Mates: Werewolf Short Stories

The Human Mate: Chapter 8

Elara POV

Consciousness creeps back in slowly, like wading through thick fog. Everything hurts.

My head throbs, my leg burns, and my wrists ache… bound. The air smells different here. Earthy. Heavy. Too many smells layered over one another until my stomach twists in revolt. I force my eyes open with a weak groan.

Firelight flickers nearby. I’m in a clearing deep in the forest, surrounded by wolves, dozens of them. Some are human, some half-monsters, others fully wolf, all of them watching me with open fascination. Hunger. Curiosity. Hatred.

The noise hits my ears. Heartbeats. Breathing. The subtle scrape of claws against dirt. I can hear everything. It crashes over me all at once, overwhelming, dizzying, until I squeeze my eyes shut and gasp.

“Easy.” a voice says smoothly. I open my eyes again. He stands in front of me, tall and broad, his presence suffocating in a way that makes my skin crawl. Dark hair pulled back neatly, sharp features carved with arrogance, eyes the colour of cold ash. He smiles—but there is nothing warm about it. Nothing sane.

“I was wondering when you’d wake up.” he says. My throat is dry. “Where… am I?” He chuckles softly, circling me like a predator enjoying playing with his catch. “On my land. In my territory.”

He stops directly in front of me, crouching so we’re eye level. His gaze sharpens, gleaming with malice. “I am Alpha Damian Lumen.” The name means nothing to me, and somehow everything.

Fear coils tighter in my chest. “Why did you take me?” I whisper. “What do you want?” Damian’s smile widens. “You.” he says simply. “And what killing you will do.”

My breath stutters. “Killing me?”

“Oh yes.” He straightens, voice carrying easily to the wolves gathered around us. “You see, little mate, Thorne has taken everything from me. Territory. Influence. Wolves who should have bowed to me.” His eyes snap back to mine. “So I’m going to return the favour.”

I shake my head, trying to understand through the haze of pain and terror. “I don’t understand…” I tried to say but he cut me off.

“You will.” He steps closer. Too close. “When I kill you, it won’t just be your life that ends. It will hollow him out. Slowly. Painfully.” His voice drops, almost reverent. “The bond will eat him alive. He’ll go mad with grief. And when he finally breaks…” Damian smiles again. “I’ll be there to finish it.”

My chest tightens painfully. Bond. Mate. Words I still don’t fully understand, but my heart does. Somewhere deep inside, something screams in denial, in fury, in desperate longing. Thorne.

Tears blur my vision. “He’ll come for me.” I whisper. Damian laughs. “Oh, I know.” He lifts his hand, and the wolves around us shift, tension snapping tight. I feel it then, sharp and sudden, like a knife twisting inside my chest.

Pain flares. Damian’s claws slide free. Panic explodes through the clearing. A roar answers and the ground trembles.

Wolves scream as chaos erupts from the treeline, snarls, bodies colliding, blood spraying. Damian turns just as a massive dark wolf launches from the shadows. Thorne!

He hits Damian mid-strike, slamming him into the ground with bone-rattling force. The impact knocks the air from my lungs as power ripples outward, wolves scattering in terror.

“Get away from her!” Thorne growls, pure fury and terror woven together. The bond blazes. Relief crashes into me so hard my vision whites out. My body sags, strength giving way as the sounds of fighting blur together, howls, snarls, orders shouted through the chaos.

Thorne is here. That’s the last thing I manage to hold onto before the pain, the fear, and the overwhelming pull of exhaustion drag me under. Darkness claims me again.

Thorne POV.

The world narrows to blood and rage. Damian hits the ground beneath me, the force of my tackle cracking earth and bone alike. His wolves recoil in shock, but only for a heartbeat before the clearing explodes into violence. My pack pours in from the treeline like living shadows, teeth and claws flashing as they collide with Damian’s warriors.

I barely register any of it as Elara’s body goes slack. “NO!” The sound tears out of me, raw and broken. I twist just enough to see her pale face, her chest rising shallowly, her scent faint but there. Alive. Still alive.

That single truth keeps me from tearing Damian’s throat out immediately. He laughs beneath me. Actually laughs.

“You’re too late,” he snarls, slamming his forearm into my ribs hard enough to crack something. Pain blooms, sharp and blinding, but it barely dents the fury consuming me. He shifts beneath me, strength surging as he rolls us, dirt and blood coating our skin. We come up tangled, wolves snapping and snarling as we half-shift in unison.

Damian is strong. I’ll give him that. His claws rake across my shoulder, tearing flesh, sending hot pain down my arm. He drives me back with brutal efficiency, forcing me to the ground. His knee slams into my chest, knocking the breath from my lungs, and his claws press against my throat.

“You feel it, don’t you?” he hisses, eyes wild, gleaming. “The bond stretching. Breaking. I almost wish you could watch her die.” My vision blurs red.

Around us, the sounds of battle rage, my wolves clashing with his, bodies falling, howls of pain and fury filling the air, but all I see is Elara. Her white, motionless face. The blood on her sleeve. The fragile rise of her chest.

Mine. Something ancient and unstoppable roars awake inside me.

I grab Damian’s wrist and crush it, bones snapping with a wet crack. He screams, staggering back just enough for me to surge upward, slamming my forehead into his face. Blood sprays as his nose breaks. He snarls, shifting fully now, massive and dark, power rolling off him in waves meant to dominate.

My wolf surges forward completely, ripping free of restraint. I slam into Damian with renewed force, driving him across the clearing and into a fallen tree. It groans under the impact. He claws at me, canines snapping inches from my throat, but I don’t slow.

“You should never have touched her.” I growl, voice layered with my wolf’s, the sound vibrating through me. Damian lunges, desperation bleeding through his arrogance. His claws sink into my side, deep, too deep, but pain only fuels me now. I lock my jaws around his throat and tear.

He chokes, thrashing, claws scraping uselessly against my shoulders. I feel his pulse hammering beneath my teeth. Feel his strength falter. His wolves falter too, the shift in dominance rippling outward as terror replaces loyalty.

I look once more at Elara. Then I end him.

His body goes limp as I snap his neck cleanly, the sound echoing through the clearing like a final verdict. I throw him aside without ceremony. Damian Lumen hits the dirt dead, his blood soaking into the land he thought to rule.

The fight ends moments later. His pack breaks, fleeing into the forest or falling beneath my wolves’ jaws. Silence crashes down, broken only by ragged breathing and the distant calls of my pack securing the perimeter. I shift back, ignoring my wounds, and cross the clearing to Elara.

I’m on my knees beside her in seconds, hands shaking as I brush her hair back from her face. She’s pale. Too pale. But she’s breathing. The bond pulses faintly, fragile but there. “Stay with me,” I whisper, forehead pressed to hers, my voice cracking for the first time since this began. “I’ve got you. I swear, I’ve got you.”