The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress
Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallow'ed ground

All Sybil could think about was the woods.

Her dreams haunted her in both the sleeping and the waking world, always the same each time. Always her wolf, his jet-black fur swaying gently in the autumn wind as he looked at her and begged her to follow him with those deep amber eyes of his. Always that feeling of freedom as she ran away with him, deeper and deeper into the chilled autumn woods, feeling that with every step she was casting off her old life and leaving it behind forever…Always that same feeling of disappointment when she woke up and realized that her dream was just that—a dream. A vision, a fantasy, nothing more.

Always that same feeling of emptiness when she awoke.

The rest of her family was beginning to notice, Sybil knew. It would have been impossible for them not to. All day long she gazed out at the grounds of Downton, pacing restlessly through the halls like some sort of caged animal, jumping out of her skin at every attempt to speak to her. She haunted the servants' hall like a ghost, desperate for any information on the chauffeur, still missing for nearly a week now. Her grandmother was more than fed up with her and her parents had taken to watching her with worried looks, no doubt wondering whether or not Sybil was losing her mind. Perhaps she was. Sybil hardly cared. All that mattered anymore was Tom, her Tom, disappeared in the night without so much as a note…and her wolf. She saw him all the time now, whether she was awake or asleep, his face now as familiar to her as her own reflection. Somehow, the wolf had known who she was…

"Papa?" she had asked her father the day before when he'd caught her standing in the middle of the library, staring unblinkingly out onto the grounds below. "There aren't any…wolves in the forest outside of Downton, are there?"

He had stared at her as if she'd suddenly grown an extra head. "Don't be ridiculous, darling," he had told her slowly. "Of course not. Why would you even ask such a thing?"

She'd left without responding.

"I don't understand it," Sybil had heard her father say to her mother now as she passed by their bedroom. The dressing gong had been rung already, but Sybil had no desire to change for dinner when there was still so much on her mind. "It's not like her at all. They say she's still hung up about Branson's disappearance, but that still doesn't explain why she's so…unsettled. He's just a chauffeur…"

Sybil didn't understand it either. How could she possibly explain the connection she hadn't even known she'd shared with Tom, a connection so deep that every day that passed with no word from him was like a knife twisting into her heart? How could she explain the restless, giddy feeling her limbs would get as she recalled what it was like to run with the wolf, making her want to dart right out the door and never be seen again? The way she felt so drawn to the woods, like a moth to a flame…

Cora said something Sybil could not entirely make out, although she thought she detected a slight tremble in her mother's voice as if she were holding back tears. "She's frightening me…"

I'm frightening them, all because I'm acting differently…because I am different. I don't belong here. I never have. I belong…

Sybil's heart nearly stopped beating.

Everything seemed so clear now.

She belonged with her wolf.

She stood there, stock-still as she stared out the window towards the forest. The sun was going down, slipping behind the clouds and bathing the world in the eerie glow of twilight. Far off in the distance, Sybil thought she might have heard the faintest rumble of thunder. From behind a few of the taller trees, she saw the moon beginning to rise. Her blood roared in her ears, her heart racing now as her entire body trembled. Now more than ever, she was drawn towards the woods. She didn't care if she was mad, or if her family would lock her away in some far-off asylum when they finally found her again. All she cared about was him, and finding out the truth.

Sybil broke into a run.

She was flying again, just like she had done in her dream, only now it was down the stairs of the Abbey and out the front door. On the way someone might have called her name, but Sybil did not dare turn around, afraid that if she did she would allow herself to change her mind. She was too far down this rabbit hole to stop now. Her dreams had to mean something, and she was determined to find out what.

She kicked off her shoes when one of her heels threatened to trip her, wishing she could tear her stockings from her feet and feel the tickle of grass on her bare skin…

Well, a little voice in her head said as she slowed to a stop, why don't you?

Her family already thought her wild and untamed. She had just run away from home—literally—to go searching for a wolf that she wasn't even sure was real. What did it matter what she wore any longer?

She reached down and all bit ripped the stockings from her body, continuing on in bare feet. She ran until her feet ached and her lungs burned, each step once again taking her farther and farther away from the life that had bound her back at Downton Abbey. With each step she felt the pins fall out of her hair, scattering on the grass, never to be seen again. Good riddance to them. Her hair streamed down her back now, unbridled and untamed.

Just like her.

