by Sarah Elliot
“Annoy Mam again by any chance?” Jared asked with a smirk, before glancing at his brother and shaking his head. “Don’t go choking him, Michael, we need to at least hear his explanation for running like a headless goose.”
Fiero sighed and rolled his eyes. “The phrase is headless chicken, you idiot! Besides that, why’s he human? I thought you had given up for lent.”
Michael nodded, easily recognising the sarcasm that was coming out of his younger cousin’s mouth. “Yep, he’s annoyed Mam again or done something that would annoy her at the very least.” In all respects, Michael looked more similar to his father than Jared did, if it weren’t for the mismatched eyes and stronger build, but it was more common to see the teenager as a wolf roaming the den looking for food. Lightly he flicked his cousin’s nose. “Else he wouldn’t try to change the subject. Besides that, what’s this I hear about you running off into the woods after some girl?”
Grey eyes narrowed in warning and a growl almost escaped his lips but thankfully Jared stepped in and split the two apart. “Michael, I told you not to say anything towards him about that.”
“I didn’t, I just asked.” Michael shrugged. “It wasn’t like I heard it from you first. Half the pack knows about what the nugget here did the other night, I’m just want to find out which lucky wolf has bagged herself some fine ass from our little cousin.”
Giving his brother a little push, Jared flicked his head back silently towards said cousin who had lost the panicked cub face and was slowly appearing to become very angry and distrusting. Even though Michael had said virtually next to nothing offensive, Fiero was reacting as if someone had just insulted his mate in front of him. The boy’s body was tense, muscles popping ever so slightly and a deadly cold look settled in his eyes. One wrong move and regardless of pack pecking order, Fiero would lash out. However, the next second, the anger was gone, replaced by confusion and a sigh of an apology.
“No need,” Michael said, glancing back towards Jared. “I get it. You best give him the talk, Jared, I’ll only piss him off all the more and that’s the last thing I need.”
Jared glared at his brother. “Why me? Surely he can have the talk from dad.”
The younger brother shook his head. “When he’s preoccupied with a certain someone? Somehow I don’t think so. Plus, you explained it well enough to me and Gregory so I think you can more than do so for Fiero.”
“Explain what exactly?” Fiero sounded peeved because he did not like being talked about as if he wasn’t standing right next to someone. “If you’re talking about the birds and the bees, I already know plenty about that thank you very much.”
Michael laughed. “I’m not surprised with you sleeping next door to Matilda.”
Jared shook his head, smiling slightly. “But do you know about how you find your mate and everything that goes with becoming her one and only mate?”
There was a pause, clearly the wolf before them was thinking over his response before silently shaking his head. Whilst Fiero knew the basics that were told to him as a child, he had never actually given much thought about the whole process in the grand scheme of things. He had just presumed that his instincts would kick in and everything would be plain sailing from there, but clearly life wasn’t going to be that easy on him.
“Thought as much,” Jared said, glancing back up the tunnel. “Why don’t you come out on patrol with me, Fiero. I’ll tell you what I can; it may help you out a fair old bit.”
For a moment the still technically considered cub thought about declining but caved in when he thought back to how he had reacted to a simple question about the girl. He needed things set straight in his head before he could start resolving all of the questions in it and the last thing he wanted on his conscience was the fact he had hurt one of his beloved cousins without really understanding as to why he had done it. “Okay… but I still hate patrols,” he said, trying to sound sulky but failing drastically.
“Yeah, I know, but trust me…” Jared grinned. “You’ll want to be alone for a while after you hear what I’ve got to say.”
~~
The forest that surrounded the Den was sparse at the best of times, even in the middle of a blazing hot summer it could be described as uncharitably dead to the world. The trees seemed to half-heartedly give up on growing their leaves, producing only small foliage that aged quicker than most of the surrounding areas and dried up long before the fall season. The local villagers had always put it down to the huge bogs and swamps around the land, presuming that it sucked all the moisture out of the trees and rendered them virtually useless.
Some of the bolder ones told stories of darker things, creatures and witches that lived deep in the woods and stopped anything from growing to ward off intruders but they were tales to enthrall children and tourists for the most part with little substance behind them.
Not that some hadn’t paid heed and headed into the forest over the course of the years, there were some hikers who just wouldn’t take warnings in the slightest and the local mountain rescue team cursed the days when they had to fetch someone from the bogs. Only once had Fiero known the pack to assist with a rescue, but that had apparently been under special circumstances and he had been far too young at the time to really understand what was going on or remember it properly.
So emerging from the twisted darkness that was the wood to suddenly find a lush, green and very much growing glen, Fiero had to simply stare in amazement. “This is where everything happened?”
Jared nodded. “Yeah… I came by here a couple of days ago and it’s expanded since then. It didn’t even reach old mother oak there.” The wolf pointed to the large oak which had a strange sort of face that had naturally occurred as it had grown. “At least she seems happier now.”
