Sam stepped out of the forest into the clearing and stopped. She’d spent the early morning in the various gardens weeding and making sure that the local rodents stayed out of the pack’s vegetables. Coming home she’d heard the distinct sounds of a group gathered at the clearing. The tone was one of violence brewing just beneath the surface.
Pushing her way forward, Sam caught bits and pieces of conversations taking place between various members.
“…doesn’t belong here.”
“…only one way to deal with him.”
“…Nafarius will see to it.”
Finally reaching the center of the clearing, Sam’s attention went immediately to her mate. Conversation died around her as all eyes turned to see what her appearance would mean. Sam ignored the people around her; her focus was for one man and one man only.
Nafarius stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest; his lips were pressed firmly together in disapproval; and his stance was that of a man ready to do battle. His eyes stared dark and cold at the ground in front of him and not once did he spare his mate a glance.
Following his line of sight, Sam was surprised to see a man, his clothes torn and ragged, and down on all fours with his head hung between his forearms. Stepping closer, she caught his scent. Fear and rage rolled off the man in waves but beneath that was the distinct scent of the city. Human.
That one word rang through her head. In the year that Sam had been with the pack there had been rumors of humans in the forest but none where ever found. It was a good thing because the pack had only one policy when it came to humans in the forest…death.
Sam, unlike the rest of the members of the pack, had been born human. Her change into a werewolf had come only because Nafarius was in need of a mate and didn’t want to start a war between packs by choosing from only one of them. Therefore, he’d sought a mate elsewhere and Sam happened to be in the right place at the right time…that was, of course depending on how you looked at it.
She didn’t regret her decision to stay or to become Nafarius’ mate. Sam had quickly come to love her mate and her pack and she was loyal to both. While she wouldn’t risk her pack’s existence on a human she would do whatever she could to ensure that no harm came to the man. At least not until they were able to ascertain his intentions.
Not many people traveled this far into the mountains. Locals were superstitious and more than a few of them (rightly) believed that werewolves inhabited Wolf Lake. While Sam’s pack kept well enough alone there was still the occasional sighting. There was also little danger from city dwellers; the few that came out to the mountains to do some hiking stuck to the established paths, none of which led to Wolf Lake. Wolf Lake wasn’t even on the map; you had to know where it was in order to find it.
Sam had come up the year before specifically following the stories of werewolves. She’d never really believed in such things but she found a certain fascination in studying urban legends. She’d obviously been mistaken. Werewolves were really and she was willing to bet that the things that went bump in the night from her childhood were real as well.
That said, it was curious to find a human and one smelling of the city this far into the mountain woods. If he was here for a reason they needed to know what it was. Only then could they figure out what to do. Unfortunately, the pack’s motto was to eat first and forget the questions. Humans didn’t come here often and there was a reason.
Sam did a quick evaluation of the crowd surrounding her. She could already sense the blood thirst building on the air. This group wanted blood and they were eager to hunt for it. Nafarius, despite his care for his mate, was inclined to let the human go…and send his pack after him. A good chase through the forest would do them all some good. They may look like humans but they were more animal than not and that animal was hungry.
She knew she had to hurry; already two pack members had changed. Excited at the idea of hunting a human (something not often done) had made the younger pack members unable to control their animal. Two almost fully grown male wolves were circling the downed man. Every once in awhile one of them would pull back his lips, bare his teeth and growl.
Much to her own surprise, Sam felt her animal stir and she knew that despite her desire to help this human her animal would rather run him to ground and rip into his throat. Mentally pushing down the thought, Sam stepped forward. “Nafarius.”
Nafarius didn’t bother to look up at his mate. Instead he answered, his eyes never leaving the man on the ground before him. “I know what you’re going to say and the answer is no.”
Sam wasn’t surprised. Nafarius might care for her but he’d been born a werewolf; he had no love for humans. His anscestors had been hunted down until they were nearly extinct; she couldn’t very well expect him to give a rat’s ass about one less human when there were a billion more where this one had come from. She was surprised by the unleashed fury she saw vibrating through his massive body. Slowly, she stepped closer, intentionally putting herself between Nafarius and the human.
Unable to see the man, Nafarius finally lifted his head and watched as his mate approached. At first he wanted to throw her aside and strike out at her for coming between him and his prey but he knew that was his animal talking. That part of him others would consider human whispered that his mate was different and didn’t understand. “There is nothing here for you. I don’t expect you to approve or even understand. Maybe it is best if you and Maddie take yourselves inside and wait until this is over.”
“No, I’m not leaving and I do understand. You want to protect the pack, so do I. But I don’t think the best way to go about doing that is to kill any human that comes here. If you do you run the risk that others will come looking for him. There has to be a different way.”
“No one came looking for you.” Nafarius was reluctant to point that out. He often wondered what it had been like for his mate. Sam seemed so eager to join the pack, how had she ever lived alone in the city?
“I did.”
Sam whirled around at the sound of the man speaking from behind her. “Alex?”