Sonny’s POV
D*mn rogue wolves. It was almost weekly now. I was going to have to get Vincent to tighten up patrols—this was unacceptable.
The crunching of leaves drew my attention, and the smell of a wounded animal filled my nostrils. My wolf was stirring strangely within me, and I turned around, tensing for a potential threat.
My eyes landed on the naked figure of a woman on the ground, blood scattered over her skin.
I froze. She was beautiful. Long dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, and she had crystal blue eyes that gazed up at me, widening.
A sudden realization overpowered me—
This was my mate.
As the thought crossed my mind, a fervent, triumphant joy glowed hot in my chest, and expanded to fill my whole body. I stared at her like a man possessed, greedily drinking in the sight of her as my wolf howled in satisfaction.
After a few moments, though, my brain began to work again, and I felt a chill as I took in the blood on her skin.
How in the world did this woman end up out here? She smelled like a rogue…
My mate was a rogue?
So many conflicting feelings began to run through me. But more than anything, the warm joy I had felt became a heated desire to protect her. Belatedly, I realized this instinct had already been working on me—the rogue wolf had been attacking her, and I killed it on sight.
I heard Vincent’s voice through the mindlink. ‘Alpha… Did you manage to handle the issue at the border?’
My wolf growled in irritation at the distraction. Always checking on me…
‘Seriously, Vincent, it’s fine. Something came up, though. I won’t be back to the packhouse tonight,’ I updated him. Vincent was my oldest friend, and I knew how much he liked to worry.
Eagerly, I tuned out of the mindlink and returned to the present. The woman was still watching me, taking in my human form.
“Mate,” was the first thing off my lips, and even saying it made me smile.
“Mate…”
She sounded so unsure.
Of course—she’d just nearly been killed. Concern spiked in me.
“You got yourself into a bit of a mess, didn’t you?” I said in a low, gentle voice. “Are you okay?”
Stepping towards her, I watched her back up slightly. The look on her face was one of confusion and uncertainty.
“I’ve seen better days…”
Watching her flinch as she moved felt like a dagger in my stomach. She was my mate, and she was in pain. I couldn’t allow that.
“What’s your name?”
Her eyes reflected fear, and I noticed how she looked around before speaking.
“Um… It’s Clara…”
Clara. Such a gorgeous name for my mate.
She struggled to stand, her body trembling, and an urge to help her seized me. Wasting no time, I scooped her up into my arms.
Immediately, everything felt right. She weighed so little. The light pressure of her skin against mine made me feel like I was soaring over the moon.
The most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes upon is my mate, and, now that I had found her, there was no way I could let her go.
I carried her through the trees and underbrush toward my private cabin. It was a place I kept to myself, where I could get away from the chaos of the pack house.
I could feel how tense she was in my arms. Her heart was racing, and her body trembled. She was either scared of me or cold.
“I have a cabin nearby… I need to take you there… out of the cold, and get you warm. I promise it’s safe.”
Slowly, she nodded her head, but still didn’t really speak a word.
Her scared and timid disposition didn’t sit well with me. I thought the mate bond was supposed to make her feel comfortable. Did she not feel it the same way I did?
I buried that thought for later. Right now, I needed to make sure she was alright.
Pushing open the door to the cabin, I set her on the small sofa. She wasted no time in grabbing the blanket and pulling it over her bruised and bloodied legs. The sight of them made my heart ache and blood boil, but I knew the person who had inflicted those wounds had already paid the price. Now, she needed healing.
Disappearing from sight, I made my way towards the bedroom. I had to find clothing for myself—I was sure she wouldn’t feel comfortable with me walking around naked when she barely knew me. Throwing on my sweatpants, I grabbed medication and bandages from the cabinet before returning to her.
She stared at me, watching my every move. I wondered, at that moment, if something terrible had happened to her to make her so uncertain.
Rogues were known to be crazy and wild, stuck in the mind of their rabid wolf form. Clara, though, seemed normal, if a bit timid. I didn’t know what to make of that.
“Here, let me help you look at those. We have to stop the bleeding and get you cleaned up.”
“No, I can do it.”
She wanted to do it? She could barely stand.
