Crossing Paths With The White Wolf

Natalia P o V

I wasn't sure how to take all of the recent developments. When I saw him sitting in the auction house, Hestia and I were so mad. Sure, he was ruggedly handsome. You could slice paper in two on those jaw bones and that well-fitted Burberry suit made him look like a model. He walked and talked with a confidence not many people had. Our supposed mate was a bad guy.

Then he buys me, like I'm an object. I was so mad at him initially, I thought he was part of the reason behind this. Then it appears he bought Eun-Kyung's friends, but not Eun-Kyung, which makes me mad again. I snarl at him, but then he protects me from the handler's stun gun and seems furious that he hurt us. Then the biggest surprise, he tells me he'll help her and that he knows what we are. He was a conundrum to me. What was he? He wasn't a shifter. He didn't smell like a vampire or fae or demon. He wasn't human. He smelled like... more, if you ignored the intoxicating smell that came with the bond. He had this aura of power that I could feel from the other side of the room. His fury had left his body in waves when I had been attacked with the stun gun. I caught him off guard when I asked him what he was and it didn't go unnoticed the way he scanned my face and body when he turned around. I didn't have what you'd call a typical werewolf body. I was a solid size 14 and D-cup and 5 feet 7inches. Once upon a time, I'd once been self-conscious about it when I was younger, but now my proportions were pleasing to me. It was a sign of a well lived life. I was probably a little smaller right now due to lack of food and these clothes fit horrendously, but I could still see the interest in his eyes. I was really glad that he wasn't a shifter or a vampire or a fae. He wouldn't feel the bond the way I did and would make it easier to ignore the pull of the bond. We also never saw each other under the full moon, so he wouldn't feel the sparks at their full force until the next full moon. But Hestia and a small part of me, were hoping to see that recognition in his eyes. Even though we had decided that we wouldn't do the mate thing again, a part of me yearned to be loved again.

You mean you decided. I still want my mate. - Hestia growled in the back of my mind.

You know what will happen if we accept the mate bond. I can't go through that heart ache again - I told her. She huffed and curled up in the back of my mind before she blocked me.

"So how did you know what we were if you're not shifters?" I asked again between bites of my chicken burger.

"You were easy to identify. You're bigger than a normal wolf. But your friends... Theo was the one that noticed that extra awareness first." He nodded towards his friend.

"What extra awareness?" I asked, bewildered.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

"She seemed to know what was going on. She was reacting to the room like a human, not a cat. It was subtle unless you're looking for it. Like when we walked in, she looked at us briefly. She was staying away from the auctioneer and there was a slight panic when the winning bid was announced." Theo explained between bites of food.

I nodded, "I told her to act like a cat."

"How did you guys end up caught?" Sebastian asked.

I sighed and wiped my mouth with a napkin. "I am friends with Eun-Kyung's parents," I began, "We began noticing strange activity in the woods and set up some cameras to see what was going on. We asked the kids to stay out of the area, but you know teenagers... Eun-Kyung and 4 other kids snuck into the woods to have a camp out. They got caught in a trap. Two got away but Eun-Kyung, Si-Woo and Dan-Bi were too little to escape. Shifter leopard cats shift at 13. Eun-Kyung had just shifted a few months ago and this was her chance to join the other teenagers. After we figured out what happened, I found where one of the traffickers lived and started using my wolf to bait it to catch me. I made a promise to her parents to bring Eun-Kyung home," I said, and hated the way my voice wavered at the end. I schooled my face to hide all of my emotions and looked back at the men sitting on the other side of the table. "How did you guys get involved in this whole mess?"

"We took over a shipping company and found some inconsistencies while going over the books," the man named Theo said, "It is a common thing in shipping. We have...a few years of experience dismantling black market operations." Gonzalo covered a laugh with a cough at this. Clearly there was an inside joke in his words, but I made no mention of it. "We found the pattern and staked out the ship that brought you in." I nodded, remembering that was when I had smelled my mate in the wind. He must have been close. "You said you would get her back. How?" I asked, looking at my mate this time. Although there appeared to be no clear hierarchy, it was obvious he was the leader.

As he should be. Our mate should always be strong - Hestia purred and I did my best to ignore her.

"We bought some new gadgets in preparation for tonight," Sebastian said with a smile. He got up and brought over the laptop. He pulled up the tracking software and showed her the map. Both trackers were still in the same place. "One is a tracker we gave your friend. The other...is a microchip embedded into some business cards. It's accurate to 100 yards and..." He said excitedly, looking at Helios before turning on the sound of the laptop. A man was giving orders through the speakers. "Helios slipped one of our comms into the driver's jacket. We should be able to get some kind of information of their operation. Hopefully," he said, crossing his fingers and grinning like a boy.

