Black Ice-Completed

Syn walked away from Aleric, who was now dead, and the small girl with the dark red hair. He wasn’t sad that his pack mate was dead. Aleric had been nothing more than a spy Lyosha had thought necessary. Lyosha of course did not trust Syn for good reason. He wanted the position Lyosha had. Syn wanted to be Alpha.

The Alpha had sent both wolves south, to follow Braytek’s trail, to find the sword and whatever else the previous Alpha had been hiding.

Syn had wanted to find the sword himself and use it when the time was right to challenge Lyosha. He wanted to save the pack from the insanity that was coming about. Too many wolves were either dying, not having their wolves within, or the blood fever was coming about them.

Snorting in derision at Lyosha’s decision to send Aleric, he continued to walk away. The wolf had been crazy with blood fever. It wouldn’t have been long before it would have consumed the man and left nothing but a savage animal. It was a lot like rabies for the wolf shifters. Syn had been planning to kill him as soon as the sword had been found, more eyes were helpful in a search.

He couldn’t figure out why Aleric had been fighting with the small girl. He had come upon the battle just as the girl had slid underneath him and slit him open. At that moment, he felt like it was no skin off his nose. The wolf had to die either way, but what about the girl? What was so special about her that Aleric had been fighting?

Syn was amused, the girl certainly had spunk. She had been so weak from the fight but instead of running, she turned to him and challenged him. She even had the audacity to call him a runt.

The girl has fire, he thought and smiled, maybe when she became a woman he would come back for her and make her his.

The desire grew at the thought of having such fire underneath him. Most of the women back home were quiet and obedient, listened to what a man told them to do. Syn was twenty and had been mating with women since he had turned fourteen. Within those six years he had grown tired and bored with obedience. He didn’t realize it until now.

He was so occupied with the re-evaluation that he never heard the girl charge him with a knife raised. He sensed her at the last moment and efficiently knocked the knife out of her hands but froze when he felt sharp teeth at his neck, trying to rip his throat out.

Frowning, he pushed the girl to the ground and pinned her with a paw to her chest. He hadn’t really looked at her when she had struggled out from underneath Aleric but as his cold blue eyes connected with her liquid green, one word flitted through his mind. Mate.

It took him a moment to process what his instincts were yelling at him. This young girl was his mate. But she wasn’t a wolf, she was human, wasn’t she?

Looking down into her face he saw her frustration as she tried to struggle out from under his paw. A lot of good it would do her except in wearing her out.

Giving a quick sniff, he couldn’t really tell whether she was a wolf or not. He just smelled summer sun on her, maybe that proved she was human. Had she been his kind this kind of heat would have caused her to get sick. Even he felt nauseated with the summer sun here in Skatodi.

Giving a growl at himself, he shook out his fur, he was tired of his mind bouncing back and forth. His instincts told him that this child was his mate and he’d follow those more than his mind. It urged him to sniff her more closely, to get at the source of her scent, her neck.

As he moved to put his nose where her neck arched, she began to struggle harder and Syn grumbled low, “Be still.” He growled though as she continued to struggle, making it harder than what it should to sniff her neck. Finally he had his muzzle against the arch in her neck and felt her jerk when his cold nose touched her skin. He suppressed a grin as he sniffed her.

Deep underneath the summer sun was the smell of winter and wilderness, the smell of a Black Ice wolf. But it was different then the smell of the pack. It was hotter, feral, female.

Jerking his head back in surprise, Syn looked down into the glowing eyes of a pissed off she-wolf. And before he could do anything, she reared her legs back and kicked him squarely in the nose.

Yelping in pain, Syn sneezed several times and pawed at his nose. He was furious now, looking to where the little girl had been, a low growl rumbled in his chest as he saw her dashing around a copse of trees and out of sight.

Syn howled in rage and pushed to all fours, dashing after his little female. But as he rounded the copse, he didn’t see her. No bushes rustled, the trails were so dry and packed that footprints were impossible to see, and he knew trying to sniff her out was a long shot. Her scent was everywhere in this part of the forest.

Glaring at the surrounding forest, he growled low, “This isn’t the end D’atai. I will be back, and when that happens we will talk about your abuse to my nose! Mark my words, little girl, you will be punished.” Growling once more in frustration, he walked away, not really wanting to leave but knowing if he didn’t go back, Lyosha would send more wolves here, and Syn didn’t want or need the others to find his prize. She was his and Syn would fight any wolf to keep his mate protected, even if she was just a little girl.

Nyota stayed hidden in the thicket long after the animals and birds began to chirp, telling her danger was long gone. She had known she wouldn’t have had long to hide once she had kicked the bigger wolf and had dived into the bushes in the hope that it would be a decent enough hiding place.

Starlight, she called softly, wondering if the wolf within would hear her or not.

What is it little Nyota? Was the soft reply and Nyota felt warm and relief course through her shaking body.

What does De ata mean? She asked knowing ata meant mother in Azgetian but not the word he had said.

D’atai? It means mother of my children. Informally it just signifies mate. Nyota felt a yawn from within and knew her wolf would go back into hibernation.

In a rush she asked, Does he mean harm to us?

A sleepy chuckle was the only answer Nyota got and even though it wasn’t much reassurance, it was enough.