Chapter Seventeen

Jasmine’s POV

I rode on Luke’s wolf to get to the unknown destination.

For some reason, I had hoped that whatever meeting I was to have with the terrifying wolf would be at the place of our last encounter which wasn’t so far from the pack house.

My hope was dashed the further Rage led us into the woods.

We were going fast, but even I knew that neither of them were going as fast as they normally would because of me.

Not for the hundredth time, I wished I had a wolf like everyone else.

They ran for a while before we broke into a serene clearing and came to a stop.

It was so peaceful that it felt like time had suddenly come to a stop.

Everything seemed to either stand still or move in slow motion.

I immediately took a liking to the place.

Luke laid down on his belly so I could climb off him and moved to a corner under a large tree to lay there and watch us.

I knew his presence was for my safety.

Just in case Rage lost it and tried to harm me.

Though a part of me seriously doubted that Luke could do anything to stop Rage if he decided to attack me, I had seen from watching him on the training grounds several times that he could be very dangerous as well.

But nothing about Luke, even knowing how dangerous he could be, made me fear him in the least.

He had never done anything to harm me before and I doubted he ever would - as long as I did not give him a reason to, which was highly unlikely.

As Luke sat watching closely, I turned to face the reason I was there in the first place.

Rage.

He looked just as terrifying as he had the last time I had seen him, with his blood red eyes watching me closely.

However, there was something different about the last time I had seen him.

Unlike the last time, there was a certain presence that I could see from the very subtle change in his eyes.

That only meant that Alpha Regan was present and Rage was not fully in control.

I felt some of the tense muscles in my body loosen at that knowledge.

Figuring that it would be best to keep things a bit familiar, I slowly dropped down to sit on the grassy grounds as I had done last time.

On noticing this, he began to wag his large tail and started to slowly make his way forward.

That had to be Alpha Regan’s work.

He came closer and circled round me twice before laying on his paws in front of me and resting his large head on my thighs.

Trying to breathe evenly in order to steady the thundering of my heart, I took a deep breath before lifting my hand to run it slowly over his head.

He let out what I could only describe as a purr and turned his head the other way to give me better access.

For some reason, the action brought a small smile to my lips.

Feeling encouraged that he would not bite my arm off, I brought my other hand to run through his fur in a soothing pattern.

Another purr escaped him as I continued.

Before long, my tensed up muscles from fear had all relaxed and it all felt like petting a pup.

A large, gigantic and very deadly pup.

After a while, I believed he had fallen asleep because soft snores escaped him.

I turned to steal a glance at where Luke’s wolf was laying under the tree only to see him peacefully asleep, soft snores escaping him as well.

So much for being there to protect me.

I continued to stroke Rage even though I had started to loose feeling in my legs from his weight and my arms were starting to ache.

Just when it was starting to become unbearable, Rage woke up with a grunt and moved away.

He stood then shook out his fur, licking at his paws before turning back to look at me.

Seeing me still seated in the same spot, he made his was back to me and went behind me to gently nudge me to stand.

When I did not oblige - because my legs had gone numb - he came to my side and bent his head, nudging my sides gently.

I simply looked on in confusion until I heard Luke’s voice.

“He wants you to hold onto him and try to stand”, he said.

I turned to where his voice had come from behind the tree he had been sitting under, only seeing his head of blonde hair and hazel eyes with the rest of his probably-naked body hidden from view by the tree.

“I would help but I am sure you understand why I can’t”, he said, the teasing in his tone reflected in his hazel eyes.

A growl from Rage, directed at Luke, brought my attention back to the black beast.

Now knowing what he wanted from me, I lifted an arm to put it around his large neck, not being able to hold on properly until he bent lower.

Giving an unconscious smile of thanks, I gripped his fur and held on tight as he lifted his head, easily lifting me up in the process as well.

As expected, my legs gave out from under me but I immediately brought my other arm under his neck to hold on as well.

I had to give it to him, having heard of his reputation of being quick tempered, Rage was surprisingly patient with me.

Each time my hand slipped or I fell off, he would simply lower his head for me to hold onto again as I took gradual steps to get the feeling back into my legs. Though I could have sworn that I once caught him rolling his eyes when my hand slipped yet again, I simply brushed it aside as a product of my imagination.

Soon enough, I was simply strolling alongside the huge wolf from one side of the clearing to another, not needing to hold onto him since my legs had resumed working perfectly but still holding onto a handful of his fur with one hand as we strolled quietly.

Luke had shifted back to his wolf form and was once more sprawled under the tree, fast asleep.

He was doing a truly terrible job of making sure I did not get harmed, though I conceded that he was not needed at the moment.

Once, while strolling, I tripped on a stone and fell.

After sniffing and nudging me to make sure I wasn’t hurt, a strange, wheezing sound began to escape from Rage’s mouth and though I was startled at first, it took a while to finally realize that Rage was in fact…laughing.

