Chapter 3

Rhett

I ran as fast as my four legs could carry me; the wind whipping around my head while my wolf was fighting me every step of the way. He didn't want to leave our mate. Our beautiful, kind-hearted, and entirely too trusting mate.

Excitement and happiness rushed through my veins. We'd found our mate! I still couldn't really believe it. What were the chances of this adorable human just being dropped off right in front of my nose?

Eight billion to one.

But here he was. Well, hopefully he was back at the cabins where I'd left him.

My wolf huffed in annoyance. I knew he thought I shouldn't have left him alone, and I got it. I really did. But I had duties I couldn't just neglect. I'd been on patrol when I'd scented my mate. My pack had expected my return hours ago. If I didn't make it back to them, they'd likely assume the worst and send out a search party, which yeah, wasn't that bad in and of itself, but my sweet, na?ve mate might be severely traumatized upon facing a dozen giant wolves at the same time—especially since they wouldn't know to behave as non-threatening as possible.

Creating more of a distance between me and Levi felt so incredibly wrong, but I needed to. I needed to let my pack know I was okay, and I needed to let Gray know I'd found my mate. And I needed to talk to him because I might've gotten him to safety for now, but I couldn't let him stay there for a week.

Levi.

His name was Levi.

Warmth flooded my body as his adorable face appeared in my mind. The way his cheeks had reddened as he'd introduced himself to me. To me . In wolf form. It should've been an incredibly funny or outright ridiculous situation, yet it'd just made my heart beat faster in my chest. He'd recognized me, I was sure of that. Not me-me, but his soul had recognized mine. Now I just needed to find a way to explain to him what that meant without completely freaking him out.

No big deal, right?

"Let me get this straight," Gray said, pushing a hand through his thick, black hair. "Just so I can be sure I'm understanding you correctly."

I nodded and waited for him to work through the pile of information I'd just dumped on him. My fingers were twitching, legs bouncing up and down. I was usually calmer than this. Nothing could really faze me. That was exactly why I was Gray's second in command. He was the hot head while I was the calm, stoic one.

Not today.

Today I was a jittery, nervous mess.

I felt restless, as if I'd left part of myself with my mate. Which was kind of true. I'd left him behind and, according to legends and everything I'd ever learned and seen about mates, he was the other half of my soul. So, I'd basically left half of my soul behind—and I desperately wanted it back.

"Wait, I think I need alcohol." Gray got up from where he was sitting on his couch, headed to the shelf on the opposite site of the living room, and got two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. Putting everything down on the coffee table, he plopped back down on the sofa and shook his head before filling the glasses halfway with the amber liquid. Not that the alcohol would have much of an effect on us. But I'd still feel the warm burn it left behind when it ran down my throat, and sometimes that really was all you needed.

"You found your mate. He's human. Some kind of manager abandoned him in our territory and wants him to survive out here for a week, even though your mate has no survival skills or knowledge. You panicked and introduced yourself to your mate in wolf form, and for some reason your mate didn't run away screaming, but actually followed you into the woods, and then you dropped him off at the scouting cabins… where he still is. Right?"

I threw my head back and downed the whole glass of whiskey in one go. It burned like crazy on its way down, but after a few seconds, a pleasant warmth spread in my stomach. "Yeah." I nodded. "That's the gist of it. And now I don't know what to do."

Gray laughed and shook his head. His long, dark locks swished through the air; the small metal beads woven into it glistened from the light of the fireplace. "Yeah, buddy. I wish I could give you advice, but I have nothing. Not a thing. Your whole story sounds so unbelievable that I'd think you were lying out of your ass if it wasn't you telling me."

I got it. I really did. It just didn't help me.

"I can't let him stay out there for a week," I said, my voice laced with pain. "I really don't know what to do here. I don't want to spook him by casually dropping by in human form, but he can't stay out there. He'll… he'll die . Or get hurt. He really doesn't know anything about being outdoors. Hell, he just gulped down the lake water without any hesitation. If he knew anything about survival or camping, he'd know he needs to boil the water to get rid of any bacteria."

"You know that water is safe to drink," Gray reminded me.

