Chapter 7 - First Look

This wolf with snow for a pelt had returned to the once vibrant, serene, and beautiful Sanctuary, now defined by destruction, chaos, and ruin. Covered in rubble, blood, and snow as if the magic that had once been protecting it from the elements had been destroyed along with it. 

The snowy wolf now tinted with both gold and silver as if adorned with jewels from both the Sun and Moon, stood silently in the middle of the destruction, an almost indescribable ethereal beauty exuding from her very being, and finally the chaotic world stood still. 

Those who had successfully tracked her down watched wearily from the confines of the trees, mesmerized by the sight of the she-wolf standing tall and powerful among the rubble, the wind brushing through her pelt as if it were a long-lost friend, allowing the first rays of the day, and the last rays of the night to dance like glittering jewels on her back. 

She stood for a moment, then another, completely still as if taking in the world she was seeing for the first time. And when the silence was broken by approaching footsteps the wolf tilted her head back and released the most hauntingly beautiful, but sorrowful sound. The howl rippled through the crisp morning air and resonated with the hearts of the pack as if it were greeting a loved one it had not seen in many years and was filled with sorrow at their separation. 

The sound was long, melodic in its own way, and lingered in the air for a heartbeat longer once it had left her chest. She turned her wolfish gaze back to the trees hiding her onlookers from her sight and without so much as a chuff toward them she turned her slender body in the opposite direction and bounded off into the forest once more.

She maneuvered deftly between the trees with nimble and graceful movements, and though she was just as quick as the night before, her escape was now highlighted by the rays of the sun glinting off of her back, no longer covering her from prying eyes, but placing her in the day’s spotlight as she weaved her way toward the eastern part of the territory. 

Startled wolves followed out of pure instinct, though one was faster than the others, eager to catch up to the white wolf. She continued to bob and weave, making her way through the woods they called home as if she knew exactly where she was going until she came upon a large clearing in the very depths of the forest. 

Lit up by the sun sparkling off of the snow blanketing the earth and frozen crystals hanging off of trees, it seemed as if it were a stage and the wolf in question the star of the show. Finally, she came to a stop, her heart beating in her chest with pure joy and exhilaration that when she threw her head back and howled again, all who heard it were filled with a sense of euphoria. 

After nineteen years of being trapped behind the bars of her mental prison, she was finally free. No longer was she bound by the shackles of a spell keeping her locked away and bound for all eternity. No, she was free, and it was the most exhilarating feeling she had felt all those years waiting to be set free. 

When her joy permeated through the mate bond Aiden felt relief, using their connection as a beacon to guide him to her after he had spent the entire night not only searching for her but for traces of their bond together which had been muffled, almost as if it had been stuffed under a pillow unable to clearly transmit their emotions between one another. 

He could tell the minute she felt him too, the curiosity and intrigue filtered through with the joy, and his own wolf responded in kind. He was the first to arrive in the clearing lit by the rising sun, spotting her almost prancing about the clearing in her joy. Her paws kicked up the snow that had settled on the earth creating a small shower of snowflakes as if someone had turned a snow globe upside down to make it snow. 

He took her in, the curve of her spine, the wag of her silver-tipped tail, the shine of her snowy coat, the way her ears flicked back and forth, how her tongue lolled to the side in her excitement. The sound of her heartbeat racing, her claws scraping against the snow-covered earth, the way her lean muscles rippled as she bounded about, and the flow of emotions through their bond, he took it all in and found his breath stolen. 

She was breath-taking, graceful, powerful, and after spending a night worrying about her and the decision he had made, so full of life. He approached her almost cautiously, despite the jubilation swimming in his chest both from her happiness and his own, and squashing down the wolf’s urge to bound toward their mate. 

He could tell the exact moment she both felt and heard his presence for her ears tipped back, her spine became rigid, and her joyful prancing stopped. The hair on the back of her neck raised and a low rumbling growl rippled from her chest as she lowered herself and turned toward him. The instinctive drop into a defensive stance had his own wolf dropping, ears pinned to his head as a snarl pulled at her lips, leaving her pearly white, and sharp canines to glint dangerously in the morning light. 

He felt his chest stutter when his amber eyes met her distinctive shocking, powerful, and very much blue, gaze. A color he had never before seen on any supernatural creature, let alone a werewolf, including his Alpha, her father who, like his father, had, had red eyes. 

And although he’d seen it when she had first turned, he’d half expected her eyes to be the same shade of amber as his own, as they had been before her change, when the wolf was still sealed away. The raw power behind this electric blue gaze had him pinned to his spot at the halfway point between the treeline and the wolf before him.