Page 2 of Wolf Mate's Forbidden Fire
I shot him a look, my jaw tight. “Not spooked. Cautious. We’ve stayed hidden for centuries because we follow the laws. No human contact, no exceptions. If she sees too much, we’re all at risk.”
Mara nodded, her eyes narrowing. “Want me to scare her off? A few broken cameras, maybe a howl too close to her camp?”
“No,” I said, sharper than I meant. The pack glanced at each other, and I forced my shoulders to relax. “We don’t need her running back to town with stories. For now, we watch her. Redirect her if she gets too close. Lukas, take a patrol at dawn. Check her cameras, make sure they’re not catching anything they shouldn’t.”
Lukas raised an eyebrow, his smirk still there. “You sure you don’t want to handle this one yourself, Omer? You’ve been out there a lot lately.”
I ignored the jab, but my skin prickled. Lukas had a nose for weakness, and I couldn’t let him sense mine. “Just do it,” I said,turning to the others. “Meeting’s over. Stay sharp, and stay out of sight.”
The pack dispersed, their murmurs fading as they slipped into the night. Lukas lingered, his eyes locked on me for a moment too long before he left. I stayed in the cave, the torches casting shadows on the walls. That scent, wildflowers and cedar, still clung to me, stirring my wolf. I clenched my fists, trying to shake it off. A human mate was a curse, not a gift. The pack would never accept it, and I’d sworn to put them first.
I left the cave and headed to the sacred stone circle, a ring of rune-carved rocks hidden deep in the forest. The air there was heavy, charged with the spirits of our ancestors. I knelt before the tallest stone, its surface worn smooth by centuries of prayers. “Tell me what to do,” I said, my voice low. “This can’t be right. A human? She’ll destroy everything we’ve built.” The wind rustled the trees, but no answers came. The spirits were silent, and I was alone with my thoughts. I stood, brushing dirt off my knees, and made a decision. I’d see her, just once, to understand why my wolf was so drawn to her. Then I’d find a way to drive her out of Esoterra.
Her cabin wasn’t far, a rickety thing on the edge of our territory. I moved silently, sticking to the shadows, until I reached a ridge overlooking her porch. She was inside, her silhouette moving in the lamplight. I shifted to human form, crouching behind a pine, and watched. She sat at a table, her laptop open, her eyes glued to the screen. Camera footage, probably. Her hair was pulled back, a few strands loose, and her fingers tapped the table as she muttered to herself. I couldn’t hear her words, but her voice was clear, steady, like she was talking to a friend. My wolf stirred, urging me closer, but I held back. Then I saw it, a glint at her neck, a quartz pendant catching the light. My stomach twisted. It looked too much like the pack’srelic, a sacred stone we kept hidden in the circle. It couldn’t be the same, but the similarity unsettled me.
“She’s just a human,” I whispered, trying to convince myself. But the way she moved, the way her eyes lit up as she leaned closer to the screen, it pulled at me. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what drove her to come to this place. My wolf growled, low and insistent, and I gritted my teeth. “Not happening,” I muttered. “She’s leaving.”
A howl cut through the night, Lukas’s signal for the patrol to gather. I cursed under my breath. He was early, probably trying to catch me off guard. I stood, ready to leave, but my eyes lingered on her. She’d stopped typing, her head tilted like she’d heard something. I froze, half-expecting her to look out the window, but she went back to her screen, oblivious. Good. The last thing I needed was her spotting me.
I slipped back into the forest, shifting to wolf form to join the patrol. Lukas was waiting at the creek, his gray fur blending with the shadows. He shifted when he saw me, his green eyes glinting. “Thought you might be busy,” he said, his voice light but edged. “Checking boundaries again?”
“Something like that,” I said, keeping my tone even. “What’s the report?”
He shrugged, leaning against a tree. “Quiet so far. No new tracks, no cameras where they shouldn’t be. But that human’s got three set up on the west trail. Want me to take them out?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. Move them if they’re too close to the dens, but don’t break anything. She’ll notice that.”
Lukas grinned, showing teeth. “Careful, Omer. Sounds like you’re protecting her.”
“I’m protecting the pack,” I snapped. “Do your job, and don’t make this complicated.”
