Page 2 of Entering a New World

No, before I even tried approaching him, I needed to find out what he was doing here.

Carefully walking up to the last bush that was hiding me from view—and ‌my mate from my view—I felt my heart rate picking up, shivers racking my body as anticipation rose inside of me. My mate. I’d see my mate for the first time in about three seconds. Two. One.

I hesitated just before my nose touched the leaves of the berry bush, sudden anxiety spiking through me. Two inches and I’d see the love of my life. Such a short distance that would forever change the path of my life. It felt big. Monumental.

Mate! my wolf demanded, trashing inside my chest, making me cross the last barrier.

Even more fine mist hit my face, dampening my fur, but I barely felt it. My eyes were busy searching the beach for the man that was my gift from fate. The other half of my soul. The person who was meant to be my companion for as long as we might live.

I didn’t have eyes for the scenery that usually made me pause for a couple of seconds, stunning me into awe time and time again. No, my eyes fixated on a slender figure sitting on a huge piece of driftwood maybe thirty feet away.

Light brown hair blew in the sea breeze, the wind carrying his scent right into my nose. Petrichor, apples, home. But beneath his tantalizing, unique scent, there was a sour note. Desperation. The anger seemed to have faded, replaced by bitter fear and sour desperation. My heart felt like someone had stabbed me; every part of me, wolf and man, wanted to go out there and promise everything would be okay.

I had no idea what was wrong, but I’d fix it. Somehow, I’d find a way.

A shiver racked his body, and I noticed he wasn’t wearing a jacket, just a thin sweater. It wasn’t even one made from wool, just regular cotton. That single look at him told me he was wholly unprepared to be out here, even for an hour.

How had he gotten here, anyway? There was no way he’d hiked all the way. We were in the middle of nowhere. He’d have had to be hiking for days, if not weeks, to get here—and frankly, he didn’t look like much of a hiker at all. His sweater alone was a dead giveaway that he was no fan of the outdoors.

By boat? That was always an option. Occasionally, people wanting to fish landed here, but there was no boat as far as I could see.

Cocking my head, I studied my mate, trying to memorize each of his features, even though I couldn’t see much. His shoulders weren’t wide, his arms not muscular. He was rather slim, a lot different from most of my fellow wolves. His hair was shaggy, falling in loose waves, the tips reaching his shoulders. And that was all I could see. It was enough for my heart to hammer in my chest, but not enough to satisfy me or my wolf.

There was so much more to see, so much more to find out about him, so much more…

“Uhm… hi. I guess.”

I stopped, pulling my head back out of reflex as I heard his uncertain voice.

Fuck. Had he seen me? How? And was that the way he greeted a fucking wolf that probably reached his shoulder?

But he continued speaking while I was still having my mini freak out, so maybe not.

“I really don’t know what to tell you guys, besides… I’m not at home.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Not at all.”

Pushing my snout back through the bush, I see him holding something in his hand, arm extended, pointing it at his face. It was a small, black box and even though it seemed too small to be a camera, I was pretty sure that was exactly what it was.

“Look at the scenery—it’s beautiful, right? I mean, I love the view. It’s fucking cold and wet, but when I thought we were here for a quick photoshoot, I really, really liked it.” His voice was melodic, a pure delight but tinted with sadness. “I told you guys about the photoshoot, didn’t I? The one my manager organized for that fashion start-up?” He shook his head. “Remember when I told you it sounded too good to be true? Well, it was. I guess. Kinda.” I heard him swallowing heavily, almost as if he was fighting against tears.

Mate, my wolf whined again, wanting to soothe him, to chase away the sadness and the pain.

I wanted the same damn thing. I wanted it so much, I’d accidentally pushed my head a little farther through the bush than I’d wanted to, so I pulled it back a little. If that thing really was a camera, I didn’t want to be seen. I didn’t want him to look at it and get spooked.

Also, I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“The shooting itself was real, but the photographer was a douche, and I hated the whole thing. I was so glad when it was over because I had to wear shirts and shorts, and it’s so fucking cold here.” He shivered again. “So… you might wonder why I’m filming out here if it’s so cold, instead of on the boat or back in my hotel room. Trust me, I’ve been wondering the same thing for the past hour, contemplating every decision I’ve made in the past couple of months that led me here, because the gist of it is: I’m stuck. Abandoned. My fucking asshole of a manager thought it’d be a great idea to abandon me here. For a week.”

I heard him laugh, but his laugh was laced with tears and turned into a sob.

Rage filled my chest upon hearing the story he was telling… some other people. Probably not live, though, as there was no cell reception out here. The device he was using didn’t look like a cell phone, anyway. But he was telling his story to someone, to people who usually… watched him?

Was this some kind of TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube thing?

My attention was caught by him angrily swiping at his face, sniffling a little.

“You heard that correctly. When I needed to use the bathroom, my manager told me to head into the forest and when I came back, he was gone. He left a backpack.” He gestured at something in front of him, “and a walkie-talkie on top of it. He then used the latter one to tell me about his great plan of filming a survival show—with me as the main character. Me. You guys get how utterly ridiculous this is, right? I mean… me? The guy telling you about his life in the city. The guy applying make-up, albeit clumsily, on camera? Yeah. He thought it’d be an amazing opportunity for me to get a whole new audience. Spoiler alert: I don’t want an audience that wants an outdoor YouTuber. There are plenty of people doing that already.”

I saw him shaking his head, then he turned around, showed the camera all the beach behind him, giving me a first glimpse at his stunningly beautiful face. Fuck. He was so… beautiful.

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