Once Upon a Time Read online

  Here I was, having this conversation with this half man and half beast, one that I had just let fuck me hard and raw.

  “You have nothing out there that is meaningful. In here, in this forest, you have me. I’ll have you wanting for nothing.” He moved closer, and lowering his head so his eyes were still trained on me. How did he know anything about me? I wanted to ask, but I kept my mouth shut and closed my eyes, trying to think about what in the hell I was going to do.

  I didn’t know what I should do, because the logical part of my brain said to leave this wicked, weird experience and go back to the… I stared at the house again, listened to the loud music, the laughter that could be heard all the way down here, and thought about my life. I had graduated last year, but worked at the local bakery. I was doing nothing with my life, had a father that was more interested in his new young girlfriend, and a mother that wanted nothing to do with me anymore because she was too worried about her own life. My friends were more interested in partying, and my life felt like one giant letdown. But then I had come into this forest, been with this man that hadn’t even told me his name, hadn’t even told me what he was, and yet it had felt so perfect and right.

  “You are mine, Red. You can’t leave this forest unless you really want to.” The way he said those words had confusion filling me.

  Surely he wasn’t implying what I thought he was? I was naked, didn’t have my cell anymore since it was back with my pile of clothes, but I took a step forward anyway. I was going to prove him wrong, prove that I didn’t want to be here, even though in my heart I knew that was a lie. But as soon as my foot touched the soft grass the world turned upside down and I was facing the beast man again. He stood there, no smile, no emotion at all on his face. I spun around and saw the house and the party, and tried to leave the forest again. But the result was the same: I was still in the woods and facing this male once again. Over and over I did this, feeling fear and confusion at the fact I honestly, truly couldn’t leave this place.

  “I told you, Red. I told you that unless you want to leave you can’t.”

  “I do want to leave.” I was shouting now, more afraid of this Twilight-like situation. It was like something kept me in here, made me unable to leave the thick oaks and evergreens standing around me. I saw a couple moving forward, not close enough that I could hear what they were saying, but close enough that I started yelling, screaming even. But they didn’t even look up, as if they couldn’t hear me.

  I could see them, but they couldn’t see me. And then when I screamed once more the couple stilled, not because they heard me, but as if they had been frozen in time. In fact, I could no longer hear the music from the party, couldn’t even see the twinkling of the lights in the windows of the house.

  I felt his heat behind me, heard him inhale again, and then he growled out.

  “You don’t want to leave, at least not yet.” He pushed hair away from my shoulder, and I shivered. “The world has stopped, and if you decide to leave, then you can leave this place, and everything will be as it was.”

  I closed my eyes. “This is crazy. How is this even possible?” The words came out of me softly.

  “Anything is possible.”

  “I don’t know you, don’t even know your name, yet I just had sex with you.” I turned around and faced him. “You’re not even human.” That last part was whispered so low I didn’t even know if he heard me. “Surely you can see how strange all of this is to me?”

  “I can see, but it doesn’t change the reality of it.” He reached out and ran his finger over the bite mark he had given me. The side of my neck ached from his touch, and this pleasure filled me.

  “It doesn’t matter if you know me, or my name. I am here and so are you. You are my mate. I can smell it.” He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, as if he derived pleasure from the act. “And I can’t let you go because you are mine.”

  “And if I decided I do want to leave?” The truth was right here and now I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I wanted to be with this male that declared me as a mate, as if we were these wild animals needing to breed or something.

  “Then I’ll follow you. This is my home, these trees, mountains, and wilderness what I know. But you’re mine, and I won’t let you go. My inner wolf won’t let you go, and I meant what I said… I’ll chase you until there isn’t anywhere else for you to run.”

  But right now I wanted this moment with him, wanted to be with him as I had never been with another person. The world was frozen, waiting for me to leave this forest, and then it would start back up as if nothing happened. I could be in here forever and nothing would change. My mother would still be a basket case, my father still absent in my life, and I’d still be working at my shitty little job.

  I inhaled deeply. He smelled wild, fierce… and mine. Yes, he was mine as much as I was his, and although this was the craziest fucking thing that had ever happened, I wasn’t ready to leave just yet. I stepped closer, paced my palms flat on his chest, and knew that whatever happened this was my choice, my decision, and I was making it now.

  Neither of us said anything, but he lifted me in his arms and carried me back into the forest. Whatever happened in the future didn’t matter because I was living in the here and now, and that was all that I cared about right now. This man was half wolf, had just admitted that to me, and I was willingly deciding to stay with him. It was crazy, but I wanted to experience it.

  The End

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