I ended up really liking Andrea. Our wolves took a real liking to each other as well. She wasn't sure why, she admitted to me later that she felt some kind of pull towards me, a need to look out for me, immediately when she saw me.
Derek liked her too, and after she learned that Derek could cook, she invited herself over for dinner indefinitely. Apparently, her father wasn't much of a cook and her mother, well her mother was only her father's potential bond mate that had eventually passed away from a bad car accident when she was very young.
She and I were very alike, but also very different. She had this aura of wisdom about her that I wanted to soak up; she was quiet, always assessing her sounding, watching others while she and her wolf mentally took notes.
"You ready?" Evan smiled as he walked over to Andrea and I.
"Well, well, well, Evan you've grown up," Andrea mused.
"Andrea," Evan blushed.
Andrea chuckled and gave me a sly smile. "I used to watch Evan and his siblings when they were just pups. Evan used to have a massive crush on me and swore to everyone that we were mates and that he was going to build me a big house to live in."
Derek and I laughed with Andrea while Even tried to shake off his flush. "It would have been a nice house too, geez."
I laughed a little louder and stood up. I dusted the leaves off my legs then helped Andrea up. Andrea pulled the long sweater down over her thighs and looked over at the group of guys waiting at the head of the group.
"Come on." I tugged her sleeve and pulled her behind some bushes.
She smiled at me and nodded. We pulled off our clothes and quickly shifted while the others did the same. Andrea's wolf was golden, and hell, in the sun her fur looked almost golden itself.
I walked towards her and let my wolf smell her as she did the same while cautiously eyeing me; but something clicked in her brain because soon she was nuzzling my cheek before she licked it a few times.
I picked our clothes up in my mouth and handed them to Derek, who tucked them safely in his backpack with my bearskin blanket; I wasn't sleeping outside without that damn thing. I wasn't sleeping at all without that thing.
Evan yipped at us, drawing a playful growl from my wolf's lips. She wanted to show the males and her new friend what her blood was really made of.
Andrea trotted next to me, playfully bumping into me, as we picked up the pace. Ryder was soon trotting with us before he tore out in a full sprint into the forest. We didn't need more incentive than that.
We were all running, with the rest of the group behind us, towards Ryder who was like a damn bullet. Andrea soon caught up to him and nipped teasingly at his feet, tripping him up and taking the lead.
My wolf let out a giddy bark at her and caught up to her new female friend. We ran over the hills that surrounded the base of the majestic mountains, we hopped and jumped over rocks as the terrain became rougher, and we relished the sweet mountain air that seemed to greet us the higher in elevation we climbed.
I would be lying if I said that running in these mountains wasn't thrilling because it was. It was like the air was feeding the energy coursing through my body; somehow numbing the restless itch inside me and taming my distressed soul.
We hunted a few small critters along the way; squirrels, rabbits, and a very unlucky group of doves that did not move fast enough. My belly was full and the sun was finally starting to set. Our paws were tired, we had been on our feet all day with the slow moving group that we had to stay with.
Thank God I met Andrea. She joked and teased with me along the way. She was like an older sister or a fun aunt that I never had.
We soon made camp in a little clearing near a brook that our wolves drank heartily from. Derek and I built a small fire with Andrea while Evan dug out some sandwiches that Derek had packed us.
I was full and warm by the fire that crackled through the quiet of the forest. The group was scattered around into many smaller groups. Evan, Ryder, and Jake decided to come to ours, mostly because Jake and Ryder loved giving Evan a hard time about Andrea.
"What did you do in your old pack, Andrea?" Jake asked as she ate a large red apple.
She swallowed her bite and wiped her mouth, but missed a little bit of apple, which I pointed to her. "I was a pack warrior."
"Figures, you're dad want you to do that here?"
She scoffed. "Obviously, who else will keep you boys in line?" Jake rolled his eyes as a cocky gleam flashed over his eyes. Andrea wasn't a fan of that. She was a shewolf to be feared on the topic and let her wolf rumble, shutting Jake up, just to prove that to him. "You can be first in the ring Jake, seems like it would do you good."
