The Lost Mate

Max

I didn’t know why I so often dreamed of my memories, with near perfect accuracy, although I suspected it was one of my wolf’s ways to cope with the long separation from our mate. I didn’t care why, those moments when I was with her and didn’t know I was dreaming were the high points of my lonely existence.

I was always depressed and irritable when I woke up from them, because it was like losing her all over again. And I was no happier when I woke this time to a sound of a sharp thwack, but the unfamiliar scents threw me straight past annoyed to alert and concerned.

Another moment of pretending to be asleep confirmed my suspicions as I heard Nash grunt in pain. I wasted no more time, and jumped to my paws. Thanks to so many years of hardcore training, I instantly took in the scene, three werewolves, smelling of a slightly familiar pack I couldn’t place. I’d visited many of the North American packs in my searches so it wasn’t surprising I’d brushed up agains this one before, but that didn’t narrow down the identity of our attackers much at all.

They mainly seemed to all be after Nash, although the white one was obviously also watching me. I wasted no more time figuring out what was going on, and I went for the watchful one.

He whirled and snapped his jaws at me and I dodged his teeth, throwing myself towards his flank and ripping, colouring his snowy fur red. A minor wound, but it would still slow him down enough to give me an advantage.

Nash was snarling and snapping at his attackers defensively. I kicked one sideways with my paws, before turning my attention back to the white one fighting me.

He nicked my shoulder, but didn’t do much damage through my fur, little more than a scratch. He snapped at me, and then the wolf I kicked rounded on me.

They weren’t backing down. I needed to survive to find Lillian, so I was going to have to stop playing nice. I regretted the necessity. The white wolf lunged, and I went low and snagged my teeth into his soft underbelly, blood spilling from the wound. He let out a pitiful sound as I shoved him away from me, and then focused my attention on the brown wolf who was now my sole target. He was smaller and faster than the white, and he caught my leg in his teeth, sharp canines scraping bone. Pain flooded through my leg, but instead of pulling away and damaging it further I craned my neck and dug my own teeth into his back, gripping and ripping through flesh.

The stalemate lasted for long moments, both of us trying to force the other to give in from the agony. The nerves in my legs burned as they were crushed, but instead of giving in I yanked on the flesh in my mouth harder, ripping it.

Then my leg was suddenly released, and Nash had his teeth on the underside of my attacker’s neck. I let go and limped backwards. “You don’t have to kill him,” I told him, watching as he started to squeeze the life out of the now prone wolf. All three were down and if they survived they weren’t going be causing us trouble for a little while.

“If not, they’ll just keep coming.”

“If they want you now, they’re definitely going to want you if you kill one of their pack members. Guaranteed.”

“Fucking pack pups.”

“Watch it, Nash. I know there’s more to what’s going on than what you’ve admitted.”

“Your boy scout routine is going to get you killed.” He growled as he released the neck of the one he was holding, tossing the wolf to the ground.

I grabbed my bag in my mouth and started limping on my three good legs towards Sterling Manor. My leg was throbbing so badly it was a fight not to collapse, but once I got there, someone in the medical wing could use magic to speed the healing and numb the pain. “Your feral rogue routine is going to catch up with you one day. They’d have had you if I hadn’t been there. And you know it.”

“You don’t have to keep saving my ass.” He fell into step beside me.

“I know that.” I caught his eye. “But you’re pack.”

“Fuckin’ sentimental bullshit.”

“Why’d you join us if you think it’s just bullshit?”

“’Cause—”

“And don’t give me that crap about your brother and Theodora. I never believed it was just because of them. You’re not the sort of wolf who would follow anyone—including your brother—anywhere you didn’t want to go. And if you don’t like packs, and you aren’t there for your family, then what are you getting from being a part of Glenshadow?”

He stopped and I just kept limping forward. At this rate it was going to take me hours to get to Sterling Manor. Shit.

“Just...I just...maybe I’m tired?”

It was either a lie, or he really didn’t know his own motives. He didn’t offer anything else, and I didn’t ask anything else for the rest of the torturous journey to the school.

—————

Although the school was in a rural area, it masqueraded as a prestigious academy in the human world, so I couldn’t very well walk up to the doors in my wolf form in broad daylight. Once we reached the edge of the forest, I gritted my teeth and shifted into my human form. Although with practice shifting became as easy and painless as breathing, shifting with an open wound was another matter. My leg screamed at me during the entire process, and I groaned and lay sweating on the ground for long moments in my human form before I could gather the strength to move and dress myself.

I took a few steps and my torn calf burned with each movement. Nash grabbed my bag and came up beside me, supporting my weight under his thinner frame.

“You don’t have to do that.” I told him.

“I know,” he agreed, not meeting my eyes.

I didn’t argue.

We didn’t go through the front door of the huge historic manor, but rather through the staff entrance tucked away at the back. The guard at the door was a bit reluctant to let Nash in, but a reminder that I knew the dean along with one look at my leg and he was helping me on our way inside towards the healing wing.

The healer on duty got me set up on a bed, and set to work. She had a sweet, caring mannerism that reminded me of my mate, and I let the vague impression soothe my wolf while she worked her literal magic on my wounds.

“Even with your advanced healing, you’d be best to stay off the leg for a few days,” she advised.

It was far from what I preferred since my drive was always to keep moving, but I would follow her advice. “Thanks so much. It would have taken even longer without your assistance.”

“It’s my job and my pleasure,” she said. “But if you’re like most werewolves and can’t sit still, I could get you a pair of crutches instead of a wheelchair.”

“That would be perfect. Thank you.”

Once armed with a pair of lightweight crutches fitted to my height, I left the room, thanking the healer again for her efforts. Nash was sitting in a chair in the waiting area, looking off into space. He stiffened the moment I came into the room, although he made no move to acknowledge my return.

“Gonna wait here or come with me?” I asked him. I was still bothered that he wasn’t being more forthcoming about who had attacked us, but I could wait a while longer. Wherever they were from, we were safe here for now, because there was no single pack that was crazy enough to make war against the witches.

He nodded and stood up. His wary demeanour was back now that we were around more people again. I crutched along, and made my way to the administrative offices. Normally I already would have announced myself, but the injury had switched up my routine. Of course, the dean and the security staff had known we were here from the moment we set foot through the wards, but it was better to be polite either way.

The dean was sitting behind her desk when I was ushered in. With neat gray hair, intelligent brown eyes, and a slightly lined face, the human looked mostly the same as the first time I had met her after my hunt for Lillian based on the adherents’ tip had failed, leaving me crushed. At the time I’d been desperate, and I’d turned to magic to see if it would deliver results where faith had failed.

While magic had not helped me either, they were at least willing to try new things, to experiment, to learn, rather than telling me to simply trust in the moon, which I no longer could bring myself to do.