“Is it her?”
My eyes snap open. I look around, confused. Where am I? What time is it? Then I remember the two werewolves from the pub, and getting into the Beta’s car. After that, I can’t remember much, except that I fell asleep.
I guess we have reached our destination. And they just left me here in the car. Alone.
A slow grin spreads across my face as I lean over and grab my pack before opening the door. The loud click of the latch echoes through the woods, and the two werewolves turn to look at the car. I quickly close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.
When I dare to peak at them again, I see the tall blonde one, Luca, looking straight at the car while he keeps talking to an even taller, dark-haired werewolf standing with his back to me. Luca puts his arm around the brunette’s shoulders and leads him away from the car.
They have their heads close together, deep in a whispered conversation. Now is my chance. I ease the door open and jump out. I pick a direction and start running. It doesn’t matter where I go, I just need to get out of their territory.
I don’t get far, but I don’t give up. I keep running, even though I can hear one of the wolves right behind me. I keep running, even when I can feel his breath in my neck. I don’t stop, I won’t stop, not until he makes me. The werewolf tackles me from behind, bringing me down.
Two things happen at once. I feel the most pleasurable cascade of electricity pass through my body, and I land with a hard thump that knocks the air from my lungs. He lies on top of me, pinning me down. “Stay,” he growls in my ear.
I can’t move anyway. The man is massive; easily three times my size. Even if I shift to my wolf form now, I’ll get nowhere fast – he’ll just run me down again. He spins me round and stares at me. I gasp. He has the most remarkable eyes – I’ve never seen anything like it. Gold. He has golden eyes. “Mate,” he whispers in a deep, dark baritone. It’s arguably the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard.
“The what now?” I ask. “You want to mate? Well forget it buddy, I don’t just throw my legs open on a male’s say-so.”
I start kicking and scratching and biting, trying to get out from under him. His response is to hold me down tighter, pushing me hard into the ground. He gives me a confused look, a small frown creasing his otherwise smooth brow. “Stop it,” he orders, “I did not say I want to mate. I said mate, as in my mate.”
I stop fighting. I’m too tired and weak to keep it up anyway. “Right.” I have no idea what he’s talking about, and I don’t care. It’s werewolf business, and wolf business has nothing to do with me. Instead, I put my hands against his chest and push as hard as I can. “Can’t breathe, buddy,” I gasp.
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Lithely, he jumps to his feet, and before I can say or do anything, he picks me up and plants me feet first back on the earth. “Are you hurt?” he asks with real concern in his voice.
I can listen to him talk all day. “No.”
He keeps looking at me like he has never seen a she-wolf before. Not that I mind too much, he’s a handsome devil. In fact, he’s the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. Tall and broad-shouldered, with an athletic body, floppy dark brown hair that’s currently obscuring his amazing eyes. And his mouth…now that is what I call a kissable mouth.
“Edric Payne,” he says with a smile, wiping the hair out of his face with a massive hand. "Alpha of the Mountain Fire pack."
“I figured,” I answer, still staring at him. “Maya Anderson.” I might as well tell him my name, since I’m sure Luca already informed him anyway. It’s just a formality, really.
“Do you like what you see, Maya?” he asks, devils dancing mischievously in his golden eyes.
I shake myself back to reality. This is a bad idea. I can’t go falling in love. Can’t afford to get distracted. I need to get out of this pack’s territory, back to the human areas where I’ll be safer.
Edric still gazes at me, his Adam’s apple bopping up and down as he keeps swallowing. I stare at his neck, absolutely mesmerised.
And all this time, the Alpha just stands there, watching me, a smile on his full lips. God, he’s beautiful: with those high cheekbones and straight nose, perfectly framed against the light of the half-moon.
No, no, no, this is very bad. I can’t think clearly with him just standing there, looking like he can’t believe I exist. I have to get away. Leave. Right now.
Without thinking, I turn around and start running. My wolf chooses exactly this moment to make herself known.
She tries to nudge me back to Edric, begs me to turn around, and this time she won’t be ignored.
* No! * I tell her sternly. * You know what males can do to us! *
~ He is our mate, ~ she answers. ~ He won’t hurt us. Go back! ~
I have no idea what that means. Our mate. It doesn't matter, what matters is that he's a male. * He will. Be quiet.*
I’m so busy arguing with my wolf, that I don’t look where I’m going. A tree comes out of nowhere, and I run smack-bang right into it, flipping backwards, hitting my head on a rock. “Hey,” I say, dazed and confused. “Where did that tree come from?”
The last thing I see before I black out, are Edric’s golden eyes.
