Page 1 of Entering a New World

Chapter 1

Rhett

“This fucking ASSHOLE!”

I startled, almost stumbling over a particularly big cedar root crossing my path.

I’d expected to hear the usual sounds of nature during my patrol. Birds, rabbits, mice—yes. Wind—yes. Rustling in the thick underbrush—yes.

But someone swearing? Definitely not. We were miles and miles away from anything so much as resembling civilization. In fact, the closest town was our pack town, and that’s where I was coming from to patrol our territory. It was late October and there were no hikers foolish enough to hike out here at this time of the year.

“AAAAAARGHHHH!”

Another scream, this time filled with so much anger and desperation, it made the fur on my neck stand up and sent a shiver down my spine, right to the tip of my tail.

It didn’t sound like the human was hurt. And, as unlikely as it seemed, it had to be a human. Our barrier might’ve been weakened after almost a century without magical upkeep, but it was still intact and let us know whenever a paranormal of any kind crossed the border to our packlands.

I stopped, turning my head to find out the exact location the screams were coming from. Yes, the human didn’t sound hurt, but he sounded pissed off as fuck, and that alone could mean trouble. Hell, the fact he was here in the first place likely meant trouble.

Raising my snout, I scented the air. There were all the usual scents: the animals living here, wet, decaying leaves, a couple of very persistent flowers, the tint of salt coming from the Pacific Ocean and… My mind came to a screeching halt. Petrichor and apples. Neither of which I should be able to smell right now.

My wolf perked up, urging me to follow the scent to its source. Now.

That’s what I’ve been planning to do anyway, I told him, but the beast inside of me was relentless. It felt like it was pawing at my insides, his need to find the source of the scent so tangible I shivered, my fur raising as if my whole body was covered in goosebumps, like it would have been if I was in my human form.

What’s going on? I asked myself, even though I had the nagging feeling I already knew the answer. I just couldn’t believe it. Not here. Not now. Not a human, but…

Mate, my wolf told me excitedly, my tail wagging without my consent. Mate, mate, mate.

I shivered. That’s what I’d been… afraid of? No, ‘afraid’ was the wrong word.

Scenting the air again, I shivered. The salt got stronger, as did the scent of apple and petrichor, a mixture that should not go together, but created a tantalizing, heady mixture. A mixture just for me to enjoy.

A mate. I’d found my mate. After thirty years on this planet, I’d found my mate. And, for some reason, he was in our territory right this moment and angry as fuck.

Why?

The question was more pressing now than it’d been a couple of minutes ago.

Run, my wolf howled inside my chest.

I sped up, jumping over roots, bushes tugging at my fur as I took corners way too close, just to get closer and closer to that scent. To the human. My human.

The sound of waves crashing against the beach got louder and louder, the air thick with a fine, salty mist, but I barely registered the smell of the Pacific. My mate’s scent was so clear now, overpowering everything else.

“I fucking HATE YOU, Alistair. You’re FIRED!”

I managed to stop dead in my tracks just before crashing through the edge of the woods and running straight onto the beach.

Mate. Now.

My wolf was not happy, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm him down, to make him understand.

I can’t go out there right now, I told him. Talking to my wolf always felt kind of weird, at least when I was thinking about it. He was a part of me, not a separate being. But then again, he was a part of me that often, wanted vastly different things than I, the human part, wanted. Right now, for example. My wolf just wanted to head over to the human and cover him in our scent, while I… okay. I basically wanted to do the same.

However, the rational part of my brain knew that my mate probably wouldn’t handle it well if a huge-ass wolf started rubbing against him. And I was a huge-ass wolf, bigger than a normal wolf by far. If my mate had a gun or a rifle, it’d be a really bad idea to casually run up to him. I wouldn’t die from a single gunshot wound, but that’d probably freak him out even more. And if he didn’t have a weapon… I didn’t want to scare him to death.

Nooo, my wolf yowled, agreeing with me on that part.

---