#10

Aurora pov

‘Come along,’ his voice repeated as the wolf's head nodded forward. “promise I’m only here for communication. I won't delve into where I am unwelcome. I’m surprised this is possible, to be honest,” he responded. “great mother of the earth,” I mumbled, slightly galled by the newest revelation. Trying to distinguish what was safe and not safe to share, locking down parts of my mind, I deemed off limits. I shoved all thoughts of his anatomy and devilishly handsome features down a deep, dark hole and threw away the key. “Talking only,” I said curtly, hoping my mental wards would stand to any prodding he may do. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he responded, bounding over a log waiting for me. “My name is Aurora, by the way,” I offered. ‘You have a very beautiful name,’ his voice seemed to purr in my mind, and his tail swished, wagging a little.

In wolf form, he stood, his head reaching my chest. I was 5 foot 4, his silver coat bled into medium and dark greys, the tips of his ears were dark, while the tip of his tail was white. The human form I couldn't honestly gauge too much from our stunned brief encounter. I noted he was quite broad and tall, but I was attempting not to ‘see’ everything. The moments I had been in his human presence, I was still trying to come to terms with this unusual turn of events, and that this was the path to follow, but he was probably in the ballpark of 6 foot 5 to 7. As a man, he had a wide-barreled chest that trimmed down to the v of his waist. Stop right there, Aurora, and pull your imagining eyes up. You are not here to ogle a wolfman. The man’s muscles were well defined and firm, not unnatural, but defined by the fine sinew that was sinful perfection. His beard was rugged, but not majestically long. I could tell the youthfulness around his eyes put him in his mid too late 20ish years. We traveled through the dense forest throughout the day, and I appraised him through observation. I kept my questions short and impersonal. Trading lore and fact. The wolf people could change on a whim, not just the full moon. Their sons and daughters, whether full-blood or half-blood, also were able to shift. His community already housed a witch that he was excited for me to meet. I was afraid to ask, not wanting to doom myself with expectations for any information about that person.

I had also learned he was the Alpha or leader of his people and that they weren’t the only pack still to exist. He spoke fondly of his home and his people. “When we are home, I swear you I will tell you much more,” he said in a whisper within my mind. As if he thought I’d bolt otherwise. I just nodded as we trekked ahead. Home? He said in a way that suggested permanence. What was ‘betrothed’ to his people? I knew what it sounded like, but that was crazy now, wasn’t it? What was this path The Mother had me taking? Why does a part of me feel dandy with this awkwardly strange turn of events?

‘Where you come from? What about your people, your family?’ he asked, his voice filtering through my mind. I had been content to zone into nature for quite some time, simply satisfied to be in his quiet company. It had been a comfortable silence. I sighed. “nobody's waiting up for me,” I whispered. ‘No family?’ he asked, sounding a little taken aback as he looked back at me. I shook my head. “The only person I have left in the world I left behind knows I may not come back.” The gaping void in my chest cracked open allowing my anguish to push out of its cage where I attempted to bury it 6 years ago. Grief and the emptiness of my life breaking through the dam. He became quiet, his body stilling for a moment before he stopped and turned around, changing before my eyes and enveloping me in a muscled cocoon, the hum of our skin’s touch seeped long-forgotten emotions into my being. It was a gesture I didn't expect, and I tensed. His brawny arms held me tightly still, and my arms of their own volition wrapped around his naked form. My head tucked under his chin, the intimacy of his embrace was beyond physical touch, I was not paying attention to his nudity but to the rapture of home and the security that washed over me as I allowed myself for the first time in almost 6 years to release the very human dam holding back the sea of tears that was drowning me from the inside. It was the emotions that I had pushed back, the sad song in my soul reaching out, those suppressed thoughts that had filled the dark recesses of my lonely heart. The void in me expelling its depravity. We stayed locked like that for some time. Our bodies hummed with the peculiar force that drew me irrevocably toward him.

A strange sense of sanctuary curled around me until my rational mind reared its head and berated me for my tears in front of a stranger, no less. “Ssorry,” my whisper choked out as I attempted to pull away. He stubbornly held me still with one arm as he tilted my chin so my tear-streaked face looked up at his. My eyes cast away from his in shame as well as habit. “The sorrow welling deep within you, Love, is a torture, a beautiful soul such as yours should never know.” he tugged my chin gently again to have me stare directly into his determined sapphire gaze once more. With my unstable emotions, I was sure the magic flickered there yet, he held my gaze. “Never feel shame before me, Love, with me, your soul can bear all its darkness and never be judged.” He professed. I had no words. I didn't know what to do, but nod. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear before pulling the tears from my cheeks with the pads of his callused thumbs. Hovering there his forehead pressed to mine his breath kissing my face as my heart began to pound and the blood in my veins ignited like lava, my breath caught in my throat as he pulled back leaving a chaste kiss on my forehead, before releasing me. He turned, morphing into the wolf rubbing in a circle against my legs before continuing forward. I stared ahead at him in awe before he looked back and asked in my mind if I was coming. And at this moment, I listened to my heart’s call to him and moved forward, my being a little lighter.