Desired by the Alpha (Wolf Destiny Book 1) (3 page)

With wounds gaping from lack of closure, coming home had seemed like a very good idea at the time.

Now, stepping out into the cold evening air, Olivia wasn’t so sure. Flipping her collar up to guard against the icy reaches of the whipping wind, she plodded towards the woods, wincing as her injured leg protested the unfamiliar strain that walking through deep snow was putting on it.

Olivia paused at the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree to take her weight off her right leg. She shouldn’t keep going. Just because nothing had happened to her before didn’t mean it was safe now.
 

Screw it. She was going in. She might have lost everything she had going for her, but not her spirit. At twenty four, she was far too young to start being cautious.
 

Trying to ignore the twinge of fear that reminded her she was a lot more vulnerable now, she plunged forward.
 

The woods were beautiful and peaceful, just the way she remembered them. Easily finding her way back to the circle, she was about to take a seat on a fallen log when she saw a swift movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning around too quickly, she took an involuntary step back and tripped, her knee giving way with an ominous pop.
 

A sharp spike of burning pain shot up and down her entire leg as she tumbled to the ground.
 

Her racing heart galloped at twice its speed when she heard footsteps crunching in the snow. They were too heavy to belong to an animal. Would someone other than her be crazy enough to venture in here at night?
 

With that thought, the gravity of her situation hit her with full force. She was completely vulnerable and alone. Coming here had been a very bad idea.

Chapter 2

Blaize caught the scent long before he saw the person, recognition stopping him in his tracks. Unbelievable. But he couldn’t deny the evidence of his senses.
 

It was the human he had come face-to-face with back on his first night of solo patrol, the one who had been in the back of his mind in all the years since then.
 

No matter how hard he fought it, he was always pulled to her whenever she came back into his forest.
 

Like him, this human had grown up in the time that had passed, but her essence was unmistakable. Even after the change from child to adult, it was still fundamentally her.
 

She was enticing, and now it was time to make himself known to her. Although for some reason she hadn’t been afraid of him in wolf form, tonight he was going to approach her as a human.
 

Watching her walk into the forest, not a dozen feet from where he sat, he marvelled at the way she didn’t seem to pick up his scent. Maybe that was why she kept entering his territory without fear. She didn’t know what lay in store for her.

Blaize circled around her as she walked, silently matching her pace, keeping out of sight until he made a decision.
 

He headed back to the cave he used to sleep in when he was on patrol, intending to shift into human form.

Racing through the trees, running into branches and letting them snap against each other as he passed, Blaize purposely made as much noise as he could to either scare off or call out anything that might be hiding or lying in wait for him. If there was a conflict to be had or skirmish to be fought, he wanted to have it out now so he wouldn’t be interrupted later.
 

Ever since this human had been drawn to him too, compelled to brave the forest even as a child, he knew he had to find out if they were meant to be together. Tonight was his chance.

She had disappeared for so long, he had started to think that he had imagined the connection between them. After all, he had been quite young as well, and still learning many things.
 

But the moment he found her again tonight, everything he felt before came flooding back. It was unmistakable, and it seared him right down to his bones.

Even as he tried to shake it off, just as he had that first night and every time after that she entered his forest again, he couldn’t deny it.

He was drawn back to the circle for no reason he could understand until he caught her scent once again and knew in his heart that she was the one for him.
 

A human was his destined mate? That should have been impossible. But somehow it was true. And so it was time to face her.
 

Blaize didn’t have to let anyone else know about it, not right away. He could still see what happened and then decide what to do. He could send her away, warn and threaten her so she wouldn’t come back. Or worse. Either way, he would be free of what had to be a curse.

Reaching the cave, Blaize wasn’t happy to find that he was not alone. He was already beginning to shift when he spotted Phyr lying on the ground, just waking up.
 

“I was going to go looking for you.” His friend yawned, stretching as he sat up.

“Why?” Blaize tried not to let his impatience show. If he didn’t head back soon, the human could leave. That wouldn’t do. He had to figure this thing out, once and for all.

“Your father sent me to bring you back. He wants to talk to you.”
 

Blaize stifled a groan, knowing what his father wanted. That was the entire reason he had avoided him for the past few days.

“And you agreed to that?” Blaize asked, finding the clothes he had stashed there earlier on. Dressing quickly, he looked over at his friend.

Blaize hadn’t seen Phyr in human form for quite some time. It was a rare sight these days, as Phyr seemed to prefer his wolf form more and more. It was a change from when they were kids, when they would shift back and forth at will, trying to best each other at anything and everything, in wolf and human form.

The two of them had been fast friends for their whole lives. They were even physically similar enough that they would get mistaken for each other from a distance, sometimes even by their own families. Their black hair matched, although Phyr was slightly leaner than Blaize, wiry and agile where Blaize was built for strength.

But not if someone was looking at their faces. Phyr’s eyes were an unusually pale grey, contrasting sharply with Blaize’s very dark brown. No wolf or human Blaize had ever seen had eyes like Phyr’s. They looked unreal, and nearly everyone did a double-take when they saw him for the first time.

Phyr looked at Blaize, his eyes full of amusement. “What else could I do? Besides, the real question is, what are you going to say to him?”

Blaize shouldn’t be annoyed, although he was. Just a little bit. Of course Phyr couldn’t turn down a request made by an elder. Especially Blaize’s father. Although he was fair and reasonable most of the time, he could easily switch to intimidating someone with simply a look to get what he wanted.

Blaize himself couldn’t always stand up to the man, even now that he was fully grown. Ayrmin had been on him a lot lately about finding his mate. He had been doing the same thing from the moment Blaize had become an adult, but lately, the pressure had been almost relentless. As if the world would end if he didn’t have a partner before his next birthday.

