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WEYLAND
Her scent finds me deep within the Dead Lands, the intoxicating aroma stroking down my fur and making me howl with desire. I know it’s a female by the deep hints of femininity within the scent, the notes rolling together until I can pick out her gender. She smells like elderberries and the freshest of linens, a mixture that makes me imagine white sheets stained with the berries. The scent drags me away from my hunt and demands I follow it.
Who am I to deny it?
I am but a beast, a slave to my desires, and the scent beckons. I follow it before I’m conscious of doing so, running through the Dead Lands at a pace most creatures wouldn’t be able to maintain, but I’m motivated by the scent and her allure. I run for days as long stretches of time bleed together. I lose count of how many days I run. The ache in my bones is easily ignored when I think of what awaits me at the end of the scent trail and whom I might meet. I don’t know her or what she looks like, but I know I need to see her. My instincts demand it.
I run through the forest, across rivers deeper than I am tall, and pass creatures that look up in curiosity at the lycan racing past them, half afraid I’m being chased by something more imposing. I leap over smaller ravines and run until my legs scream at me to stop and my muscles beg for a break.
Still, I run.
The scent brings me closer to the Shadow Lands than I’d like. I normally stay as far away from humans as I possibly can. After all, they’d happily skin me and use me as a rug if they ever caught me. Today, I risk it in my quest for her, for the source of the scent—elderberries and fresh linen.
It drags me closer until a small cabin appears in front of me with soft light glowing from within. It looks cozy and quaint. Built roughly from wood and only one story tall, it’s not much, but it looks comfy enough. Moss grows along the trunks used to build the house, giving it a light musky aroma that is somehow still pleasant. A few curtain-covered windows appear on the sides, and there’s a single door in the front of it. I assume there’s another one on the back. No monster would allow themselves to be trapped by one door.
The scent is stronger the closer I draw, but I’m not the only one who has smelled her. That is very clear.
A dozen other monsters surround the cabin, their maws salivating over the smell wafting from inside. They are a mixture of beasts that I can’t remember the proper names for. She called them all here, their need to consume her so strong, they crossed the Dead Lands just as I did.
But she’s mine. Whoever she is, I won’t let them claim her.
The cabin door slams open, and a water creature steps out with a vicious snarl on his face as he leaps to battle them. He throws himself forward with a worthy bellow, alone, and then she appears in the doorway behind him. The light behind her almost blinds me, never mind her beauty. Her hair is a tawnydarkness, intersected with bright orange flames near the front. Her eyes are bright and flash with fear and determination. She’s tall, willowy, and beautiful but also scared. Her limbs shake in fear, and her eyes are wide with intense emotions. She holds a large club awkwardly in her hands, as if she’s not sure how to use it. Despite her fear, she screams for the water creature and holds the club high as if she’s ready to use it. My heart thumps at the sight, my claws growing longer as I crouch with a snarl that silences the trees and life around me.
Mate.
The echo is loud in my mind, a ricocheting thought that dances from one side of my mind to the other, and it seals her fate.
“Kaito!” she screams when the monsters attack, her small hands swinging the club when a smaller monster gets too close to the doorway she huddles in, half in the light of the cabin and half in the darkness of the woods. It hisses at her but backs off, confused that such a fearful creature would dare fight back.
Mate!
With a snarl, I leap into the fray, attacking the creatures that would dare attack mybacca. How dare they? My teeth are bared as I lurch forward. The water creature sees me and weighs me up, and when he realizes I’m helping, he accepts without a second thought. The Dead Lands have one very simple rule—you’re either enemy or ally.
Today, I’m an ally, but I plan to be so much more.
The woman stumbles back in terror when I appear, her eyes so wide, I fear she’ll never blink again. I rip one of the horrible monsters apart and turn to her to see the horror in the pupils of her eyes. She fears me. My mate fears me.
“I will not hurt you,” I growl, and she flinches. I realize this is something that will take time because her fear is so palpable, I choke on it. I am a beast of a creature, so I need to be careful withmy fragile mate who is very clearly not a monster. I soften my expression. “I will never hurt you,bacca,” I murmur, trying to cover my canines with my lips so I don’t scare her further. “Stay inside.”
With a angry howl, I leap back in the fray, tearing the enemy creatures limb from limb and reminding those who may still come that she is spoken for and that there are two creatures protecting her here.
My beautiful mate.
My elderberry. Mybacca.
The blood of the creatures who dare come for her stains my lips as I rip them into pieces.
Chapter
Six
KAI
We hear them before we see them. We’d just cleared away the evening meal, and Kaito is stoking the fire when the first call rents the air. I leap to my feet, stumbling at the beastly sound. Kaito is by my side in a second, clutching my arm to help me stand, our eyes going to the door.
“Kaito,” I whisper.
“It’s fine. Whatever it is will just be passing through or curious. You’re safe,” he murmurs softly. I relax slightly, but when a second call comes and then a third, I whimper in fear, backing away. The hair on my arm rises at the growls that seem to surround the cabin, almost permeating the walls, as if they are looking for a way in.