Fiero looked at the oak carefully, remembering how he had always been highly scared of it when he was a cub because the face had almost been a scowl, as if the old tree was dissatisfied with something. But now there appeared to be a softening and the beginnings of a smile forming that made the old oak appear at peace after a long time.
Without really thinking, the young cub clambered down into the newer natural glen and let his senses roam. In all his years in the forest he had never smelt something so sweet and wonderful, even the times when his aunt would bring flowers and potted plants home to brighten up the place as she would put it, and the feeling of new life was wonderful.
He spotted the place where he had fallen, where the strange girl had kissed him and instinctively he moved towards it, kneeling down. In his place were a series of white flowers, beautiful and simplistic with a light feathery touch.
“They’re called Aquila.” Jared’s voice cut into Fiero’s silence., “Extraordinarily rare and most definitely not native to this area in the slightest. They started turning up shortly after…” sense kicked in and Jared sighed long and hard, suddenly understanding why his father had so many misgivings about this whole adventure. However, before Jared could speak another word, the young werewolf frowned. “Bloody hell.”
“What?” Fiero blinked at his cousin, trying to work out just what had freaked the other out.
“Your eyes really are silver.” The words were spoken straight, with no levels of joking in them and at an even more confused glance from Fiero continued with, “Take a look in the water. You’ll see what I mean.”
Feeling a little more than unsure, mainly because his cousins were good at pulling tricks on him, Fiero complied only because he wanted to turn around to the other and tell him off for being such an idiot. So it came as a rather big shock when he saw his reflection and the silver eyes that replaced the grey-blue. Fiero pulled himself back in shock, then looked back into the water and shook his head. “No, it can’t be… how?”
“Easy,” Jared said, stepping up to the younger boy and gently pulling him back from the water. “Breathe, Fiero, last thing I need is for you to have a heart attack on me.”
“But!”
“I know,�
� Jared said, forcing the other to sit down. “It’s scary but something is going on here, something important but you’ve got my dad to guide you and Uncle Disreli as well. Don’t panic, we can get through this.”
The cub shook for a few long seconds, hanging his head and breathing heavily. He didn’t know what was going on, he couldn’t even begin to work out what this all meant. Ever since his twenty-first birthday things had rapidly changed, far faster than he had ever suspected that they would and he just had no clue as to where his life was taking him. He could barely keep track of the world around him and now that this strange girl had appeared in his life. Slowly his shoulders relaxed, thinking of the girl whom he only knew by the name of Ekata and felt his heart beat more gently now. Even though he had only briefly been in her arms and watched her from afar, he knew what he felt for her, though couldn’t understand.
“Jared,” Fiero said gently. “What happens when a werewolf finds their true mate? Even if they’ve never met except in strange dreams?”
“The latter part you’re going to have to work out yourself,” Jared said gently, “but I’ll tell you about the first part. Though you have to trust me and not freak out too much, because whether you like it or not, I think—”
Fiero nodded. “I just want to know; I don’t want to start believing in a lie. That would hurt her more than anything.”
There were almost tears in the wolf’s voice and Jared unaccustomedly pulled the boy into a hug and held him there, trying to give him strength and courage in what would be a very strange time for the boy. Fiero wasn’t one to take such things, he only ever really accepted them from Stefina and that was on extraordinarily rare occasions but tonight however, he latched firmly onto Jared like his life depended on it.
The elder of the two paused, trying to think how best to describe everything and decided to just start as he meant to go on. “Fiero, are you a virgin?”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you a virgin?”
“What’s that got to do with any of this?” Fiero asked, looking rather annoyed at his older cousin.
Jared had the decency to at least grimace a little bit. “Well, it has a lot to do with it actually, an awful lot. It can affect you in many different ways, this whole ‘true mate’ business but if you’re prepared then… it’s a little easier to deal with. Not a lot, but it makes some things just more realistic.” Gently he tilted his head to the side. “So, tell me the truth now, are you a virgin or not?”
For a moment Fiero was silent, clearly deciding how best to state his situation. “Not entirely—”
“Fiero you’ve either done it with a girl or you haven’t. There’s no in-between.” He sighed. “And if you say that you’ve fooled around with someone but not actually put any parts of your body together other than your tongues then you are still a virgin.”
“Really?”
Nodding, the other smiled. “Yup.”
“Damn.”
“Don’t take it too much to heart.” Jared smiled. “Just be thankful that you’re not going to have a lot of explaining to do later to me old mam.”
A sly grin crossed his features. “I bet you had a few tales to tell on your brothers and sisters.”
Jared chuckled. “Oh, she knew all about us lot had us virtually down to the day and who so it was no big deal really. Well, maybe excluding Matilda but you know how that one worked out.” Slowly he sighed. “But you always seemed to be in her blank spot for some odd reason, she could never quite work things out with you.”
Slowly the wolf sighed. “I don’t think I could ever work things out with me.”
“But anyway, we’re getting off topic.” Jared gently cleared his throat. “I’m going to presume that you know all about sex and everything, ’cause there ain’t no way in hell that you’ve been given a sheltered upbringing in the slightest.”
