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, recalling her wolf. She is by far one of the most gorgeous wolves I’ve ever seen – of course I’ll think that, she’s my mate, but even objectively she is remarkably beautiful. Her eyes alone stopped me dead in my tracks, but her coat…I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m sure no one else have either. A shimmering black-blue that flashes silver when she turns the light catches her the right way. I wonder if her human hair has the same quality. Goddess, I hope so.
My wolf is impatient. He wants to go back, get her, take her outside to run with us. I want to do the same thing, but I don’t think she’s quite ready for that yet. She hasn’t accepted what she is. It’s obvious, to me at least, that she’s been suppressing her wolf; it’s the only explanation for why her wolf was weak and why she’d take control like that.
The bathroom door opens and she steps into my room, wearing one of my shirts and a pair of my boxers. She looks adorable, and now that the grime has been washed from her face, I can see a splattering of freckles across her pixie nose. She flashes me a quick, uncomfortable grin. “It smells like you.”
My heart skips a beat. “What do I smell like?”
“You don’t know?” she asks, cocking her head at me, her eyebrows in a questioning arch.
“No, I mean, yes, but I will smell different to you…unique…my pheromones…it will be attractive to you.”
She blushes and averts her gaze.
Maya doesn’t sit next to me, opting to sit on the area rug at the foot of my queen size, crossing her shapely legs under her. Smiling, I slide to the floor and sit across from her leaning against the bed. “Want to know what you smell like to me?” I ask, hoping it will put her more at ease.
She nods, still shy and unable to meet my eyes.
“When I was a pup, there were these long pots of Nasturtiums on the balcony outside my room. Every morning, my mother would come into my room, open my windows and curtains to wake me up, as mothers do you know? When I started smelling the Nasturtiums on the breeze, I knew spring was on the way. That’s what you smell like to me. You smell like spring.”
She stares at me. I can’t read her facial expression, but now that she isn’t wearing the contacts I can see the sparkle in her eyes – I just don’t know what that sparkle means.
“Your turn,” I remind her.
“Oh.” She shakes herself as if coming out of a daze, blushing pink again. Goddess help me, I want to kiss her so bad. “You smell like rain…you know that moment before it starts? Exactly like that. And like the woods close to where I grew up. In summer, it smelled…like the earth. Like-like…fresh soil and green trees. I can’t explain it. And just a little hint of vanilla.”
“Vanilla, huh? That’s specific,” I say with a smile. “Do you have a special fondness for it?”
“Every Christmas, my younger siblings and I…we’d bake these vanilla cookies.” Her eyes fill with tears, and she starts biting into her lower lip so hard that she draws blood.
Quickly, without thinking about it, I lean over, grip her chin and pull her lip out from between her teeth. I didn’t want to see her cry or hurt herself. “I’m sorry,” I say, staring into her eyes.
She looks away from me, digging her own nails into her hands now. “Not your place to apologise for what they’ve done.”
I drag her hands apart. “Stop it. Stop hurting yourself. Come on.” I pull her up, and resist the urge to hug her again; I’m too afraid I won’t be able to control my wolf. “I’ll tuck you in.”
“Here?” she asks surprised, her eyes suddenly big and afraid. “With you?”
“Where else?” Her fear is palpable. “I’ll sleep on the couch. I won’t touch you, I promise.”
I can see she doesn’t believe me. Why would she? The only wolves she had contact with up until now were rogues, and if they gave in to their animal side, they were probably violent and, I hate to think about it but I have to, rapey.
She throws her hands in the air. “Well, I can’t leave, so...”
“Why can’t you leave? You’re not my prisoner.”
A small smile plucks at the corner of her mouth. “I promised my wolf…I’m too scared if I go back on my word she’ll take over my body again.”
“You do know you are the same being right? She is a part of you. She is not some separate entity you can push away and pretend doesn’t exist. If you embrace her as--”
“No,” Maya interrupts. “She is not a part of me. She destroyed my whole life.”
It’s too late, and she’s too tired for this conversation. “Okay--” I pull back the royal blue comforter --“hop in.”