Under the cover of the forest it was cooler, the waning sunlight unable to penetrate the ground through the trees. Sybil slowed down, not wanting to miss her wolf in her haste. Her blood still roared in her ears, her breathing heavy as she padded through the forest. The long skirts of her dress dragged on the ground, catching leaves in its wake and snagging on fallen branches. Sybil heard the fabric tear gently but did not dare turn around, afraid that the moment she did she would miss her wolf. "Hello?" she called softly, the sound echoing through the woods. "I'm here…"

Just like you wanted.

A gust of wind blew through the trees, pushing Sybil's hair forward off her shoulders as she continued. She shivered, wishing she'd remembered to bring a coat…and that's when she heard it. A snap of a tree branch up ahead, a faint whimper…and then a tuft of black as it disappeared behind a tree.

You found me.

"Please don't go," Sybil whispered as she took a tiny step forward. The whimpering noises continued, growing louder, but just like in her dream Sybil found that she was not afraid. If anything, the noises struck her as pitiful, each one seeming to go straight through her heart. "I won't hurt you," she promised as she approached the tree where her wolf had fled. "Please don't go, I've come all this way…"

She stepped around the tree, and her wolf was gone. Where the wolf should have been, there instead crouched a man—a very handsome, very dirty, and very naked man. A man that she knew well.

"Tom?" she whispered.

Slowly, he stood up, trembling a little with exertion. Sybil, without thinking, immediately darted forward to help him up, her hands on his bare shoulders. The heat of his flesh almost burned her, so shocking it was, but Sybil knew it wasn't just his temperature that made her gasp. She stared at him, a heat rising to her cheeks as she took in the full sight of him before her. She knew that this was not proper, that she ought to look away, and yet she could not tear her eyes from the sight of his broad, bare shoulders, the planes and contours of his chest…part of him that she had never even dared herself to imagine now on display for her to see. He stared right back, and she wondered what she must look like to him—hair a mess and tumbling down her back, legs bare beneath her dress, which was torn and stained, dirt smeared across her normally flawless face. He must think her a fright…never knowing that to Tom's eyes, she was a goddess of the forest, more beautiful now than he had ever seen her before.

As she let her eyes sweep up his form again, they locked onto his, and in that moment, Sybil knew.

"It was you," she whispered, recognizing the same look in his eyes now as she had seen in her dream. The wolf was gone and Tom stood in his place…but it was still him. He was both, both the wolf who had haunted her dreams and the chauffeur she hadn't even realized that she was falling for until it was too late. It was Tom. It was him.

Slowly, he nodded, his eyes still locked onto hers. "Aye," he whispered. "You…you found me." His heart raced. There was only one reason she would have found him…only one reason why she could…

They stared at each other, breathing heavily, neither of them daring to move. And then…

And then Sybil stepped forward, and her lips were on his. Tom's eyes widened for just a moment before his arms came around her, crushing her to him as he kissed her back, reveling in the sweet taste of her and the feel of her in his arms. His hands tangled through her mass of curly hair as she gripped his shoulders to bring him closer, kissing him as if trying to drink him in. His tongue gently parted her lips, making Sybil gasp as they continued. He tasted of earth and rain, of the forest he'd spent the last days hiding away in, waiting for her to come and find him. He tasted of hope and horror and mysteries that Sybil could not wait to begin to unravel, and she combed her fingers through his hair, wishing the kiss never had to end. When she finally pulled away to gasp for breath, Tom's forehead rested against hers, their bodies still pressed to each other as if they would wither away without the other's touch.

"Come with me," Tom whispered. She looked up at him, a question in her eyes. "I'll explain everything, Sybil, I promise. Just come with me. We can be together for real, I promise. I won't let anyone take you away from me. You just have to trust me…"

"Tom…"

He took hold of her shoulders, making her look into his eyes. "Sybil," he whispered. "It all comes down to whether or not you love me. The rest is detail."

Slowly, she nodded.

Tom grinned and took her hand, lacing her fingers through his. "Then come with me."

Together they took off running through the forest, leaving the shadow of Downton Abbey behind them forever. At first Sybil struggled to keep up, but soon she was matching stride with Tom as the forest flew past them. She laughed, this time one of delight instead of the wild one of her dreams, and looked over to find Tom smiling at her. She loved this man. Beast or human, monster or not, she loved Tom Branson, and wherever he was taking her, she would follow him to the ends of the earth. She would not give him up, not now, not for anything.

The next time she looked down, she realized something. Her bare legs, covered in scratches and dirt from the forest floor, had vanished. In their place were four snow-white paws.

In unison, the two wolves threw their heads back and howled.

Author's Note: And there we go! Thanks so much to my readers, and for YankeeCountess and Shana-Rose who requested that I do a follow up to the previous chapter! I hope you've enjoyed this little tale. And, of course...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!