“Got the photos to prove it, too.”
“Fiero!”
“Sorry.”
Biting back a sigh, Jared glared at his younger cousin. “Basically finding a mate is like finding that one really rare and special person in your entire life. No one really knows how it all works but it’s instinctual within us wolves… we may pick up a scent from afar or hear their voice on the wind one day and our very core fills up to the brim.”
“Even if you’ve never met?”
There came a nod. “Think of it like the humans, love at first sight. For them it’s a complicated situation that doesn’t always prove to be right in the slightest. For us wolves though, the second that we find our true mates it’s love, lust, jealousy, anger and everything all rolled straight into one powerful emotional state.”
Fiero zoned out slightly on his cousin’s further explanations, trying to focus his own emotions and how they fitted in with the other’s description. He knew that he cared for the strange girl whom he had never met, knew that he had asked for her when he had first woken up from those strange dreams. Everything in his life suddenly seemed to be revolving around her, despite having never met her before and the connection felt so deep and so natural that in the grand scheme of everything that was going on he couldn’t deny what he felt. But what did he feel exactly, he wanted to protect the girl, guard her against the evil of the world and stave off any other male who came within fifty yards of her that wasn’t family and to him that was more of a brotherly thing to do. It was treating her with affection, with kindness which clearly hadn’t been given to her too much in the grand scheme of life.
Was that what was going on between them? Was he turning into a protective big brother for her?
Suddenly, the kiss strove into his mind, how even though they had both been covered in mud, blood and grime, they had shared that special moment which appeared to create this natural valley. He remembered how he wanted to continue the kiss, how he wanted to make her feel precious and special and most of all, out of anything else in the world, loved.
“Earth to Fiero,” Jared cut in, gently knocking the dark-haired head with his fist. “Have you even been listening to a word that I’ve been saying?”
Looking straight up at Jared, not even flinching at the fact that he had been hit repeatedly on the head, the young man smiled dreamily. “I love her, Jared, I love her with all my heart.”
Blinking his dark eyes, the other sighed long and hard. “To tell you the truth, Fiero, it was pretty damn obvious.” He chuckled a little at the other’s stubborn expression before shaking his head. “Trust me, I’ve seen what happens after a wolf finds their true mate and you most certainly have. But a word of caution.” He raised one finger up in-between them., “Don’t expect her to jump straight into the same boat as you. She’s not the same as us, she hasn’t been brought up the way we have. She may initially reject you.”
“I know that.” Fiero sighed, shaking his head. “Can you imagine what would happen if a total stranger walked up to you and said ‘I love you with all my heart and I will never leave your side ever again’?”
“Yeah that would pretty much freak me out,” Jared said, rising at the same time as his younger cousin to a standing position. “But something tells me that you two are more aware of one another than you know. Just do me a favour and don’t screw up, she’s precious that girl and one wrong move could mean that we… sorry you… lose her forever.”
Fiero glanced back at the spring-like place they were standing in. “I won’t, I can promise you that.”
“How do you know?”
The werewolf smirked. “In the dream, she said I was hers.”
Chapter 7
First Meeting
Feeling a little like a naughty cub sneaking back into the den after a long night out in the human village over twenty miles away, Fiero slipped stealthily into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie from one of the many jars that were hidden on the top of the dresser. The sun was only just beginning to set, the day finally drawing to a close and he had escaped the rest of the patrol with Jared for the simple reason that the other couldn
’t be done looking at his love sick expressions. Pausing to listen carefully to the sounds around the house, Fiero confirmed that most of his family were preoccupied with their own activities and turned to make his way to his bedroom.
“Whoa!” he yelped in surprise, colliding with a small-framed body that was topped with black hair. “What are you…”
His words completely failed him as a pair of amber eyes met his and a shockwave of familiarity and fear ran through his entire body. Ekata was staring at him with that nervous little expression of hers and he didn’t know whether he should be running or throwing his arms around the girl. “Erm… sorry,” he said pathetically, lowering his head a little and rubbing at the top of his spine with his long fingers. “Should’ve been looking where I was going.”
“You’re taller,” Ekata said softly, blinking up at him, almost as if she were in some form of dream.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”
Gently the girl shook her head. “Sorry, you’re taller than you seemed before. Or I’m smaller than I thought…” Idly she flustered, her hands wrangling back and forth across each other. “I don’t know what I thought.”
Tilting his head to the side, Fiero took in the girl’s finer details and compared them to the dream version. Her build was slighter, much more fragile and her pale skin looked like fine porcelain in the fading light. It contrasted with her glistening dark hair and made her strange eyes shine all the more earnestly. An easy smile came to his features as he stepped incredibly close to her, so close in fact that he could feel the heat from the flush that seemed to reverberate throughout her whole body. Ekata was right, she was smaller than before, the tips of her ears only just about reaching his shoulder blades but he was sure that she would have no problems hearing his heartbeat right now. “I like you small, it suits you better,” he said, voice quiet and soft, trying not to frighten her away whilst his fingers gently stroked the side of her face.