She does as I ask, keeping a wary eye on me. I tuck the blankets in around her and stand back. “I’m going for a run,” I say. “My wolf needs to get out, and I need to think. You are safe here. No one will bother you.”
She yawns and rolls onto her side, away from me. “Okay,” she mumbles.
I stand there, watching her until her breathing evens out and she’s clearly asleep, before dashing from the house. Shedding my clothes at the edge of the forest, I shift and tear off into the woods with no clear idea where I’m going, or why I’m going there. I just know I need to run some of these new emotions and concerns out of my system.
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
I can’t believe I did that. I can’t believe I attacked the rogue. But when he was on top of Edric, trying to get at his throat, I lost all control. For just a moment, my wolf took over and she didn’t think twice. I regained control just in time, just before she could rip into that poor man’s throat. ~ Poor man? ~ my wolf asks angrily. ~ He tried to kill our mate. Rape us. ~ * He can’t help it. He’s crazy…feral. * Then Edric tells me to leave, and she really doesn’t like that suggestion one bit. It takes all my willpower to drag her away. I don’t want to leave him either. He shouldn’t have to deal with the feral wolf – he came for me after all, so I should the one that takes care of him. I want to listen to my wolf, want to give in to her demands – but I can tell by the look on Edric’s face that he really needs me to go. There aren’t many options that I can see. They can’t let him go, and they can’t keep him here. All that’s left is killing him, and I know wha
Edric's POV: Despite feeling like absolute dog shit about killing the rogue, I can’t help but laugh with joy when Maya throws herself into my arms. I didn’t expect it, but it doesn’t matter – having her in my arms eases some of the pain I feel about what I had to do. I hug her closely, feeling her bony little body shift and flow under mine. I’m slightly concerned about how thin she is, but I’ll make sure she eats from now on, fatten her up a bit. She slips out of my arms, but doesn’t step away. She looks up at me, her eyes soft, sympathetic, and oh Goddess, filled with so much understanding – like she knows exactly how I feel. She cups my cheek, sending sparks of electricity through my body. Does that ever go away? I’ll have to ask Luca. “Thank you,” she says. “For what?” I ask, genuinely confused. “For putting yourself between me and that guy…you know what he would have done if you weren’t--” “I know,” I interrupt quickly. I
I sit at the table next to Jolie, who is giving off some serious I hate you vibes, watching as the male wolves build what promises to be a truly spectacular bonfire. All I want to do is go back inside, away from all these people. I just want to be alone. It’s a lot for me, the constant movement, the never-ending laughing and talking, and strangers coming up to me to congratulate me on finding my mate. They didn’t even know me twelve hours ago, why do they care? Edric disappeared as soon as we were back, and I think it’s because I hurt his feelings. I reacted on instinct when he rolled on top of me – I knew, my wolf knew, that he wasn’t going to do anything to me, but I acted before I could think. However, I don’t think that’s what bugs him the most. It was the fact that I wouldn’t let him near me when we ran back. He tried to keep pace with me, wanted to run side by side, but every time he slowed down so I could catch up, I’d stop and wait for him to take the lead ag
A knock on the door wakes me. Edric’s gone again, leaving only his delicious scent behind. “Come in, I guess.” A young girl, maybe eighteen, walks into the room carry two massive paper shopping bags. “Good morning, Luna.” She smiles nervously. “Alpha Edric asked me to bring this up to you.” “Okay. Thank you,” I say trying to focus. “What time is it?” “Almost noon, Luna.” “Really? Shit. Why did no one wake me?” “Alpha Edric said you need your rest. He also said I have to make sure you eat.” The girl blushes a deep red as if she just told me some deep, dark, scandalous secret. “Alpha Edric can go fuck himself,” I grumble as I swing my legs off the bed. The young wolf looks shocked by my remark, but I guess she would be – she grew up in a pack. “Where is Alpha Edric now?” “In his office, Luna.” “Thank you…what’s your name?” “Jessica.” “Jessica. Thank you.” She beams at me, looking so pleased, and I