Chapter 3: The Stranger
1150 Words
SAGE'S POV
The massive stranger took another step toward me, then his legs buckled.
He went down like a felled tree, crashing to his knees first, then pitching forward. I scrambled backward, my heart hammering against my ribs.
He didn't move.
I waited, pressed against a tree, barely breathing. Seconds stretched into a full minute. Still nothing.
Was he dead?
Something inside me; the healer instinct, pushed me forward. I crawled closer, ready to run if this was a trick.
Up close, the damage was worse. Four deep claw marks raked across his ribs, still bleeding. His skin had a gray tint I recognized immediately.
"Wolfsbane," I whispered. Without treatment, he'd be dead within the hour.
I should leave him. Run back to the pack. He was clearly dangerous, those muscles, those scars, the predatory look he'd given me.
But my hands were already checking his pulse. Still beating, but weak.
"You're an i***t, Sage," I muttered.
I hooked my arms under his shoulders and pulled. He was heavy, dead weight of pure muscle but adrenaline gave me strength. Inch by inch, I dragged him toward the cabin.
The door hung crooked on its hinges. I kicked it open and hauled him inside.
Moonlight streamed through holes in the roof. The floor was covered in leaves and debris, but it was shelter.
I ran back outside, searching with my phone's flashlight. There's blood root near a fallen log and yarrow. Not much, but enough.
Back inside, I knelt beside him and got to work.
I tore strips from my ruined dress, wiping away blood. The gashes were deep, made by claws laced with wolfsbane. Whoever attacked him had meant to kill.
He groaned when I pressed the blood root paste into the wounds. His eyes flickered open; those silver eyes and it locked on me.
"Stay still," I said, forcing calm into my voice. "You're poisoned. This will help, but it's going to hurt."
A sound came from his chest that might have been a laugh. Then his eyes rolled back and he passed out.
I sat against the wall, my hands shaking. What was I doing? He could be a rogue. A criminal or a murderer.
But something about him felt safe, despite everything.
I pulled my knees to my chest. My mind kept replaying the packhouse scene. Derek and Tessa. Victoria's cruel words. My wolf trying to surface only to fail again.
Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks.
"Why are you crying?"
I jumped. The stranger was awake, watching me. In the darkness, I couldn't make out his features, just the outline of his face, his broad shoulders.
"I'm not," I lied, wiping my cheeks.
"Liar." He shifted, wincing. "Your scent... it's drowning in grief."
"My scent?"
"Jasmine and rain." His voice was rough. "But underneath, there's pain. Loss and Betrayal."
I laughed bitterly. "You can smell all that?"
"I can." He tried to sit up, but I put a hand on his chest, pushing him back down.
"Don't move. The wolfsbane is still working through your system."
He studied me in the darkness. "You're a healer."
"I try to be. Though I'm not very good at it. Not without a wolf."
"You're wolfless?"
Shame crawled up my throat. "Yeah. My wolf never emerged. I'm broken."
"Broken." He repeated the word slowly. "No. I can feel your wolf. She's there. Sleeping. Trapped. But there."
My breath caught. "You can feel her?"
"Faintly." He closed his eyes, pain flashing across his face. "I've been waiting for something, someone. For so long."
"Waiting for what?"
"I don't know. Something that feels like coming home." His eyes opened, finding mine. "Why are you crying, little wolf?"
The nickname made something warm bloom in my chest.
"Because I'm stupid," I said. "Because I trusted people who didn't deserve it. Because I thought if I tried hard enough, they'd see me as worth something." My voice broke. "But I'm not. I'm just the wolfless girl who can't do anything right."
Silence stretched between us. Then: "They are fools." He said
I blinked. "What?"
"Anyone who made you feel worthless. They are fools who cannot recognize strength when it's in front of them."
"I'm not strong."
"You dragged a stranger twice your size to safety. You're treating wounds that would make most wolves run. You're surviving in a world that has been cruel to you." His shoulder brushed mine as he sat up against the wall. "That's strength."
When was the last time someone had said something kind to me?
I couldn't remember.
"I don't even know your name," I whispered.
"Does it matter? Here, in the dark, we're just two broken souls." His hand moved, fingers brushing my cheek, wiping away a tear. "Let that be enough for tonight."
The touch sent electricity through my skin. I should pull away. Should put distance between us.
But I couldn't move.
"Tell me what happened," he said softly. "Tell me who hurt you."
So I did. In the darkness, with this stranger whose face I couldn't see, I told him everything. Derek and Tessa. Victoria's cruelty. My failed shift and how my wolf had tried to surface only to collapse.
He listened without interrupting. His fingers never left my face, a constant comfort.
"I should leave," he said when I finished. His voice was strained, like he was fighting something. "This... whatever this is... it's dangerous."
"Why?" I turned to face him.
His hand slid from my cheek into my hair. "Because my lycan is screaming that I have finally found you. After years of searching, of waiting." He leaned closer, his breath on my lips. "And I don't even know your name."
"Sage," I breathed. "My name is Sage."
"Sage." He said it like a prayer. "I should walk away from you. For both our sakes."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because I can't." His forehead pressed against mine. "Because every instinct tells me that letting you go would be the biggest mistake of my existence."
I was tired of being smart. Tired of being careful. Tired of being the good girl who got nothing but pain in return.
"Then don't let me go," I whispered.
He kissed me. The moment his lips touched mine, everything changed.
Heat exploded through my chest;not painful, but powerful, electric. My wolf, silent and broken for five years, suddenly roared to life inside me.
Not trying to shift, just awake. Fully, completely, gloriously awake.
I gasped against his mouth, and he pulled back, his silver eyes wide with shock.
"What was that?" he demanded.
"My wolf." I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling her there. "She's awake. How is she awake?"
His hand covered mine, both of us feeling the steady pulse of her presence.
"Because you found your mate," he said, his voice rough with emotion and something deeper. Something possessive.
The word hung between us.
Mate.
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