I threw my hands in the air. "Yes . I know that, but he couldn't. Holy shit, he was randomly following what he thought was a wolf around just trusting it to show him the way!"

Grayson chuckled, but the laughter died on his tongue as I gave him a hard look.

"You better not be laughing at my mate right now."

"Of course not," he said, then placed his own empty glass back on the coffee table. "But you have to admit the whole situation is a bit funny."

"It doesn't feel funny to me," I grumbled. It felt awful. My mate was in danger. Yeah, he might not be in an immediate life or death situation, but he was at risk of suffering from dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia. Not to mention the possibility of him getting hurt out in the woods. Did he know how to make a fire? Probably not. So he could burn himself trying. He could fracture bones, he could…

"Whatever you're thinking about, stop." Grayson pointed at my face. "You look like you're about to vomit. Everything's going to be okay."

"But how?" I asked. "It's not like I can just go out there and tell him about shifters and fated mates and stuff."

Gray shrugged. "He's your mate, so according to pack law, you have permission to tell him about us. But I do appreciate you not wanting to spill the beans willy-nilly. It could send him running and that'd be a problem."

"It would put him in danger," I said. Grayson was probably thinking about my mate running away and telling people about us. Which, yeah, was a concern. Usually, I'd be the one concerned about that rather than him. But right this moment I didn't give a damn about Levi possibly trying to tell other people about our existence. The only thing I cared about was him getting lost in the woods. About him getting hurt trying to get away from me. About him being scared of me.

"Yes, of course. So… what do you plan on doing?"

"I'll…" I stopped because I didn't know. That was why I was sitting here. Grabbing the bottle of whiskey, I filled my glass to the brim and emptied it in one go. The smoky, bitter flavour hit my tongue and lit a fire in my stomach. "I'll go back as soon as possible."

"As a human or…"

"For now, I think I'll go as a wolf," I said, shrugging. "He already trusts my wolf, and it gives me a little time to figure out how to resolve this situation while being able to stay close to him and protect him."

Grayson nodded. "Okay. You're off duty for the time being, alright? I'll find people to cover your shifts. That shouldn't be a problem. You're always the one helping out; I think everyone owes you a favour or a dozen. Also, they'll be ecstatic to hear you found your mate. The one thing I'll ask you to do is to drop by once a day."

I wanted to protest, but Gray raised a hand and gave me a hard look. "I know. I know you won't want to leave him, but I need you to report back, to tell me what's going on. I really don't want to play the ‘I'm-your-Alpha-card,' so I'll ask you as a friend; please let me know what's going on. And don't hesitate to ask for back-up. Whatever you need, I— we – will try to help you."

I swallowed. "Thanks, man."

Not fair, my wolf grumbled, but I knew Gray was right. He needed to know what was going on in his territory. Especially if a non-suspecting human was involved.

There were plenty of humans living in town, but this was a different matter. Levi wasn't just a human living in town, he was my mate . He was pack—or at least he would be soon.

Gray was a good Alpha. A caring one. He didn't want me to report back regularly to control me. He cared. For me, and probably for Levi, too.

"Okay." Grad nodded, then slapped my shoulder, his hand crashing down on me with enough force it actually hurt a little. "Get out of here. I know you can't wait to be back with your mate."

He was right.

My wolf and I couldn't wait.

Who needed sleep anyway?

Approaching the cabins, I heard my mate's melodic voice from afar.

It was the next morning, and while I'd come straight back here after my conversation with Gray, I hadn't shown myself to Levi. At first because it'd been the middle of the night and his deep, even breaths had told me he was sleeping. And then I'd secured the area surrounding the cabins. There was no dangerous predator in at least a five-mile radius, I'd made sure of that.

I'd also scouted the area, looking for a place to fish that I could show him. There was a small lake, but reaching it would be hard, seeing as Levi would have to hike up a steep hill through seven-foot-high underbrush. I wasn't entirely certain his clothes wouldn't get shredded to pieces in the process, so for the time being, I'd refrain from taking him there. Even a small cut could lead to an infection, and an infection out here was bad.