He held up his hands, still grinning. “Whatever you say, alpha.” He shifted back to wolf form and loped off with theothers, leaving me alone by the creek. I stared at the water, my reflection rippling in the moonlight. My wolf was restless, her scent still in my nose, pulling me back to that cabin. I growled, low and frustrated, and headed deeper into the woods.
Back at my den, a small cave tucked behind a waterfall, I pulled out a piece of cedar from my stash. I kept my hands busy, carving a small wolf totem with my knife, the wood shavings piling up at my feet. It was a warning, something to leave at her cabin, a sign to scare her off without breaking our laws. The totem took shape, its eyes sharp and fierce, like hers when she’d stared at that screen. I paused, my knife hovering. Why was I thinking about her eyes? I shook my head and kept carving, the blade steady in my hands.
When the totem was done, I held it up, the wood smooth under my fingers. It was good work, but it felt like more than a warning. It felt like a piece of me. I tucked it into my pocket, planning to leave it on her porch at dawn. Maybe it’d spook her enough to pack up and go. Maybe it’d quiet my wolf, let me focus on the pack again. But as I lay on my furs, the waterfall’s roar filling the cave, her scent lingered in my mind, wildflowers and cedar, calling me back to her.
Chapter Three
Aurora
I hiked through the Esoterra forest at dusk, my flashlight beam slicing through the dim light. The oversized paw prints I’d found near the cabin pulled me deeper into the woods, their size throwing everything I knew about wolves out the window. My wildlife training screamed that these tracks were impossible, way too big for any known species, but they were real, pressed deep into the damp earth. My boots crunched on pine needles, and the air buzzed with a strange energy, like a storm waiting to break. I gripped my flashlight tighter, my other hand brushing the quartz pendant under my shirt, its weight a small comfort. The forest was eerily quiet, no birds, no rustling, just my own breaths and a faint hum I couldn’t place. The prints led me to a clearing, a wide open space ringed by towering pines, the ground soft with moss. I crouched to study a fresh track, my fingers tracing its edges, when a twig snapped behind me.
I spun around, my flashlight cutting through the shadows. A man stepped out, tall and shirtless, his skin marked with faint scars that caught the fading light. His gray eyes locked ontomine, the same eyes from my dream, the same eyes as the black wolf on my camera. My heart slammed against my ribs, but I held my ground, raising my flashlight like a club. “Who the hell are you?” I said, my voice sharp despite the shake in my hands. “This is private land.”
He stood still, his chest rising and falling, his black hair messy like he’d been running. “You’re the one who doesn’t belong here,” he said, his voice low and rough, like it was scraped from the earth. “You need to leave, Aurora. Now.”
I blinked, my grip tightening on the flashlight. “How do you know my name? And what’s with the cryptic nonsense? I’m here to study wolves, not deal with some shirtless guy lurking in the woods.”
His jaw tightened, and he stepped closer, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’re in over your head. These woods aren’t safe. Pack your gear and go back to the city.”
I laughed, short and defiant, stepping toward him until we were only a few feet apart. “You don’t get to order me around. I’ve got a job to do, and I’m not scared off by local legends or oversized paw prints.” My pulse was racing, but it wasn’t just from standing my ground. Something about him, his voice, his eyes, it tugged at me, like a thread pulling tight in my chest. The heat rolling off him was palpable, even in the cool air.
He moved fast, grabbing my wrist before I could react. His grip was strong, his skin scorching against mine, sending a jolt through me. “You don’t understand,” he said, his voice dropping to a near-growl, his eyes burning into me. “You’re stirring up trouble you can’t handle. Leave, or you’ll regret it.”
I yanked my wrist free, but instead of stepping back, I closed the distance, my chest almost brushing his. “Try me,” I said, my voice steady despite the fire in my veins. “I’m not some tourist you can spook. What’s your deal? Why are you out here, half-naked, acting like you own the forest?”
His eyes flickered, something wild and hungry flashing in them, and I thought he might grab me again. Instead, he leaned closer, his breath hot against my cheek. “You’re too stubborn,” he said, his voice softer now, almost a whisper, but it carried a weight that made my skin tingle. “You have no idea what you’re walking into, Aurora.”
