Chapter 6

Levi

Everything was toasty warm and incredibly soft. I couldn't remember the damn sleeping bag being so comfortable, not to mention the wooden cabin floors; they definitely weren't as soft as whatever was beneath me.

Had I died and gone to heaven? It certainly felt like I might be lying on a cloud… or was surrounded by one. The softness and warmth felt heavenly.

But why didn't I feel good?

I groaned as more and more bodily awareness set in and brought the pain I hadn't noticed in those first blissful moments. Fuck. Not heaven. Definitely not heaven. I felt like I'd been hit by a bus going full speed—and run over by multiple cars afterwards. Every single fibre of my body hurt so much I couldn't decide which part hurt the most.

Maybe my throat. Fuck, it felt like I'd swallowed acid or sandpaper.

Or my head. My head was pounding like a construction worker was trying to cave in my skull with a sledgehammer—from the inside.

Or maybe my ankle. Wait… why was my ankle hurting?

I tried thinking back to what I'd done before going to bed. The memories were fuzzy, coming back sluggishly. The weather had been horrible. Rain pouring, wind howling, and it'd been freezing cold.

I remembered hiking to the small waterfall, filling up my water bottles. Then, on the hike back, I remembered getting lightheaded, stumbling a little, but in the end I'd… yeah, I'd definitely made it back to the cabins, where I'd tried—again—to get a fire going. Unsuccessfully.

At some point, the storm had picked up; the temperatures had dropped even more, there'd been thunder, lightning, and… Holy shit ! A tree had crushed one of the other cabins!

And I… my heart sped up, reliving those moments, seeing the huge tree, the shattered cabin. My breathing sped up—and fuck, breathing hurt, too. I'd been certain I'd die. I'd even told Wolfie.

Wolfie!

A roaring sound filled my ears as a completely different memory started replaying in my head. Me, sitting on the ground, leaning against some kind of vehicle. Wolfie looking down at me, his eyes filled with concern, a low yowl leaving his throat, and then… there'd been a man. A naked man, crouching down right where Wolfie had been. A naked man that had the same warm eyes as Wolfie did. .

A man that…

I opened my eyes at the same moment I started to scream. The last thing I remembered was him holding a fucking rope in his hands.

Rope!

Blinking against a blindingly bright light, I desperately tried to get a glimpse at my wrists and ankles.

No ropes.

Phew.

Also… I turned my head, trying to make sense of my surroundings. I was in a bedroom—or was it a hotel room? I wasn't sure. It didn't look like someone's personal bedroom; it was way too generic for that, devoid of any personal items.

A queen-sized bed, matching bedside tables on both sides, topped with lamps. A small desk on the opposite side of the room. To my left, there was a window—and it didn't have bars outside of it. Phew. I let out a relieved breath, then tried sitting up to catch a glimpse outside.

The next second, the door to the room was ripped open, and a man ran in, turning his head as if trying to make out some kind of threat.

But there was no threat; at least not apart from him. Because the man standing in my room? It was the guy from last night. My wolf.

My mind screamed at me that I was crazy for actually believing he was my wolf. My Wolfie. The rational part of my brain was trying to come up with a logical explanation to what I'd seen. The wolf, then him in the wolf's stead. Could they have just switched places? Maybe. I wasn't sure. Actually, I didn't think so, but my memories were still fuzzy, only the highlights were clearer.

Though, my wolf turning into a naked man was definitely a highlight I remembered vividly.

"Are you okay?" the man asked me, turning towards me after searching the room thoroughly, looking for a threat that wasn't there.

"I—" I wasn't sure how to answer the question. Hell, I wasn't sure if I'd lost my damn mind or not. The rational part of my brain kept insisting I had, but another part of me was certain I'd really seen what I thought I'd seen last night. And in a weird and completely, utterly ridiculous way, it actually made sense. Hadn't I questioned why the wolf seemed to understand me? Hadn't I been wondering time and time again why he was behaving the way he had?

If it hadn't been a wolf at all, but a man, the wolf…man's behaviour actually made sense.

A little.

Maybe.

The guy approached the bed and I automatically scrambled back. It wasn't a conscious decision, just my body reacting to the buttload of stress it'd been under the past couple of days. Being abandoned in the wilderness, meeting a wild animal, almost dying, watching said wild animal turn into a strange man, waking up in a completely unknown location.

The man immediately stopped dead in his tracks, holding up his hands, but he couldn't hide the hurt flashing on his face, the disappointment flickering in his eyes.

Those warm, brown eyes… they really looked exactly like the wolf's eyes. The only difference was that this set of eyes wasn't surrounded by sandy, light-brown fur, but tan skin, full lashes and the barest hint of laugh lines in the corners of his eyes.

"Wolfie?" I finally asked, even though actually voicing that question felt incredibly stupid.

"Uhm…" The guy raised one hand and scratched the back of his neck, a deep blush creeping up his neck and settling on his cheeks. "Actually, my name is Rhett." His hand wandered to his face, his fingers combing through his short, well-groomed beard, lightly tugging at the strands. "I'm sorry. I think I forgot to introduce myself yesterday, but it was…" He shrugged, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed a couple of times. "… a stressful situation."

