She ran through the woods. Her bare feet pounded against the hard dirt path. Around her was the silence of the forest that was broken only by her heavy breathing.
Her long brown hair flew behind her and her windswept dress slapped at her running legs.
She glanced over her shoulder. A shadow flitted down the path after her. Its yellow eyes promised her dangerous desires she dared not satiate.
Her foot caught on a root. She tumbled onto the ground. The shadow stretched over her. She spun around. A hulking figure stood before her. It leaned down and cupped her cheek in its warm paw.
Her pulse quickened. A strong, hot urge enveloped her body. Her tired pants changed to deep, lustful breaths.
The shadow leaned down. Its sweet violet scent washed over her. She closed her eyes and fell into the delicious heat and smell.
She woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. Groaning, she covers my head with her pillow. Ah, it is a horrible nightmare. It's too early in the morning. Why is someone already knocking on her door?
"Cassie?" she hears her mother's voice calling on the other side of the door.
"Go away," she moan out, her voice muffled by the pillow. A few seconds pass by and she sighs, thinking she already left. Then she hears the doorknob turning and her mother comes in, looking at her with a displeased look.
"You should be up by now, young lady. Today is a big day. Everyone's already up and you're still on your bed, sleeping?"
"Mother, please.. let me sleep."
"No," she answers firmly. "Get up.
"You will not go for your research work today?" mom says.
"Sure, I am going, mom, can you clear something to me if you don't mind?" Cassie says.
"Sure asked my lovely daughter," mom says lovingly.
"I will spend some days with my research team you need not worry about me," Cassie says.
"Ok, I understand my lovely daughter which kind of work you have".
"Now, I am getting late". Mom says, "Ok, hurry up must take your breakfast before going."
*****
Axel Ash Can't believe the Moon goddess his own great grandmother would curse her own grandson to a life of misery. Blessings are what they say mates are, mine is a curse.
Before he knew how badly mates could destroy you, tear apart your soul, he craved mine. Craved finding his other half, now he know better.
Mates are a distraction one he couldn't afford, yet here he is still searching for my little white wolf knowing he will be damned when he finally catches her, that he will once again have to tear off another piece of his soul when he forced to kill this one too.
Mates are no blessing and the Moon Goddess, well he has given up on her, Axel' mother is a pure hybrid a direct descendant of the Moon Goddess herself, making her the hybrid Queen until she handed her title to him stepping down, now he is the cursed Alpha king.
His father was a werewolf so the only good thing he got out of my mother being a hybrid was being the ultimate predator, luckily he was also blessed with a wolf.
His twin sisters were like his mother, just hybrid's, no wolf's no shifting, his younger brothers were like me though, tends to run in the female side the hybrid genes. He only craved blood in wolf form, his sisters craved it all the time.
Axel' family were the only hybrids except for the mutations made by Kaden a crazy scientist who was hell-bent on revenge for a feud that had nothing to with us only his grandfather but that didn't stop from trying to destroy us, he used his grandfather's blood to become immortal they thought after finally killing the bastard everything was going to be fine.
Well until he found his first mate, she was a hunter and what a disaster that was. Axel was blinded by the mate bond and she was using him to get to his pack, his family so knowing that it ended in her death.
He won't stand for betrayal and having to kill her destroyed him. Yet now his grandmother has decided to fiddle with the Fates again and give him another dud for a mate.
A second chance mate and this one has been eluding him for months now. He first spotted her a few months back when they noticed humans scouting his sister's pack, there was something off about her though, something strange.
He only got a glimpse of her in wolf form but no doubt she was mine. Yet she ran from him and took off and he has been hunting her ever since.
He had a bad feeling she was helping the rogues and humans, another mate he was destined to kill. Part of him hoped he never found her, he is not sure his wolf could take another loss like that.
But no matter how much he tried. He always found myself coming back to this place in search of her, some invisible pull forcing him back here. My mind was consumed constantly with her white wolf.
Axel has lost count of the number of times he had been to this part of the forest, not once did he ever pick up her scent. Tate, one of his sister's mates, yes she had two not one but two mates.
But Axel hasn't any mate. And he is searching for a good mate for him. When he was going to ready for the seminar which was organized by biologist researchers he continuously thought about his bad luck.
*****
Except for a couple of cars parked outside the town hall, the lot was empty, and it appeared the wolf biologist speaking here tonight wouldn't have much of an audience to lecture to.
The Oregon air surrounding him felt damp and cool, not like the drier, much sunnier weather Axel Ash had left behind in Colorado. He kept telling himself he'd get used to it.
Old-time brass lanterns cast a golden glow over the sidewalk. A steady breeze stirred the spring leaves of the massive white oaks that lined the brick walk leading to the two-story building.
An antiquated clock chimed seven times in the centre of the tower on top, announcing to everyone in the listening area that the time had arrived for the lecture to begin.
He let out his breath and headed for the building. Anything to do with wolves concerned him, and even though the "doctor" couldn't say anything that he didn't already know, he wanted to see how others reacted to her talk concerning them. At this rate, it looked as though no one was going to show.
He took two steps at a time up the brick stairs and strode into the building, his gaze focusing on the empty chairs and the speakerless podium.
Dressed in a grey suit, Millie Meekle, the woman in charge of tourism and special events in the area, wrung her hands nearby and shook her head, her stiff, glued-together silver hair not moving a fraction out of place.
"Oh, Mr. Axel Ash, this is a disaster. Dr. Roux had a flat tire at the place she's staying, and my husband dropped me off here, so I haven't any vehicle to go get her." She waved at the empty seats. "And no one has even shown up yet."
"Where's she staying?"
Several men sauntered into the town hall, their boots tromping on the wooden floor, their expressions annoyed. "Where's the doc?" one of the men asked gruffly.
Millie quickly spoke up. "She's stuck at the Cranberry Top Bed and Breakfast. Mr. Axel Ash's kind is enough to offer to get her. She's staying in the Blue Room, first door on the left down the hall from the entryway," she directed Axel Ash.
The man snorted. "We don't need no damned wolf biologist telling us how we should reintroduce wolves into the wild out here."
"Now, Mr. Hollis," Millie said.
"Don't 'Now, Mr. Hollis' me, Millie. You know I raise sheep, and if any damn wolf slinks onto my land, I'll kill him dead. That's what I'll do."
"I'll go get her," Axel Ash said. He stalked out of the building with its oppressive heat and back into the cool out-of-doors. He hadn't figured any of the livestock owners would bother to come to the meeting, but after seeing the burly men, he was afraid the professor was bound for trouble.
Climbing into his Humvee, he assumed the woman probably wouldn't get a whole lot of lecturing done but instead would be faced with a barrage of condemning remarks.
He still couldn't figure out why in the world she'd come here instead of lecturing to a more intellectual crowd in the city of Portland, two hours away.
Putting the vehicle in drive, he headed to the Cranberry Top, a quaint little red-roofed home with white siding and a white picket fence.