Fated To The Alpha

Elara POV 

I was still walking on the muddy path deep inside Blackthorn Forest when it started getting dark.

The rain kept falling, and the whole forest smelled of wet pine trees and soaked earth, just like it always did.

I came here a few months ago to get away from the city and from everything Marcus did to me. He spent years telling me he loved me, then emptied my bank account and disappeared like I never meant anything to him.

I pointed my flashlight along the path while checking the last camera trap.

Working as a forest ranger gave me the peace I needed, even on long, rainy nights like this.

A strange smell suddenly filled the air. It smelled like metal, and something about it didn’t feel right.

I slowed down and told myself I was tired and kept walking.

Then I heard a low growl somewhere ahead in the darkness, and I stopped walking without even thinking.

I stood there with my hand near my bear spray not moving.

Two pairs of glowing amber eyes appeared in the darkness ahead, and fear ran through my whole body.

The first creature was bigger than any animal I had ever seen in the forest. The little moonlight coming through the trees shined on its thick fur.

It turned and looked straight at me like it already knew I was standing there.

The second creature slammed into it from the side, and both of them crashed to the ground. The sounds they made were nothing like anything I had ever heard in the forest.

I turned and ran.

My boots slipped on the wet moss, and my ankle twisted in the mud. A sharp pain shot up my leg, and I fell hard, my hands slamming into the wet ground.

The fight sounds were fading but something else was coming toward me now, heavy footsteps, human ones.

Strong arms caught me before I could even get back on my feet.

The man lifted me like I weighed nothing. His body was warm and strong against my wet clothes.

He smelled of pine and rain, with another scent I couldn’t explain. For some reason, that smell made my heart skip a beat.

I tried to push him away, but the pain and the shock made it impossible for me to move.

He carried me through the forest without saying a word.

A small log cabin stood among the tall fir trees, with smoke coming out of the chimney. He carried me inside and gently put me down close to the fire.

He knelt and looked at my ankle, his hands careful as he cleaned the cut and wrapped it.

I watched him as he worked, but nothing he did made any sense to me.

“What are you doing out here alone this late at night?” he asked without looking at me.

“Declan Blackwood,” he said, like I was supposed to know who he was.

Then he told me werewolves were real.

I just sat there and stared at him.

“You really expect me to believe that?”

“You saw it with your own eyes,” he said, his green eyes fixed on my face.

“I am the Alpha of the Moonshadow Pack,” he said. “I was hunting a rogue werewolf earlier when you walked right into the middle of the fight.”

I kept waiting for him to laugh and tell me he was only joking.

He never smiled.

I rubbed my arms trying to chase the cold away.

“Why did you save me,” I said. “You do not know me.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, like he was thinking about how much he should tell me.

“Because you are my fated mate,” he said. “The moment I caught your scent in the forest, I knew. The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes.”

I stared at him. “My what.”

“The bond between us is real,” he said. “I felt it, and I think you felt it too.”

My mind went straight to Marcus, just like it always did whenever things became too much. That man took everything I had and left me feeling like a fool for trusting him.

Now this stranger was sitting right in front of me talking about a fated mate bond like it was the most normal thing in the world, and all I could think about was Marcus.

“Why me,” I said. “I am just somebody trying to live a quiet life.”

He moved closer and kept his voice low.

“Your scent calls to me,” he said. 

I laughed, but it didn’t sound right.

“I am nobody’s fated mate,” I said. “I stopped believing in things like that a long time ago.”

He leaned closer, and I felt a strong pull in my chest. Heat rushed through my body so fast that I didn’t know what was happening or why.

I wanted to get up and walk out of the cabin.

But my ankle had other plans.

“This whole thing is madness and I need to go,” I said.

“You can’t leave,” he said. “The rogue has your scent now. If the rival pack finds out about you, they’ll come after you and use you against us. Stay here until the full moon, and I’ll explain everything to you.”

I wanted to argue, but I was too tired. My ankle was throbbing, I had no car, and I had no idea where I was in the middle of the dark forest.

I said fine and hated myself a little for it.

That night, I lay on the small bed he made for me. The fire was burning low, and the rain kept falling on the roof.

I was not expecting to sleep but sleep came anyway.

I dreamed I was running through the forest on four legs. It felt so real and so good that it frightened me.

I woke up covered in sweat, my hand on my neck. Something warm was pulsing under my skin, and I knew it hadn’t been there before.

Morning came, cold, grey, and quiet.

Declan made a simple meal with the food he had in the cabin, and we ate quietly at the old wooden table.

I watched his hands as he moved around the cabin. I couldn’t stop asking myself how someone who looked so calm could also be so dangerous.

When I stood up to test my ankle, it didn’t hurt as much as before.

He stayed close in case I needed help. When our eyes met across the small room, I was the first to look away because the way he looked at me made my heart beat faster.

I spent the day doing small jobs around the cabin with him. He showed me things about the forest that I never learned during my ranger training. Every time we got close while working, I felt that pull between us. It was small, steady, and real.

“I need to go back home,” I told him. “I have a job and a life that was going just fine before all this happened.”

“No,” he said.

“My independence is not something I am willing to negotiate,” I said.

He listened to everything I said without interrupting me. Then he looked at me and said, “You are staying here until it’s safe. That’s not up for discussion.”

I did not have a good answer for that so I said nothing.

Later that night, I was tired in both my body and my mind.

I was scared of opening my heart to someone again, but there was also a warm feeling growing inside me, one I couldn’t explain yet.

Declan sat across from me as the fire slowly burned down. He didn’t pressure me or ask anything from me.

That was the dangerous part. A man who doesn’t force you is the hardest kind of man to walk away from.

Later, I lay down, but I couldn’t stop thinking. Could I really trust someone again after everything Marcus took from me?

The rain kept falling outside, and the warm spot on my neck pulsed again, like it was trying to tell me something.

Sleep didn’t come easily, but it finally came. The dreams came with it, and when I woke up, I felt like I had found something I never knew was missing.