11

Stevens P.O.V.

"Feel like working out?" I asked Owen after a period of silence. I desperately needed to distract myself, so why not prepare to free my mate?

"Sorry Steven," Owen said, shaking his head in the negative. Then he nodded in his son's direction. That's right, he was now responsible for the little one. Of course I understood that, even though I would still have liked to train with him.

"Hey you!?" I called out to the two lovebirds. Maybe one of them was ready to fight me.

"What?" Marius replied, visibly annoyed. What's his problem? Since when has he been so irritable? Otherwise, he likes to train.

"Fancy working out?" I asked, frowning. What I didn't expect, however, is Cody growling menacingly at me immediately afterwards. Okay, what's wrong with these two? They've both seemed so weird and withdrawn lately Something was bothering the two, although they still seemed happier together than ever before.

I immediately raised my arms in surrender. "Sorry to bother you," I said in a tongue-in-cheek tone, turning away from the two of them.

At that moment my brother Dave ran into the clearing, who meanwhile also lived here with Rudel with his 24-year-old mate Diana and his 3-year-old daughter Anna. He was the first family member to welcome me here three days ago. My parents joined the pack just a few hours later and my mom just didn't want to let go of me. I can't even imagine how my parents felt when they found out about my apparent death. But I too had had a great longing for them. But the longing for my mate was even greater.

"Would you like to train?" I asked him now. If he was already here, then at least he could fight with me.

"Clear. I wanted to train anyway. You may have heard it already, but I've been a Warden here in the pack for a number of years now."

We were both just about to get into a fighting stance and transform when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a large black wolf charge into the forest, followed by several smaller ones. Cody dark brown wolf also ran close to me, following the others. I did the same and followed the Alpha and the warriors in my wolf form, after all I was once one of the warriors and I want to be part of it again in the future.

"Steven turn around!" Arsen snapped at me in the Mindlink. But until he uses his alpha tone, I won't turn back because they're running straight in the direction of the rogues. If they attack them, I want to be there and my mate save myself. Besides, they might hurt her otherwise and that's the last thing I want. I just have to come with me because if something happened to Silva, I could never forgive myself.

"What happened?" I asked, hoping the alpha would answer me.

"Breaking into our precinct." , the alpha hissed and left it at that that I was allowed to come along.

We kept running into the forest. All the sounds you could hear were our paws hitting the wet forest floor as we made our next jump.

It didn't take long for the Alpha to slow down and the warriors around him matched his pace.

"What's going on?" Cody asked.

"I can smell a strange wolf," the alpha replied. It's clear that the alpha will smell the smell first, after all, an alpha has more keen senses than the rest of the pack. Next, I was the one who could smell the strange smell "But for me this smell was by no means alien. I knew it. I knew it very well. Ever since it first spread through my nostrils, I could not forget it.

I sped off, following the scent, ignoring my alpha, who yelled for me to stop. And then I saw the fragile-looking silver ball of fur lying in the wet moss. She was curled up in a ball and whimpered in her sleep.

The rest of the pack had to follow me, of course, and Arsen ran past me and growled at the silver she-wolf.

"She's been to our territory before. I told her to stick to the limits." he growled menacingly, causing the she-wolf to startle and look anxiously into the alpha's eyes. Of course, I immediately recognized those silver-green eyes as my mate's eyes. Yes I already knew that it was her from her special smell of forest and honey, which I could never mistake.

Also growling, I stood in the Alpha's way, blocking my view of my mate. Nobody has the right to scare my mate. NOBODY MAY HURT HER!

"Steven!" the alpha threatened and stood up in front of me. But I stood up to him. I didn't want to submit to him now. I want to protect my mate!

Apparently Arsen recognized my intention and immediately stopped growling at me. Instead, he took a step back.

"That's her, right?" he asked again, just to be sure.

I nodded my wolf head in response. Then I turned and walked towards my mate, who immediately whimpered when she recognized me.

Why is she whimpering? is she hurt It hurt my heart to see her so vulnerable and whimpering. I had to help her, protect her and keep her from any pain.

When I reached her, I bumped my head lovingly against hers. She was still exhausted on the wet earth. Of course I didn't like this at all. She was out here all alone and must have been hypothermic. 'Why didn't I find her earlier?' I blamed myself now.

I licked her muzzle and then nudged her side gently to get her to stand. In fact, she understood and then tried. She stood there with trembling legs and needed all her strength not to collapse again. she was so weak Seeing her so weak made my heart break a little. I have to take care of her.

It couldn't work like that. So I turned back into a human and lovingly stroked my mate's wet fur.

"It's going to be alright now," I said, and moments later, with a whimper, she morphed back, too.

I immediately stopped her and pulled her to my body. Then I took her in bridal style and carried her towards the pack house.

Noticing the other wolves still standing around us, I started to growl. Silva was naked and I didn't want anyone to look at her. I will kill any other wolf that even looks at her body for a second.

"Go ahead. I'll follow you," I told the others. The main thing was that they would finally get away from my naked mate. I couldn't bear that she was so naked in front of the other men. Only I was allowed to see her like that.

"It's okay Steven. I'll let everything pass by." , said the alpha in the Mindlink. "Should I get her an extra room ready or should she go into your room?" But he could have already guessed the answer. I would never leave her side again. NEVER!

"My room." That was answer enough and the alpha and the other wolves disappeared.