"What did you do before Charlotte?" Jake asked quickly, trying to shake off his clear embarrassment.
"Jake," Evan warned.
"It's ok Evan." I smiled gently. I wasn't ashamed of myself or where I came from. I looked back at Jake who was holding his friend's hard gaze for a moment before snapping his eyes to me. "I was a human and shifted."
The group went quiet. Well, everyone but Derek and Andrea who were trying to bite back laughter. Jake looked at Ryder and Evan, almost like this was a joke. "I smell the alpha female on you Thorne, very funny."
"Call Levi yourself, he'll tell you how he saved my 'tiny ass' from two rogues then saw me through the shift." Jake was holding my gaze, waiting to see if I would tell him that it was in fact, a joke.
"That' impossible, I smell your blood just as much as I smell her's," he said while nodding to Andrea.
Evan just shook his head then rolled onto his side and laid his head on his saddlebags. Jake looked at Evan, who smirked at him a little. "It's true Jake. Lander told Thomas and me about it around a year ago. You should let her take you in the ring too, would do you some good."
Andrea chuckled at Jake whose face looked like he just watched us eat some dirt as I yawned. My wolf was tired. The physical toll of the run shouldn't have worn us out as much as it did, but our emotions were drained. It felt like we had been through a meat grinder.
"Sleepy?" Derek asked a little while tucking a hair behind my ear. I nodded before he reached into my bag and pulled out my blanket. My wolf growled in contentment, we loved nothing more than cuddling up under our bear.
I pulled the blanket around my neck and snuggled into Derek's chest. Jake and Ryder were both eyeing my skin approvingly, with desire. "Where'd you get that?"
"I killed it." My beast growled low in pride.
Both the boys looked over at Evan who had his eyes half closed. "There's a video you can watch later," he yawned out.
Ryder let out a low whistle and shook his head. "Gonna have to watch my ass around you, Thorne."
Derek chuckled and pulled me closer. I turned to meet Andrea's curious eyes. She was amused at these young males and their current behavior that was making them act like mere pups.
I lifted the edge of the blanket a little, inviting her. "There's plenty of room, come on."
She chuckled and scooted in next to me then rested her head on her pack. "I think you and I are going to be good friends."
I smiled inwardly. It was a small victory for today, but still, it helped to alleviate the pain in my heart. "Me too."
I slept well that night, very well. It almost disturbed me. Considering the day I had, I expected to be restless, but it was like my mind was at peace.
That was clearly not the case. My heart still ached for my family, a dull ache that constantly reminded me that I had left them. That and I kept hearing this hum, this whisper all night. It grew louder as morning came; it wasn't that loud, like a person talking to you, more like the sound of a light wind.
It whispered and whispered and whispered until I swore I could have heard my name, 'Charlotte,' amongst the whispers.
But the whispers died and my sleep was violently disturbed. I flickered my eyes open and met Andrea's storming blue eyes at the sound of a bloodcurdling cry from a child.
The scent hit us.
Rogues.
It stunk like the morning breath of death, almost causing me to almost gag. Andrea and I sat up as the smell thickened and looked around.
A child was being dragged into the woods by a large man and it's mother was chasing after it; but she was not fast enough, the child was getting further and further away from her fingertips.
A snarl erupted from Andrea's lips a growl vibrated off my chest. I looked in her eyes and in that moment, we both agreed on what we knew our wolves were calling us to do.
We ran.
Derek and Evan yelled after us, but we cared not. My wolf was howling in my mind for me to chase after the pup, as was Andrea's. We could feel the urgency, the maternal instinct, driving us forward. We shifted and tore after the rogue, running fearlessly together past its mother to retrieve it.
I found a link, golden and strong as hell in buzzing in my mind for me to take. "Andrea?"
"Yes?"
"Plan?" It probably would be a good idea to have one.
"Kill the rogue, save the kid. Simple."
