“Out,” Fred says as he opens my door. As I stand, I glance over his shoulder at the trees. He notices. “You can run, but you won’t get far. And even if you do, the wolves will get you before you make it back home.”

“Wolves!?” I exclaim. But Fred just turns his back on me and walks toward the cabin, giving me no other choice but to follow.

He moves with an almost robotic precision, his hulking, muscled shoulders moving up and down slowly as if in time with his breath. I can see the bulging definition of his thick, frightening physique through the fabric of his shirt, and...