His Little Human Mate

Chapter 2

Noella

When I was a girl, my father used to pick the most beautiful white roses and bring them home to me. I would put them In a vase and fawn over them until they died. I would mourn their loss, but eventually, my father would get new ones.

The process repeated itself over and over, until one day, he didn't come home. Instead of mourning the loss of flowers, I found myself mourning something far greater.

Maybe it was from all the books I read that filled my head with silly notions, or maybe it was my hope trying to hold on with an iron claw, but I was convinced he wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

Nobody found a body, and no one could tell me what happened. I was left with the illusion that he was alive. Until I find him, he was still my, very much alive, father. For now.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*

"One, two, three, four, five," I count in a whisper.

Over and over, the same numbers. The same five words that are monotonous and blissfully calming.

My nerves are almost as frigid as the air around me, and all I have to do is keep counting, keep walking, and stay calm.

Don't think about what you're doing. Don't think about the lead you found and chose to follow. Definitely don't think about the house you're about to walk into. Don-

"Dammit," I mutter.

The anxiety catches up and I slip in the snow, my hands landing in the ivory padding with a thud. Well, that was graceful.

I get up with a frustrated sigh before starting to walk again, and it doesn't take that much longer before a giant oak door greets me. I stop counting as I stare, unable to do anything but swallow until my mouth turns dry.

I raise my trembling hand to knock but the door swings open before I get the chance.

The rumours about the only man who made it out of the forbidden forest are insane and sometimes unfathomable. I never believed a single one, but looking at the man in front of me, I really wish I had taken more caution.

His beard stretches all the way to his chest in knotted rivulets of greasy brown, and his shoulder length hair isn't any better. Dark circles paint the underside of his eyes, framing whirls of black that look like they've seen too much.

My nerves start to creep up my throat, but I push them back down and say, "Good morning, sir."

His dark eyes assess me thoroughly until he seems satisfied enough to say, "You are young."

I clear my throat.

"Umm... thank you? I would like to-"

"No."

My brows furrow at his interruption, and I open my mouth to speak again but he beats me to it.

"I will not allow such youth to cross past those trees. You know not what you are asking. Now leave."

My hope flickers and sparks inside my chest, giving out with every second I stand here.

"Please, sir. You don't understand. My father-"

His face pitches forward until his eyes are inches from mine, and my breath hitches, my ribs tightening with the effort it takes to hold my breath.

"Your father is dead if you think he's in that forest, girl." His hand reaches out to push at my chest, and his beer fused breath blows at my face as he says, "get out of here, and don't even think about coming back."

With that, the door slams in my face.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*

The cold of my car is almost unbearable as I pack up my backpack. I don't know how much clothing I'll need, so I just pack it all.

I'm going to find my dad. I don't need some silly map from a man who's probably lost all his sanity. I have my gut, and I just have to trust that that will be enough.

My eyes snag on the picture taped to one of vents. It's the only thing I have left of my parents, and I snatch it up before crawling out of the car and shutting the door.

"Ok, Bertha, I'll be back soon." I swallow hard. "Hopefully."

It's just a vehicle, but I treat it like a plant. Talking to it in hopes that it might hear me and thrive. Stupid, but I guess that's what happens when all you have left is a car to call family.

"I do hope you're here when I get back, but in the case that someone gets ideas, could you maybe die until I get back?"

I don't expect an answer, and I only spare it one last glance before I start walking away. Towards the forest of death.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*

Snow, snow, and more snow.

It feels like I've been walking for days, and all I've found is snow.

For a forest that's supposedly deadly, it sure is quiet. The only danger Ive encountered is knee high snow that seems to freeze my very bones. Maybe the rumours about this place are just that; rumours.

"You're a little far from home, aren't you?"

Glowing yellow eyes stare at me from the dark of the trees, and I barely have time to gasp before a very tall man emerges from the forest on my left. He eyes me up and down before circling me, clicking his tongue as he goes around.

"You look like a fun snack, but I bet you'd be even funner prey." He punctuates his words with a flash of his.... Are those fangs?

An audible gulp fills the silence, and he smirks, clearly amused by my terror.

"I don't want any t-trouble," I say, my voice shaking on the last word.

He chuckles before saying, "Oh darlin' if you wanted peace then I would have stayed at mommy's house. Now, you have a thirty second head start, and I like to count fast, so, run."

My feet start running before I'm aware they even started moving. Tree after tree flies past me as I sprint, not caring about the tall grass that flicks at my legs, the sky that's quickly turning black, nor the sound of howling in the distance. I just run, exactly as he told me to.

I was so stupid! Why did I think I would come out of this forest standing on my own? Only one person has ever made it out alive, and he's... not well.

My calves start to burn, and my breathing turns ragged, my heart desperately trying to keep up a stuttered pace, but I just keep running.

Footsteps start to pound on the ground behind me, and terror locks my limbs, causing my foot to miss a step, getting tangled in a root. I hit the ground, hard. My hand twists from the weight of catching myself on it, but I still use it to shove my body backwards, away from the man.

He stops two steps away from me, letting out an ear piercing growl. I cover my head with a pathetic whimper, waiting for him to pounce, but... he doesn't. He just stands there, seething.

"You think you're so smart, don't you? Having the Alpha on your side doesn't do anything but make you a better target. Watch your back, human, because this definitely won't be the last time you see me."

And then he turns around and runs in the other direction.

Question after question start to hit my brain in rapid succession, but footsteps from behind me have my body whipping around so fast my head spins.

"Why the hell are you in our territory?"

Forest of death? More like forest of insanely tall men, because this makes two encounters within minutes of each other.

"I umm..... I didn't know I was trespassing. I was just running and-"

"What is your business here?"

"Business?"

"What. Do. You. Want."

Something the man from earlier said echoes back in my head, and I say the first thing that comes to mind.

"I want to speak to the Alpha."