I laughed in the back of my mind. It was far from simple, and we both knew it. However, her confidence gave me confidence. Her wolf was strong, a strong ass female that could put many strong men ass first on the ground. She rivaled mine and together, we created a formidable team.
The stench increased. I snarled as it thickened, there were more. My wolf wanted to rip every one of their damn throats out and roll in the blood.
We jumped up on a ledge and crawled on our bellies towards the edge, towards where the scent was originating from. Evan and Derek were yelling into my mind, but Andrea and I ignored them. Our wolves were in control now, and there was no stopping the two females from their mission.
Rogues, six of them, were waiting with the boy below us. Why did they want the pup? He wasn't from a high ranked family, his blood didn't smell that strong. So why him?
"They're sick, all of them. The two by the boy are the strongest ones, we need to make sure they don't run away with him again."
"What do we do?"
"I'll come at them from here and you come from behind. If we catch them off guard, we should be able to do this quickly."
"Alright, good luck."
"It's those rogues who are going to wish they had luck on their side," she said a little wickedly.
I smiled inwardly and let my wolf stalk silently back into the brush. It was almost impossible to keep her from attacking them. She wanted nothing more than to rip every one of their hearts out, but we had to wait. We had to be strategic, use our brains.
The boy was crying. His whimpers, whines, and cries pained my heart. My wolf wanted to whine, but I pulled it back before it could leave her lips. We couldn't give ourselves away, otherwise, we could potentially endanger the boy more and we did not want that at all.
I got behind some bushes where I could see Andrea. The damn rogues were stupid. They were bullshitting amongst each other in some sort of petty male pissing match, unaware of the female fighter that was about to pounce on them from above.
The two males with the kid were stronger than the others, but they were maybe gammas at best. They didn't look at sick as the other's, but still, their mind's were mad with the rogue in them. You could tell by the way their fingers would uncontrollably twitch, or how their wolf would come forward for no reason at all.
Andrea jumped. She jumped and all the males turned their attention towards the golden female that was two seconds away from ending them. Once her paws hit the ground, I used that opportunity to pounce.
My wolf jumped on the first man closest to the boy from behind, we sunk our teeth easily in his neck and ripped it out. The other man ran towards the boy, grabbed him, and started running.
We were not having that.
We ran like the damn wind and got in front of him. He snarled at us and squeezed at the boy's size, causing the poor child to scream out in pain.
My wolf was livid.
She growled at them from deep in her gut and poured into the pent up angst and pain from the past few days with it. The man shuddered as his eyes widened in realization of how screwed he really was.
He pulled the boy in front of him, using him as a shield. Pathetic.
That wouldn't stop us, though. My wolf pounced on them to the man's surprise. We sunk our teeth into his neck as his body his as it hit the ground with a loud thud. The boy was crying, but because of his height, he was safe from our teeth. We were straddling him, and after my wolf had her fun tearing the man's neck up, she checked on the pup.
The pup was shaken, scared, and confused when he saw us. My wolf looked him over for any visible sign of injury but found none. She licked his cheek, calming his tears a little. She hated his tears. She didn't like seeing something so innocent so upset.
We looked up to see two men charging towards us. My beast and I jumped in front of the boy and pushed him behind us then snarled at the intruders. They were not welcome here and would certainly meet our teeth if they pushed forward.
The men snarled and stalked forward with false confidence. The boy was whimpering again, which didn't help. We blocked him out and continued to push him further behind us, further out of the way.
The men took another step and we snapped hard at them, this was their final chance to leave, but apparently they were as dumb as we thought. One lunged towards me and the other went for the kid. I stepped out of the way of the first man then jumped on the second; my beast tore his ear off and raked her claws along his torso.
He hit the ground and tried to claw at us, but my beast bit his nose off then went for his throat. She was messy with that kill, it was not clean and we knew it would take him a while to bleed out; it was a slow death, a death that he deserved a hundred times over for harming the pup.
The second man scrambled up, but not quickly enough. My beast whipped around and bit his scalp, tearing it off for herself and sending the rogue flying backward. We licked our lips as blood started to pour out of his head, it was time to end this worthless piece of shit.
