The Broken Warrior's Daughter

That night, | went into the forest surrounding the small town. When Maia confirmed that we were alone, | stripped off my clothes and let her begin the first shift. It was agonizing. Usually, the human form shifts at age 10 when the body isn’t fully developed. My first shift being at 18 and without any family or a mate to assist made it excruciating.

After hours of my bones slowly breaking and rearranging, | lay panting on the forest floor. Maia pushes forward and picks us up off the ground. We’re wobbly, not being used to being on four paws.

I'm mesmerized by everything. Suddenly, | can hear things in the forest that were quiet before. | can smell the river where my mom and | hiked on my birthday two years ago. | can hear and smell the small animals of the forest, foraging for food or moving around in their little dens for the evening. My eyesight is sharper and where | couldn’t see in the dark before, now everything is clear.

Maia takes off at a run and | let her have control. Her yip of excitement causing me to be excited for her. We run until we smell a stronger scent of the forest. ‘It's a pack. We should be careful to stay off their pack lands.‘ Maia tells me.

We tu

and run in another direction, until we come to another pack territory several miles away. Again we turn, being careful not to cross into the pack’s lands and continue our run. When we get to the river, Maia slows to a walk. She takes us to the edge of the river and looks into the water. My wolf is mostly black, with colors of light and dark brown intermixed giving her fur an exotic look that I've never seen on another wolf.

“You're beautiful Maia.” After running all night, we head back, and I’m able to get some sleep before going to work the next day.

It's been over a week since Maia showed up and I’ve settled into a new routine. | go to work, during the day and at night | let Maia run, Now that | have her, I’ve begun thinking about what | should be doing. She says that as a Guardian, we have a purpose, but she either doesn’t know what it is, or she’s not telling me.

I'm enjoying my enhanced senses. Everything is new. I’ve learned that the cook has a crush on me and has since he started here. | learned that Benny tells everyone my mother made him my guardian before her death, and that’s why no

one ever bothered me. | learned that humans have a rather boring smell, but werewolves smell great, like the forest. +15 BONOS

Maia and | skirt along the pack lines at night, taking in the scents. | can tell she misses being a part of a pack, but | have no intentions of going back to my father’s pack and she agrees, knowing everything that my mother and | endured. So, it’s a bit startling when | hear the doorbell chime one evening, as I’m getting close to getting off work. The first scent to hit my nose is the forest. It's the first werewolf that has come in since | got Maia. I’m not sure how to react. Should | be nervous, or will it be fine. | don’t know if | smell like a rogue to other wolves. Since | didn’t get my wolf when | was 10, | wasn’t technically banished from a pack like a normal wolf. It’s different when a human is banished.

Maia jumps up in my head. ‘Maia, is everything okay?‘ | ask her. ‘| need to see him.‘ She says. So | brace myself and walk out of the kitchen.

As soon as | do, | smell it, sandlewood and cedar. It smells like the forest, and home and something sensual and mouthwatering all at once.

| turn to look around the room, wanting to know who the person is that smells so good and that’s when | see him. It’s the man from over a week ago and he’s

looking right at me.

Maia pushes forward. “Mate.” She says quietly.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

| huge smile spreads across his face. “Mate.” He repeats.