Wolves of Winter

By Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

June has always known there was something unusual about her boyfriend. But it takes an unexpected encounter on the city streets to make her realize exactly how unusual he is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201823986

Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Donald Jacob Uitvlugt lives on neither coast of the United States, but mostly in a haunted memory palace of his own design. His short fiction has appeared in numerous print and online venues, including Cirsova magazine and in the Flame Tree Press anthology Murder Mayhem. He also writes the on-going webserial Jiao Tu’s Endeavour, the first story arc of which has been collected in the volume The Kidnapped Mousling. Donald strives to write what he calls “haiku fiction,” stories small in scale but big in impact. If you’ve enjoyed “The King of Cats,” let him know. The easiest way is through Twitter, where he can be found under the handle @haikufictiondju

Book preview

autumn moon

rising above the skyscrapers

the cry of a wolf

She makes her way carefully, sticking to the shadows. She has lived in this place for many years. Her bones ache. She longs for the open places and the wooded places, not this wilderness of glass and steel and concrete. Yet this place is home, it has been ever since he came.

She smells him on the air, not knowing exactly where he is. It is enough to know that he is near. The moon attempts to shine down the straight-walled canyons of the place. It can be seen, but barely. Its silver song is but a faint echo. She breathes deeply of the moonlight. Soon. His time is coming soon. She has waited to see it, and now that it is here...

She throws her head back and adds her cry to the song of the moon.

*   *   *

It’s embarrassing though. To go to the bathroom first thing. Anywhere we go. June pushed her glasses up her nose, ran fingers through her mop of brown hair. She’d always hated her hair. Hated her whole appearance. Mousy, with the black-rimmed glasses, and the dark, baggy clothes worn like insulation from the world. She had spent all Sunday morning cleaning her apartment and was unwinding on the phone with Alana, her best friend. Waiting for her boyfriend to get home.

Well, I suppose it is like he’s marking his territory. And no, it’s not at all funny!

June’s face turned red, and not because of her friend’s gentle teasing. She often blushed when she thought about Remy. There were times he drove her crazy, and the bathroom thing was the least of it. He was so smart, though he didn’t have a degree. He insisted on making a living busking on the street. He was unpredictable and moody. Wild as the weather. And wonderful. He had chosen her. Out of all the women he could have had, for whatever strange reason, he had chosen her. June wasn’t going to let him go.

June found herself looking at her watch. She talked a little about her writing and Alana’s painting, not really paying attention.

"What? A wolf, here in