Becoming The Wolf's Luna

“You are already way old enough to have a mate, when are you ready to settle?” Words Elias had been hearing repeatedly from his pack Alpha because according to him one had to have a mate, which he strongly believed was just a scam. He had never believed in true love or fates and mates were definitely not his thing. Elias has been a werewolf for 11 years, since he was 18. He never wanted a mate. The pack kept trying to set him up with she-wolfs, but every full moon he just ran and hid alone, finding comfort in the moonlight. His job as a ranger became his only solace ever since he lost his parents to a car crash in the woods when he was 18 and an Alpha wolf had bit him to save him. He had always found the prospect and idea of having a mate quite ironic. He quickly shook off his cloud of thoughts when he heard the telephone ring, staring at it for a while, he picked it up wondering who was still in need of a ranger guard at such an odd hour, especially when there was a storm outside, it was already 2am and his shift had long ended. It was 2:17 AM and the radio was spitting static. *Dispatch:* "Elias, you copy? Thank goodness you are still around, been trying to get through to any available ranger." "We've got a stalled vehicle on Old reserve Road, mile marker 7. Red sedan. Caller says she's stuck, phone at 3%. Over." Elias groaned. "The Old Reserve Road wasn't even supposed to be open in storm season. The bridge was out. Who could have possibly foolishly treaded that way?" He asked himself. Pushing all thoughts behind,he pulled his ranger jacket over his thermal, grabbed his tow chain, and stepped out into rain that felt like needles prickling his skin. His wolf was already agitated under his skin. The storm, the midnight, and the full moon in two days. So everything made him itchy. He got into his truck and drove ahead. The truck's headlights could barely cut 10 feet through the fog and rain. When he got to mile marker 7, there was no red sedan. Just tire tracks that went straight into the mud ditch. And then he saw it - 20 feet off the road, front part, just before the bonnet opener down, the hazards blinking weakly. And standing on top of the hood, soaking wet, holding her phone to the sky like it was an offering to God, while talking to herself, was a girl. She was in a thin yellow dress that was now completely see-through and stuck to her, hair plastered to her face, shivering violently, shouting "HELLO? HELLO, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" She saw his headlights and almost fell off the car. "OH MY GOD! HEY! HEY, ARE YOU A REAL PERSON?!" Elias killed his engine and stepped out. "Ranger station. Are you Mara?" She stared at him like he was a ghost. Then the anger hit. "Do you know how long I've been here?! Two hours! I called your stupid station three times and that woman kept saying 'stay with your vehicle' - I AM WITH MY VEHICLE, I'M ON TOP OF IT!" He couldn't help it. He laughed. A short, surprised bark. He found her stupidly funny. She froze. "Are you... are you laughing at me?" "No," he said, trying to keep a straight face. "You just said you're ..on it. Most people stay in it." "I saw a snake!" she yelled, pointing dramatically into the dark ditch water. "A big one! It went sploosh!" There was no snake. There was definitely no snake. But her eyes were huge and genuinely terrified. “Which is why you should have stayed in it, it would have been much safer” Elias sighed and waded into the ditch. The water was up to his knees, freezing. He checked the tires and they were completely sunk to the axle in mud. No tow was getting that out tonight. He looked up at her. Rain running down his face. "You have to get off the car, Mara." "I'm Mara?" she said and looked at him, like she just remembered. "How do you know my name?" "Dispatch." He replied, crossing both arms, he found her quite interesting. "Oh. Right." She didn't move. “What's yours then?” “I'm Elias”. He replied sighing to himself. "Is there a snake?" She asked again. "No, there's no snake." Elias chuckled. "Promise?" She narrowed her eyes at him, raising one finger. "I'll kill the snake if there is one." He assured her, smiling. That finally got her down. She jumped, slipping and then landed directly on him. Both of them went down into the cold mud. Her dress now brown, his jacket ruined,with her face inches from his. And that's when it happened. Not a magical mate howl,not sparks plus no pretty moonlight. Just scent. Under the rain, mud, cheap perfume, fear, human fear, warmth. And his wolf, who had been restless and angry all night, went completely and unnaturally still. He looked at her. Mara shivered. "You smell like... wet dog." Elias, stared at her deep ocean blue eyes, he couldn't sense any “mate bond” with her but he was fully smitten and then he realized she was still talking, “It's starting to get super cold”, she said while still shivering. "Come on," he said, pulling her up. "My truck has a heater. Your car is staying here till morning, not much can be done,it’s quite dark." He half-carried her to the truck because she wasn't wearing shoes anymore - one heel was stuck in the mud somewhere and she refused to go back for it in fears that the snake might come back. Elias threw the heat on full blast and she sat there hugging her knees, her yellow dress ruined, leaving a puddle on his passenger seat. Her teeth were chattering so loud he could hear it over the rain hammering the roof. She was definitely going to catch a flu. "Are you good at starting fires?" he asked. "What?" "I said, are you good at starting fires?. My cabin's 10 minutes from here. The road's closed behind us, bridge is out that way. And i can't take you to back to town till morning. So it's either you sit here and get hypothermia, or you come with the big scary ranger to his cabin." She looked at him - really looked for the first time. Soaked hair, beard, mud all over his ranger shirt, eyes that caught the dashboard light weirdly, almost like behind those eyes weren't entirely human but he looked human. Thinking about it, she laughed, a really big giggle. “What's funny?, catching hypothermia ??” Elias asked, clearly not getting what was so funny enough to put her in giggles. “You said the big scary ranger, you are not scary and it's funny you think you are, by the way… ..do you have a wife who will murder me if I come to your cabin?" "No." Elias replied sharply. "Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Murderous dog?" She continued, counting down with her fingers. "Boyf.. do I look gay??.. I..No. it's just me." He shook his head, quite amused. "Okay. Fire then. I can do fires. I'm a Girl Scout." "You are not a Girl Scout, you are scared of snakes" he said, putting the truck in reverse. "I was in a scout for like two weeks! Plus who said scouts can't be scared of snakes". She talks a lot… he thought to himself. His cabin was tiny. One room, a wooden fireplace, a cot, and a kitchen that was basically a hot plate and a mini fridge. He handed her the biggest shirt he had - an old ranger event tee that said "RANGERS RULE" - and turned around while she changed behind the stove. When he turned back, she was drowning in the shirt, her hair dripping, trying to look brave but her hands were shaking, the same feeling crept back in as he stared at her. Sensing his gaze, "You never told me your name," she said quietly. "Elias. I'm sure I told you earlier.“ "Elias," she repeated.”Oh yeah”. "Like the prophet? My grandma used to tell me about him." He crouched down to light the stove. His hands were too big, too rough, and way too close to her bare legs. "You're still cold." "I'm fine." "You are not fine, you're blue and you could get sick." Before she could protest, he grabbed the old quilt off his cot and wrapped it around her shoulders. His fingers brushed her neck. Just for a second. And she leaned INTO it. Didn't flinch. Most humans flinched when he got close. Their instinct knew, even if they didn't. "You're really warm," she whispered, almost to herself, he paused to wonder, he'd have known if she was a wolf as well. She was human, so why didn't she flinch?