Storm is a recently discharged Marine who lost her leg to an IED. Medically discharged, she returns to her home town.
Not even home for a week, she has a strange encounter with a large beast. More and more things happen with this beast as time march...
Wilder and Paul are quickly gaining on Rath's trail. If they keep up at this pace they'll find him and Storm in no time.
Even as he's busy making sure Paul is leading them in the right direction, Wilder can't help but think about Storm. Is she okay? Is she hurt? Does she need help?
These worries nag at him, almost distracting him from paying attention to where they're going. Almost is the key word here.
'I hope Storm's okay.' Wilder thinks when he looks down to make sure he fully steps over a stray tree branch in his path. He looks up from the branch to see Paul has stopped walking.
"What's the matter?" Wilder asks Paul, who's standing stock still. Paul doesn't reply and continues staring forward into the trees. Wilder approaches him and looks past him to see what has him stopping.
The moonlight that manages to make its way through the tree branches, illuminates a dangerous creature perched on a fallen down log. The sight of such a beast has Wilder frozen much like Paul.
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"What is that?" Wilder whispers.
"Muerte." Paul utters back.
"Huh?"
"Death, wolfboy. Its name means death. It being here is a sign that much death is going to happen."
There's a long pause as Muerte jumps off of the log and jogs up to the men.
"Bow." Paul elbows Wilder in the gut before kneeling on one knee and bowing his head. Wilder copies and slightly flinches when he feels breath on his forehead.
There's a small bit of pain on his forehead and then blood starts trickling down. A slimy tongue licks up the blood and the breath that comes with it smells of rotting flesh. Wilder does his best not to gag on the smell, for once wishing he didn't have a werewolf's sense of smell.
Muerte moves from Wilder to Paul, repeating the same thing it did to Wilder on Paul. Its breath is even more revolting for the vampire to smell.
The decaying creature, now happy with its work, disappears into the forest without a sound.
"What just happened?" Wilder asks, pushing himself up and out of the kneeling position.
"Since we bowed to show our respects, Muerte gave us the gift of a painless death. If we are to die today, we will not feel a thing." Paul explains, running his fingers over the incision on his forehead.
"Does that mean we are going to die today?" A deep expression of worry evident on Wilder's face.
"What part of 'if we are to die today', did you not catch?" Paul snaps, annoyed with the dumb werewolf.
"I wish Storm was here with us, I know she's out there fighting who knows what. If she is to die today I don't want her to be in pain."
Paul's annoyed expression softens, the werewolf is worried about his mate. That's so cute! Of course it also makes him feel guilty about doing something he shouldn't have.
"Wilder, I'm sorry about flirting with Storm. I shouldn't have been doing it, especially when I realized you two were mates. Thank you for not killing me for it."
"You're forgiven, but if you flirt with her again, I'm going to kill you."
"Dually noted. Now we need to get back to finding your mate."
Sometime Later
"Can't you keep up wolfboy?" Paul teases as he runs through the trees. "I'm not a vampire! Of course I can't keep up with you!" Wilder, who's quite a few paces behind Paul, snaps back. At the moment the two men are rounding the lake and coming up on Storm's cabin fast.
"You're going to want to catch up, I smell a lot of blood." Paul loses his teasing tone and Wilder knows he's being serious. Wilder kicks it into high gear and catches up with Paul who's stopped at the tree line.
Together the two go forward, slinking along in the shadows so they're less likely to be seen. A twig snaps under Paul's foot and he visibly winces. Wilder surpasses the noisy vampire and approaches the corner of the deck.
A feeling of dread courses through him when he sees the door to Storm's cabin has been destroyed. He sprints up the stairs, leaving the noisy Paul behind.
"Storm!" He gasps when he gets inside and sees a prostrated body near Storm's bedroom. He jumps over the busted door and rushes to the body. It's when he sees the body's bald head that he realizes it's not his mate.
"Storm? Are you in here?" He yells in hopes of her still being here for whatever reason. He searches every room to no luck, she's not there.
He goes back to the body and rolls it over. He takes note of the two holes in the body's chest. Storm made it out of here alive, that's good.
"She's okay wolfboy." Paul's voice interrupts Wilder's observations. "She's got her leg," Paul points to where he previously set the leg, "and she's had something to drink." He then points to the empty glass by the sink.
"She's going to be okay wolfboy. She's a marine." Paul tries to give the worried wolf some sort of calming words.
"I know that but I'm still worried. She's not a werewolf so I can't mind link her and make sure she's okay. I can't not be worried." Wilder explains.
Paul walks up to him and gives him a pat on the back. "Storm's a tough son of a bitch-" Wilder interrupts Paul with a growl. "She's going to be okay. You worrying about her isn't going to do anything for her except get you killed."
Wilder sighs and gives Paul a nod. "You're right, now what are we going to do?"
"This is war wolfboy, we're going to go kill some rogues." Paul grins back at him.
