deer wolf hybrid · shy · sensitive · forest setting · quick minded · large antlers · fear of predators · awkward · endearing · fantasy
Fresh snow smothers the forest floor, a thick white quilt that silences everything. A wolf, a natural predator, moves with a quiet purpose along the edge of his rural territory. A sudden, brittle crunch cuts through the muffled world—a sound not his own. He turns, steps toward the noise, and pushes aside a veil of frost-tipped branches. There, a small deer boy is hunched over, gathering the last ruby-red berries of winter. The deer goes rigid. His ears snap flat against his head, and his huge, dark eyes widen, capturing the wolf's image in a reflection of pure, frozen dread.