Leo

No, no, no, no, no. Please, no.

Please don’t be dead. She can’t be dead.

I look up the tree to see my mate sitting on a branch too high up for me to reach, even standing on my hind legs. Her eyes are closed and her head is tilted in an uncomfortable way. She’s beautiful, with grey hair, resembling liquid silver, alabaster skin resembling porcelain, slender body with long toned arms and legs, wearing only shorts and a sports bra. I sigh in relief hearing the sound of her heartbeat. She’s alive.

What breaks my heart, though, is how faint her heartbeat is and the smell of blood surrounding her, and the number of scars I notice on her body the longer I watch her. They vary in shape and size, but to leave permanent scars the wounds had to be quite serious. Some of the scars did not even fade; they’re black, as if not allowed to heal properly. What the hell has happened to her?

I look around to look for some sort of bag or anything she could’ve taken her things in, but there is nothing. Is what she wears all she has? Where did she come from? What is her name? Why is she barefoot and hurt? Why does she have those scars? What color are her eyes? The questions flood my mind, and before I know it, my wolf starts growling lowly, thinking about the hell my mate went through. I also notice another smell on her, one I really don’t like. It’s musky and masculine, which makes my wolf furious. A female only carries a male’s scent after mating. Did she give herself to another man? She’s supposed to be MINE!

My wolf starts snarling and growling in her direction, followed by the others.

The sound wakes her up and I sit on my rump to wait for her to analyze the situation she’s in and make a move. When she looks into my eyes, I feel the world stop. Her eyes are the most beautiful shade of silver and I can’t take my eyes of her.

When she calms down and sits on the branch, probably waiting for us to leave, I start scratching at the bark of the tree, wanting her to get down.

‘Come on, I have to get her down here. She’s hurt!’ I tell the guys and they join me and start scratching the tree too. With our combined effort we could possibly tear through the bark and collapse the tree, but I don’t want my mate hurt.

She seems to make a decision and we immediately stop scratching. She must've liked our reaction cause she carefully goes down another branch. We back up a little to give her some space. Then she goes down another one, and we sit down to put her at ease. She stays careful, though, staying out of our reach.

My body tenses in anticipation, but at the same time I’m terrified of scaring her. Does she even know about werewolves? What if she doesn’t? How do I explain it to her? We would have to wait until the next full moon in few weeks to even be able to talk. Would she stay with a pack of wolves with no people around for weeks, though?

I stop my inner monologue when I see her getting down to the ground. As soon as she sets a foot on the ground, she winces, which causes my wolf to snarl and growl at the state of her feet.

She quickly scrambles back on the tree, and I almost whimper. ‘You scared her, dipshit!’ I scold my wolf, Demon. ‘I didn’t mean to!’ he snarls at me in my head.

I start scratching the tree again, encouraging her to come down again.

She seems deep in thought for few seconds. When she looks down, I immediately know that she’s going to get down and take few steps back.

Once she’s safely on the ground, the others go around her to not let her get back on the tree and she’s left with only me in front of her.

I carefully go towards her. She’s not backing away, that’s a good sign. When she’s cornered between me and the tree I quietly press my forehead to hers and simply relish the contact of my mate.

I snuggle into her hair and breathe in her scent. The masculine scent I smelled earlier is nonexistent in her hair, so I try to locate it by sniffing around her. I move my head so my nose is in the crook of her neck, where my mark would be.

Then I remember her bleeding feet and step back to look at her. The weird masculine scent hits me again. My wolf is livid now. My whole body goes rigid trying to locate the source of the smell. I look down at her feet again, growling lowly. How did that happen? The state of her legs is beyond concerning, but she acts as if it’s nothing.

‘We could let her ride us, so she wouldn’t have to walk. I certainly don’t mind having her body on mine’, my wolf offers with a smirk.

I almost snort out loud at that. ‘Yeah, and do you think she would simply get on a wolf’s back? She most likely doesn’t know about werewolves, how am I supposed to convince her that we’re not going to hurt her? How am I going to treat her wounds without my fucking HANDS?!’ I lose my temper and yell at Demon in my head, getting him to shut up.

‘Guys, we’re taking my mate with us.’

‘But she’s human!’ Mason exclaims in shock.

‘So what!’ I boom at him. What is wrong with her being a human? It’s been so long since we had a natural mating, not an arranged one. Besides, I’m the Alpha, so her being my mate means she’s rightfully my Luna, the Alpha Female, meaning she’s to be respected the same way I am.

‘Damn right she’s my Luna. He better shut his mouth or I will shut it for him’, Demon agrees. He’s been waiting for a mate his whole life, just like I was, so I know he’s not going to give her up.

‘Of course I’m not, idiot. She’s mine and it’s going to stay that way!’ He screams in my head.

‘Give me control, Leo, I want my mate.’ Demon demands. We get along pretty well, so I don’t really have problem with us switching places.

‘Okay, but don’t do anything rash. We don’t want to scare her away, got it?’ I try to make sure we are on the same page about it.

‘I’m not stupid, you little fuck. I love her; I’m not going to hurt her!’ Demon argues. To say I’m shocked would be an understatement. Love? Isn’t it too early for that?

‘Already? That’s a bit-’

‘What? She’s my mate! We’re destined to be with her! She may not have a wolf for me to be with, but I’m still hers, as she is mine.’

‘OURS.’ I remind him.

‘Yeah, yeah, ours.’