THE HYBRID MATES

WALK IN THE WOODS

CHAPTER #4

“WALK IN THE WOODS”

RYDER’S POV:

I walked through the forest where my life had been altered forever. The night I had declared my love to the woman made especially for me by the Moon Goddess herself. I had never felt such overwhelming passion, love, wanting, just by simply holding her in my arms, the simple and subtle touch of her face with my fingertips. The sparks that exploded through my body when she pressed herself against me, or even when she casually slipped against me. These were feelings I thought I would never experience, and the loss of my mate was killing me.

I scuffed my feet on the short grasses covered in snow near the tree where she had been taken. Her scent was gone now, it had been nearly a month since I had lost my mate to a madman. The same madman that had taken the Lycan princess, had murdered both wolves and humans alike. We had lost him and my mate without a trace. The Lycan King had contacts everywhere, had wolf personnel searching for her, private investigators, not to mention myself.

I searched the woods, the rivers, the lakes nearly every day once I was well enough to walk after having nearly a half a tree randomly fall upon me when my mate departed me the night she had been stolen. I had suffered significant trauma, even being a werewolf with super healing powers had left me bedridden for a few days, so I had missed the battle of the rogues, and by the time I had healed, the trail to find my mate had gone cold.

My mind wandered back to the night I lost my beautiful mate. I remembered leaning against a tree, thinking to myself, lost in my own thoughts when I noticed the front door open and had seen my stunning mate exit my grandmother’s cabin.

Flashback:

Meredith had turned the lantern light on the porch. Her lovely dark hair glistened in the soft light, showcasing her lovely soft waves. Her body was petite, yet curvy, and athletic, which suited me fine. She was stunning, and her scent, I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Cashmere and vanilla? Whatever that fragrance was, it was enchanting and one I would never forget. I would always, for the remainder of my days, be able to scent out my mate.

As if she could sense me, she raised her head, squinted her eyes, and surveyed the area. After a moment her eyes focused upon mine and I noticed her tense slightly, just simply by observing her shoulders rise in the shadows. I knew she could feel the mate bond, not as strongly as I, but she responded to it, and yet fought it all in the same moment.

I stood up, slowly, confidently, and easily strolled over to her. Meredith’s eyes widened and I noted she hesitantly stepped back and bumped into the side of the house. She always was resistant of me, my presence.

“Come for a walk with me.” I murmured, still examining how beautiful she was. She shuffled her left foot and frowned.

“I promised your grandmother tea.” She retorted, adverting anything to do with me. I released a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding.

“I deserve to take a walk with my mate so that we can talk.” My words were firm, yet kind, nonetheless. After a moment Meredith bit her lip, nodded, opened the front door, and reached around the corner for an off-white shawl.

“Evelyn, I’ll be back shortly. Takin a wee walk.” She didn’t wait for a response and closed the door quickly. “A wee one then.” She whispered as she hurried off the porch. I smiled triumphantly; this was the first time we had not tried to kill the other since we had met. Did I dare remain optimistic?

“You know, when we find Britty, I intend to return home. There be no future here with you for me.” Her words were firm, almost sorrowful, and I wondered if she honestly meant them. Was her heart so cold to deny her mate for no other reason than geographics? I shrugged my shoulders as I took a couple of quicker steps to walk beside her.

“I will follow you to the end of the earth Meredith. I have no ties anywhere.” I noticed she paused for a millisecond, her eyes on the ground, then continued.

“We be too different. Tis won’t work between us.” she muttered, she was rejecting me without saying the words and rejecting me. And being she had been raised within pack grounds, there was little doubt that she knew full well how to properly reject a mate you didn’t want.

She had been walking so quickly with her head down, she had not even noticed that we had breached the tree line and were now approaching a large black cherry tree. She continued her brisk walk, heading dead on for the tree, causing me to leap forward, grabbing both of her arms and swinging her around into my arms. She gasped and straightened like a board as we both tripped slightly, and my body fell onto hers against that very tree.

Meredith’s eyes met mine, her mouth gaped open in surprise. Her pupils dilated from the darkness, and I felt my wolf rise to the surface as I leaned forward and captured her lips with mine. I released her arms, and gently slid my hands to her waist, and she complied by raising her arms around my neck. Her lips were soft, delicate, sweet and I eagerly intensified the kiss. I traced my tongue onto her bottom lip, looking for entrance, expecting to be turned away, and positively thrilled when she granted me a taste of her sweetness. I leaned closer into her, and a soft moan escaped her mouth.

