(Devon POV)
I huffed in annoyance as I trotted through the forest that I have been calling home for the past month as I saw another track of a human. These humans thought they were so stealthy and sly as they moved around the forest, my domain. I had yet to see a human in the forests but the signs that they had been here were everywhere. As long as they weren't hunters then I was fine though; and not regular hunters, the hunters of the supernatural.
As a werewolf I had to look out for the hunters, as did the vampires, fairies and so on and so forth. The fairies had it good with being able to manipulate their sizes so they could become small and stay unseen easier, while I was a huge wolf half of the time. At least I looked human when I shifted, that was a privilege that not all supernatural beings had. Like the Gollum's, who were giant rock creatures but they had the mind of a human. Though, all of the Gollum's could be killed off for all I care, for I have yet to meet a kind Gollum.
I trudged on as I continued to mark the forest as mine. I did this by rubbing against some of the trees, and for others of them I left large scratches along the trunks with my long claws. It was a slow process but it was one that had to be done. The rest of my pack was going to be showing up today and I had to make sure that the land was safe and claimed so that if any other supernaturals wondered in they would know that this land was already claimed.
Continuing on I got into a good rhythm. Rub, slash, and move on. Rub, slash, and move on. It was weary work and work that was meant not to be done alone, but the more scents of my pack in the area, the better. Others will keep away better if there is more wolves. That is a known fact. There are barely any weres remaining in the world and that is mostly due to the hunters. We are the most powerful of all of the supernaturals, only being rivaled by the vampires, so we are the most targeted.
We also can't reproduce as fast as the vampires. All it takes is a bite, and a blood transfusion and BOOM, another vampire, while weres can only be born from other weres. It only takes one were parent to make a were child, though if a werewolf has a werewolf mate the chances of a werewolf pup are 100%. Weres can not have pups, or children at all, if their partner is a human but not their mate, but if a werewolf has a human mate the two can have children regardless of the gender of the two.
Sighing dreamily at the thought of pups of my own I continued on gloomily now. I have yet to find my mate, and others in my pack have already started finding theirs. Werewolf's and their mates live longer then humans, usually about eight hundred years, and I was only one hundred and twenty so I still had a while to search. The minimum age you can find your mate is fifty, and I have been searching ever since.
Shaking my head of those thoughts I continued my work. I needed to get this done before the pack got here or else we would all be in danger. I just hope the hunters don't know that we are in this forest; we have been doing such a good job at avoiding them.
"We just need a place to settle down as as a pack." My wolf said to me. My wolf was a large grey wolf, about 5'7", and one of his ears was white. His name is Asher, and I am Devon. In my opinion we were a really stunning wolf. "I have a good feeling about this place. There is something different about here then the other places we've been to, but I can't put my finger on it."
"That's because you don't have fingers stupid," I retorted cheekily.
"Shut up Devon, you know what I mean. Just focus on what you're doing, we are pretty deep into the woods and we haven't ever been here before," he advised me.
"I'm an Alpha male werewolf and a hundred and twenty years old." I told him exasperated. "What could possibly hurt me?"
"HUNTERS!" Asher yelled in my head.
"Yah, yah, I know. Hunters are the exception," I replied dryly.
"No, there are hunters in the woods! I can smell them but I don't know where they are," Asher told me quickly.
I immediately went on the alert and jumped into the bushes, scanning the area. I held my breath and listened closely. After a second I picked the faint sound of footsteps and they were coming closer to me. I couldn't fight a hunter alone! Hunters never travel alone, so there was at least three hunters in the forest. My only hope was to hide.
As I hid the footsteps got closer and closer to me until the hunter walked right in front of my hiding spot. He walked right by and gave no indication that he had seen me. I listened to his footsteps until I was a hundred percent sure that he was no longer in my area before I spoke to Asher again.
"What do you think we should do?" I asked him.
"Well, that hunter isn't from the group that has been hunting us, so I don't think that they know we are here." I agreed with him on that point. The hunters that were hunting us were elites. All elite hunters had a special badge that they had to wear at all times where everyone could see so that others knew to either get out of the way, or get killed. The elite hunters were only sent out after werewolves, and where there are werewolves and hunters there is going to be a big fight. "We haven't been here long enough for them to know we are here. I think he was just a routine sweep and will be gone in the morning," Asher finished.
I sighed in relief and left my hiding spot and continued on. It was even more important to mark the territory now. I didn't want to have to deal with hunters AND other supernaturals. I now picked up my pace and was rushing to get this done so I could get back to the house and double check that it was all ready for the pack to show up. I was running and leaping and working as fast as I could while still being productive. I jumped into a particularly big leaf pile by accident and when I did there was a loud SNAP and a searing pain ran up my left leg. I collapsed to the ground and skidded through the leaves; I didn't yelp or cry out though. I didn't know how close the hunters were now and I was in even more danger then I was before.
