New Beginning : A Beautiful Ethereal Creature (Spirit Wolf Book #1)

by Jacqueline Hakitten

  I tried to follow the already faded scent of this mysterious wolf but to my disappointment, not even Thoth was able to get the hint of it properly. 'The lady said to follow the stream to the North.' My wolf reminded me. 'Yeah, you are right.' I stopped for a second so I could listen where the water stream was. After I found it, it was just a piece of cake to follow the stream up to North. In our wolf form, we were incredibly fast. Soon enough we got the strong hint of that scent mixed with something that I smelled in the city. Her scent was like a private drug to my wolf and me. The hint of lilac mixed with lavender but for some reason, the scent of lavender was stronger in the air now. 'I guess she is using lavender soap.' My wolf commented and now when I thought about that, it made sense. But there was something else, something so unfamiliar to my senses which blocked the smell of her wolf. It was fading already and here not so strong. Considering this place is her home it is understandable that her scent is strong here. The closer we were the stronger her smell was.

  We slowed down our pace and moved quietly to the edge of the clearing. I saw a natural pool from where the stream started and up above it was a small waterfall. I smelled her everywhere but I didn’t see her. Just when I was looking around, she appeared at the water surface, took a deep breath, and went back underwater. It was already several minutes and she still stays down there. “Is she trying to drown herself?” I asked my wolf. “I don’t think so.” Was his plain answer. “Should we go to save her?” I asked quietly. “Nope.” He popped the p. “She is fine.” It took like ten minutes but she really appeared again. She dove like that one more time before she swam back to the banks and stayed there sitting looking down at the water. She was beautiful. Her black hair was incredibly long. How it was possible as she was a wolf, I have no idea.

  I took one deep breath and like with magic her full scent hit our muzzle. 'She washed away that weird smell from her completely now.' Thoth noticed. 'Yes. I guess it was some kind of masking scent or something like that.' I agreed with him. 'She is our mate.' My wolf said it was nothing special. It made me mentally gasp at him. Like seriously man? 'WHAT? How could you say that with such a cold face?' He should be happier, excited, maybe even jumping up in my head but for some reason, the fact she was our mate left him completely cold. He just shushed me away as we continued to watch her.

  A few minutes ago, her hair was completely black but now as she was washing them the black color started to dissipate and it slowly changed color to silver. 'I never heard about the wolf with silver hair and not even a single woman in our pack has hair this long. Who is she?' I asked, confused and eager to know more about this strange woman. There was no moon today yet even in this complete dark her silver hair shined like diamonds making her skin shined pearlescent. She was mesmerizing and beautiful. I couldn't turn my gaze from her.

  Chapter 5

  CALEN'S POV:

  A few minutes later she stood up from the water and Thoth moved our gaze away from her. 'Give her some privacy you horny dog.' He accused me. I even didn't feel angry, more I felt ashamed of myself that till now I didn't move my gaze off of her nor said to Thoth to move his gaze. 'I am sorry.' I said to Thoth but it was meant more for the woman in front of us. Soon she disappeared in the woods and we moved closer to get a view of her again. There was a cottage standing just a few meters away from the water pool but hidden in the woods 'You think she lives here?' I asked my wolf. He mentally nodded to me. 'By the smell and scents around she is here alone. I don't smell anybody or anything else here with her or around.' He informed me. It made me think for how long she was here. Is she living like that on purpose? Or did something happen to her? I started to feel the urge to know her more, to know everything about her. She doesn't look like a typical rogue plus knowing that there are actually no vampires or wolves nor the witches in the city, she is still masking herself and even changing her hair color before she goes there. She is definitely hiding.

  'Let's leave her alone for now.' My wolf suggested. 'But...' I tried to argue yet he didn't even let me finish. 'No buts today.' He snapped at me back and started to sneak quietly away. We were down the wind so she had no idea we were there but maybe in the morning; she would smell our scent. As Thoth got far enough from her place, he increased his speed and soon enough we were in our camp that boys made for us. "Welcome back Alpha." I heard Andrew. "Thanks, man," I replied to him. "So, did you find your present?" Andrew asked me with a smirk on his face while I was changing back to me.