She responded to my touch, my kiss with passion. I felt her fingers trace up the nap of my neck, and I leaned into her, reaching down, and cradling her ass into my hands, lifting her up, and instinctively she wrapped her legs around my waist. I broke away from the kiss, both of us gasping for air as she leaned her forehead against my shoulder. I could hear her rapid heart rate, her scent filling my nostrils, filling me with a calm and a happiness I had never felt in all my years. I nuzzled down into her neck, trailing a few delicate kisses on her satin skin.

“I love you so much.” I breathed huskily, in complete bliss of having my mate receptively in my arms, however once those words left my lips, Meredith froze. A sudden coldness embraced her body as she lowered her legs, setting her feet back onto the ground and gently pushed me away. Those five little words had been my undoing. Why had I said anything!

‘No.” her words were laced with turmoil, her lovely emerald green eyes glistened over with prospective tears. I froze and stared at her with confusion, releasing her and dropping my hands to my side. The mate bond to me was overpowering, I needed her with every ounce of my being despite how furious she made me. I loved her, her touch sent sparks through every inch of my body.

“What’s wrong?” I had asked her, confused, and broken by her reaction. I knew she was attracted to me; I knew she felt some semblance of the bond. She would never have responded to my touch, or my kiss in such a way if she had not.

“You don’t love me. You think you love me. The only reason your attracted to me is because of the mate bond.” The witch said somberly, slowly backing away from me even more.

“The mate bond does have an immense factor in this, although I would be attracted to you mate bond or not.” I said resigned, I couldn’t lie to my mate, and considering she had been raised with wolves, she knew about the mate bond as well as any true werewolf did. “But what you don’t understand is that it goes so much farther than those simple words, those feelings and the attraction.” Her expression was blank as she stared at me, eyes wide like a frightened fawn. Meredith shook her head, fighting everything, me, the bond, and herself.

“The mate bond is more than a spell, its fate. The Moon Goddess gifted each one of us the second part of our soul. You just happen to be mine, and I am yours.” I told her gently. I reached my hand out for hers and I noticed a softness in her eyes. Though, a cold breeze swept over us, utterly destroying our moment and I watched my mate shutter.

“I just can’t.” she began sobbing, spun around and began running into the forest. Alarmed, I sprinted to follow her, however the last thing I remember was the sound of a branch snapping and the world going into darkness.

Present:

That was the most painful thing I had ever experienced in my entire life, the day my mate had run away from me. I leaned back against the tree that nearly a month ago, her scent had been covered in. Where we had found a few specks of her blood. It was gone now, had been for quite a while, but the very last essence of her being had been here, her lovely scent overshadowed by the foul smell of menthol cigarettes. That had been the only hint that someone had been with her, a male; and Bridgette, her cousin, had instantly recognized that scent as being the Alpha that had abducted her, the notorious Evan James.

So, we had been successful in saving many from the cruelty and insanity of this man, only to lose my fated mate to him. Why he had taken her was anyone’s guess. Although she had been tied to the Alpha King’s family, she wasn’t a wolf, she was a witch, none of this made sense to me or anyone else for that matter.

I felt as though I was losing hope, the Alpha King had called off the immediate search, concluding that she was no longer in West Virginia. He believed that she had been taken somewhere, that they had not remained here and I agreed with that. And although we had no definitive clues that she had been taken by Evan James, the King, me, her cousin Bridgette, and Bridgette’s mate Lucca all agreed that the insane Alpha had been the one to take her from us.

I sighed deeply as I took a minute, the snow flurries and brisk wind made me shiver. Winter had finally come, and as I stood, leaning against that black cherry tree wishing that I had Meredith in my arms, enjoying this amazing tranquility. However, my solace ended as I felt a rash burning coming from my stomach. It was painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle at first. Although within a few moments, the pain began pulsating in feverish waves throughout my body, causing me to drop to my knees panting. The pain lasted for what felt like an eternity, and my heart oddly felt as broken as my core. After I wasn’t sure how long I sat upon my knees in the snow, leaning against that tree for dear life, my breathing eased as did the pain. I slid down to my bum and tilted my head back, clamping my eyes closed as another brisk wind whipped over me.

“What in the hell was that.” I groaned. It was my wolf, who had been relatively quiet since our mate had been taken, his heart was broken, and although neither of us had given up hope that we would find her, it was very difficult.

“She has been mated.” My wolf growled disgustedly in my head, a new rage filling him. The air caught in my lungs, and once I realized what the pain was, I instantly felt nauseous, I wanted to vomit thinking that another had taken my mate. Then a carnal fear lurched into my mind, what if she became pregnant by that monster!

“Oh, my Goddess.” The agony in my body and soul was overwhelming. My wolf whined painfully and furiously. That was it, our mind had been made up, I was going to find her and reclaim what was rightfully mine whether she liked it or not.