My beast leaped onto him and ripped at his chest. She ripped and ripped and ripped until it was wide open for her to bit out its heart. She dared not eat it though, that rogue's heart was not worth consuming.
My beast tossed the heart aside and trotted back to the boy who was pressed up hard against the tree, shaking like a leaf in the harsh winter wind. My wolf lowered herself and whined, a sign that we meant no harm to him.
He sniffled a little and timidly reached out to my beast. She let him touch her face, showing him that he could trust us. He calmed down a bit and gave us time to look him over again. He was fine. A few scratches, but thankfully nothing serious.
"He ok?" Andrea called out as her beast walked towards us. Her golden fur was stained with bright red blood; I looked past her to the mess she left behind. She was savage with those kills; limbs were spread everywhere like she took a dull ax to them and hacked and hacked and hacked away.
"He's fine. A few minor scrapes, but nothing too bad. He's more frightened and shook up than anything."
I nudged the boy towards Andrea who whined to him as well. He was still shaking but he did not fight us when we kept herding him forward. I looked up to see Evan and a group of wolves running towards us. They stopped shortly in front of us and looked at the scene that Andrea and I left with a mix of horror and admiration.
"What the hell was that?!" Evan barked out at us. He was angry and he had the right to be.
Andrea's beast rolled her eyes and looked over at the kid. "We won't apologize for killing rogues who dared to take one of ours. You know how protective females can be over pups."
My beast growled in agreement. She wasn't going to apologize for what she did; we saved that boy and killed our enemy. We knew we should have probably waited for Evan, but our instincts were too strong; but as we looked at the boy who stepped closer to us, we couldn't help but feel a little sense of pride.
"You can't run after them like that, what if there were more?" Evan replied slightly exasperatedly.
"Then we would have had more blood to spill." Andrea cheekily replied.
I sighed and nudged the boy towards Ryder who had settled down. The boy quickly climbed on the tall wolf, who turned and darted back towards the camp where we could hear his mother's cries faintly from here.
We walked up to Evan who was still pretty pissed. My beast gave him a sympathetic look, which only helped out our case a little.
"I'm only going to apologize for not being smarter and waiting, but I won't for saving that boy and the mess we made here. What if they got away with him because we took too long? I think you need to worry more about how six rogues crossed your territory without being detected, and snuck into our camp, than being pissed with us."
Evan let out a defeated growl and shook his head. "There's a stream near camp, go with Andrea and get the blood off. You both look like something out of 'Carrie.'"
I nudged his cheek with mine, breaking his resolve some more and nodded. My beast yipped to Andrea's and darted forward back to camp with some of the warriors in tow.
We trotted to the stream as Derek broke away from the camp. He looked me over once then let out a breath of relief. "Please do not block me out like that again, I honestly don't think I can handle it."
I shifted to my skin and walked into his arms, hugging him tightly to me. "I'm sorry."
"Did you get the boy?" he sighed out as I pulled away.
I nodded as we followed Andrea towards the stream. "Yes."
"The rogues?"
I eyed him and nodded again. "Dead."
"Good," he quickly replied.
Andrea and I washed off quickly in the stream, although it did take a few washes to get all the red out of her blonde hair. Lucky for us, Derek is the most prepared person in the world and brought travel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and soap with him. He also brought an extra shirt for himself, which he gave to Andrea.
We walked back to camp and were greeted by the young mother who threw herself in our arms, thanking us over and over again for saving her pup. My beast swelled with pride. We looked over at the boy; he was laying wrapped up in a few blankets, sweeping away the distress from the day.
"Alright, we need to get moving, Thomas wants us back home," Evan said as a group of warriors trailed in behind him.
"Find anything?"
He looked at Andrea and shook his head. "No. Nothing. Scent trails off after about fifty yards. Ryder is already on it to see if he can find something and Thomas has trackers scouting the territory for any sign of more."
Andrea sighed and nodded. "Hopefully, this is just a one-off."
Evan sighed and tugged at his hair. "Hopefully."
