Chapter Seven

Elma

It started with the wind.

Not just any wind.

This one in question was deep , cold and unforgiving. If burying myself with books and ancient artifacts has taught me anything?

Then it would have been that this wind was a warning.

My legs could almost touch my legs as I ran, but I didn’t care, even though I was barefooted and barely able to catch my own breath. I had just one mission and that was to find my way out of the forest… to find my way even though the trees threatened to hold me back.

I sucked in every bit of air I could get as I tried my way despite the sharp twigs that snapped beneath my damp feet, . The ground sucked at my soles like it wanted to keep me.

But I didn’t stop.

Because something was behind me. More correctly, two things and it was ironic because I couldn’t see them but I knew deep in my gut that they were present. I could feel them all around me

Their presence was overpowering and even though I didn’t see them.

I felt them.

It wasn’t a loud feeling, instead this one was dense like smoke in your throat. The kind of presence that didn't need to do much to remind you that you weren’t alone.

Then I felt something unusual in the way the hairs on my body had stood and looked thicker

More fur like

And my sense? They were hyper active. The closest I have ever been with my inner wolf since birth.

It was wrong…too wrong. Like they were moving through my world and activating without belonging to it, and it didn’t help that my body recognized them before my mind could catch up.

I let my curiosity get the best of me as I turned and caught sight of the creatures that were in pursuit of my life.

Two big wolves, the kinds I’ve read about in books. That explained the smoky scent that had followed their presence.

And even though they barely looked the same? Their movements were uniform like.

And me?

I didn’t know if I was running from them…

Or toward them.

I didn’t realize how long had passed since I went into shock, it I immediately snapped out of it when I heard the voice that came from inside me. Only that, it didn’t belong to me and wasn’t feminine for me to mistake it for my non existent wolf

Instead this one was deep and masculine, but what scared me the most was that it sounded familiar.

“Stop running” the instructions were simple.. too simple and like on auto pilot, I paused. It was as though my body had stopped following my own commands and readily obeying the strange voice.

My knees gave way but I managed to catch myself just before I hit the ground but my hands had already wet moss but I barely felt it, because the fear thst had engulfed me now that they were much closer made it difficult for me to keep breathing.

i wasn’t scared of being alone in the forest, instead what terrified me the most was that there still wasn’t any physical sound, just a presence that I felt deep inside my bones.

.

It filled the space around me. Like gravity. Like the forest had shifted to them, not the other way around.

And their eyes… gods, their eyes were on me. I felt how they claimed me in heat and pressure, like they had touched me a thousand times before in another life and I didn’t even know their names.

“Get out of my head,” I yelled, pulling my hair as though it could get them to stop toying with me.”

I felt defeated when the forest gave no answer, it made me feel like I was crazy and losing my mind, and before I could say jack, my body had betrayed me and caused me to slow in my tracks. This betrayal wasn’t from exhaustion, nor from fear.

Instead it caused my breath to quicken, it parted my lips, leaving me almost helpless. And then I felt it…a deep ache in my belly and then my thighs clenched.

I recognized it … even though I hadn’t outrightly felt it before.

It was heat…primal heat.

Every nerve in my body was suddenly waiting.

Not for escape.

For contact.

I didn’t understand it.

Didn’t want to.

But the wanting pulsed, sharp and real, between my legs.

God. What was wrong with me?

The trees ahead parted.

And there it was.

A moonlit clearing.

The kind that shouldn’t exist outside of fairy tales.

With the silver-like grass and the moon that hung up high in the sky causing the field to be filled with shadows, shadows of me as I stepped into the center.

The moment I did, they stopped chasing

.

They just… watched.

One on the left. One on the right.

Like twin stars orbiting the same sun.

They didn’t pounce. Didn’t growl.

They waited.

For what, I didn’t know.

But I couldn’t breathe.

The dark one let out a sound. Low. Rough. Not a threat, but it curled around my legs like a leash. Crawled up my spine like heat from a fire. Possessive.

The silver one moved. Just a step. But it was enough. My eyes shot to his. He didn’t blink. He didn’t need to. His gaze gripped me like chains. Cold. Perfect. Intentional.

“Who… are you?” I asked.

My voice cracked on the last word.

but there wasn’t any answer.

Just… heat.

Tension and Electricity.

My nipples stiffened beneath my shirt. My breath caught. My skin burned everywhere they looked, as if their eyes could brand me, mark me, undress me with nothing but want.

And I didn’t know them.

Didn’t know their names.

Didn’t know their intentions.

But I felt everything.

The dark one shifted slightly, as though on impulse my eyes followed his movement.

The silver one took another step. His silence said everything. He didn’t chase prey. He waited for surrender.

They weren’t just wolves.

They were storms.

Earthquakes.

Prayers I didn’t remember saying.

And I was caught.

Torn between instinct… and the terrifying urge to reach.

So I did.

My hands rose. Slow. Trembling.

One toward the silver.

The other toward the dark.

My breath shook. My chest heaved. My legs threatened to give out beneath me.

And then

I woke up.

A gasp ripped from my throat like I’d been drowning in silence.

Sweat clung to my skin. My shirt stuck to my chest and my body was damp, overheated, trembling. My hands were still in the air, still reaching for something that wasn’t there.

I yanked them back.

“What the hell,” I breathed, rubbing my neck from the hoarseness of my voice.

The sheets were twisted around my legs, with my thick soaked from sweat and my pulse? Well I could hear it loud and clear.

And that ache… that terrible, low ache between my legs…it was still there.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Tried to calm my breathing.

Tried to forget.

But then

I smelled it.

Not imagined.

Not part of the dream.

Real.

Two scents.

One cold and sharp….like pine sap, ice, and midnight storms.

The other warm and deep smoke, leather, earth… and something darker I didn’t have a name for.

My heart stopped.

I looked at the door.

Still locked.

I stumbled to it anyway. Yanked it open

I didn’t know what I was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn’t the emptiness that greeted me. Disappointed, I let out a sigh befire locking it again.

“Stupid dream messing with my head”

But I couldn’t convince myself that it was my imagination, because now, the scents were back and they were stronger now. They filled the air and invaded my senses, clinging to my sheets…to my skin.

It wasn’t in my head.

It wasn’t just a dream.

“Two wolves,” I whispered.

My voice cracked. My hand pressed to my chest, right above my racing heart.

“Who are you?” I asked the air. The shadows. The moon.

No answer.

Just a chill that swept over the room like a memory I hadn’t earned yet.

Then… a voice.

Not mine.

Not here.

“You’re not ready yet.”

I froze.

The words didn’t come from outside me.

They came from within.

Just like in the forest.

I dropped to the floor. The cold wood kissed my knees. It grounded me. Reminded me I was still here.

Still real.

But everything else…

Everything I felt…

It didn’t feel like a beginning.

It felt like I’d already been claimed.

By both of them.