The shock of the discovery that the terrifying beast could actually laugh distracted me from the fact that I was the reason behind his laughter since he was laughing at me.

Feeling my lips curl into a smile, I got to my feet and turned away, folding my arms across my chest and pretending to be offended.

I had seen other she wolves do it to pups from time to time.

As expected, I felt a nudge on my back.

Rather than respond or turn around as he expected, I moved away instead.

He followed and nudged me again.

I moved away again and he followed. This time, he nuzzled my cheek and neck, and since I was quite sensitive there, it tickled which caused a giggle to escape me.

On hearing my reaction to his actions, he didn’t hesitate to follow after me yet again when I moved away, this time repeating the nuzzling of my cheek and neck.

Soon we had begun a little game where he chased me around, trying to muzzle my cheek and make me giggle while I ran around laughing, try to avoid him.

I knew he could easily catch me if he wanted to but he kept on with the game.

While trying to avoid another muzzle attack from him, I tripped over my own feet and landed on a pile of grass.

There was a moment of silence while I checked myself to confirm that I had not sustained any injury. The minute I had concluded my inspection, the familiar wheezing sound that was Rage’s laughter floated around the serene space.

Soon, another wheezing sound came from the direction of the tree where Luke laid lazily, laughing at me as well.

For some reason, the humor of it all suddenly hit me and I soon found myself laughing alongside them, sprawled out on the ground.

Rage came closer before plopping down beside me and bringing his face close enough to sniff me.

I laughed softly at his antics, somehow growing more fond of this terrifying creature with every moment that passed.

He shut his eyes as my hand came up to stroke his head and I let my hand slide through his dark-as-night fur as I shut my eyes as well, allowing the tranquility of the place lull me into a peaceful nap.

I did not know how much passed as we napped.

I was awaken by the feeling of something wet sliding up the side of my face.

I blinked open my eyes to see Rage, his blood red eyes not so red and filled with what I could only describe as humor as though he found something amusing.

As if to make sure I was properly awake, he ran his wide tongue -which happened to be the cause of the wet feeling- up the side of my face once again.

Feeling my face scrunch up in disgust, I turned my face away.

“Stop that, Rage”, I murmured as I brought myself up to a sitting position.

And of course Rage saw my apparent disgust as an encouragement to continue because he immediately began licking my face and hair until I was a giggling mess.

“Now I’m going to smell like wolf spit”, I told him, still giggling as I stood to my feet.

I looked towards where Luke had been laying down under the tree to see his wolf now standing, obviously waiting for both me and Rage.

“I suppose it’s time we headed back”, I said aloud and began to make my way over to Luke’s wolf when I felt myself being pulled back by the hem of my dress.

I stopped and turned around to look at Rage.

On seeing that he had my attention, he crouched down and inclined his head, as if telling me to get on his back.

I observed his form closely, seeing how he was almost two times the size of Luke’s wolf - and Luke’s wolf was one of the biggest I had ever seen- and how both my arms would not fully wrap around his neck to hold on, and altogether just how large he was.

“Are you sure?” I asked, skeptical. “I believe you might be too big”, I said.

Since he couldn’t possibly speak while in his wolf form, or mind link me since I had no wolf, he responded as best as he could.

He huffed and rolled his eyes.

For a moment I figured I had imagined it again, but hearing the wheezing laugh from Luke’s wolf behind me, I was sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me this time.

Rage, the rumored terrifying wolf of nightmares had huffed?

And rolled his eyes?

I looked back at Luke’s laughing wolf in surprise before looking back at Rage who simply rolled his eyes yet again and tilted his head to the side as if to say ‘are you done?’

Still trying to recover from my surprise at my latest discovery, I moved towards his wolf to do as he wished.

Seeing me approach, he lowered his head to help me get on easier and once I managed to climb on and grabbed handful of his furs, he stood to his feet and began to stroll out, leading the way out of his sanctuary.

That was the perfect word to describe the place.

A sanctuary.

Rage’s sanctuary to be precise.

If I had expected them to take off running as soon as we exited the clearing, I was sorely mistaken.

Rage kept a perfect pace as he led us through the woods and back to the pack. It seemed like he had all the time in the world as he walked back with Luke’s wolf following closely behind.

It took a while before we finally got to the clearing of our first encounter and Rage crouched down to allow me get off, before disappearing behind a tree with Luke’s wolf and both emerging a short while after in their human forms and with clothes on.

From the look on Alpha Regan’s face as they approached where I stood waiting, and the laughter that Luke was trying so hard to suppress, I could only guess that Luke was mind linking him, probably teasing him about Rage’s behavior.

“Let’s go. I’m sure Lena and Nana will be getting worried about you”, he said, ignoring Luke completely and leading the way back to the pack house.

As we followed, I locked eyes with Luke’s amused ones and had to bite down on my lip to hold back the smile that threatened to surface.