Meet me in the Emerald Forest

Chapter 2 Lukas

My teeth were immediately set on edge when my Beta, Garrick alerted me to the presence of rogues on our borders. We hadn't been bothered by rogues for seven years, and, during that attack, both of my parents were killed and our pack nearly wiped out. I snarled dangerously and charged out of my office, bursting into my wolf, Bastian, as soon as I left the building. Garrick was already waiting for me, shifted into his black wolf, Raven.

"Where are they?" I asked as I followed him through the forest.

"Near the human town." Garrick barked in reply.

"The human town?"

"Yes. They aren't attacking us. They're going after the humans." Garrick explained.

"Damn them." I snarled and picked up the pace.

We chased a group of a dozen or so rogues from the human town and into the Emerald forest. We had no idea that we were herding them in the direction of a human party. They were a few yards in front of us when I heard the pack slow. Bastian glanced sideways at Raven as we ran, wondering what had caused the rogues to stop. That's when I sensed it, sensed her.

Her scent hit me before anything else. It was lavender and daisies, there was no question. Bastian threw his head to the sky and let out a haunting howl before running faster than he ever has before; even Raven struggled to keep up. Bastian plowed into the first rogue before he even knew what was happening.

Six rogues were snarling and growling at one, tiny human huddled against a tree with her eyes tightly closed. Bastian knew immediately, just as I did, that the human was our mate. She opened her eyes and a small sobbed escaped her lips, catching Bastian's attention. He ran up to her and stopped a few inches away, bowing his head to meet her eyes; her deep blue eyes that were as dark as the depths of the sea. They were watching us intensely, taking us in.

I heard her heart rate slow, like she was no longer afraid. Just then, a rogue barreled into my side, and we rolled through the dirt and the leaves. Bastian tossed the rogue to the side just in time to hear a scream and see another wolf dare to lay its eyes on our mate. Bastian let out a viscous growl and lunged for the rogue, snapping its throat in a single motion.

Bastian turned back towards our mate to see that she was fleeing through the trees. Part of us was sad that she was gone while the other part, a larger part, was glad that she was no longer in any danger.

We handled the rest of the rogues easily and then Bastian was begging for us to follow our mate's scent. I don't think I could've stopped him even if I wanted to. We followed her scent through the street and all the way to the human neighborhood of Willow.

That's when the smell of blood became so overwhelming that it nearly canceled out our mate's scent. I called for my pack to come and secure the town, ensuring that there weren't any more rogues loose on the humans, as I continued the search for my mate.

Her scent mixed with the smell of blood, causing Bastian to go wild. We were terrified that she was injured. Bastian came to a stop in front of one of the larger houses on the block and noticed that the door was wide open. He was just about to run inside when our mate came to a stumbling halt in front of the doorway.

She was covered in blood but none of it smelled like hers. I prayed that meant she was uninjured. She stared at me for a second, unmoving, until her mouth opened and a terrifying scream was unleashed. Bastian's heart ached for his mate. He wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but we couldn't, not with the human neighbors approaching. He snarled at me when I ordered him to leave her.

We circled the block and came up behind her house, hiding in the small garden. After a while, all manner of sirens and lights showed up on the street. An ambulance took our mate away and there was nothing else we could do.