by Sarah Elliot
Ekata tilted her head up to him, fear in her eyes but more out of an unknown sort of feeling he thought than actually being scared of him per se. She took in his height and his width, a usual strong build for a werewolf but there was a grace and a sleekness to Fiero that was different from most wolves. He looked more streamlined, if that made any sense to anyone, like his inner wolf was completely part of him, rather than a separate entity. Even though he was wearing a loose-fitting shirt, she could still see the scars which had been caused to his body all those years ago and she felt a stab of fear go through her heart. “No, we shouldn’t.” Her voice was a whisper and gently she shook her head, catching his hand. “This is too dangerous.”
“No, it’s not, Ekata,” Fiero said gently, lightly tightening the grip on the hand that held his own and ignoring the slight step back she did at hearing her name. “I’m here for you now. Nothing is going to change that. I can prove it to you as well.”
Slowly, her head tilted back up and those strange eyes of amber stared at him levelly. She wasn’t going to be fooled again, clearly someone had hurt her in the past and Fiero felt a flare of anger at such a thought. How dare anyone trick and hurt her, regardless of the reason why. Mentally he calmed himself down, he needed to gain her trust and prove to her that he wasn’t lying. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and felt the sting coursing through the underside of his lids but only for a few seconds. Once the sensation had stopped, Fiero slowly and carefully opened his usually grey eyes to reveal the striking silver that they had become.
Letting out a gasp of a breath, Ekata found herself moving closer towards the male werewolf without even realizing what she was doing. Her free hand was on his cheek and for a second her lips ghosted over his, a blush on her cheeks. She was virtually on her tiptoes in order to do so but there was still that natural inbuilt fear which stopped her from accepting things at face value. “Fiero?”
“My lady,” he replied with a playful little smirk, running his fingers through her thick black hair to tickle at her white ears.
All resistance and fear was suddenly gone from the young Volf and her lips found his all too readily with a hunger that she had never felt before. She felt his arms wrap around her in a tight embrace, providing her with strength and the ability to stand just a little easier. Slowly they broke off from one another, sharing in heavy breaths as they desperately fought to gain air back into their lungs. Feeling the girl move into a much more natural position against him, the wolf gently moved his fingers into the long locks of her hair and stroked them finely. “It’s good to find you at long last.”
“What’s going on?” Ekata asked, a tiny bit of fear in her voice. “I’ve… I’ve never…”
Gently Fiero kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry, I’m new to this to.”
“But I don’t know you.” Part of her soul was quite shocked at that statement but the Volf chose to ignore it for now. “I only just met you. Why do I?”
Fiero chuckled. “You really have no idea how to be a wolf do you?”
Ekata blinked. “Should I?”
A racy smile was sent her way in reply, something that set her heart beating just a little faster. “Do you want to learn?” His tone was certainly suggestive but somehow the girl knew that he was to be trusted completely and wouldn’t do anything against her will either. How was still something of a mystery but a thrill of emotion crept through her heart and she knew that there was no way that she could refuse him either. Silently she nodded, her eyes glimmering all the more when his smile became just a little more teasing and gently he stepped away, taking her hand and leading her towards the back of the den.
Fiero led her along the passageways, ignoring any of the other members of his family, all his senses and emotions focused only on the girl who was holding onto his hands. There was nothing else in the world that mattered right now, nothing else that meant more to him and he almost felt as though his heart was going to burst. Reaching the back door, Fiero led Ekata out into what could be considered to be the back garden and pulled her to a stop before leaning down to press his lips to hers once again. “Do you trust me?” he asked softly, his large hands resting lightly on her shoulders.
Ekata blinked up at him, quietly biting her lip but nodding softly all the same. She had no idea what was going to happen next but she knew that every fiber of her body was happy to go along with whatever Fiero wanted to do because she was safe with him. It was impossible to explain as to how she knew; she really didn’t know anything about the wolf culture in the slightest but for now she would just have to follow her instincts. It didn’t stop her flushing bright red when Fiero stepped back and removed his shirt in full view, followed swiftly by his trousers too so that he was standing completely naked in front of her.
Flushing even redder, Ekata wanted to hide her face with her fingers and not look whilst another side of her wanted to leap upon that body and worship it for all that it was worth and another part of her was just perfectly content to stare at him. Gently she gulped, forcing her hands down to her side as she raised her head to look at the wolf in front of her. “Why am I not scared of you?”
“Because you know that I will not hurt you willingly,” Fiero said stepping closer. “You know instinctively that we are meant to be one and that in nature we are being nothing but what we are meant to be, Ekata.” His fingers found the straps of her dress whilst her nimble and light fingers softly rolled along his abs and up his chest with a fascination of someone who had not touched another before.
A tiny squeak of surprise escaped her as the material of the dress fell away and she tried desperately to cover her own naked body because she was sure that she was nothing worth looking at in the slightest. However, she found her hands splaying flat against the toned abs of her mate – whoa, did that thought really just go through her mind? – as he pressed closer to her with a soft press of a kiss against her forehead. “You have nothing to fear, you outshine the sun and the moon, my love.”
