Born Of Fire: The Moonstone Guardian's Mate

The True Beginning part II

The man stood still for a moment, making eye contact with the darker beast and his mate did the same with the smaller female. After a few still moments, the wolves looked at each other, shifting slightly as they sniffed the air curiously. The man took a few steps forward and slowly set the meat on the ground as he had before. Then, as before, the humans backed away from the meat, never turning their backs, but this time they didn’t leave. They stopped and waited just behind the fence of their home, watching with patience as the wolves sniffed the air heavily smelling the meat nearby. Slowly, the male wolf crossed the creek watching the humans as he did. His mate stayed a few feet behind him but crossed when she felt safe. He continued to sniff the surrounding air, his eyes continuously surveying the area and the humans who hadn’t moved. When he reached the meat, he couldn’t help the drool that strung from his mouth at the delicious smell. He couldn’t help but sniff the meat and the surrounding area as the female watched nearby. Then, as if she’d been told, the she-wolf walked forward and took the meat in her teeth and turned to run to the edge of the clearing, stopping just before the line of trees. Her mate never broke eye contact with the humans guarding the area until she was safe, then turned himself and darted with impressive speed, following her into the tree line.

The Moon Goddess smiled enthusiastically at the scene between the humans and the wolves. She hoped it was the beginning of a new relationship between her creations. Over the following weeks, the Goddess continued to watch the mates to see what would happen and was delighted with what she was seeing. The humans continued to respect the wolves, leaving small bits of food as they could when the wolves came near, allowing them to drink from the creek peacefully, or play undisturbed in the clearing. Soon the wolves became more comfortable with the humans and began exploring closer to the cottage.

One evening, the male wolf wandered dangerously close to the house. The man was just in the back grabbing some firewood for the hearth, neither knew the other was there. The wolf was smelling the window when the man walked swiftly around the corner, arms full of firewood. Both males were startled by the other’s presence. The wolf became defensive but didn’t growl, the man dropped the wood he was carrying but remained calm. As he’d done before, the man slowly bent down to the ground, then he began gathering the pieces of wood he’d dropped, finding several of them without breaking eye contact with his counterpart. The wolf eased a bit, not feeling threatened by the man any longer. When the man looked away for a moment to find the last piece of wood, the wolf took steps forward to the point he was within reach of the man. The man lifted his gaze to find the wolf close enough to touch but didn’t move, allowing the creature to decide the first move and praying he wouldn’t regret his decision. The large black wolf held his ground for a moment, and then, to the man’s surprise, started smelling around the man. When he got his fill of the man’s scent, he looked into his eyes, the wolf’s hazel eyes shining with curiosity as if trying to understand the man. The man watched, never blinking his green eyes, as the wolf studied him and then slowly turned and walked away, seeming not to feel threatened at all.

After that day, the wolf would come closer to the man but never close enough to touch. Some days his mate would come with him. The pair would play in the tall, waving grasses near the house while the human couple worked in their garden. The humans continued to occasionally give the wolves meat, a rabbit here, a fish there. The wolves began to regard the clearing as part of their territory and kept other wolves from intruding. To the Moon Goddess’s delight, the two pairs lived in harmony for many seasons, even through the hard winters when food was scarce and the summer storms that wreaked havoc on their land. A few years passed and the humans had grown to love the wolves, even giving them names and considering them part of their family, their children even, as neither pair had yet to be blessed with offspring of their own. This pleased the Moon Goddess as she watched her creations thrive together and respect each other.

One warm spring evening, the man was fervently working in the garden preparing a plot to be planted, while his mate was in the field gracefully gathering wild herbs and onions. The wolf mates were playing somewhere in the dense treeline nearby but just out of sight. The man listened to them nip and growl in their playful way as he focused on his work. Suddenly, his attention was stripped away as a thundering roar and an ear-shattering scream ripped through the air. The man ran to the other side of the house, finding his mate backing slowly away from a mountain of a bear. Its eyes black, appearing soulless, and its teeth were bared as it shook its head. The man grabbed a wooden pitchfork and ran to his mate’s defense. Staring down at the bear and trying to keep distance between it and his mate, he felt her trembling behind him. The man feared it would be over soon, one swipe of this mighty bear’s enormous paw, and he would be forever gone, leaving his mate to fend for herself. Fear racked his body as he glared at the bear, he would not back down no matter what happened.

Unexpectedly, a powerful howl echoed through the atmosphere followed by barking and growling as the pair of wolves raced across the field in a blur of black and a flash of white. They immediately began circling the bear, drawing its attention from the humans momentarily. The bear gnashed and snarled at the wolves, swinging its massive paws in their direction. The male wolf was strong, quick on his feet, and able to repeatedly dodge the bear’s swings, to his satisfaction, it seemed. But his mate wasn’t as fast or as strong as him and, in what seemed to be the blink of an eye, the bear’s claws caught her side, slashing her coat, instantly staining the pure white with crimson blood, and sending her flying. With a gut-wrenching yelp, she landed near the human couple, unable to move any longer. The humans both gasped, and the black wolf howled in pain. The woman ran to her side, falling to her knees trying to pet the she-wolf and keep her calm as their mates continued to battle the monstrous beast that had harmed the beautiful creature.

The she-wolf was fading quickly. The woman closed her eyes and began praying to the Moon Goddess for protection, begging for the safety of her family. The Goddess, who had become accustomed to listening closely to the prayers of her favorite creations, heard the prayers and saw what was happening, so she began her descent to the clearing.