Chapter 0002

BEN'S POV

God, she was infuriating, running off after clawing at my arm like a pup! It was ridiculous. I had surprised myself in the kitchen, my wolf took over in seconds. Normally I have far more self-control, but her scent, my god her scent. It was intoxicating, a spring breeze, somehow mixing with the smell of full, ripe strawberries dipped in chocolate. My wolf went wild.

We are mates, we have to be. I knew there was a lot to sort out, a lot to talk about, but for some reason, her refusal to admit to our bond made me furious. I shifted in my seat, unable to concentrate on the movie after coming back into the house. Megan had left, gone to see about wedding flowers. Something she had dubbed, a "floral emergency." I couldn't possibly care less about wedding flowers. They seemed the epitome of irrelevance. But Meg had been planning her wedding since she was in the third grade, I enjoyed being alive way too much to risk questioning her judgment on the centrepieces.

She would make a good luna, her friends took her orders, she was decisive. And Meg liked the idea of marrying an alpha about to inherit land and fortune. It seemed like a brilliant idea, so the match was made. And somewhere along the line, we fell in love. At least... I thought we did. Then Carrie happened. I jumped as my phone buzzed in my pocket, waking me from my thoughts.

"Alpha we're having trouble on the border. The rouges are attacking. The pack needs orders"

My hand tightened around the phone. "Prepare for battle, I'm on my way." I didn't wait for a reply before hanging up.

***********************

"This movie makes no sense, how in the world did this gain a fanbase?"

Jocelyn laughed, "Not everyone over analyses every moment of each movie they watch."

I was about to reply but my phone rang. I listened to the news wordlessly then checked my watch.

"Give me ten minutes, I'll be there." Then I hung up.

Jocelyn glanced at me, "Guardian stuff?"

I nodded "The Gliddian pack needs help on the border."

She smiled in understanding and I left, sprinting toward pack territory in the forests that border the town.

The fight was in full swing when I arrived, the smell of blood filled the open air and I flinched as wolves flew at each other from all sides. I watched as a rust-coloured wolf barrelled toward a snow-white wolf who was looking the other way. I lunged at Rusty, transforming in mid-air and knocking him with alarming force to the right. My teeth sunk into his side and I pawed and bit until I knew he was too injured to fight, but not dead. I don't kill, I immobilize.

I was in the full battle mode now, and wolves were falling at my feet. I was ripping into the side of a gold-coloured wolf, I was distracted. Too distracted to see a rouge lunge at my right. The wolf knocked me to the floor and I growled as blood pooled from my side. The battle was drawing to a close, the rouges were retreating. The wolf tearing at my body was doing it out of spite. I struggled, made a last attempt to lunge and my teeth sunk into his throat. He thrust away from me and retreated, blood dripping from his coat. I sunk down as the pack began howling in victory, a soft smile working its way onto my lips.

Then I smelt it, coffee beans and rain. His wolf was beautiful, a drizzly grey. He paced over me as I examined his fur quietly from my position. Being a guardian meant I wasn't part of a pack, which meant Ben couldn't mind link with me. It was pretty clear he was furious though. He growled and slowly, I stood, wincing on my paws. He growled again and I could practically hear his gravelly voice demanding my wolf back down and shift to human. He watched as I shook my head a little then took off running. I was shakey, blood still dripping steadily from my side. I was almost to the Forrest border when my vision started to blur.

Then I was taken down, the force was steady but gentle. It didn't hurt, his body weight held me carefully so that I couldn't move, but my injuries were respected. I growled in weakening anger, and he growled back, authoritative and uncompromising. Slowly I shifted, my bloodied fur turned to bloodied skin. My claws retracted, transforming back into nails with chipping black nail polish. The clothes that clung to my body were now torn and ratty, but they managed to cover me fairly decently. The weight on top of me became a little lighter and I knew Ben had shifted too.

He didn't speak for a moment and a heavy pause pulsed between us. I wondered briefly what he would do. I knew he felt the connection I felt. I also knew that me refusing to acknowledge our bond kept him an arm's length away. We weren't together, he didn't technically have the right to care about me. I thought that it might be enough for him to let this go, maybe he'd help me home at the most.

"Carrie, what the hell were you thinking?"

I thought wrong.

With a sigh, I rolled my eyes. "I'm a guardian, its what I do."

As I spoke he tugged lightly at my shredded purple tank top and inhaled sharply at the sight of the gash.

"Its fine Ben, let me go."

He huffed at that, "Not a chance."

I groaned in annoyance just as my body became weightless. Ben's chest grazed my cheek and I could hear his heart thumping as he walked.

"Put me down, I am fine "

"No you aren't Carrie, give it up."

I had a reply to that, a good one, it might even have shut him up. And I was about to let him have it, but my vision became too blurry to see, then the world went black.