“It’s okay. Honestly, I can do it for you. It isn’t a problem.”
I thought reassuring her was going to make things easier, but I was wrong. Her eyes narrowed at me slightly, and she took the small black bag of supplies from my hand.
“I can do it. Do you have a restroom?”
Hostile much?
It amused me. She didn’t have to act tough.
“Yeah, it’s right through there. There is some quick-clot in there for the claw mark to your side.”
Nodding her head, she forced herself to stand, holding onto the furniture. Making her way down the hall, she disappeared behind closed doors.
A knock at the door drew my attention.
I opened it to see one of my wolves standing there with a black backpack.
“Sir, we found this while scouting the area around where you found the girl.” He kept his voice low, and I quickly stepped out the front door to take it from him.
“Thank you. Keep everyone away from this area for now.”
My warriors never questioned me. I was their Alpha.
I watched as he shifted and disappeared through the brush.
I looked down at the bag, my brow furrowed. I wanted to see who she was, but I wasn’t going to dig through her things—not yet, anyway. I would question her first.
She might have been my mate, but I still had a duty to protect my pack. If she wasn’t honest with me, I would have to do the responsible thing and get the information myself, like I would for any trespasser.
As I stepped back through the front door, I could hear my mate hissing and growling with pain.
My wolf went on alert, and before I knew it, I found myself hurrying toward the bathroom door. She had left it open a crack.
Don’t be a creep, Sonny, a voice inside me said. What are you doing?
Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door.
“Are you okay in there?”
“...Yes,” she mumbled.
A smile crested over my face. No, she wasn’t.
“The mark on your back… it’s going to be hard to apply the medication and bandages to it yourself. I can help you. I promise I won’t try anything funny.”
Silence.
I returned to my room and grabbed a spare change of clothes for her. They might have been slightly big, but they would do.
“...DAMN IT!...” A slurry of vulgar language came from the bathroom, pulling me from my thoughts. I raced back toward her.
“Are you okay?” I said in a rush. “I have some spare clothes for you.”
The door opened slowly, and she looked up at me with the biggest and most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.
As she took the clothes from my hand, her fingers gently brushed against mine, causing me to hold my breath.
She retracted with the clothing hesitantly, and shut the bathroom door again.
When it opened a moment later, she was in the black sweatpants and white tank top I gave her.
“Thank you…” Her voice was like music to my ears.
“You’re welcome… let me help you with your back.”
“I can get it.”
I watched as she tried to reach back, and gasped at the pain. She was trying to do it herself, but she was getting nowhere. After a moment, she sighed and looked at me.
Amusement. That was the feeling flooding through me as I tried not to laugh.
She rolled her eyes as she handed me the medicine and bandage. I decided not to say anything about it as she turned her back to me.
She moved her long hair to the side, and showed me the fresh wound. Deep, long claw marks decorated her right shoulder blade down on her back for about eight inches. Anger coursed through me. The rogue got my mate good, and I was glad I was able to end its life.
“This is going to sting a little.”
As my fingers touched her skin, I felt the warm sensation through my hand, and she held her breath.
I knew then that she could feel what I did.
Was she really a rogue? Rogue wolves didn’t really have a clear understanding of who they were anymore, but Clara seemed to be very lucid. Her mind wasn’t gone—and that made me wonder if there was another reason why she was here in my territory.
“How did you manage to get into the situation you were in?” I asked.
She turned towards me, and her eyes went wide.
“I… don’t even know, honestly. I was running, and then this wolf came out of nowhere….”
There was a note of nervousness in the way she spoke. I didn’t want to distress her.
“It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it tonight, Clara.”
I watched as she nodded her head, and I stepped back, gesturing for her to follow me into the living area.
“What’s your name?”
Her question caught me off guard.
As I watched her settle back on to the sofa, I took in the sight of her again. She was so different than I expected her to be. She seemed so gentle and timid—when she wasn’t being horribly stubborn.
Perhaps I was overthinking things. Maybe she wasn’t a threat at all. Just a girl who had lost her way.
I couldn’t let myself be naïve, though… This situation was highly unusual. I had to be cautious and get to the bottom of things before letting her in completely. Otherwise, I endangered everyone.
“My name… it’s Sonny.”