Looking up again, Ekata forgot all of her previous nerves and brought her thin arms around the young man’s neck, crashing their lips together desperately. Suddenly only senses existed, nothing else lingered around and despite a sharp pang of pain which shot through her body as the wolf within her leapt forth, changing her physically from one form to another which had never been fully released before. Fiero was right beside her, his wolf instinctively warm, protective and prepared to be patient but ready to play.
A swift bop on the nose came from a paw and the next thing either of the young cubs knew they were out, running in the wilderness, free from concerns and worries, being wild and free.
Leaning against the doorframe, Stefina put out a restricting hand towards her mate who had moved as if he were going to go after the pair. “Let them play, Rosario, there’s nothing that you can do about this.”
“I was going to grab a cup of coffee actually, my love.” Rosario smiled towards his mate. “I just hope that he does remember that she is not entirely a wolf. Those defenses are pretty nasty and if he’s not careful…”
Stefina let out a half-breathy laugh. “Well, as long as he doesn’t do what a certain young cub I know did on his first run with his mate then I’m sure they will be fine.”
Lightly pushing his glasses up his nose, the wolf sighed. “You’re still never going to let me live that down are you?”
“What do you think?” Stefina raised her eyebrows slightly, before moving to a calendar on the wall and marking the date. Feeling the silent question, she sighed. “Just marking the first run, I doubt either of them will pay attention enough to remember it.”
Hearing the kettle click, Rosario turned around and set about doing what he had planned on doing all along. Gently his eyes drifted to one of the numerous family photographs, this one of his departed sister with a very small cub that eventually grew into Fiero in her arms. Blinking, he shook his head, wondering why he ever doubted himself over the whole situation, it was easy to see
even then, Fiero’s mother had known that her son would go on and be something extraordinarily special.
Chapter 8
A Stab in the Dark
The scent was alluring, which immediately put Jared onto more of an edge than anything else had previously done. There was rarely a time when a scent the likes of which he was tracking now led to anything good and he knew almost automatically that trouble would just be around the corner. It didn’t stop him blinking as he entered a natural clearing and spotted a lithe female figure with a long mane of shocking red hair, just simply standing there. The scent was stronger now, for a weaker being it would have brought them straight to the female but the young werewolf just smirked. “Very pretty, I must admit. But you’re going to have to try harder than that, vampire, to allure me to your bedside.”
For a second the figure didn’t react, then slowly turned her head in almost a childish manner as if she were hiding some great secret from the world. “Oh, I wouldn’t need to allure you to get you to my bedside.” She turned, dropping her arms slowly to reveal what Jared expected. “I think you like what you see?”
Gently, the werewolf leaned against the nearest oak tree available. “Like I said before, very pretty. Especially nice touch on using your hair to hide the bits that most men would want to see. But like I said before, you are going to have to try harder than that, vampire.” There was no disguising the venom in his voice and his eyes glimmered with the potential thrill of the upcoming fight. “Because I am a wolf and could tear you apart without even thinking about it.”
Siren smiled, hardly seeming fazed by this information. “Yet you treat the one who is neither of us like a sister, curious.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Jared pushed himself off the tree to stare levelly at the girl. “And I suggest you get off our territory before I dispense with the-”
Suddenly the red-haired vampire was right in front of his face, that beautiful white skin merely centimeters from his own. Instincts kicked in and he lashed out at the girl, claws painfully forming through his human skin. He just missed as the vampire pulled herself back out of his grasp and Jared wondered for a brief second as to why she had even pulled the move in the first place.
There was a sudden pain from his midriff and blood welled up in his mouth. Glancing down he could just see the hilt of a dagger, laced with gold and silver and painfully he slumped down towards the ground. Siren leered over him, her eyes glistening brightly. “You should have taken the opportunity to be allured, it would have been less painful way for you to die.”
The vampire laughed, loud and cruel and stepped away from the suffering werewolf who mentally cursed his own stupidity. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that the girl gets everything that she deserves. I’m sure her freshly spilt blood will make a fine trophy for my brother.”
It was getting darker for Jared, the world around him becoming cold and filled with nothing but an empty void. One thought stuck in his head though, one over-riding notion that he couldn’t allow the festering she-devil who had managed to get through the first wave of vampire defenses any further than she had come. Half-aware of what was going on around him; the eldest cub glanced up at the tree and spotted an age-old symbol carved deep into the wood. It was probably the longest of long shots for him to take but the silver in the dagger was so close to consuming him that he would take any shot that presented itself.
With a growl to rival the ancient battles of old, the young werewolf propelled himself upwards and slammed his bloodied hand onto the marking. His vision blacked out but he still heard the high-pitch wail of the vampire as the ancient magic reacted to her. “Should’ve taken the opportunity to kill me outright,” he muttered with a twisted smile to himself before collapsing into the snow, his blood mingling with the frozen water around him almost as if to permanently mark it as his final resting place. His last thoughts, before the darkness hit him, were that he should warn Fiero about the vampire’s presence but the darkness just willingly took him instead.