I started panting slightly in pain and looked down at my paw. The bear trap was clamped firmly down and my paw was already starting to swell. I didn't know how bad the damage was and I wouldn't until I got the bear trap off, but I had a problem.
I couldn't shift.
With the bear trap on my paw it made it impossible to shift without guaranteeing the loss of my foot, and I really didn't want that. The one good thing that happened though was that when it clamped on my leg I was still moving forward so when it got my leg the chain that connected it to the ground broke, so at least I could move if I really needed to.
And I really needed to. If there was a bear trap here then that meant that the hunters were going to come back soon, and I did not need that. I hauled myself up and limped a little distance away before I collapsed in a small clearing surrounded by tall bushes. I looked at my paw for a moment before I slowly started to lick it. I was really careful because I didn't want to hurt it worse, but werewolf's saliva has healing properties in it that don't heal wounds immediately but it helps speed up and for each werewolf their saliva only works on themselves and their mate.
As I licked my paw I heard another snap of a bear trap, and close. Without thinking I let out a growl but cut it off after a second. If this is a hunter then I'm screwed. I sat in silence for a few minutes and waited.
"I think we're ok" Asher told me. "If it were a hunter they would have come over here already, or we would have heard them. The hunters may be strong but they are not very well equipped in the silence department. They like to make a big show about killing supernaturals. Especially werewolf's," Asher snarled to me.
"I agree," I told him. "It was probably a rabbit or something." I went back to licking my paw but I was more alert now, so when I heard the gasp my ears pricked up and I growled loud and low in my chest. I was soooo in trouble. There was defiantly someone watching me, I was sure of it now. I just wasn't sure quite where. Seeming out of nowhere a boy came out of the bushes in front of me.
He was beautiful, and defiantly not a hunter. He had none of the clothes, weapons, or markings of a hunter. He was small, about 5'5"-5'6", and had short brown hair with beautiful deep green eyes. His clothes were way too light for this weather I noticed; and I could see the goose bumps on his arms. I unconsciously lowered the volume of my growl as I watched him emerge fully from the bush.
"What do you think of him Asher?" I asked Asher.
Silence
"Asher?" I tried again, "Come on man, don't give me the silent treatment now. I need you to talk to me!" I pleaded.
"T-there is something strange about him," I heard him mutter silently.
He held his hands out in front of him and spoke. "Hey, it's ok," he said in a soft heavenly voice. I almost melted in adoration right there, and that confused me more then anything. What the hell was going on with me?
I tried to stand up again because I was still cautious of him. Why was he this deep in the forest this late at night, and in the winter no less? Was he actually a hunter? I tried to stand up but when I put pressure on my paw I couldn't help but collapse back to the ground.
I was still growling when the boy spoke again."Shhhh, it's ok. I'm here to help. I wont hurt you." He lowered himself to the ground and started to crawl towards me. For some reason I wasn't scared of him, but I wanted him to come closer to me. I was so confused. What was I thinking? The boy was now an arms length away from me and was slowly reaching towards me.
He was reaching for my paw, but it hurt and I didn't want him to touch it and I kind of panicked. I went to bite his hand to keep it away from me when Asher took control of my body.
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HIM!" he yelled at me as he stopped my teeth a hairs breath away from taking off the boy's hand. The boy didn't even flinch and Asher looked at the boy in astonishment. He at least expected him to pull away, but the boy didn't move.
"What?" I asked confused. "Why not?" I asked now utterly lost. What was going on with Asher? What was going on with me?
"I can only help you if you let me," the boy told me with a calm face and steady eyes. "Just let me help you and I'll be on my way."
I was dazzled. This boy was strong willed and he wasn't even scared of me! I mean, he is sitting close enough for me to kill him if I wanted to. I almost took off his hand and he didn't even flinch!
I laid my head down in defeat and accepted that I needed this boys help if I was going to get out of this. The boy took a deep breath and with shaking hands, whether from the cold or fear I don't know, touched the bear trap lightly. He gripped both sides and started pulling it apart slowly. I couldn't help but let out more then a few whines as the boy struggled with the trap. After it was over the boy gently held my paw and examined it carefully and with a practiced eye.
The boy let out a slight sigh of relief and gently placed my paw back to the ground. He stood and looked over his shoulder at something as he let out a sigh of frustration. I wanted to know how bad my paw was though, so I nudged him in the side with my nose.
When I came into contact with him he jumped from fright but quickly recovered. I made eye contact with him then indicated to my foot with my large head then looked back to him to see if he understood.