  "Yes, I did. I guess we found our new home. Plus, there is a lone wolf living north-west from here. She is my mate but she is also running from something and hiding there. Let one of our best warriors keep track of her but from afar so he would not startle her." I told them while sitting around the fire. "Whoa whoa, man hold on. You want to tell me you found our Luna and we should let her stay alone in those woods?" My gamma Andrew asked me. "She is young. She lives there already for several years and as you would see, she is quite unique. No matter for what reason she is living a rogue secluded life, it has to be a serious reason. She survived alone who knows for how long so keep an eye on her but don't let her feel she is in danger." I said with a strong firm voice and Andrew and my warriors nodded. "So, what is your plan Alpha?" One of the warriors asked. "We would get this land, build our homes, and slowly approach her after we show her, we are no threat. Tomorrow I will arrange all paperwork in the office about the purchase and when more of our warriors come, I want you to scout the area at least two hundred kilometers around her so that there is no danger." I informed them on basics and they replied in unison. "Roger that Alpha."

  ~*****~

  I woke up in the morning early. The air here was so fresh and relaxing. I could understand why she stayed here. It's a beautiful remote place, hectares, and hectares of woods. Clean water, clean, and fresh air. Amazing scenery. 'We have to approach her slowly.' My wolf said and I gave him a nod. 'Let's take it slowly. But still, explain to me how you could keep your cool like that. She is our mate and as I saw other wolves in our pack finding their mates, they became crazy.' I asked him back. 'Idiot.' He snapped at me back and left me in shock. What did I miss? I was thinking but couldn't figure it out. I could see Thoth mentally face palmed himself as he sighed. 'Why am I paired with such an idiotic human?' He commented. 'Hey, I don't deserve this.'

  Now I was insulted and didn't want to talk to him anymore. 'Stupid dog.' I mumbled for myself. 'First. I am not the dog, you moron. Second. She is not eighteen yet so the pull is not that strong. I could just sense her being our mate.' He said before leaving the back of my mind. I wanted to say something but his comment left me speechless as I tried to open my mouth to say something but nothing came out so I closed my mouth again. Then formed 'O' as a realization hit me. She is not eighteen. 'Wait. How could she live alone in the woods if she is so young? Where is her pack?' I had many questions for my wolf. 'Please don't. Today you are even dumber than usual. Don't talk at all.' Thoth said before he completely closed the link between us so I couldn't see him or hear him. That hurt me honestly.

  Today I was planning to be busy anyway. I need to go to the office to start making the papers about ownerships and arrange the money transfer. Now I am glad we actually contacted each governmental office in the area and most of the papers were done in all three places. That reminds me I have to inform my beta Zack to call the other two places and cancel the contracts. It took all morning and also two hours from my afternoon without having lunch but everything seemed finally ready. We even got permission to start building once we showed the structural project of our pack house and houses. Since we don’t plan to cut too many trees and keep the space intact as much as possible it was easy to make them agree.

  It was still the beginning of the summer which was giving us plenty of time to build at least a packhouse and a few more houses before the winter starts and next year we would finish. The evening I was back in our camp and enjoyed the scenery around. This place is really magical and good.

 
; Finally, as I had a free afternoon and came back to our camp, I smelled her. 'She was here.' My wolf told me. 'I guess she found our smell beside her home and decided to find out. I am surprised no-one reported to me that she was her.' I replied to him. The place was a perfect hideout to watch our camp yet stay hidden. "Guys we had a visitor close to the camp. Did someone else get her smell here too?" I asked in our mind link. "No Alpha." They all replied and Andrew even came to me to smell. "Bro I don't smell anything. You sure you don't imagine it?" Andrew asked me and I sniffed the air again. I was sure it was her scent and she was here. 'She was but for some reason, they couldn't smell it.' Thoth told me which made me relax. I started to think that maybe already after one day I am getting crazy about her. 'But this is different from her masking scent oil or something.' I replied to my wolf. 'Yes. It seems like our little mate would have some unique ability too, not just a unique appearance.' Thoth said visibly proud about our special mate.

