Sara

Why couldn’t I drown like a normal person?

Okay, I realise I’m not a normal person, not human anyway. But I at least thought I’d be able to drown in peace.

I’d been under the water less than a minute before I was being pulled out of the lake. I was dropped onto the grass and allowed to catch my breath before I noticed a man. I looked up at him through my lashes and instantly knew he didn’t mean well.

He sneered at me, his vile smirk showing his yellowish teeth. He looked unkempt, and his beard was very long. I had no idea how old the man could be, but his bare chest said around mid-twenties, his haggard face said fortyish.

I won’t lie; I was terrified, just looking at him.

The man in front of me wants me to go with him, but there is no way I’m doing that. From what I can tell, he’s homeless.

That doesn’t make him a bad person; the fact I feel how evil he is makes him bad.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I try to sound confident, but I feel anything but right now.

“Oh, I think you are, little one.”

I swallow hard as he steps closer.

My back hits the tree behind me, and he leans in and sniffs me hard. It makes me cringe, but I know that I have to stay strong.

“I’m going to have such fun with you.”

I close my eyes and turn my head away. “Get away from me,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Not a chance. You’re coming with me, and we’re gonna mate like wild wolves.” He laughs loudly.

“You’ve got no chance!”

I may have lived a sheltered life, but I’m not stupid. There’s no way I’ll go anywhere with this man alive.

“You should be more grateful; I just saved your life.”

I look him in the eye, holding firm, even if somewhere in my mind I’m praying that my so-called mate will save me.

‘We don’t need saving, Sara; we’re strong. Trust in yourself, and I’ll be here for backup. This man is a rogue wolf; he’s dangerous. However, that does not mean we have to give into him without a fight.’

‘So, there are more like me?’

‘Indeed. Now, fight!’

‘I intend to, Chai.’

“I didn’t need you to save my life! I was in the lake for a reason.”

“What possible reason could someone as beautiful as you,” I cringe when he slides his fingertip down my cheek. “Have to die?”

I slap his hand away from my face.

He’s too close to me, and I can smell the dirt and sweat of weeks of not washing. It’s nauseating.

“Do not touch me; I’m warning you.”

He laughs loudly. “Fiesty, I like it. But that won’t help you, sweetheart. I’m going to enjoy breaking you. Mmhmm, just you...” Is all he gets out of his mouth before he goes flying through the air.

My eyes widen to the size of mars when his body hits a tree a yard away from me. His body crashes against it with a resounding crack before he slides to the floor.

Something moves with such speed; I can’t make out who or what it may be.

Then a man stops in front of me and asks, “Are you okay?”

I can’t speak, I can’t blink, and I can’t move.

The man shakes his head and rushes towards who I see is another man.

I don’t want to see what they’re about to do to the rouge. He does deserve a beating, but that doesn’t mean I want to witness that.

I turn and run into the depths of the forest, howls follow me, and I’m scared out of my mind!

My heart is beating out of my chest, and Chai is telling me to slow down, that I have nothing to fear. Somehow, I don’t believe her; she’s not very reliable.

I feel as though I’m far enough away for them not to catch me when a hand wraps around my waist.

I scream as they pull me to a stop. I fight them, clawing at their hand, trying to get away.

“Sara, calm down; I’m not going to hurt you.”

‘Mate!’ Chai yells inside my head.

I instantly stop struggling, and the man sets me on my feet.

I slowly turn to face the man, and I’m lost in his stare.

I notice there’s two of them, identical twins, and I worry about what’s about to happen to me.

“How do you know my name?” I remember Chai telling me that she told our mate her name, but she didn’t give him mine.

My mate smiles at me, and I find myself smiling with him.

I feel drawn to him in a way I’m yet to understand.

“Because I’ve seen you before. I heard your mother calling your name.”

At the mention of my mother – Jill, my smile fades. “Oh.” I tuck my damp hair behind my ear. “She’s not my mother. Well, not my real mother; I was adopted.”

“By humans,” He nods his head, and I copy as if agreeing.

Of course, this man is a werewolf-like me, and Chai is dancing inside my head with happiness.

“My name is Leander, and I’m...”

“My mate,” It shot out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Leander smiles and nods his head. “That’s right. How long have you known?”

“Chai, my wolf, she told me that you’d met.”

Leander narrows his eyes, but he isn’t the one to speak; his brother is. “Your wolf?” I nod my head. “You don’t know what’s going on when you’re in wolf form?” He asks with curiosity.

“Not the first time I transformed,” I admit. “I didn’t know what was happening to me, so I let Chai take over. I don’t remember what happened that evening.”

Leander nods as though he understands. “This is my brother,” He points to the man next to him. “Luther.” Luther tips his head in greeting.

I smile slightly, then remember these two men attacked someone.

“What happened to that guy?” I tip my head in the direction of the rogue wolf. I can’t see him from this distance, but I imagine he’s still slumped against the tree.

“You don’t need to worry about him; he’s gone.” Leander steps a little closer to me, and my heart starts beating faster. “Did he hurt you, sweetheart?”

I shake my head. “No, he didn’t hurt me. He pulled me out of the lake, and then he said I had to go with him. I wasn’t going anywhere with him, but he tried to make me.”

