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I awoke out of a dead sleep, sometime in the middle of the night. Not because I'd heard a sound. Quite the opposite, in fact... 
                          
The forest had gone quiet. Eerily quiet... I leaned forward on my branch slightly and strained my ears. Something wasn't right. Goosebumps broke out on my forearms and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as uneasiness crept along my skin. 
                          
I squinted through the darkness, scanning the forest floor below, but I couldn't see anything. I pressed my head back against the tree and tried to keep my breathing slow and even. I imagined that I was part of the tree. Invisible... 
                          
If I stayed calm and quiet, I would be fine. Whatever it was would not notice me. It would pass through, blind to the girl in the tree, and I would be just fine. 
                          
Five minutes passed. The forest remained silent. Sleepiness tugged at my eyelids, weighing them down, and I thought I might drift off again. 
                          
After another five minutes of quiet, I lost my battle with exhaustion. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the tree, sighing to myself. 
                          
"There you are." 
                          
A sudden voice from directly in front of me sliced through the stillness like a blade. I jumped in surprise and snapped my eyes open wide. I nearly fell off the branch and grabbed at the sides of the tree to keep my balance. 
                          
Someone... Or something... was perched on the same branch as me, about five feet away. I couldn't see them clearly through the thick blanket of night, but the shadowy silhouette was humanoid. And quite large. 
                          
"I knew I smelled a human in my forest." A silky smooth, male voice purred. 
                          
I fumbled for my belt, desperate to grab my hunting knife. I doubted it would be of much help, but I needed some form of protection against this... this... whatever he was. 
                          
But he was too fast. 
                          
I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut, as he lunged for me. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them roughly against the bark above my head. My legs, which had been dangling over either side of the branch, were rendered useless as he maneuvered himself in front of me. He swung his legs down, mirroring my position, and wrapped them around the back of my calves. He locked his ankles together behind my legs, pinning me in place. 
                          
When I opened my eyes again, I found the male's face only inches away from my own. My eyes widened as I scanned him. 
                          
He was handsome. Around the same age as me. His eyes were as black as the night sky above us and his wild, chin length hair was slate grey, like granite. His features were sharp and angular, matching his long, narrow face. His teeth were unusually long and sharp, like needles. His build was lean, but muscled. 
                          
But the most alarming feature about him was his ears. His wolf ears, which occasionally twitched or rotated backward on top of his head. What the hell was he?! 
                          
"Ah, ah, ah... You won't be needing your silly little weapons anymore, love." He said in a mockingly sweet tone. He gathered my wrists in one hand and then used his other one to relieve me of my knife and bow. "You're a pretty thing, aren't you?" He tossed my weapons over the side of the branch and they plummeted to the forest below. I heard them land with two, dull thuds.