She was reading, hoodie up despite the puddled sunlight in the faculty cafe. A nervous student on her first day. He loomed over her, fracturing the light brutally. Craggy face, deep-set olive eyes. The smile was practised. 

I know about campus wolves, she thought dismissively. I’m here for a degree. You won’t snap me up. 

He sat down, uninvited. We’re on the same course, he said. 

Coolly, she discussed theoretical approaches. Thinking: she could deal with this over-confident man.

She got the degree. Put away the red hoodie.

The smiling wolf, tamed, shape-shifted into friend, lover, husband.

J S Rogers lives and writes in the beautiful Somerset Levels, England.