A shiver runs through my spine.

“Why were you in the lake?”

I bite my lip nervously and look at Luther. I don’t want to tell these men anything, but my mouth seems to be running away with me. “I was trying to kill myself.”

Both Leander and Luther narrow their eyes.

“Why would you do that?”

I shrug my shoulders in Luther’s direction. “It’s been a tough few months,” Is all I offer in the way of explanation.

Leander takes another step closer. “Why are you out here alone, Sara?”

I sigh. “My adoptive parents found out what I am, and they threw me out.”

“Humans know about you?!”

I startle where I stand and take a step back. Luther’s voice was so loud and dominant that it frightened me.

“Calm down, Luther! Let the girl explain before you flip out like a child!”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Leander!” Luther yells in retaliation. “You know the rules, Leander. Anyone who tells a human about us shall face the King. You know Dad’s rule, Leander. If you find your mate and they happen to be human, only they shall know who we are. This girl told her parents about us!”

I’m stunned by Luther’s words. Not the whole human thing, but the whole King and him being their father thing.

What is their father the King of?

And why is he so against humans?

“I know the rules, Luther, but she is my mate!” Leander points at me. “You didn’t even let her explain.”

They argue back and forth, and it’s pretty frightening at how fierce they both are. They’re chest to chest, and I am so scared that they’re going to fight.

Brother’s shouldn’t fight. No sibling should fight with another, and I hate that they’re arguing because of me and what Luther thinks I’ve done.

I want to stop them from almost coming to blows, but what the hell can I do?

These two men are so big in both body and height, and I’m tiny compared to them.

‘Chai, we have to go.’

‘We can’t leave our mate, Sara. Now that the two of you have met, the bond is already forming. I don’t know how I know yet, but I sense that something terrible will happen to you if you leave.’

‘I don’t care, Chai; I just need to get out of here.’

I block Chai, turn on my heel and run for my life.

I’m not used to huge men yelling the way Leander and Luther are. I don’t understand what could make them so passionate they’d almost come to blows.

“Sara!” I hear my name being called through the trees, but I don’t stop running.

I don’t know where I’m going or how I will live once I get there. All I know is that I can’t stop running. There’s a place somewhere out there for me, a place I can call my own.

If I knew anything about Leander’s world, maybe I would have been prepared to find him. Perhaps I would know what to expect from a mate.

But the fact remains that I know absolutely nothing about mates. I don’t have a clue who Leander’s so-called father is, nor what he’s the King of.

Christ, I don’t even know why God would do this to me.

Why the hell was I cursed to be something that changes into an animal?

‘It’s a gift, not a curse, Sara.’

‘Yes, you are a gift, Chai. But I feel like I’m going insane. Maybe I fell and banged my head a while ago, and this is all a dream in my unconscious state?’

Chai laughs loudly in my head, and I imagine her rolling on the floor in fits of hysteria.

“Going somewhere?”

I scream at the top of my lungs when an even bigger man steps out from behind a tree, stopping me in my tracks.

I swallow hard while stepping backwards away from him.

The smirk on his face disappears upon looking at me closely.

He narrows his eyes and sniffs the air around me before he asks, “What’s your name?”

I shake my head.

I won’t answer this man.

My God, what is it with me and bumping into men today?

I’ve never been this close to so many in one place outside of Jill and Paul’s friend circle.

A tremendous growl comes from behind me.

I turn to see Leander, eyes clouded over grey as he stares at the other guy. “Get away from my mate,”

“This little girl is your mate?” Leander growls again, and Luther rolls his eyes. “I don’t want your mate, Leander; I’m marrying your sister, my mate. Lilly is all I will ever want and need.”

I startle when Leander takes my hand in his own. Sparks fly along my skin, from tip to toe, and I have to swallow a moan.

Leander pulls me against his side, and I have to fight the urge to lean against him.

I don’t understand what’s happening to me, nor why I’m feeling like this. I don’t know if it’s just lust or something else. My heart is banging so hard, and my legs are shaking.

I don’t know what the guy’s name who stopped me is, but he’s staring at me. I don’t like it; it’s making me uncomfortable.

I instinctively turn into Leander, burying my head in his chest. I feel him sigh contentedly while wrapping his arms tightly around me, and I have never felt safer.

“Why the hell are you looking at her like that?”

“Bastian?”

Bastian.

Why does that name sound familiar?

I don’t think about it; I wrap my arms around Leander’s waist. I feel him smile against my head before he kisses me there. He smells so good, of freshly mowed grass and the wind.

My clothes are still damp, and I’m getting Leander’s black shirt and trousers damp too. But Leander doesn’t seem to notice or care, which makes me smile.

“Do you even know anything about this girl, Leander?”

“I know enough. What I don’t know, I’ll find out in time.”

“And what about the fact humans raised her?” Luther says.

I want to tell them everything that happened and why, but my eyes start to close on me.

Everything I have been through over the past five months is catching up with me. I thought the best way to get through all of this was to end my life. However, being in Leander’s arms and feeling so safe, I know I don’t want to die.

I have much to live for, and I want to live with my mate.

I want to know all that he knows about people like us.

I want to be by his side, and … I think I’ve lost my mind.