We ran the rest of the way to the pack without letting up on our pace. It was harder for some of the other females, the older ones, but the sense of urgency powered them along; Evan didn't want to risk another rogue attack. He already felt bad enough about the first one, my beast could see him beating himself as we ran.
"It's not your fault you know," I said as we came around a set of boulders.
Evan's wolf shook his head and eyed me a tiredly. "Yes it is, I should have sensed them. The group's my responsibility. They could have gotten hurt, you could have gotten hurt Char."
I sighed inwardly and let my wolf nudge him gently as we trotted through the thick trees. The land was starting to level out a bit; it was less rocking, less challenging, but the trees were thick as the ground sloped steeply downward. "No one noticed, not even Ryder and he's your head tracker. What does that tell you? You did all that you could, it's not like you were being careless."
He groaned as we stumbled down the hill. It was getting harder to control our paws of the steep terrain. "Thanks, Char, now watch your step. It's a little slick out here."
Slick it was. My beast skidded as did Andrea's as we descended the hill. I was insanely relieved, as was my beast. We were not a huge fan of losing our asses on the terrain, steep and slick with pine needles blanketing the ground.
We finally made it to level ground that started to turn into thick grass as the trees thinned out. The afternoon wind was blowing through them; it was warm and inviting, caressing my fur gently as it grazed through the forest.
Every step I took closer to our destination, it was like the itch got worse and worse. It was strong. It started to feel like an electric current coursing through me.
I kept shaking my fur out, trying to shake the feeling off of me, but it was no use. My wolf was anxious, she didn't like it and neither did I. However, there was nothing we could do. We could only hope that it would settle or stop.
Evan trotted next to me with a wolfy smile on his face. His wolf was starting the cheer up. "We're coming to the valley."
"They valley?"
"Yup," he quickly replied. "The pack house is located in a small valley, you'll see. The rest of the pack is scattered on the side of the mountain. It's rough terrain out here, so it's hard to build a lot of big things, like a dorm. We have one, but it's right behind the pack house."
I nodded. Derek strolled up to me and ruffled my hair. "Don't be nervous Char, you're going to do fine. How are you feeling?"
"It's getting worse, I don't know. She's anxious and I am too. I don't know what it is, but it's driving me insane." Derek sighed as Andrea snapped her concerned eyes to him.
Evan's wolf nudged me a bit, and it seemed like that contact settled the itch. There was a weird energy coming off of him, a pull, but I couldn't tell what it was and neither could my beast; there was so much going through our mind that it was hard to focus on any one thing at the moment.
We broke the tree line and started to walk through the thick grass that grazed my belly like feathers. The sun was shining warmly on us and heating my fur up; it felt nice and temporarily helped me to forget about my rambling mind.
I could see the pack house in the distance, it was about three hundred yards away, a few football fields. It was more like a big cabin. It looked cozy. There was a trail of small smoke coming out of the chimney, disappearing into the clear sky as it flew up into the air.
I looked in front of me and could see trails of smoke coming out of the thick forest that covered the majestic mountain. I couldn't see the cabins, they were hidden by some of the hills from the mountain, but I could see a few. The reminded me of my home with made my heart swell and pang in all the same notion.
Some wolves were sparring in the valley, and a few were running across it. They looked busy like they had some kind of very urgent business to attend to. Many of them yipped at us as we walked further along; Evan yipped back and wagged his tail, his wolf was happy to finally be back home.
"Alright everyone, shift into your skin. We will go to the pack house and get everyone sorted out with the alpha first," Evan called out over the link.
I felt nervous. The itch was driving my beast insane. I tried to calm her. I needed her to settle down so I didn't seem like some kind of crazy female.
I shifted quickly and slipped on my gray t-shirt dress shirt, then clumsily slipped my Keds on; Derek chuckled as I hopped around for a bit as I tried to get my shoes on.
I rolled my eyes. "It's not funny you turd."
He shook his head while Evan pulled on a t-shirt over his shorts. "Yes, it is Char."