I barked out a laugh.

A stressful situation?

We almost died . Calling that stressful was the understatement of the year.

The guy, wolf-man—Rhett —briefly smiled at me, but his expression soon turned serious again.

"How are you? Does anything hurt? Why did you scream?"

He cocked his head, waiting for me to answer, but I didn't know how. Well, in theory, I did know how to answer—by opening my mouth and speaking. But I didn't know what to say.

There were too many thoughts racing through my head, too many questions waiting to burst out of me, too many bits of memories I wanted to ask him about.

So in the end, I just looked at him, studying him silently.

He didn't look like a wolf at all; he looked like a regular human. A pretty tall human, but a regular human, nonetheless. If not for his eyes and the fact that I'd seen him changing from wolf to man, I would never even think that he might be something else than one hundred percent animal-free human.

Tan skin, brown hair, brown eyes, sandy-brown beard, a short-sleeved black shirt, grey sweatpants, bare feet… He looked completely human.

I mean, yeah, he was well built with lots and lots of muscles, but they looked real. Like he actually used them. Like he'd gotten them by hard, physical labour, not by spending hours upon hours in the gym.

"Levi?"

He knew my name.

Oh, wait. Right. I'd introduced myself to Wolfie.

Oh, my god…

"You must think I'm an idiot," I whispered, mortification settling in as the realization hit me that he was the wolf, which meant he knew everything I'd said and done in Wolfie's presence.

"What? No! Why would I think that?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

"You… you're the wolf," I said, then stopped to swallow a couple of times. My throat was still burning and felt like I hadn't had anything to drink in at least a week. Still, I powered through, ignoring the fact that my voice turned into more of a hoarse whisper with every word I said. "It feels weird saying that out loud. You really are the wolf, right? You… you can turn into a wolf."

"I can and I am." He nodded firmly, voice all serious. At first, it looked like he wanted to say something else; he even opened his mouth, but shut it after just a second or two.

I ran my hand over the soft comforter that was still thrown over my legs. Then I noticed something off. I was wearing a short-sleeved black shirt—which wasn't what I'd been wearing yesterday.

"Did I change clothes?"

The blush returned to Rhett's cheeks. "Well," he began, giving me an apologetic smile that honestly looked like him grimacing. "No. By the time we arrived at the packhouse you were completely out of it. So… uhm… I undressed you; and then put new clothes on you after Jasper finished his exam."

I nodded, though I didn't understand much.

"Packhouse?" I voiced the first thing I was wondering about. My voice was still hoarse and speaking fucking hurt, so one-word-questions it was.

"Yeah." Rhett nodded. He took a deep breath, then nodded towards the bed. "Is it okay if I sit down with you?"

Was it? It probably shouldn't be. I didn't know this man. He wasn't really human—at least not entirely. But then again… even as a wolf, he'd been trying to help. Granted, in a very weird way, but he'd shown me where to get water, where I could sleep that was at least somewhat safe, and he'd frequently checked in with me. In my book, that accounted for something. So I nodded and lightly tapped the bed next to me.

"Yeah… hop on up."

The pure relief on Rhett's face made me relax a fraction, and the smile he gave me—an honest one that lit up his eyes—loosened something inside of me.

This was my Wolfie.

Such a crazy thought, but it was true.

Probably.

He'd definitely have to show me again for me to believe it.

Rhett sat on the edge of the bed, still smiling at me. "Before I start what will probably be a lengthy conversation, would you like something to drink? Or to eat? We have a kitchen downstairs."

Hesitating, I weighed my options. I longed for something warm to drink. A tea or maybe a coffee. At the same time, I didn't really want Rhett to leave. Which was crazy, but apparently, I was crazy now because I just accepted the feeling of needing him close.

Maybe it was just the fact that he was a human being—or something close to it—and for days I'd been afraid I'd never ever see another human again.

Maybe it was the fact that I kind of knew him. I knew his eyes, the warmth in those brown orbs. I knew the compassionate sparkle in them.

Clearing his throat, Rhett pulled something out of his pocket. A phone. Ha! Looked like wolfmen used modern technology.

"You don't have to hold back. We currently have about fifteen people downstairs having a late breakfast or early lunch. So, what do you want? Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, water?" He furrowed his brow. "I think tea would probably be good for you. If you want to, you can add some honey—it's from our own bees."

He looked proud of the last statement. I couldn't help but smile and nod, not just because he was adorable in his pride, but because he'd basically read my mind. "Okay, yeah. Tea," I croaked.

Rhett nodded seriously and started typing something.

"I also ordered food," he said. "Jasper said you'd need to be careful, so I asked for fruit, yogurt, pancakes, and maple syrup. I hope that's okay."

My mouth watered just thinking about being able to eat something.

"Right now, I think I'd be happy eating cardboard." There, I'd managed a whole damn sentence. I sounded horrible, and I ended up coughing because my throat was so damn dry, but I was slowly feeling a little more like myself.

Rhett chuckled.

