their lips.

Terror shot through me like piercing icicles. I quietly positioned my cell phone. Finally. A connection! My fingers shaking, I began to press the number nine. Then I managed to press the number one.

The leader of the pack growled, exposing his white fangs and black gums. Another wolf barked. Startled, I flinched. The phone fell into the snow.

I learned in Health and Safety class that in the unlikely event that a person encountered a wolf, the person should try to make themselves appear bigger. I stood on my tiptoes, which was difficult to do in the piling snow and my bulky, furry boots, and raised my hands in the air.

“Help!” I called. “Please, someone — help!”

I took a few steps backward, making sure I didn’t turn my back on them. They paced back and forth, watching.

My arms became heavy; I couldn’t keep them up much longer. I hummed a sweet tune to myself, hoping it would relax me and the wolves.

There was a break in the overcast sky. The full moon peeked out. Celestial and glowing, it radiated its magnificent brilliance as if it were trying to comfort me. But I was far from comforted.

The wolves weren’t budging, and my circulation was draining out from my fingertips. It would only be moments until I’d have to bring down my arms, and then I knew they’d surely attack.

I felt a presence behind me and my breath stopped. Just like that, I was surrounded. I was frozen with fear, my heart pounding, my fingers still shaking, my lips quivering. I closed my eyes and began to pray. I wondered how my parents would find me — if they’d even find me. I imagined Ivy and Abby spending the next three years shopping without me and Nash finding comfort in someone else’s arms. And I realized that in my seventeen years I hadn’t experienced the one thing that had always eluded me — true love.

Then whatever that presence was jumped out from behind me. I covered my head and screamed.

I heard a lot of scuffling, growling, and howling. It took a few moments for me to even realize I wasn’t in any physical pain. Was I already dead?

I peeked out from my defenses. I saw a figure holding a large tree branch.

The figure swung at the pack with the branch, running and chasing after the wolves. Growling and the horrible sounds of a struggle raged just beyond my sight. I prayed the man was okay, but I wasn’t sure what was happening just a few yards away in the heavy snow. I heard a crunch, then a male voice yell. All at once, there was a smack and the sound of yelping. Then there was dead silence.

I didn’t know if the person was alive. I didn’t hear the wolves. I didn’t hear the man.

I waited. I wondered if I should call out to him, but I was afraid this might excite the wolves if they were still there. I didn’t know what to do next.

When I didn’t hear a sound, I knew I had to do something. I decided to go farther into the woods and see what had happened. I was terrified of what I might find.

Just then, the figure emerged from behind a tree. The guy was alive, out of breath, and exhausted. The snow fell heavily, blocking me from seeing my rescuer. Then, all at once, striking blue eyes shone through the snow. I was even more shocked… it was Brandon Maddox.

I was so happy to see someone that I threw my hands up and cheered.

Brandon had been fighting the wolf pack with all his strength. The falling snow made it hard to see, the woods made it hard to navigate through, and the cold temperature made it hard to breathe.

I’d always thought Brandon was handsome, but now he looked even more magnificent.

“Are you… okay?” It was the first thing he asked.

“Am I okay? I wasn’t the one fighting a pack of wolves.”

Brandon tossed the branch into the woods. It was then a few dark red drops fell into the lily white snow.

“You’re bleeding!” I said, pointing to the red stains.

“What?” He didn’t even look at his hand. “What are you doing… here?” he asked. He was still running on adrenaline.

“You’ve been hurt,” I said. “We should get you to a doctor.”

He raised his hand. Drops continued to fall into the snow.

“You need to have that looked at,” I said. “You might need stitches.”

“It’s nothing,” he said.

“You could have rabies,” I warned.

“I’m fine.”

“Can I see?” I asked.

“Uh… sure.”

I hadn’t even spoken to Brandon before now, but words couldn’t express the gratitude I felt discovering anyone — especially him — here with me in the woods. I’d always been drawn to Brandon, and his heroic actions only magnified my feelings. I slowly reached out to him. Our fingers touched and I melted.

I took his hand and held it in mine. It was strong and warm even though it was wet from the falling snow. I gently peeled back his ripped glove to examine the wound. There was a bloody gash in the palm of his hand.

“You’ve been bitten!” I said, alarmed. “You’ll have to see a doctor. You don’t want it to get infected.”

“That’s okay—” he said, trying to shrug off the seriousness of the wound.

“No, you must.”

“I’m fine.”

“But you’re still bleeding. I’ll bandage it for you.” I dug my free hand into my purse and took out a pack of tissues. I applied a few tissues to his hand and unwound my scarf from around my neck. I could feel him staring at me as I tended to his wound. He examined my hair, my face, my lips. Gently, I wrapped the scarf around his hand and tucked in the ends.

We stood in the snow — in the middle of the woods, in the middle of Legend’s Run. Brandon Maddox’s hand in mine. Neither one of us was letting go.

“It’s kind of bulky,” I said, “but it will do for now.”

I felt so tired. Now, knowing someone was with me, that I wasn’t alone anymore and that I wasn’t hurt, my body started to cave in. Brandon reached out and steadied me with his good hand.

“I could have been—” I said, realizing the severity of the situation. “But you—”

It was hard for me to get past the image that plagued my mind — if Brandon hadn’t shown up when he did, I’d have been attacked by a pack of wolves. Instead, he had scared them off. But he’d been bitten.

“I’d take you to a doctor,” I said. “But I don’t even know where I am.”

Then Brandon smiled — a terminally seductive smile. The kind smiled by A-list movie stars. The kind that takes one’s breath away.

“I’ll show you,” he finally said.

I let go of his hand. As we started walking, the snowfall began to dwindle. I couldn’t feel my hands, my feet, my legs. They all seemed numb from the event, somehow moving on their own.

The flakes became smaller and eventually were more sporadic as we walked in silence. He escorted me through the woods valiantly, as if he knew this piece of land as well as his own home.

We reached the snow-covered road. A few cars passed by slowly, their tires splashing the wintry mix. I saw the roof of my house in the distance. I was closer to home than I’d thought.

“My house is just over there.” I pointed to my subdivision. I was so happy to see my house, I had to fight back tears. “I don’t know how to thank you. You… saved my life.”

I turned around to embrace my hero, but Brandon had already disappeared.

I arrived home breathless, spaced out, and chilled to the bone.

“There you are!” my mom said, relieved. “Where have you been?”

I must have looked like a roughed-up snow angel. If I’d been skiing, sledding, or snowboarding — none of which my friends had time for anymore, and Ivy never liked anyway — I would have had layers of clothing, puffy gloves, earmuffs, a knit hat, and a down-filled coat.

But this time I was caught in the snow by accident and wasn’t prepared for it.