Edric's POVI kneel next to my mate, inspecting her head wound. Blood pours from the broken skin, seeping into the ground. Her scent mixed with the coppery tang of her blood is driving my wolf insane. Taking my t-shirt off, I press it against her wound and mind-link our pack doctor, Clarke, to tell him he needs to go to the clinic right away. I pick Maya up from the ground, holding her tightly against my chest. She weighs almost nothing – poor thing was just a bit of bone and skin. I wonder when last she had a decent meal. My wolf is concerned and elated at the same time. ~ Finally. Our mate. ~ * Yes, yes, calm down, * I tell him. ~ She’s unwell. ~ * I know, bud, we’ll get her sorted out. * Earlier, when I chased her down, I almost lost control of him completely. He caught her scent when she exited the car, and he had one goal. To get to our mate. He would have claimed her there and then if I hadn’t stopped him. At twenty-five, I am still without a mate. It’s rare in our world, b
Edric's POV: Jolie comes sauntering into the room, carrying an instrument tray laden with antiseptics, gauze, and bandages. She’s busy training to take over from Doctor Lewiston one day, and honestly my father couldn’t be prouder. If my mother were still alive, she’d be bursting out of her skin with joy. Since she came from a rich family, she always wanted Jolie to be more than ‘just’ a Beta’s mate. “Doc sent me to dress your wounds,” she tells Maya and put down the tray. “My name is Jolie, I’m this one’s sister— “she jabs a finger in my direction -- “and Luca’s mate.” “Hello.” Maya gives her a small, joyless smile, but relaxes visibly, the tension draining from her face. She is clearly much more comfortable around females. My sister looks at me, and I wait for the mind-link, because it’s so very obvious that she has a hundred questions, but she doesn’t do it. “I suppose asking you to leave would be pointless?” “Yes.” I’m going nowhere. My wolf will tear me apart – figuratively sp
A young werewolf, maybe about sixteen, came by with a tray full of food. I ate very little, because these days I’m never hungry anymore. Edric tried to get me to eat more, but I managed maybe half a plate, if that. Later, Doc came by, handing me two pills, which I took without even thinking about it. Usually, I’d question anything and everything werewolves did, but for some reason I trusted these wolves. Especially Edric, even though he has given me absolutely no reason to trust him…but then, he didn’t give me any reason to mistrust him. I don’t really know what happened. I fell asleep an hour later, and when I woke up, I wasn’t in human form anymore. My wolf took control while I slept. I didn’t even know she could do that. Shifting hurts – not as much as it did the first time, but I still feel it every time. You’d think I’d have woken up when I shifted, but I didn’t. I slept through the whole thing. I look at Edric through my wolf’s eyes. He’s sittin
Edric's POV: I put clean clothes, a new toothbrush, and hairbrush in the bathroom, watching Maya’s silhouette play against the shower curtain, catching a faint whiff of her blood mixing with the water. It takes all my self-control to keep my wolf at bay – he wants to jump into the shower and take her, something I will never allow. ~ Mate, ~ he pants. * No, * I say sternly, and quietly slip from the bathroom. For a moment I consider going back down to the clinic to look for her contact lenses, but decide against it. As much as I want to hide her true identity from the rest of the pack I can’t do it. It would be unconscionable. They deserve to know what and who she is – it will affect them as much as it will affect me. For the first time in four decades, our pack may have to go to war. I didn’t exactly relish the idea, but such is the way with destinies – they’re never what we want them to be, are they? I stare off into the distance, re
I am sure Edric came back some time during the early morning hours, but he’s not here when I wake up. I can smell his scent lingering in the air, and I find clean clothes hanging in the bathroom. A dress. I pull a disgusted face at the outfit. I haven’t worn a dress since my sixteenth birthday party, almost five years ago if I have my dates right, and the thought of wearing the frilly, flowery monstrosity fill me with a strange kind of anxiety. I used to love getting dolled up in pretty dresses. My mother helping me to do my hair and make-up, always smiling proudly when we were done, telling me how beautiful I looked. My little sister sitting on the bed, watching me with big, awestruck eyes, saying, “One day, I want to be just like you, Maya.” Thinking about my mother makes me angry, and the memory of my sister fills me with sadness and longing. She’ll be about twelve now – I wonder if she still thinks about me. If she remembers me at all, and still wants to be like
Edric's POV: Our pack members start arriving one after the other, all of them in wolf form. Most live on the mountain property, and running is just easier than driving. Besides, no wolf I know will pass up the opportunity to shift and let their wolf run free. Well, except for the one by my side. The wolves that live in the town in the shadow of the mountain will be the last to arrive; they usually drive part of the way and shift when they’re away from human eyes. About ninety percent of the town’s population are werewolves and the humans are blissfully unaware of this fact. Maya’s nervous, her body coiled like a too tight spring, ready to let go and run off at any moment. As our pack members disappear into the woods to shift back to human form, she moves closer to me. Without even thinking about it, I put my arm around her, and to my surprise, she leans into me, resting her head against my shoulder. The feeling of bliss I experience w
Ignoring my broken toes, I hobble deeper into the woods with Edric by my side, my heart nearly banging out of my chest. Why did I agree to shift? Of course, my wolf is elated – I don’t blame her, she rarely gets a chance to be herself, but I’m already regretting my decision. Who knows what she’ll do when I’m forced to the background and she takes control? When we can’t hear the laughter and talking of the gathered pack anymore, Edric stops and turns to me. “What do you usually do when you shift? Do you take clothes with you, or go back to the place where you shifted before you turn back to human?” “Huh?” He chuckles softly. “Most of us will carry clothes with us – so we don’t walk around naked when we shift back to human form. We’ll shift back when we get to…where we’re going, so I think you should bring your clothes with.” “How?” I’m starting to realise that not only do I know nothing about being part of a pack or werewolf society, I also kno
Edric's POV: I smell the rogue minutes after turning my back on Maya. I don’t know how to communicate to her that the asshole is watching us. This is not a rogue looking for refuge, as so many of our other ex-rogues tended to do; this one is dangerous. He’s the very kind of wolf she keeps running into – one that’s more beast than man. Very casually, as if I don’t know he’s there, I pull my t-shirt over my head and start moving backwards to Maya. I don’t want to scare her, but we haven’t marked each other yet, so we don’t share a connection. I can’t mind-link her. The moment I let her know what’s going on, I shift and turn, relieved to see that she followed my advice. Her magnificent wolf shimmers in the sunlight, and this really sends the rogue over the edge of what little reason he has left. He comes crashing through the forest like a deranged animal, which I guess he kind of is, forgetting about me and going straight for Maya. He’ll