The Stranger

Aurora awoke to the sound of footsteps. Her eyes snapped open as she lay very still beneath the tree roots, listening. Someone was walking through the forest, not an animal but a person. She pushed herself up and took hold of the branch beside her, fingers curling tight as she crawled from her hiding place.

The footsteps stopped. Aurora held her breath.

A man stepped out from behind the trees and her heart leapt. The stranger from her dreams. No she realized with a jolt, not her dreams. The wolf. She stared at him, unable to explain why his golden eyes dredged up the image of last nights creature in her mind. He was tall, broad shouldered, dressed in dark clothes. His expression was cold almost unreadable and there was something in the way he stood that made her straighten instinctively. He did not look lost, he looked like he belonged here.

His eyes moved over her torn dress, her bare arms, her tangled hair, the branch in her hands and finally settled on her face. "Put it down."

She tightened her grip. "No."

His expression did not change. "I wasn't asking."

A shiver ran down her spine and she hated that his voice did that to her. She lifted the branch slightly. "Then you shouldn't have asked."

Something flickered in his eyes, not amusement, interest. He took a step towards her. She stepped back. "Don't."

He stopped. For several seconds neither of them spoke, the forest unnaturally quiet around them. Then his gaze went briefly to the trees and returned to her. "Who brought you here?"

Her stomach twisted. "Why?"

His eyes narrowed. "Answer me."

The command sent a strange chill down her spine. She swallowed and forced herself not to look away. "No one brought me." It was a lie, she wasn't entirely sure why she'd told it but something in the man made her want to give up as little as possible.

His gaze sharpened. "You're lying."

Her fingers tightened around the branch. "How would you know?"

He didn't answer, instead he took another step towards her, forcing her back until her shoulders nearly touched the tree. "Stay where you are," he said, quieter this time. Somehow worse.

She stopped. He looked at her for a long moment. "You're human." Not a question.

She frowned. "Of course I am."

Something changed in his face, barely. "Of course?"

"Yes."

He studied her, like she'd said something strange. "What?"

"Nothing." He looked past her, scanning the trees.

She watched him carefully. Something was wrong with this man, she wasn't sure what but every instinct told her to keep her distance. "Are you a hunter?"No."

"A soldier?"

"No."

"Then what are you doing here?"

His eyes came back to her. "I live here."

She blinked. "You live in the forest?"

"Yes."

That made no sense but before she could say so he spoke again. "This isn't a safe place for you."

She almost laughed, her voice trembling despite herself. "Safe? I was abandoned here yesterday." The words slipped out before she could stop them, his expression hardening instantly.

"By whom?"

She looked away, already regretting it. "Forget I said that."

He stepped closer. "Who abandoned you?"

"I don't know you."

"You don't need to know me."

"Then stop asking questions."

His jaw tightened and for a moment she thought she'd gone too far. But he didn't push and his gaze dropped to the branch in her hands. "You've been here all night?"

She said nothing.

His eyes moved to her feet, the dirt, the torn fabric, the dried blood near her ankle. His face was unreadable again. "You have no food."

Silence.

"No water."

"I found a stream."

"No shelter."

She glanced towards the tree roots, his eyes following hers. Something in her twisted with embarrassment. He'd noticed everything.

"You won't survive here for long."

She lifted her chin. "I'll manage."

"You won't." The certainty in his voice irritated her.

"You don't know me."

"I know enough."

"How?"

He didn't answer and instead closed the last of the distance between them until she could feel the weight of him, close and unmoving. His golden eyes held hers and for one strange second the air between them seemed to pull tight, the same warmth and recognition she'd felt looking into the wolves eyes the night before, except sharper now, closer, something low in her chest answering something in him before she knew what it was answering. She looked away first, unsettled by how much she hadn't wanted to. The man went completely still inside, the wolf already stopped pretending to be calm. Mate.

Ethan's jaw locked. He'd spent the entire night telling himself the instinct was wrong, that it would fade with daylight the way half formed things sometimes did. It hadn't faded, if anything standing this close made it worse, pull settling into his chest like something had found its place there after years of sitting empty. The scent belonged to her, the girl in front of him, filthy and exhausted and holding a branch like it could stop him, was human. And that alone should have ended this but there was something else underneath her scent, faint, buried, easy to miss if he hadn't spent his whole life learning to notice exactly this kind of thing. A trace of power that had no business existing in a human girl. His eyes narrowed. What are you?

She shifted under his stare. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because you're in my territory."

"You've said that already."

"And you're still here."

"I don't have anywhere else to go." The words came out smaller than she meant them.

Something in his face softened at the hurt underneath them. He looked away first this time. "Stay near the stream."

She frowned. "What?"

"You'll find food there."

"You're telling me where I can go now?"

"Yes."

Her eyebrows drew together. "You really like giving orders."

He looked at her again. "Get used to it."

She stared at him, thoroughly infuriated by how sure of himself he was. "Who are you?"

He was silent for a long moment, then turned away. "Ethan." Just that. No explanation, no surname. She watched him start walking into the trees.

"Wait." He stopped but didn't turn. "Are you coming back?"

A pause stretched between them before he glanced over his shoulder, golden eyes finding hers. "I'll know if you leave."

Her stomach dropped. "How?"

But he was already walking away and within seconds the trees had swallowed him whole. She stayed where she was, still gripping the branch. She should have felt relieved but somehow couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just met someone far more dangerous than the wolf from the night before.

Deep in the forest Ethan finally stopped walking. The wolf stirred again, insistent. Take her home.

"No."

Mate.

His eyes closed briefly. He'd faced enemies without flinching, killed for his pack without hesitation, never once doubted himself when his people needed him. And now he stood in the middle of his own territory arguing with the one voice inside him that had never, not once, been wrong.

And the voice wanted the human girl.