadn’t in years.

I saved the whole town. The Lodge’s elders will have to write an 8,000-word account of my heroic deeds.

They’ll probably argue over every detail, but the story will live on. That’s what matters.

I must have looked pretty cool saving everyone—after all, the townsfolk just stared at me, dumbfounded. Even the raccoons peeked out from under the eaves, eyes wide with awe.

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself when I suddenly heard one of the kids I’d rescued call out to Mr. Thompson:

“Dad, why’s the wolf wearing a floral jacket?”

His voice rang out clear as a bell, and suddenly every eye turned my way. My heart skipped a beat.

I nearly tumbled out of the sky.

Graceful, I am not. I caught myself just in time, cheeks burning beneath my fur.

I looked down and was struck like lightning. Wait—

There it was—the jacket. Bright, bold, unmistakable. I’d forgotten all about it in the rush.

I’d forgotten—I was still wearing that floral quilted jacket.

The one Caleb made for me, every stitch a memory. The one I swore I’d never wear in public.

And there was a clear silver bracelet looped around my right paw.

It caught the light, glinting like a beacon. I tried to tuck it under my fur, but it was no use.

“Dad, do you think this wolf belongs to someone? Why’s it wearing a bracelet?”

The kid’s curiosity was relentless, his eyes shining with excitement. I wanted to disappear.

The kid kept asking, but his father just stared, puzzled. “That jacket… looks a lot like Caleb’s handiwork, doesn’t it?” That’s Caleb’s stitching, all right.

That familiar name rang in my ears, and suddenly my gaze locked with someone in the crowd.

He stood a little apart, rain dripping from his hair, eyes locked on mine. My breath caught.

He wore an official jacket with a badge, now stained and muddy from the flood, battered but still striking. He’d just pulled several people from the water with a rope.

His hands were raw, knuckles scraped, but he stood tall—every inch the leader Maple Heights needed.

The people he’d saved kept thanking him: “Thank you, Mayor Monroe, thank you so much!”

They clapped him on the back, voices thick with gratitude. Caleb just nodded, his eyes never leaving mine.

His features were sharp, eyes bright as stars, but all the color had drained from his face.

He looked like he’d seen a ghost—maybe he had. There was something in his eyes I hadn’t seen before: hope and heartbreak, tangled together.

Officials crowded around him. One of them gasped, “Mayor Monroe, a miracle has happened! The Maple Creek flood is saved!”

Their voices rose in a chorus of disbelief and relief. “We’re saved! The whole town—saved!”

“Yeah, not a single person lost—it’s all thanks to the spirits!”

Someone crossed themselves, eyes wide. “God bless that wolf, whoever she is.”

“Mayor, no wonder the wolf picked you!”

“Mayor, you’re blessed by the woods—ever since you arrived, the floods have started to recede…”

They jostled for his attention, but Caleb barely seemed to hear. His gaze was fixed on me, searching for something he’d lost.

The officials kept talking, but everything around us went muffled.

I could feel his eyes burning into me, like he was trying to memorize every detail before I vanished again. I felt exposed, but I couldn’t look away.

I hovered in the sky, water rushing below me, but everything felt silent. The world narrowed to a single point—just me and Caleb, suspended between past and present.