A Forbidden Love

Chapter Three: Partial Introductions

I wake in the morning to find a warm arm draped over my waist and a warm solid chest pressed against my back. I yawn and stretch. I try to wiggle free, but the arm tightens. I then remember where I am and whom I’m with. I jerk away and turn to face him.

“Hello Garret.” I say. I couldn’t believe that I had gotten in his bed last night. I looked down to make sure all my clothes were on and they were.

“Don’t trust me?” Garret asks.

“No.” I answer. He laughs and pulls me to him again.

“Why’d you come over here last night?” he asks.

“I was cold and I remembered how warm you were. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.” I answer him truthfully. I was contentedly warm at the moment in his tent and I liked it.

“I’m glad I could be of service to you.” He buries his head in my neck, tickling me with his breath.

“I thought you were in your wolf form last night. Why did I wake up with you as human?” I ask. Then I think of something else. “You had better have clothes on.” I warn. He laughs.

“Of course I have clothes on. I’m not allowed to take you unless your willing.” He groans. “It’s so hard with you this close not to want you. I wish I could take you now, but I can’t. Let’s give you a tour of my pack and let you meet everyone. You were asking about names yesterday, would you like to meet everyone?” he asks.

On one hand I want to, but I’m afraid that the males might try something. Seeing my inner battle, Garret answers my fears. “I’ll keep you safe.” I nod and get up. I stretch once more.

“Ok, where are my new clothes?” I ask. He walks over to a hidden dresser and pulls out a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt. The pants are gray black and the top is red. I stand out like crazy compared to his shorts and bare chest. “How do you stand the cold?” I ask as I hug myself.

“We have a higher temperature. Our fur keeps us warm even when we’re humans.” He answers. I follow him out of the tent and into the light of morning. “Are you hungry?” he asks.

I was about to say no when my stomach gave me away. “I guess I am.” I say. He leads me over to an open tent. I stay outside as he enters, not sure if I’m allowed. His voice finds me walking into the tent after him.

“What would you like? Bacon or sausage?” he asks. I think about it for a moment.

“Bacon please.” He hands me three strips of bacon and we leave the tent.

“That is Roger’s tent. He’s our cook for breakfast and lunch. Dinner, you’re on your own.” He says. I mentally see a picture of wolves chasing after an innocent deer and shudder. He laughs and motions me on. The next tent holds two men. They look to be about thirty something and are mature.

“Hello Garret.” They say politely. I was hidden behind Garret and they didn’t seem to see me, that or they were ignoring me.

“HI guys. This is… I’m sorry, but you never gave me your name.” He says, turning to face me.

“P-P-Paige.” I stutter. He shakes his head and turns back to his buddies.

“This is Paige.” He says. He pulls me out from behind him. I look up at the two men and realize that they look almost exactly alike. They had to be twins. “Paige, this is Donnie and Ronnie, our pack twins.” Garret answers my unasked question.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I manage to get out. The twins both take my hand and shake it.

“It’s nice to meet you to.” They say. I look into their eyes to see if they had the same lust as the other, but I saw nothing. I had found at least two men that didn’t want to “take me”

“We’ll be off. I want you two to take Anthony and Henry and got scout around our border. If you catch a scent of an alpha, report back to me immediately. They will be coming after the girl shortly.” Without another word Garret grabbed my arm and we walked off.

We passed several more tents and I met several more people. Their names were Bruce, Tyler, Reed, and Henry. I remembered Henry to be the one that was supposed to scout the perimeter. I shook his hand heartily. So far I had met seven of the 19 males. Eight if you counted Garret. Nine if you counted the beta.

The next tent had one two people in it, but it was the beta and Bridget.

“Hi Bridget.” Bridget growled at me as I held out my hand. I jerked it back and took a step back.

“Is she?” Garret asked his beta a question. The beta nodded and Garret let out a big yell. Several heads poked out of the tents. They all looked to Garret to see if he would explain. “Everyone gather round!” he yelled. In under two minutes, everyone was present and around Garret. I was stuck in the middle next to people I didn’t know.

“What’s all the commotion?” someone yelled.

“Shut up and I’ll tell you.” Garret waited until it was deathly silent before saying anything. “I have great news. Our female is expecting pups. They will be born soon. I think by the end of this week.” He said. Several whoops went up and most people went up to the beta to congratulate him.

I lost sight of Garret, but turned when I felt an arm slip over my shoulders. I look up at a stranger. “Who are you?” I ask.

“Names Anthony, babe.” He answers cockily. I roll my eyes and slip out from under his grasp. “What’s the matter baby?” he moves toward me.

“I’m warning you.” I say. He keeps coming. I then decide to play my part.

I waltz up to him and put my hands on his chest. He stares at me, trying to figure out what I’m going to do next. I raise my head up close to his and run my lips across his jaw. He closes his eyes and relaxes. When I know he isn’t paying attention I take my knee and shove it as hard as I can between his legs. He collapses in a moan of pain. I try to escape, but he grabs my ankle. I kick him in the face, but he doesn’t release me. Finally we draw a crowd. I search the crowd, trying to see a familiar face, but all I see is lust filled eyes.

“Garret!” I scream, tired of playing games. Within seconds Garret is by my side and glaring at Anthony. Anthony releases me and stands up. He growls under his breath and tries to walk away.

“Stop.” Garret commands. It is the command of an alpha. Anthony stops and turns to face him. He is glaring at me, but watching Garret at the same time. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. All I did was put my arm around her shoulders. She’s the one that kneed me in the crotch.” Anthony says angrily. He takes a step toward me, but Garret steps protectively in front of me.

