Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 12261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 61(@200wpm)___ 49(@250wpm)___ 41(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 12261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 61(@200wpm)___ 49(@250wpm)___ 41(@300wpm)
The scent guides me like a beacon through the darkness. I’m not talking about the darkness of the night since I can see just fine with nothing but the moonlight.
It’s the darkness that has been my life so far. The darkness that has been eating me up from the inside for years. Whatever that scent is, it’s leading me right out of that misery. Whatever it is, promises me salvation.
Then it hits me… Mate.
Fuck, this has to be her.
My muscles burn as I run faster, my feet slapping against the forest ground with the same ferocity that my heart is beating in my chest. My lips do something they haven’t done in so long, I can’t count the months, years even. They turn up at the sides and into a smile.
That smile vanishes as quickly as it appears and is replaced with a deep fear. A fear that isn’t my own. I can sense her. My mate is scared. She is in danger.
On instinct, I rip my shirt off, midway through shifting, letting the rest of my clothes tear off as my body grows in size. One moment, I’m running on two legs; the next, I’m on four. I lift my nose into the air and catch another whiff of her intoxicating scent. It’s leading me straight to the edge of the lake.
A ferocious roar rips from my throat as I get closer to my mate. Her fear continues to grow in my chest, and her scent gets more potent with each step I take until it’s so strong it overwhelms every other smell around me.
My limbs lock, and I come to a sudden halt, almost taking a tumble into the lake. Where is she? Panic races through me. Then I notice a set of foot tracks in the dirt leading right to the edge of a slope. She needs me. Somehow, I manage to shift back into human form and leap down the steep hill. Wasting no time, I jump into the water headfirst. My sense of smell is gone beneath the water, but the ache in my chest leads me right to her.
The water is murky, making it hard to see. Her long blonde hair floats in front of her face like rivulets of spun gold, and even without a close look at her face, I already know she is the most beautiful creature in the world.
Wrapping my arms around her slender body, I pull her to my chest and rush back to the surface. The moment we break through the water and into the air, something changes in me. I feel like I’m being reborn. My old life is a memory, and my new life with my mate in my arms begins right now.
I quickly swim to the edge and pull us out of the water. Shivers wrack her slender body almost immediately. She trembles, and her teeth chatter inside her head.
Warm her. My bear roars in my mind as if I wasn’t going to do that, to begin with.
Her eyes remain shut as I cradle her to my chest and come to stand. In a flash, I’m running through the forest and back toward the manor. Her shaking seems to intensify, and that worries me. Glancing down at her, I find her plump lips blue and her beautiful face pale.
Fuck. I need to get her warmed up.
The thought is fresh in my mind when I reach the pile of shredded clothes I left behind on the way over her. Stopping, I lay my mate on the ground next to me, ripping off her wet shirt and bra in a hurry.
If I didn’t know she desperately needed warmth, I would just stay here and admire her breasts for the rest of my life. Full. Perky. Perfect. She is perfect. Everything about her is perfection. Every curve, every slope, and dip of her body is without flaw.
I already love her, every part of her, body and soul. Since she is human, she doesn’t know it yet. She can’t feel the bond between us until I bite her. But in my mind, she is mine, and I’m never going to let her go.
3
Summer
For a moment, I think I’m dead. I’m sure of it, actually. I’ve never been so cold in my life. It’s like someone has encased my body in an iceberg. I must be dead. My limbs are numb, the coldness reaching into the deepest parts of my soul.
My chest aches and rattles with each breath I take.
My teeth clash together, and when I try to open my eyes, all I see is darkness.
“Shhh, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay,” a deep unfamiliar voice says. It’s a man’s voice. There is a man here. Fear creeps in, accompanying my other emotions. No matter the darkness and cold surrounding me, I pry my eyes open again. The outline of the man’s body comes into view first. He is big and muscular, with wide shoulders and thick arms.