"Yeah… I'm really sorry. I wanted to get you something to eat, but I couldn't figure out a way to do so without it being suspicious. More suspicious than everything else I'd already been doing."

I barked out a laugh. "I was so confused about the wolf's… your… behaviour."

Blushing furiously, Rhett hid his face in his hands. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. But, uhm… maybe don't cuddle real wild animals, okay? That's a surefire way to get yourself killed or injured."

I snorted.

"I was afraid you'd give me rabies."

Pinching his lips, a dark look crossed his face. Oh, he didn't like that. "I do not have rabies."

"Good to know."

I wanted to say more, but another coughing fit interrupted me.

Rhett waited patiently until I was finished, then bit his lip. "You wanted me to tell you more about the packhouse?" he asked, picking up an earlier thread of our conversation.

"Tell me everything," I said, suppressing a yawn. Damn. I must've slept for hours upon hours, but I still felt drained.

"I can do that. Uhm… where do I start…" He cleared his throat. "Okay… I'll try to start at the beginning, alright? When I found you, I was on patrol. You see, I'm part of a pack. Think of regular wolves. We're a little like that, but our pack doesn't just consist of wolves. Gray—he's my best friend and our Alpha—he opened up the pack to other shifter species, too. We're kind of a safe haven for shifters that have been cast out. Anyway, as a pack, we have a territory, our pack lands. It's surrounded by a magic barrier."

"Magic is real?" I croaked. That probably shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing as Rhett was a wolf… shifter. He'd called himself, and others, shifters. Still, turning into an animal was different from magic.

"It is. There are witches, wizards, and mages. I'll happily explain more later, okay? The important thing is that the border of our territory is enforced by a magic barrier, but it's kind of falling apart. It's a complicated topic. Usually, the barrier is supposed to let us know whenever a shifter or supernatural being who is not part of our pack enters our territory. But with the state our barrier is in, we don't want to rely on that completely. Also, we're like forest rangers, we take care of our lands, so we do daily patrols in wolf form. I was on patrol when I found you."

I nodded. So far, everything sounded logical to me. I mean, I didn't have a clue about what a forest ranger did—except the whole taking care of the woods part—but it was only natural for a pack to take care of their territory like my parents took care of their garden.

"I immediately knew you were human, which was confusing. You see, hiking season is over and we usually know about hikers because most of the time they start in town."

"In town?" I asked. "Does your pack have its own town?"

Rhett laughed, shook his head, then furrowed his brows, confusion appearing on his face. "Yes and no…"

"That explains everything," I quipped, coughing a couple of times to get rid of the damn dry feeling in my throat. It fucking sucked and hurt, and I hated having to hold back because I had questions. A lot of them. And while I appreciated Rhett being so open and telling me about himself and his pack, it certainly didn't feel like he was thorough enough. I wanted to know more.

Like, what kind of shifter species were there? What supernatural beings were out there? Vampires? Dragons? More obscure things? Did shifting hurt?

At the same time, I didn't want to interrupt Rhett. It felt rude. Also, I liked listening to him. His voice was like a soft blanket, lulling me in—not in a putting-me-to-sleep kind of way, but in a comforting way.

"I honestly don't know what came first; the town or our pack. I guess, in theory, the pack came first. Gray's father has been Alpha, before him his grandfather, and his great-grandmother before him. The pack descends from an indigenous tribe, and unfortunately, their story is not a pretty one. I know Gray's grandfather relocated here after they had to leave their last territory. I think Balwood already existed as a small settlement. Anyway, today it's a real town with humans and pack members living there, so it's not an exclusive shifter town or anything. Our pack just created a lot of jobs around here, and where there are jobs available, people are going to follow."

Nodding, I tried committing everything he was telling me to memory.

"But we aren't in Balwood. We're in your packhouse, right?"

Rhett nodded, opening his mouth to answer my question, when a knock on the door interrupted his plans.

"Come on in," he shouted, not making any attempt to get up from the bed.

The door swung open, and I had to suppress a gasp as a man taller than the fucking door came in. Seriously, he was huge. And not in a lanky kind of way. He was barrel chested, muscular, overall just… huge. It was more than a little imposing, even though he wore a friendly smile.

"I'm glad you're awake," he said, looking directly at me. Slightly raising the tray in his hands, he grinned. "I brought breakfast. If anything's missing, just let Rhett know." He walked over and placed the tray on my knees before extending his hand. "By the way, I'm Gray. This one's best friend."

Taking his hand, I marvelled at how warm it was. Was I just cold or was he extra warm? Was it a shifter thing?

"Levi Cavanaugh," I said, then stopped, my brain needing a moment to catch on. "You're the Alpha."

A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest, a smirk forming on his face. "I see Rhett already started filling you in. That's good. He was so worried about his mate being human and you possibly not understanding the ramifications or, you know, freaking out about the whole shifter or fated mates thing."

What was he talking about? I furrowed my brows in confusion. Rhett hadn't said anything about mates yet, let alone fated mates. If fate was involved, it had to be important, right? Especially if he was so worried about it.

"What are fated mates?"

Rhett glared at Gray, who turned white as a ghost.

"I… uhm… I think I'll give the two of you a little space."