“Touch her again, and I’ll kill you.” Garret turns away and leads me away from prying eyes. “Are you all right?” he actually sounds concerned.

“I’m fine.” I say. I was actually proud of myself for kneeing him and I guess it showed on my face because Garret spoke again.

“That was a stupid move today. You could have been easily killed if I hadn’t heard you. Anthony’s been known to cause trouble.” Garret pulls me toward him as he speaks and looks into my eyes. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You just want me as a mate. You don’t care for me as a person.” I spit. I storm off into the woods and don’t look back. I hear footsteps behind me, and turn to see Garret following, a close distance behind. I run to the left, trying to escape from him. I run till I hear water. I run straight toward it. I didn’t realize how close I was and end up falling in. The river was strong because of the rain last night and I get swept down and away from Garret. I struggle to keep my head above the water, but manage to see Garret running in wolf form down the riverbank, following me as I go down the river.

I slam into a rock and cut my back open. I scream in agony and it bounces off the roaring river. I get pulled under and can’t resurface. I close my eyes, thinking this is the end. I was destined to never find love and to die in this cold river.

Then, just as I was sinking into the blackness I felt something under me, nudging me to the surface. I felt my lungs about to burst as my head came out of the water. I look around and notice a shape with silver fur and water clinging to it, just as I slip under the water again. This time my arms wrap around a shape and I’m breathing. I close my eyes. When I open them I’m staring up into the beautiful blue eyes of a silver wolf.

“Ash?” I whisper, my voice cracking from taking in so much water. The wolf nods and licks my face. I lay down on the ground, my stomach up. I jerk up as pain shoots trough me. I hiss through clenched teeth and watch as Ash walks around me and starts licking my wound. At first it really hurts and I want him to stop, then it slowly becomes numb and the pain goes away.

“Thank you.” I say before slipping into oblivion.

I wake up sometimes later to two hands gripping my shoulders and shaking me. “Ash?” I ask. The hands stop and I open my eyes. I see two angry green eyes staring down at me.

“That mongrel was here?” Garret yells. He sniffs and catches a scent of Ash. “I’ll kill him if he ever gets near you again.” Garret storms over and sits down next to me. He places his hand on my back and I squeal with pain. He pulls up my shirt and looks at my back better. I had a hole in the back where the scratch was, but other than that, no damage to my clothes. I had cuts and bruises along my back and arms from the rocks in the water. “It will heal. Did he lick you? I can smell him stronger back here.” I nod and Garret sighs. “I guess he was kinda useful. At least you didn’t bleed to death.”

“Where are we?” I ask, my voice still cracking with each word.

“We’re in another alpha’s territory, so if you wouldn’t mind leaving now, we should go.” He helps me to my feet and I lean against him. We don’t make it far before Garret tenses and moves in front of me. My back is leaned up against a tree, barely missing my scratch.

“What have we here? An alpha werewolf and a human girl, how strange is that?” a voice taunts us from in the shadows. I look around, trying to see the person when out steps a naked male. I watch it as it walks toward us. Two more wolves step out of the shadows, but stay in their wolf form. I take them to be the male’s bodyguards. “Is this the female I was promised?” the male asks.

I look at him in confusion, trying to place how he could have known me. “Who are you?” I ask. Garret puts a hand over my mouth, but the male still hears it.

“Don’t you remember me doll face? I’m that lovely light brown wolf from your courtyard the other day. My name is Nathan. Did you miss me?” he laughs as he steps closer.

“What do you want Nathan?” Garret growls, the sound coming from deep inside of him. I had never heard something like this, but it seems the other male had.

“She isn’t your mate. Why do you sound like that? I’ve come to take her to my pack now. You’ve had her a night, now it’s my turn.” Nathan puts his hands on my head and runs his fingers through my soft red curls. They are still wet and some are stuck to my face. I realize that Garret’s growl was possessive. Who did he think he was, acting like I was his mate or something?

“I won’t let you take her. You’ll have to go through me to get her.” Garret braces himself. Nathan steps back, letting my hair go, and looks Garret in the eye.

“You sure you want to go down this path?” Garret nods and Nathan backs even farther away. Without a warning, the two wolves lunge at Garret. Garret changes, faster than I’ve ever seen before and meets the closest on in the middle. While he’s distracted Nathan walks calmly over to my side.

“What do you want with me?” I ask as I cringe away from his touch.

“I want to see if you’re my mate, that is it doll face.” He says. He touches my cheek with his knuckles before rubbing his cheek against mine. I listen as Garret sends up a long howl. It’s gets cut off as one of the wolves tackle him to the ground. Garret is holding his own, but I know he won’t last much longer.

“I’ll go with you on one condition?” I say.

“Honey, you’re in no condition to be saying this, but ok, what is your condition?” he asks, shaking his head.

“I want Garret to be able to leave your land without another fight. When he reaches his side of the territory, you let him go without a fight or a word.” I say calmly. I had already had this formed in my mind, now I just needed him to agree.

“Fine.” Nathan whistles and the wolves stop. One of the wolves had Garret’s leg in his mouth, the other was being held by Garret in his teeth.

The wolves walk over to Nathan and Garret looks us up and down. He notices Nathan’s hand on my shoulder and growls. He changes back into his human form so we can talk.

“Take your hand off her!” Garret growls as he marches toward us.

“Garret, calm down. I’m doing this for a reason. I’ll see you soon.” I say as I start walking away from him. Nathan looks back toward Garret with a smug look on his face. I don’t look back as we walk on. I hear Garret growling in the distance, but I hold back the tears.

I had only known him a day, but Garret was growing on me. I would miss him.