I was impressed, but kept my face expressionless. I stood up. "Great! Let's go get her," I said. And Theo choked on his fries. Sebastian got up and started patting him on the back and I couldn't help but notice the look of love that passed between both as Theo finally got his breathing under control. Sebastian gave him a little kiss on the forehead and Theo went red again, but this time from becoming flustered.

I turned to look at Helios who was smiling at the exchange, but when he met my eyes, his smile faltered and he pulled a hand through his hair. "We can't go in blind. There's big money behind these people. A lot of power. We will put everything and everyone in danger if we just jump into this. I won't put my friends in danger."

I nodded. "That's fair." He seemed relieved at my answer before I continued. "I'll take the address and we'll get out of your hair," I told him, ignoring Hestia's whimpers in my head at having to leave her mate. I turned to the girls and said in Korean, "Girls, we're leaving soon. We have to go get Eun-Kyung and find a way home."

Helios flew out of his chair. "You can't do that!" What surprised me wasn't the fact that he wanted to stop me, it was the fact that he sounded almost....desperate? I knew he couldn't feel the bond, so why was he reacting this way? "And why can't I?" I asked him, crossing my arms.

"You have no money, no place to stay, no weapons, no plan. You'd just be putting everyone in danger. Please think about this," he said as he sat back down on his chair. "At least sleep on it. We've been working on this for months. We can help." "And if I sleep on this and still decide to go on my own, will you stop me then?" I said stubbornly, admitting to myself that he might have a point but unwilling to tell him that right now.

"I-I will give you some money and the address," he said, looking defeated. It cost him to say that for some reason.

"I- I will give you some money and the address," he said, looking defeated. It cost him to say that for some reason.

Give him a chance, Nat. We are given a mate for a reason. What are the chances that we meet our mate after all these years half way around the world in a country we had no plans to go back to? - Hestia pleaded. My heart clenched at her words. I know how important mates are to our wolves.

We will get Eun-Kyung back and head home. There's no point getting attached. You know how it will end - I told her gently, but knowing it did nothing to stop the hurt we both felt.

Then at least consider his advice. He's not wrong. We have nothing here. We need his help to rescue Eun-Kyung- She growled at me before she blocked me again. I sighed and lowered my arms. Everyone was looking at me to see what my answer would be. I sat back down on the chair and continued eating my burger.

"Fine, I will sleep on it," I said, and let the girls know we would be spending the night. I couldn't help but notice the relief in Helios' face before he nodded and excused himself to ready the guest rooms. The man named Gonzalo followed him. "What's his deal?" I asked Sebastian.

He shifted his eyes to Theo before he said, "We've invested a lot into dismantling this operation. He doesn't want all our effort to be wasted. This isn't the first time we've taken down traffickers. You should trust him. We're good at what we do." I couldn't tell if that was actually the reason or if he was lying to me or if it was a combination of both. I guess I couldn't necessarily expect them to be an open book after an hour of knowing each other. Especially if they didn't know we were mated.

Helios came back and we followed him up the stairs. There were about 7 doors on the upstairs floor. He showed us the bathroom, which was between two of the bedrooms on the right, and then our bedrooms. The girls decided they wanted to sleep in the same room, so he put them next to one of the bedrooms. He showed me to the one on the right.

The room was bigger than the one the girls were staying in. It was in the same color scheme, cream and red. The bed was in the middle of the room with a mahogany poster frame with matching night tables and a beautiful vanity dresser against the opposing wall. There were two doors next to them.

"You've got your own bathroom in here. The other door is a closet. We can take you to shop for clothes for you and the girls tomorrow. That's if you decide to stay anyways," he finished the last sentence quietly. I nodded at him and walked in, accidentally grazing his arm as he got out of the way. The sparks went up my arm and I had forgotten how strong they could feel. I struggled to keep my face and body composed as I felt Hestia purring through the block. I turned around at the door awkwardly. Helios was looking at me weirdly but said nothing as he just stood there.

Not knowing what to say, I grabbed the door and simply said "Good night" before closing the door on his face. I heard him sigh and footsteps heading back towards the stairs. I went to the bathroom and was surprised but pleased to see the shower had a rainfall shower head and jets. I set the water temperature to as hot as I could get it and stepped in, almost moaning at feeling all the grime and dirt wash away from my body. It'd been too long since I'd been able to have a shower.

I plopped down on the bed and, despite knowing I should be on alert in case they tried to pull something, I fell into a deep sleep in less than 5 minutes.