"Oh," he breathed out in surprise. "Yah, your foot. It was a clean break so it should heal very well." He was silent for a moment before he tilted his head to the side slightly and spoke again in that soft voice of his. "If you can follow me I can bandage and bind that so it wont get infected and it will heal properly."
There was something in me that didn't want him to leave so I nodded a yes and stood up, taking extra care to not put any pressure on my hurt foot and limped after the boy. He went back through the bushes from where I had first seen him and followed him as he worked his way through the bushes and leaves. The boy walked with a silent grace that the hunters could only dream of gaining and he checked on me over his shoulder every so often. After a while the boy picked up his pace slightly and I tried to keep up. The boy suddenly stopped and looked back to me. I was panting slightly now when the boy nodded.
"Stay here please," he asked me. He then turned and faced forward and grabbed the doorknob that seemed to appear out of the ivy covered mound in front of him and the boy soon disappeared into what I now realized was a small cabin. I heard him rustle around for a moment before appearing in front of me again. He kneeled down in front of me with a roll of bandages and seemed to inspect my leg.
He let out yet another irritated sigh and stood up, "It's too dark out here. You will have to come in so I can light some candles and see better." He disappeared back into the house again and I followed him slowly. The cabin was tiny. Only one room and it was covered in candles. The boy didn't seem to live here though as there was no bed or food, so what was he doing here?
I heard a match being struck then there was a small glow of a candle as it was lit. The candle was placed next to my hurt leg and the boy crouched down again with the bandages and began to work. He wrapped it tightly and I growled as the broken bone was moved around slightly, but the boy seemed to just ignore me and finished his job. After he was done I had to admit that it felt better but it was still far from healed.
As the boy stood I studied him again and as I did he smiled at me. His smile seemed to light up the room and I had to look away because if I didn't then my tail was going to start wagging. The boy chuckled lightly and I swear that my heart melted. After another moment of listening to the boy shuffle around he hissed in pain and he instantly had my full attention. He growled in frustration yet again. He seemed to do that a lot.
He removed the threadbare blanket from his shoulders and started to rip it into strips. I let a confused whine slip out but he only spared me a glance before he went back to his work. I watched in horror as he removed blood soaked bandages from his arm and reveled a nasty looking cut. I stood up and limped quickly over to the boy as he quickly and effectively rewrapped his arms with the torn blanket. I had no idea how I had missed those cuts, but I was scared, and angry. Scared because I didn't know if he was going to be ok, and angry because I couldn't believe that someone would do this to a completely sweet boy. The cuts were too big and precise to be on accident.
The boy glanced up to me and fell back on to his butt in fright because I was so close. I immediately lowered myself to the ground and started to crawl towards him. He didn't back away so I stopped where he could reach me but I wasn't touching him. He seemed to think for a moment before he slowly reached out and ever so slowly placed his hand on the top of my head. After a second he slowly started to scratch my head and behind my ears. Asher was rumbling with joy inside my head and I tried to lean into the boy's hand. He flinched away slightly and I froze but he resumed petting me after a second.
Ever so slowly I crept closer to him until I was pressed against his side and I could tell he gradually started to get more comfortable. He started to pet down my back and Asher was the happiest wolf alive. The boy was shivering very badly I noticed. He looked around the room for a moment and after a second he looked down in disappointment.
"Y-you wouldn't happen t-to have any b-blankets on you, would you?" he asked with chattering teeth and a slight smile.
Asher immediately took over my body and wrapped himself around the boy. The boy stiffened for a second then relaxed as he started to warm up. He was so small. I could wrap myself fully around him and still rest my tail on my snout, and that is what I did. I didn't want to scare the boy with me moving around too much.
He cautiously leaned into the soft fur of my underbelly and started lightly stroking my side. He giggled lightly and buried his head into my soft fur.
"You are one weird wolf," he mumbled. I growled slightly as he continued, "but I'm glad I found you. You seem special." He laid his head down fully and closed his eyes. Asher took over control again and lightly licked the boy's cheek then rested his head back down.
I waited until I was sure the boy was asleep before I talked with Asher. "What is going on?" I asked him calmly.
"You really haven't figured it out yet?" he asked astonished.
I was silent for a moment as I thought. "He's our mate isn't he?" I asked without a doubt.
"Yup. It took seventy years but we found him," he replied wagging his tail.
"I guess the pack is going to have to wait another day. I just hope they don't trash the house while I'm gone."
"Don't get your hopes up," he told me with a chuckle.
Chuckling slightly also I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. We were pretty safe here; I highly doubt the hunters will be able to find this place. I drifted off quickly being more satisfied and happy then I have been in a while.
Whoop whoop! Two updated in two days! Like and leave a comment!!