  Now when I was thinking about it, she was special in many other ways. She was our little lone wolf.

  Chapter 6

  REI'S POV:

  In the morning I let Maat out. She deserved that. But sadly, just near our cleaning a bit down the stream we found the scent of that wolf from the city. 'He was here.' I said to Maat and she nodded to me. 'Let's follow his scent and we would see.' Maat led us carefully through the woods trying to not make any sound as we were closer to the strangers. They didn’t try to hide or anything so it was very easy to find them. She made sure we were downwind even if that meant to take a little detour but like that, we should be able to get closer to their camp. When we arrived, everyone was up. I had to stay a bit far since there were some others with him who secure the perimeter around them. 'They are warriors.' Maat said to me. 'Do you think they are here for us?' I asked her. I was afraid, seriously afraid. I guess if Maat wouldn't be in control of our body, I would be frozen. She shook her muzzle. 'If that would be the case, they would take us yesterday at night. His scent was strong in the morning which means he stood there for quite some time.' Maat explained for me which didn't make me calm. From the place where we found the scent, I am sure he arrived when I was taking a bath. How much did he see? Did he like me? Maybe he didn’t interrupt because I looked creepy for him. How long did he stand there? The thought of him watching me made me excited. Is there something wrong with me?

  I just heard Maat chuckle from my own thoughts. 'How many of them are here?' I asked Maat to check the guy standing closer to the fire in the middle of their camp as I tried to change my thoughts. 'I counted six men staying on patrols and those two in the camp. Looks like eight men in total.' Maat summarized. We focused on the guy in the middle who looked like the one in charge. He was ordering the other guy around. We heard him saying something about buying a land here on the phone and arranging some meetings before the others appeared in front of him. 'You were right. There are eight of them.' I praised my wolf. The guy in the middle instructed them all to go search but for some reason he told them to avoid my area. Strange. 'See. I told you they are here not for us.' Maat said. 'Yeah. But they are definitely here to look for a place to stay.' I snapped back at her and she just made 'oh' before getting back to the guys and listening more of their conversation.

  Their leader was appealing and for some reason I had to stare at him longer than I would want to admit. His sharp jaw lines covered with a one-week old beard looked sexy on him. He had shortly cut ash hair but now they were messy pointing to every possible direction. It looked cute on him but at the same time very manly. Also, his sweet strawberry smell mixed with freshly cut wood reminded me of my old home. I wanted to stay here and smell him all day long but as the others started to disappear, Maat slowly and quietly moved us more far and I couldn't see him properly anymore. I should have taken a better look. I felt Maat rolled her eyes on me. 'Are you a teenager or what?' She pretended to be annoyed by my thoughts. I facepalmed myself mentally. Like hell yeah, I was a teenager not even eighteen yet so what. 'Don't tell me you don't find him attractive?' I asked her instead any slight comments on her question before; she could anyway read my thoughts.

  We were now running back to our home since the other two guys moved away most likely to that meeting their leader was talking about on the phone. 'Let's wait what they will do.' Maat suggested. 'We see they are not here to hurt us and it looked like we would have new neighbors soon.' For some reason her last information made me really excited. I returned back home and to my normal daily routine. In two weeks, I would go back to the city so I needed to collect some herbs and flowers to start preparing new sets of soaps and shampoos along with drying the herbs and berries for teas. Who would know that two weeks would pass like water in the stream? During those two weeks I went to check on them a few times. More wolves moved to this territory and they started to build their own village but so far all of them avoided me and my own area. Maat was as confused as I was. For sure they knew we were here. We are living here but no one came to us or scouted my land, just the lands around. It was really strange. Maybe I did look like a freak to him and that’s why he said to all to avoid this area. So, in the end I would stay alone.