~~
Coming to a panting stop, Ekata felt all of her legs virtually give way under her and flopped down into the snow below for some kind of rest. She couldn’t even recall the last time that she had been in this form, let alone tried to run after anyone in it. Fiero seemed to be perfectly happy just lolling about in his wolf form, but he had grown up knowing the inner beast and had no problems adapting to it. Ekata on the other hand had been aware but had never really changed into the stark white wolf that she currently was, and whilst natural instinct kicked in for the most part and made her move and at least act a little wolfish, running for such a long time made her feel more exhausted than depriving herself of blood.
She remained where she was for a moment, heaving out huge clouds of steamy breath before twisting her head suddenly towards the very distant horizon. Just on the very edge of her vision, where a darkened line of mountains broke the definition between sky and ground, there was a sudden bolt of white light that seemed to almost reach up to the heavens itself. Amber eyes tracked a fine pulse that rose up the beam of light and for a second, she thought that it was going to drop straight down again but instead she realised that it had moved several miles to the west of the first light location. “Dymas?” she whispered silently, feeling the air around her heat up briefly for a second or two. “You need to come here… bring him here…”
For a moment there may have been the start of a second flash, there was plenty of static around her fur and for the smallest second of time she felt a connection being made. But then it was robbed away, someone at the other end had latched onto the caster and the chance was gone. A soft snow flurry landed on her white fur and Ekata glanced up at the sky. “What am I doing?”
“Hey.” Fiero’s voice came softly from the side and a large black wolf with white highlights and those stunning silver eyes approached her. “I didn’t go too fast for you did I?”
Ekata paused and thought for a moment. “You did actually.” But her attention turned back to the distant horizon. “Though if you hadn’t then I wouldn’t have seen…”
“Your brother?”
“How do you know about that?”
Fiero fidgeted with his paws. “It was something my mother told me once. An ancient story about a Silver Maiden and her brother…”
“We are not them,” Ekata said carefully, trying to look away but finding that it merely confused her vision somewhat. “Everyone seems to think we are, but we are not.”
Gently the black wolf stepped up to the glistening white one and nuzzled into the side of her neck. “Do you really believe that?”
“It’s the one thing that has kept me alive all these years,” Ekata replied as she stood up and took a step to the side but instead collapsed back towards the ground.
With reflexes that defied every known law of motion, Fiero carefully guided his mate back down to a lying position. “If it’s too tiring you can change back you know; I won’t get offended.”
There was a worried look from those amber eyes, “But—”
Sensing her discomfort, Fiero allowed himself to change back into his human form though he would have preferred to remain in wolf form. The winter wasn’t as cold as it was to humans but bare flesh did tend to have some sensitive areas. The white wolf looked unsettled for a few seconds, almost prepared to bolt away from him but gently he placed his hand upon her head and stroked through the silken fur gently. I’m not going to make you do anything that you don’t want to do, my dear Ekata, I merely want you to be happy and free.
Looking back out towards the horizon, Ekata wondered if she dare before giving in to some inner feeling which she just didn’t understand right now or would fully focus on. It was quite painful turning back, feeling her bones and muscles realign themselves with a series of crunches and clicks and tears of pain came to her eyes once the transformation was complete. She let out a few mewls of withheld pain as she felt Fiero lean down and kiss away the tears that were welli
ng in her amber eyes. “Don’t hold back, I won’t think any less of you for such things.”
But Ekata did hold back because she knew that if she started weeping over the pain that was going through her body right now, then she would never actually stop crying. It was like every last bone in her body was on fire and the slightest move would break her into a thousand pieces. She felt the other’s smile, “Stubborn cub.” The whisper from the male was soft and gentle; “You don’t have to hide… not anymore.”
“Why do you talk like you know me?”
Fiero smiled. “When did we first meet?”
“The other night, by the river… you had fallen down the bank side and…” She sighed and looked away, knowing what he was trying to say. “That was a dream. I don’t know you and I can’t just trust you… you don’t know what it’s like to be hated, hunted all of your life just because you could be something to someone who doesn’t care about you in the slightest.”
For a few seconds there was a lingering silence between the pair and slowly amber eyes rose to meet the silver. “Why do I even care about you?”
Their lips met again, this time a feeling of warmth going through her body which drove out the ice-cold sting of the snow where it was allowed to touch her bare skin as Fiero had her carefully wrapped around his large and warm body. Ekata’s mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of comfort, of a strength that she had never felt and most of all, an alien emotion of love. Briefly she saw an image of a house and children running around, but most of all, Fiero striding home with a fresh catch and that daredevil smile which always made her heart melt.
“I may not understand what you’ve been through, but I did see it and I was there. If it is within my ability, I’ll ensure that no one can ever hurt you ever again.” The words ghosted over her lips and slowly she found herself rising into a kneeling position, whilst Fiero’s hands ran smoothly down her sides, encouraging but not demanding. Patient and pliant, soft and gentle yet strong and determined and knowing exactly what to do.