"And here's the cabin I picked as mine," I heard him say, a hint of laughter apparent in his voice. "Not exactly a five-star hotel, but the roof looks pretty intact and the floorboards aren't rotten, so I'm not in any danger of crashing through them in the middle of the night." He chuckled. "Honestly? It's more than I expected. It's dry, it helps me pretend I'm safe here, and it's a reminder human civilization actually exists."

Searching the forest floor for a twig, I stepped onto a big one, breaking it in two with a loud crack.

I heard a little gasp, a bit of rustling, and a few seconds later, Levi's face appeared in the opening that had once been a window. He was holding the small camera in one of his hands, pointing it straight at me as if it'd help him protect himself.

At first his eyes were wide in shock, a hint of fear marring his features, then he let out a little sigh, and his whole body relaxed as he saw me standing in the middle of the cabins.

"Wolfie!" he shouted. My wolf did a little happy dance inside my chest upon hearing the happiness in Levi's voice. "You came back!"

Within the blink of an eye, he was gone from the window, but it only took a few seconds until he reappeared in the doorway of the cabin, running straight at me.

He stopped right in front of me, a dazzling smile on his face, eyes gleaming in the morning sun.

"Guys, that's Wolfie. The wolf I told you all about? The one that saved me?" He gave me a cheeky grin, then turned the camera around to film his own face again. "I know you probably think I'm crazy, and I kinda think that, too, but I really want to hug him right now."

My chest puffed out in pride, warmth crashing into me like a tidal wave.

Maybe, just maybe, I wasn't fucking this up completely. Maybe me being here was actually a good thing.

Still, I had no idea how to turn the situation around, how to introduce my human self to him, how to save him, how to explain the whole mate thing.

Eventually, I would have to figure all of this out. But right in this moment, I could just bask in the knowledge that my presence cheered him up and chased away his fear.

"If I survive this whole thing and you actually get to watch all the videos I'm filming, you can judge me all you want for following a wolf into the forest or wanting to hug him. Fact is: I'm still alive, and Wolfie is back. I honestly don't care about anything else right now. So all the biologists that are about to tell me he's probably sick and giving me rabies… I don't care. So bye."

He waved at the camera before turning it off, then focused his attention on me, a smile still curling his lip upward, showing off a set of dimples in his cheeks.

"Good morning, Wolfie," he greeted me. "I hope it's okay for me to call you Wolfie. I tried coming up with a different name, but names are hard. Seriously. When I started this whole vlogging thing, I wanted to create a stage name so people wouldn't immediately know who I really am, but…" He shrugged and snorted. "I couldn't decide on one. It took me four weeks of checking every baby name site in existence to realize I'm not good at choosing names, so in the end, I went with my real one. Anyway… I'm glad you're back. I was hoping you would be. Yeah, I know, you can't understand a word I'm saying, but I'm nervous and relieved, and I think that gives me an adequate excuse for the rambling."

Letting my tongue loll out of my mouth, I cocked my head at him and waited for him to continue talking. He was wrong because I definitely did understand him, but I couldn't very well tell him—especially since I couldn't talk in wolf form. Neither verbally nor mentally. I could sense certain things via my pack bond, but not words. More like emotions. If there was danger, I could sense it. If Gray needed us all to come back to town, I could feel it as a command, but I was not hearing his voice inside my head or anything like it.

"I was waiting for you, hoping you'd show up again because I need to fill up my water bottles. Now, I think I still know the way, but I was hoping you could accompany me. Also… do you think it'd be fine for me to wash myself in the lake? Or would I contaminate the water that way?"

While his rambling was adorable, it sucked I couldn't answer him.

No, as long as he didn't use soap to wash himself, jumping into the lake would be fine. He should probably just fill up his water supply beforehand.

How could I let him know that?

I couldn't.

It was too late anyway because during the time I'd spent thinking about a possible way to answer his questions without giving anything away, he'd gone back to the cabin.

Slowly, I followed him and his scent, but he was back outside before I'd even reached the cabin he'd picked for himself, his backpack slung over one shoulder, the camera loosely dangling in one hand, and a water bottle in the other.

"Okay, I'm ready to go. Are you going to follow me?"

I'll follow you to the end of the world and back, I thought. Out loud, I just yipped and jumped up and down like an excited puppy would.