  Two weeks later

  'These last two weeks were really long.' I complained to Maat. 'Not really. You were just all the time focusing on that sexy handsome stranger.' She teased me back and I could feel my cheeks heating. There was something she was hiding away from me and the more she teased me especially about him the more I knew I was right about that. She was the same obsessed about him as I was. Her last joke was a bit too much when she sent me a dream about that stranger. First, we were just kissing and I have to admit the dream or not I did enjoy that. But I realize it was just a dream the moment it started to be twisted and we were doing ... well ... something else. My cheeks flushed again just from the memory of that dream. 'You are spoiled twisted wolf.' I told her as my cheeks burned up.

  I swear to Moon Goddess I tried my best to focus my mind on work so I could prepare my usual stuff before I would go to the city. But honestly, I have to be thankful I have plenty of stuff extra because those last two weeks I didn't prepare even half of what I normally do. Maat was right, my mind was too distracted by that stranger. But why? 'I told you.' Maat laughed at me. 'So, tell me the reason too.' I cried. 'Naaah. You are just a lone wolf and suddenly someone else appeared and on top of that he is so damn smokey hot.' She teased me again. I was slowly getting crazy about him and to my annoyance from her too. Sadly, his smell from the place where he was hiding already faded away so from time to time, I found myself closer to their new area just to be able to catch the hint of his smell or see his face. Have to say it was damn difficult.

  Today evening I should again color my hair and prepare for my trip to the city. It is still summer but slowly I need to prepare my supplies for winter. My cottage has a small basement where I could store stuff like apples, onions, potatoes, and usually, I stored there also supplies of my products to be able to sell them during winter. There are some new sources only during winter which gives me the chance to create limited editions of some of my cosmetics but without my primary cosmetics and medicine, I would not survive the winter in the first place. The only thing I don't need to care about is warm clothes. Even during the coldest part of the winter with around one to two meters of snow, I would not freeze thanks to my wolfish heated blood. Luckyyy. 'Like a child.' Maat commented on my happiness.

  'Technically I am still one.' I said back and she laughs more. 'Technically yeah, you are right.' She replied, still laughing. 'So, let's go dye our hair again?' I asked Maat sheepishly. She growled at me but agreed which made me gasp. 'Are you serious?' I couldn't believe that. 'What?' She asked, surprised. 'You do like I never agree with you or approve anything you do.' She played to be insulted. 'No, no. Of course, you do, just never about my hair.' I said while mentally poking her big fluffy ass. She made a hmm sound as she turned the other side and I continued to poke her just this time on her side. 'You and I know t
hat it is for our protection. And I should be more responsible for our protection since I am the oldest one.' Her voice was muffled and I could see her pouting inside my mind.

  Honestly, I was really shocked and surprised. The first time I would dye my hair without hearing her sheepish comments about it. I want to scream another lucky but hearing from her how childish I am is one time per day enough. Let's leave it for tomorrow.

  I finished dying of my hair. Welcome back, my purely black hair color. I prepared all my stuff for tomorrow. 'Maybe I could wear some dress tomorrow.' I was thinking about myself as I was checking the clothes and tried to pick one. "If you wanna wear a dress take those with flower patterns. I like those really too much on you." Maat suggested. It actually was not a bad idea. They were tight around the chest and belly and free down from waist till knees. There were straps too tight around the neck and the dress was without sleeves, perfect clothes for summer so it won't be suspicious if I actually wear it tomorrow in the city. But if I think about it as a human who needs to take a pretty long way to even get into the city it would be strange to wear them. "You know you could change in Rosie's place, right?" Maat asked me. To be honest I didn't even think about that. "But wouldn't that also be weird?" I asked worriedly. "We are already weird. Come on. You are barely eighteen. Living several years alone in the woods and going two times per month to the city selling cosmetics and herbal medicine. How weird we could be?" She said with her typical serious voice rolling her eyes on me. Well, she was right. I guess there is no chance to be any weirder than this so I took out the dress. I placed them inside the bag and let's change tomorrow at Rosie's place. Suddenly I felt excited about tomorrow's trip.