Annalyse

I walked through the last stand of trees to the clearing where my lake was, and stopped short.

There was someone sitting on my rock, under my willow tree, looking out across the glassy surface of the water.

I stopped, annoyance and curiosity warring in my head. I mean, this wasn’t really my lake. I’m sure others know about it, but no one comes here. 

I have never seen him before, but he smells good. Like, really good. I don’t feel afraid, exactly, maybe just a little cautious… and more than a little curious. I felt, well, drawn to him. Like a magnet. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. My wolf Bella was losing her shit. Also very unusual for her. I took a couple of steps closer and he turned his head, chestnut hair ruffling with the late spring breeze. As he faces me and brings his eyes up to mine, I’m rooted to the ground by a jolt that hits me when he looks at me with the most intense green eyes I’ve ever seen. The look he was giving me made me a little nervous, which made this encounter all that much more interesting, and not a little unnerving. He was looking at me like a predator eyeing his prey.

I recovered pretty quickly, now if I could just get my heart to stop flip flopping and my wolf Bella to calm down, that would be great. She wasn’t normally like this, especially when meeting a stranger. Even a cute, no make that gorgeous, one. She was generally super laid back.

I didn’t exactly feel threatened, so I decided to tell whoever he was to get off of my rock.

“Uh. Hi. You’re on my rock.” I said.

He looked at me and smiled a little half smile, looking vaguely amused.

“Your rock, huh?” he replied arching a brow over those enchanting eyes, driving Bella nuts, though I couldn’t figure out why. I mean yeah, he was pretty hot, his black t-shirt stretched tight across his body hiding what I was sure were some rock solid abs.

“Yeah. My rock. I mean, I guess I don’t own it, but….”, I trailed off, flustered as he looked at me with amusement in his face.

“Well then, by all means”, he said as he hopped down and did a little mock bow, “your highness”, he added with a smirk, as though he knew some big secret that I didn’t know.

Who is this guy? “Thanks”, I replied, scooching up on to my usual spot.

“I’m Chase”, he said, breaking the silence of my usually peaceful spot.

“Hi”, I replied, still a little apprehensive about this guy and more than a little curious as to how he ended up here. He’s not in our pack. I would have remembered that face. And he didn’t smell rogue. If he were, I would have been dead already. I train, but my wolf’s smaller than normal so…. That would be hit or miss (most likely miss, because he was tall with broad shoulders and solid).

He raised his eyebrows and looked at me, a mixture of shock and amusement mixed with a little arrogance in his face.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked

“Should I?”, I answered flippantly. I mean, something about him looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

He shook his head, looking a little incredulous as he did so, a tiny smile playing on the corner of his mouth, making Bella jump forward again, so strongly this time that there was a small flash of violet mixed with the blue in my eyes, I could feel it.

“Hmmm.” was all he said, looking at me speculatively.