His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

The Leopard and the Wolf (2)

Rowan POV

[11 Years Ago]

“Stop!” I ran out, dodging the hands of about four different adult gammas who tried to stop me. I clambered up the pile of rubble, and when I came to stand between the leopard and the gamma, it hissed and ducked deeper into the rubble. “You’re only scaring it.”

“Step back, kid. You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” Orlando warned. “I’m trained to retrieve threats like her.” With his thumb, he snapped the taser once.

The leopard bolted, running full speed away from him. I was close behind – and though the child was shifted and I was not, I caught her quickly, wrapping my arms around her like a hug. Her claws were digging into me, but not just claws – I felt stabbing pains all along the bare flesh of my arms, and when my face brushed her, I felt pained there too. I dropped her and she wiggled and writhed, crying in the most pathetic way.

It stirred my heart.

Orlando rushed to meet her. “I told you she was dangerous!” he shouted. His taser connected with her side, and she spasmed, crying.

“Stop!” I shouted again, running to him and kicking the taser out of his hands. “Leave her to me.”

I don’t know where the confidence had come from – I wasn’t usually the type to intervene. But when I looked at the little gold and white leopard cub, her amber eyes were shimmering, and her sides quivered in her fear. I turned my back on Orlando, strategically positioning myself between him and the girl.

“Rowan, you have to be careful – you saw what she can do,” he warned. Still, he hesitated. Even if I was young, I was to be alpha one day. Defying me would be something I’d remember.

Especially after he’d just tazed a child.

“It left no lasting harm,” I said. “She’s scared – haven’t you considered it could be a fear response?” I crouched in front of her. “Come on. Let’s go, beautiful girl.”

She pushed herself up, laboring to get her front feet under her, then heaving her back legs up. She was shaking on her feet when Jared made it to us.

“Is this the one?” he asked Orlando, ignoring me completely.

“Yes,” Orlando replied.

I realized then that Jared was holding a chain collar and a leash. “Move aside, Rowan. This isn’t exactly your department.” He pushed me aside, and I lost my footing in the rubble, falling on my butt. The leopard struggled to escape, but Jared was faster – he grabbed her, and the same searing pain lanced its way through him. He yelled, retreated, and when he recovered, kicked her side so hard I heard the crack from where I sat.

“Damn you idiots,” I finally spat, sitting up. I couldn’t shift yet, but I was still strong enough to tackle Jared, knocking him down the rubble pile. We tumbled, thrashing against each other, neither really getting in any solid hits, but taking enough damage from the terrain that we thought we were. “Leave. Her. Alone!” I spat, punching Jared straight in the jaw.

Jared snarled, pushed himself up and shifted. I knew I was screwed then – but something amazing happened.

A golden energy lifted the rocks and rubble, levitating them a moment before they arranged themselves into a solid wall. Vines laced their way through the cracks, holding it together, until I realized I was locked in a room with her.

Except she wasn’t a leopard anymore.

She’d shifted back into a human shape, and though we were surrounded on all sides by rubble and vines, a golden glowing orb floated in the center of the room, illuminating everything around us.

A jolt of fear shot through me. I’d defended her – I hated to see a girl kicked around and tazed when she was so clearly terrified – but that didn’t mean she didn’t see me as a threat. I couldn’t back down – that was weakness. I was an alpha, I should never show weakness.

Besides, this kid was half my size, and so emaciated a stiff breeze could knock her over.

“What are you doing?” I asked, darkening my tone. I didn’t want to scare her, but I couldn’t be a pushover either.

I had to do this right.

She c****d her head to the side, almost as if she didn’t understand what I’d said at all. I was about to ask again when she replied, “He was going to hurt you. Like they hurt me.” She walked to the corner of the structure and sat, hugging her knees to her chest. “They can’t get us here.”

I don’t know why, but I felt a surge of guilt then. “They didn’t mean to hurt you. They thought you wanted to hurt them.” I paused. “When I grabbed you, it…”

“It’s always like that,” she said, as if it were the most rational thing to admit. “I don’t know why.”

I approached cautiously. She was wearing a plain white dress with buttons up the front. It was at least two sizes too big, and hung off her shoulder exposing…

“You’ve been marked?” I asked, frowning. I didn’t understand much behind it yet, but marking was for adults – and she most assuredly wasn’t one.

She c****d her head to the side again, an adorable trait that reminded me of a dog. “What do you mean?”

“Your shoulder,” I pointed to the point on her neck where a faded mark remained. Mother had explained that fading to me before – it usually meant the mate had been rejected, or rejected their mate.

But she was so young…

Her fingertips brushed over the spot, as if she knew exactly what I was referencing. “Oh. That’s always been there. I don’t know what it is.”

She was a puzzle. I'd always liked puzzles and mysteries.

“How did you do this?” I asked, touching the wall of the structure. I could already hear noises on the outside – they’d be digging us out soon. I had a tight timeline to get her calmed enough to listen to me before the workers got us out.

She was focused on digging her toes into the dirt. She shrugged. “I don’t know.” There was a particularly loud cracking of stone, and she flinched. “Are they going to take me away when they get me?” she breathed the question, as if she were so afraid of the answer she couldn’t bear to voice it.

A tough question. We were, in a sense. But we were going to take her away to safety. “We’re going to bring you back with us, and find your family.”

“I don’t have a family.”

I marveled at the absence of emotion at the statement, as if that too were the most natural thing in the world. “Everyone has a family,” I said, sliding down the wall and sitting a healthy distance away from her. “You don’t know yours? Where were you before these guys snatched you?”

She shrugged and continued digging in the dirt. I wouldn’t be getting an answer out of her on that matter.

“If I don’t have a family what will happen to me?” she asked.

My heart wavered again. She was so smart, so small, so powerful – and yet she cowered away from violence and resigned herself to her fate so quickly. “I guess we’ll just have to take you in. We can’t leave you alone, so we’ll take care of you.” I paused, “We’ll be your family.”

Her eyes met mine then, and there was a subdued hope shining within them. “Really?” she asked, quietly.

I nodded. “Really.” Another crack made her flinch. “They’re going to come get us soon. I need you to stay close to me and let me do the talking, okay?”

She tried to make herself as small as possible in the corner, hugging herself and quaking with fear.

The wall across from us crumbled, and Orlando was the first one through. “I told you that leopard wa-” his eyes scanned the room and fell upon the girl. She squeaked, leaping to her feet and hiding behind me, clutching the hem of my shirt and burying her face in my back.

It was the first time anyone had ever relied on me to protect them.

I liked it.