I looked over at Evan and my wolf started to pace. She was trying to tell me something, something important. I felt the energy between us buzz and almost stumbled because of it.
Evan looked back at me with a concerned raised brow. "Char?"
His eyes searched mine as his beast started to come forward. He cocked his head slightly as he held my gaze, he felt it too, I could see it in his eyes. I was trying to walk, but I found that my feet were clumsy, there was too much going on in my body for anything to function properly. "What the hell is this?"
My wolf clawed at my mind. She pushed forward, she wasn't just incessant, she was damn demanding. The wind swept forward, swirling around us before it danced its way towards the pack house, and with it realization came.
Evan cocked his head as a lightbulb was slowly starting to turn on in his head. He was about to say something when a roar came from the pack house. It was loud, dominant, and seemed to shake the forest as the sound of it carried to me and shook the thoughts from the present out of my brain.
My wolf growled; she was on the defensive now. We turned to look at the asshole that was the source of the roar when it hit us.
The scent.
It knocked me to my knees as it thickly surrounded me. It took the itch that was plaguing my brain and turned it into something else, something that terrified me.
Euphoria.
It was intoxicating. It was intoxicating and suffocating at the same time; I felt like I couldn't breathe.
I clutched the grass and took another breath, a desperate breath for fresh air. Instead, I breathed in the scent that seemed to run through my nose and pour itself into me.
"Charlotte?!" Derek was on his knees holding my shoulders, but I couldn't even speak.
I breathed in again.
My wolf was flipping her shit. She was clawing at my brain, frantically barking at me like a damn maniac. I begged her to calm down; I needed her to settle so I could figure out what the hell was going on. She hadn't been this bad since the first time I shifted when I felt like she was going to claw my damn brain out.
I took another breath.
It was like breathing for the first time. It was sweet and invigorating, it was like it was bringing my soul to life. It wove its way through my heart, still heavy with sadness, and started to soothe it.
I tightened itself around me like it was python squeezing and squeezing and squeezing me.
The wind blew towards me as I took another breath.
It fogged my brain and seemed to paralyze my wolf; suspending us in its gentle caresses as it called to us. It sang to us, like a siren calling a sailor in the sea.
I felt like I was getting high on it. It was like I could breathe and not breathe all in the same moment. I had no idea what to think or feel, but my wolf wanted me to chase it. She kept barking at me, yipping and yipping at me; but I couldn't move, I was still paralyzed by the smell.
I looked up, Derek was shaking my shoulders; he was trying to talk to me with Andrea watching with apprehensively over his shoulder. Evan walked over to me and looked down with his brows furrowed. He said something to me, but he just sounded like a gargled robot.
All I could feel, hear, and sense was this damn scent. It was taking every bit of my logic, rational thinking, and sound mind and tossing it into a shredder.
"Charlotte?" Evan whispered out uneasily.
There was another roar. It was closer. I felt the ground shake as it carried its way to me, and when it hit my ears I felt like my skin was going to burst from the electricity that ran up it.
Evan looked over to his side then to me with eyes wide with shock. His face was draining of color, and his breath started to pick up. "Shit," he hissed out.
I took another breath and felt like I was going to burst. It was so rich, it was like the smell was created entirely for me; coffee, the smell of rain, mountain air, smoke, and cinnamon blending in a perfect mix as it entered my nose and tattooed itself in my memory.
My wolf was barking so loudly now in my brain that it was hard to even hear myself think. I pushed her back, hard. If she had something to say, then she needed to calm down so I could hear her.
She settled a bit, letting her anxiety easy up. She was fully of energy, excitement. I was so confused. So damn confused that it made me growl.
It was when I turned my head that I realized what she was going on about, what it was that had caused me to be immobile and on my knees.
I looked at the sight before me and felt my breath hitch in the back of my throat as a word entered my mind.
It shocked me.
It shocked me so hard that I thought I may shatter. I blinked my eyes, hoping it was all a dream, but it wasn't.
It whispered into my mind again, and I knew it was no lie. It was real, one of the most real things I have ever felt.
"Mate."