Courage Don't Leave Me

Surprise

Ava and I had run as far as the scent took us before we felt the danger lurking in the shadows. At the edge of the forest we stopped dead in our tracks when the rogues jumped out at us. My initial concern was keeping Zaiden as safe as possible. So with faltered confidence I took a step back and hunched down. My muzzle touched the ground; my paws planted firmly behind me and growled as low and threatening as possible. It rumbled the ground beneath us. 

It shocked the rogues not having felt the wrath of an alpha bloodline for as long as they've been gone. Stunned they ran to position to surround me. I tore the carrier off my back and held Zaiden in my mouth so as to keep him close to me. I backed into the bushes along the road to keep distance between us and the rogues. 

With our vision impaired and our wounds there was no way we were going to make it out of this alive. I held tight to Zaiden when they approached. The largest came forward first to snuff me out. His nose shoved my weak body around tossing and turning me. I growled to warn him to stay away, but it was a feeble attempt. I dropped Zaiden between my legs and held him close when the next approached. He wasn't as gentle as the first. 

He got his nose somewhere it shouldn't have gone and I snapped my jaw on his ear. Tearing the flesh to pieces. He whimpered and slashed my face with his claws. I spit the remains on the ground next to me and snarled. That's when all ten of them attacked. One biting and tearing flesh on my right hind leg. One had its jaw clamped onto my brothers carrier. His screams and cries of fear broke my heart for the last time. I knew we were going to die. 

I was a disappointment to my mom. Zaiden and I were never going to make it out of this alive. I poured my heart out into my last howl before I blacked out. 

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Unconsciousness never took me fully. I was in and out the whole time. One minute i'm being torn to shreds and the next there's pack wolves tearing the rogues away from me. The smell was back. The sweet amber and musk filled my nostrils. One by one the rogues fell. The pack outnumbered them by the tens. I could still hear my brothers whimpers and snuggled him closer to my body. Still not fully aware that we are being saved. 

An elder woman approaches me when the rogues have been taken care of. Their bodies lay in a smoking pile of flames fifteen feet from where we lay. She was dressed in modern day wear. As if just casually going to the mall. She reached forth and attempted to take Zaiden from me. I have never been so quick to act as I was in that moment. My jaw reached around and almost clamped down on her arm when I heard a voice; oh so deep, smooth, and just oozing honey. 

"Stop." the command was clear and full of so much authority that I couldn't resist, but to bow in submission and release my brother. In my attempt to follow the woman carrying my baby brother I stood on my torn hind leg and broken ankle. My body screamed as fire licked every wound exposed to air. Every move I made was more painful than the last. 

*Ava...please stop...you're killing us faster.* Ava snuffed her nose into the ground and whined at me. 

*What if they kidnap him? I don't trust these guys. He's ours to protect! He could get hurt!* I sighed. There was no way I could get her to stop. She rolled over to get a stronger foot underneath us before pushing herself off the ground. 

As soon as she did more pain ripped through our body as the crushed rib-cage came in contact with the ground. Ava howled in pain one last time before admitting defeat. I swore every time she shifted. There was no way we were going to be able to survive the switch so that I may be human again. We will die before even a bone snaps back into the correct position. Let alone the fact that if I were to shift back the only clothes I had were laying in shreds beside us. 

Those damn rogues.

We watched as the bodies burned before I acknowledged the presence just to the right of me. I had completely forgotten about the smell that sent my stomach into a riot and my heart to skitter in my chest. The person responsible for such actions in my being was just as exquisite as his smell. 

I admired first his rugged good looks. His face took on one of a well defined square. Eyes pierced through my soul with just one look as I stared into the sea of pure blue. A clash of brown filled the bottom right eye. A birthmark. He had soft black hair that played at the end of his forehead almost reaching his left eye. His lips full and a perfect healthy pink that looked as plush and soft as a pillow. He had a five o'clock shadow that made him look more in charge than the rest. 

With his devilish looks and soothing smells I knew I had just met the one I'm meant to spend the rest of my life with. We made eye contact and completed our thoughts. It felt as if the wind was knocked out of me. My life flashed before my eyes. I felt so irrevocably happy and safe given my circumstances. I knew right then and there that there was no going back. 

Ava and I felt the pull and instantly thought the same thing. 

*Mate*