Page 1 of Thor's Unexpected Mate

Chapter One: Thor

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my brother, it’s that ignoring one of his visions usually ends in disaster. That’s why, when he told me to run, I didn’t hesitate.

“Someone’s coming,” he said, his eyes rolled back in his head so that only the whites showed. “One to kill and one to care. Moonlight guides your fate and blood will not lead you astray. This moon will be the end of what was and the beginning of what could be.” Suddenly, his bright golden irises flipped down, his pupils dilating. “You need to go. Now.”

“Is it the Skoll Alpha?” I growled, sniffing the air. “I’ll tear his throat out for what he did to our father!”

“The entire pack marches this way,” my brother replied, his voice filled with fear. “You need to run. Now!”

I knew he spoke the truth, although I didn’t know how. That was his gift. “What about you, Baldr? Will you be alright?”

“I’ve walked both packs for years without harm,” he nodded, his voice returning to normal at last. “Mother’s promise remains in place.” He gave me a shove. “Now go, Thor! Get the hell out of here!”

I glanced back at him one last time, looked at the full moon, and let the wolf take over me. Within seconds, all my bones cracked and rearranged themselves as fur sprouted from my pores. I hit the forest floor on four paws and took off like a shot, heading due west away from the oncoming pack. The moment I was in wolf form, I could smell them as the wind shifted. Baldr had been right. The entire Skoll Pack was on the march again.

Wandering during the full moon was always asking for trouble, and I knew that. But I’d left our pack territory, anyway. It was reckless, but it seemed like the one way I might ever come face to face with the Skoll Alpha that had killed my father. I’d dreamed about ripping his throat out every night since my father died. But with a pack and a resort to run to keep my people afloat, I didn’t have much time for revenge. Besides, everyone, including my brothers, warned me that taking vengeance would only lead to more suffering.

Still, I couldn’t stop myself from trying. Until that Alpha was dead, my people would never be safe. However, I wasn’t foolish enough to take him on with the might of his entire pack behind him. I wanted him dead, but I wasn’t a fool.

So I ran, knowing Baldr would be just fine. I still didn’t understand how a simple promise to his mother kept him safe, but it had his entire life. There was no reason to think it would stop working now.

My muscles burned as I sprinted across the land. I dove down one mountain to the valley, hopped a river, and began to climb up another. The mountains were tight together in this part of Appalachia and the scent of hot springs drove me westward. Our pack ran a resort there to make sure we could survive in this ever-changing human dominated world. That’s what made us different. The Hati pack didn’t try to push away the outside world. We became part of it to survive. But the Skoll pack… Well, they lived in squalor on the eastern mountain, clinging desperately to the ancient ways and staying completely separate from the humans.

They were stupid and violent, a danger to man and wolf alike. And as far as I was concerned, they needed to be exterminated.

Someday I’d figure out how to take care of that. For now, however, I needed to get to safety. I was already on my own pack’s land, but the resort was over the peak and partway down the other side of the mountain. However, territory markers hadn’t stopped the Skoll Alpha before and I knew I wasn’t safe until I was within the walls of the resort.

I slowed my pace to a trot, weaving my way through the trees with ease. There was a well-travelled path along the backside of the mountain where the locals went for hikes that made my progress much easier. The gravel was hard on my pads, but at least it didn’t require me to force my bulky form through underbrush and bramble. People might think fur stopped the thorns from reaching my skin, but that wasn’t true. Instead, it pulled my fur out and stabbed me. Despite my wolf healing, I didn’t want to deal with the pain or put the stench of blood in the air. Not when I was on the run.

However, as I lifted my nose to the air, I realized it was already filled with the smell of fresh blood.

Human blood.

Now, I wasn’t the kind of wolf to go out of my way to help a human. I tolerated them and welcomed them as guests at the hot springs. But that was the extent of my friendliness. We were still two completely different species after all, and even being friends with a human was heavily looked down upon.

But this scent… there was something about it that drew me in. It was rich and floral, like mountain laurel in full bloom in the heat of July, but masculine. I’d never smelled a human like that before, and my interest was piqued. For some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from turning off the path to follow it. I tried to tell myself I was just worried about a possible guest that had gotten lost and hurt on the way back to the resort and everything was completely normal.

And yet, the wolf side of me was completely on edge. My fur stood on end, and I could feel a tingle running through my skin. Maybe it was just the full moon and the scent of the blood driving me crazy. There was an animalistic urge that rose up inside me that I didn’t quite understand. I tried to convince myself it was nothing as I pushed through the underbrush, my nose practically glued to the ground. But the urge continued to burn in my chest like a hot coal plucked from a fire.

I had to find this person, whoever he was, and save him.

The scent trail turned off the path at a crucial switchback. There was a clearing in the trees with a game trail running through it, so it was easy to see how someone might get lost. But then it started to shift downward as the terrain became steeper and steeper. I followed it all the way to the edge of a rocky cliff before it dropped off.

Lifting my nose to the air, I inhaled deeply. The scent was still there, and I could tell that the guy was still alive. Peering over the edge, I glanced down into the gully formed between the rocks. The clouds shifted and moonlight filled the gap.

There he was, his back leaned against the rocks and his right leg stretched out at an odd angle. His head was up, and I could see him shivering as the cold night air set in. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of shorts and a sleeveless hoodie. In wolf form, I couldn’t see colors right, but the shade of it was the same as the blood smeared across his skin, so I figured it was red.

I stood there for a moment, staring down at him. He didn’t cry out or ooze fear into the air. In fact, he mostly just seemed annoyed. I don’t know why, but it impressed me. Not many humans could deal with that kind of pain and still have the fortitude to keep a level head. Clearly, he wasn’t just some run of the mill human wandering the woods like an idiot.

It took me a minute to find a path down that didn’t require me to break my own legs in the process. I wanted to get a better look at the man before I tried to help him. In wolf form, I couldn’t do much but look scary. However, when I shifted back, I’d be completely naked. My clothes shredded when I shifted the first time. At the moment, I wasn’t sure which was scarier, a giant white wolf or a hulking six foot six naked man with tattoos finding you alone and vulnerable in the woods.

I figured the wolf was at least a bit more explainable, but there hadn't been wolves in these woods for decades. Well, no real wolves at least. Werewolves were a completely different matter. We'd been inhabitants of the mountains since the first settlers came over from Europe. Not that the humans knew that, of course.

Once I was at the bottom of the gulch, I did my best to keep silent as I crept closer to the man. His scent was much thicker down here, the wind kept out by the surrounding rocks. The floral smell seemed to almost sink into my pores, overwhelming my senses. Even fifty feet from him, I felt almost drunk with it. My movements were sloppy, and I felt this undeniable urge to sprint over, tackle him, and lick every inch of his face that I could find. The wolf was fighting to take over completely, a puppy-like bliss threatening to turn me into a complete idiot.

Where was it all coming from? I stared at the man for a long moment, wondering if he could be a witch or maybe even a wolf hunter trying to trick me. Witches, I'd seen before, but wolf hunters were a thing of the past. Or at least, I hoped they were, since one hadn’t been seen in over a hundred years. But hunter or witch, both could spell trouble for me and my pack, especially if I couldn't keep myself under control.

I was the Alpha. The leader. I had to keep my wits about me.

---