III

2

"Show me to where she is!" I could faintly smell her on the guard that had come to report the feline shifter. I could go find her myself but that would probably not be the best idea in my current condition. Better there be someone familiar when I find her, feline shifters weren't exactly known for being the trusting type. All the more so for wolf alpha's she'd probably be on the other side of the country before letting me inside a 10 mile radius of her. I could only hope for her curious streak to keep her in place long enough for my guards to surround her.

As it was, it appeared that very streak had indeed held her back long enough, by the time she realised she should probably run, it had already been too late. She'd tried but one of the guards had been able to hold her back and eventually catch her.

"Thank you Erwin, you can release her." Erwin reluctantly did as I asked and stepped back a few steps. I approached slowly, the girl looked frightened, more so the closer I got. Then she was gone. I could see the confused looks on the guards' faces and had I not been completely exhausted I would have laughed but now I could only let out a tired sigh. Looking up I called out to her.

"What's your name?" I asked quietly. No reply was forthcoming, I waited for several minutes.

"You smell of blood." She finally spoke from the foliage above our heads. I looked back down a mix of worried and sad looks marred the faces of my men and I couldn't reply. I looked back up and everything was silent for the next twenty minutes or so...

"You're not going to leave?" she finally broke the silence again.

"That became an almost impossibility the moment my men picked up your scent." She paused for another minute before continuing.

"What do you want from me?"

"You are asking unnecessary questions" I retorted quietly.

"Leave me be?" came her small voice and I knew she knew I couldn't do what she asked. Another twenty or so minutes passed before she spoke again.

"You're not here to hurt me?" again she spoke with a small voice. No one spoke as she took another minute and I just kept looking up at her between the foliage of the tree she'd climbed into. When no answer came she jumped down to me, purposefully knocking me over. In a straddling position she looked at me curiously all the while staying silent. Satisfied when another few minutes passed and I made no movement to get her off me she shifted off and got up. I rose to my feet too.

"Lina Brennan" she offered.

"Christian Abraham Thorn" I offered in return.

"Will you take me against my will?" a pang of guilt shot through me knowing I would, even if it wasn't something I wanted.

"I hope it won't come to that..." she nodded in acquiescence.

"Do you have family that will miss you?" I asked cautiously. She shook her head and pointed back to where the guards had first spotted her in a shabby, run down treehouse.

"I live alone there," it was my time to nod. Unlike wolf shifters, it wasn't uncommon for feline-shifters to live relatively secluded from the rest of their species. They did not for attachments quite as easily and preferred independent life more often than not.

"then I would like for you to stay with us from now on, the woods have become dangerous even if you have not been targeted up until now. I will not mark you until we are back and safe within my pack territory but even without the mark, now that we've encountered you will become a target for the boundless..." again she acquiesced with a nod. And for the first time I could appreciate all that she was.

She was tall and although she lived out in the woods, it did not seem like she lacked nourishment, if anything she was on the curvy side, not overly so, just... right. She was obviously nimble, she'd flashed up a tree in a matter of milliseconds. She had short dark hair and had one green and one dark brown eye. I liked her overall look, though she might have worn something a little less revealing...

"You have clothes?" I pointed in the general direction of her treehouse and she nodded.

"Good."