Blaize shrugged, turning away. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be avoiding him.”
 

Phyr came over, grasping his shoulder. “He only wants what’s best for you.”

“He wants me to do what I’m told,” Blaize said, shaking his head.

“I’ll tell him I gave you the message. But for my sake at least, will you go see him soon? He’s not above shooting the messenger, and I have parents of my own for that.”

A twinge of guilt made Blaize look away. Phyr shouldn’t have to be forced into the growing conflict he was having with his father, and this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

“I’ll go see him soon, if only to tell him to lay off you.”

“Alright. You know, when you’re busy dodging him, I don’t get to see you either,” Phyr said lightly, but Blaize picked up on the sadness in his voice.

“I’m done patrolling duty in two more days. I’ll see you then.” Blaize clapped his friend on the back, gazing at him fondly. They were spending more time apart than together these days, and it wasn’t right. Friends were no less important than family in the Fyryne pack, and Blaize was nothing if not loyal.

“Great. See you then,” Phyr called over his shoulder as he disappeared outside.

Blaize held back until after Phyr left, not wanting his friend to see where he was going. It wasn’t really necessary, but right now he didn’t want anyone to know what he was up to.
 

He wouldn’t lie, least of all to his best friend, but what he was going to do would certainly raise questions. Blaize wasn’t ready to tell anyone about this human and what significance she had, not even Phyr.

After a couple minutes, he stuck his head out of the cave to check. No sight of anyone. Striding back the way he had come from, he sniffed the air but he was too far away to tell if the human was still around.
 

Blaize picked up his pace, walking rapidly but not breaking into a run. Running in human form was awkward and unpleasant, being so far removed from the ground.
 

As he got closer, he picked up her scent again. Good. She was certainly still in the forest.

Rounding a bend in the path, he was close enough to reveal himself but he couldn’t see her. Frowning, Blaize scanned the area until he spotted her lying on the ground.

He approached her cautiously so as not to scare her. She seemed to be injured in some way.
 

What could have happened during the short time he was gone? There were no signs that she had struggled in a fight, nor were her injuries visible. The thought that she might not be what she seemed wove its way into his mind, and he didn’t like the idea one bit.

Twisting her head around in an attempt to see what was going on, Olivia gaped at the figure of a man approaching her. Struggling to sit up, Olivia already knew she wouldn’t be able to stand.
 

“I…” she began as he got closer. His face was hidden by a hood pulled closely around his head. This might not be the kind of man who would help her out.

“You’re hurt,” he said bluntly, holding his hand out to her. Olivia tried to stifle a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t going to kill her on first sight. She had a chance.

Unable to keep from leaning heavily on him, she tried to rise. A cry of pain escaped her lips and she would have fallen back if he hadn’t been holding onto her.
 

“I can’t walk on my own, but I live very nearby,” Olivia said. “If you could help me out, just help me to get back home, I would really, really appreciate it.”

The man looked into her eyes for the first time. “Come with me and I’ll keep you safe.”
 

There was something about his dark eyes that made her want to believe him, but she took a deep breath, trying to steel her resolve.

“If you wouldn’t mind just helping me out of the forest,” Olivia said again, but he was already turning the opposite way.
 

“I don’t leave these woods,” he said, his voice colder than the night air.
 

He doesn’t leave the woods? The only creatures that stayed in the woods without ever leaving were werewolves. Was this man a shifter? Olivia’s heart beat crazily in her chest.

She didn’t have much of a choice but to trust him. If she didn’t find shelter, she could freeze to death before she was recovered enough to make it home on her own.

“Okay,” she said, trying not to flinch as he circled his arm around her waist.

Leading her between the trees, he took her much farther into the woods than she had ever gone before. There wasn’t much choice. Olivia couldn’t walk out on her own, and if she didn’t go with him now, she could freeze before she recovered enough to make it by herself.

And if he wanted to harm her, he could have done so already. Unless he wanted to make her more vulnerable by taking her away from anything that was even remotely familiar to her.

Olivia shivered, trying to push that thought away.

“You are cold?” he asked.
 

“Yes,” she said, and it wasn’t untrue. The temperature was dropping sharply as night fell.

Without another word, he steered her off the tiny path they were on. Olivia’s imagination went into overdrive, her thoughts frantically jumping from bad to worse as to how this might end.
 

When they came to a huge rock face, he kept heading toward it, making her think he was mad until she spotted a nearly-invisible opening. It was a small cave.
 

She stopped, tensing up and nearly falling when he kept going.
 

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady so as not to reveal her growing fear.

He gripped her tighter, pulling her forward. “It will be warmer inside.”

Resigning herself, she went with him into the pitch-blackness. She couldn’t see a thing, yet he moved forward as confidently as if the cave was brightly lit.

“Stay here,” he said, walking away before she could protest. Maybe, after all this time, her curiosity had finally gotten her into real trouble.
 

Every sound the man made was magnified, echoing off the walls and letting her know they were in a small, enclosed area now. Olivia heard a scraping and then she could see again. Their shadows danced on the walls in the light of the fire he had started.

He came back to her, guiding her over and helping her sit down. The ground was ice-cold but the flames were welcome comfort.
 

He had a powerful, fluid way of moving. Her rescuer lowered his hood, revealing his face to her for the first time. Now that Olivia could see more of his face, she could tell it was no different, strong and masculine to match his body.

His eyes were so dark they looked black, even by the light of the fire. They matched his jet-black hair, giving him a fiercely intense look that was both intimidating and enticing at the same time.