"Welcome to Wolf Lake"

Part Three

Author's Note – Okay, here we go… third part to WTWL… I'm sorry that it took me so long to get another part out to what is only a short story, but all my WL energy went into writing the finale on my virtual season.

But now that that is over, and I've had a chance to have a little breathing room, and before I exit the WL groove I've been stuck in for so long, I thought it best to focus on wrapping up this little story.

I will bring the conclusion to this story to ff.net very soon…

But before we get started, I wanted to repeat a suggestion/request that I had made in one of the recent virtual episodes of mine… I would like to make a recommendation on the behalf of a good friend of mine, that has written a truly magnificent beginning to an original story of his, now located over in fictionpress.net…

Entitled the Lupin Chronicles, by Nightwriter, it is very much in the genre of Wolf Lake, Blood and Chocolate, Bitten, and The Silver Wolf… and one of the best originals I've come across in a long time… This is a story that is destined to be in print one day, and if I ever have anything to say about it, it will be! (grin)

It annoys me to no end the lack of reviews that it has been getting, so hopefully some new fans will emerge from the posting of this note…

You can locate the story at the following link… please take the time to read this… if you've enjoyed my

work, then you love this… I certainly do!

Now then, on with the third installment of Welcome to Wolf Lake… I hope you have enjoyed this little prequel of mine, and will review once you have completed this chapter…

~*~

Part Three

The night held a thousand eyes, and Sophia knew, that even though she couldn't see those stars from above that had inspired the double meaning of that phrase through the heavy canopy of trees, that this night was no different.

She could sense the golden eyes watching from the shadows around her. Just out of reach. Just beyond the edge of her vision. She could hear the faint murmurs on the edge of her mental consciousness… hear the subtle growls and the gentle hisses of bare skin and fur brushing up against the foliage.

She knew she was being watched. Being stalked. Being pursued. Hunted. And her pulse jumped in her throat with that sudden and assured knowledge.

But it didn't stop her. It didn't make her turn away and run back to the firelight and the faint sound of pulsing music of the Rave behind her. She couldn't. She couldn't go back there. Not when she would be confronted by everything that she had just seen. Images that were still present in her mind. Images she wanted to never experience again.

Images that would never leave her, and she hated that. Hated herself.

Hated them.

She didn't want to be a part of that world… Didn't want to, but at the same time, a crucial part of her needed it. A part that she could feel awakening within her more and more with each passing day. A part that had been strengthening in her, to her horror, with every moment she had been with them. Surrounded by their presences, their scents, and their sounds.

A part that she was constantly locked in an internal struggle with.

A struggle that she knew would one day come to an end. One way or another.

And that frightened her far more then the possibility of being attacked by one of her stalkers.

A small part for her mind was calling her a coward from running from herself, which, in essence, was exactly what she was doing. But she couldn't find it in herself to care.

She just knew she had to get out of here.

Her feet encased in tennis shoes sunk soundlessly in the thick layer of leaves and dirt and sparse grass covering her unmarked and unmapped trail. But just like she had instinctively known other things throughout her life, she knew that she was currently heading back in the direction of the town, and the safety of her own home.

Squaring her shoulders, and admitting a hard glint of determination to grace her dark brown eyes, she kept walking. Daring those shadows around her to become anything other than what they were. Shadows.

She may have been nothing more than a half-breed in their eyes, and as such, fresh meat, but she was the daughter of the man that would have been their leader. Who had been destined to be their rightful Alpha.

And although he had given that up for his very human wife, and half human daughter, and since his promise to the first when her life had been taken prematurely by mysterious causes to never allow his inner wolf out for fear it would influence the second to try and survive the Flip, Sophia knew that he was still a very dangerous Skinwalker. No matter the skin he wore.

And if provoked with any harm befalling her, the attacker would know a most assuredly swift and painful death at his hands.

Normally, that would have provided a sense of safety and security for Sophia. But she couldn't help but wonder if it would be enough for tonight, when the passion of the younger Pack were running so incredibly strong from the combination of their natural inhuman hormones, and the dangers of the various human substances, such as alcohol and illegal drugs, that most were caught up in at the moment.

Feeling a sudden shiver run down her spine, like that of a finger of ice tracing the slightly ridged bones of her vertebra, her fingers clenched into fists. Nails once more digging into the already bruised flesh from having done this so many times this night, and fought away the fear paramount in her mind. Struggling to take control.

She couldn't fear. Just like she couldn't run. Fear could be smelt by any of them. And if that wasn't enough to trigger an instinctual response in their wolven bodies, then her running from them would.

None of them would be able to resist that primal enticement. That challenge – that dare – for them to attempt to take her down. Either under their claws and teeth, or under their bodies because of their driving instincts to mate.

Either way, Sophia had a bad feeling if it came down to it, more of her own wolven instincts would rise to the surface this night in order to protect herself, and to rip whoever dared to attack her to shreds. And if that happened, then she herself would be lost.

And they would have won.

She couldn't let that happen.

But despite her resolve, she couldn't help but let out a gasp as one of those shadows melted away from the tree-line to suddenly stand in front of her. So close that she could feel the heat from his nude body sinking in to warm her chilled from fear flesh. His scent enveloping her. Both soothing as well as arousing with its intensity.

Heart pounding in alarm, and breath coming shallowly, she shrank away from the faceless body, feet stumbling in the rough terrain.

Strong hands reached out to gently but firmly grasp her upper arms. Seeking to steady her.

Body instinctively tightening in order to fight back, heart in her throat, she immediately began to struggle. Trying desperately to loosen that strong, trapping grip, as her own instincts rose to the surface. Holding her as immobile and in place, as they had kept her from falling.

"Easy, Sophia… Relax… You're safe. It's okay."

Upon hearing those husky words, she stopped trying to fight her captor, and turned her eyes up into the pale and glittering green depths of his. Gazing down at her carefully in the darkened forest. Muscles rippling under the pale expanse of skin in the moonlight as he shifted his weight. His hands having yet to drop from around her upper arms.

Mouth suddenly going dry as she saw an uncharacteristic expression on his face. Full of primal fire and wolven sensuality, as well as an intoxicating mixture dominance and gentleness.

In that moment, her emotions and thoughts were conflicting.

On one hand, she knew that his shadow was one of the ones that had been following her. Hunting her. Soundlessly pursuing her all along for reasons that she may not have been willing to admit openly, but her soul and body knew all too well.

On the other, she knew, just as she knew some things so instinctively, that he had also been the one to keep the other shadows from revealing themselves.

The pure, unadulterated promise of retaliation from him, their leader, and not the knowledge of what her father would do, had kept her safe.

She blinked in sudden uncertainty that she knew was glimmering in the depths of her darkening eyes as it suddenly clicked with her that he had laid a claim upon her.

Shoving that unwelcome knowledge into the depths of her mind to never be touched upon ever again, she couldn't help the sudden quiver of her muscles as she felt those warm, slightly calloused, beautifully sculpted hands began to rub their way up her arms in a semblance of an assuring gesture, when in fact they both knew damn well all he was doing was taking the opportunity to touch her and putting it to good use. Purposely making her aware of him as a female of their species would be.

She blinked again. Their species? Where had that come from? Damn. He was getting to her, and he had yet to barely even make contact with her.

But yes, she was suddenly becoming very aware of him as the chemistry began to arch between them. Filling her body with an unfamiliar, but incredibly strong and heady desire. The combination of his body heat, his smell, the chaos of this night, her fear and her relief over him coming to her and not another… the sensation of his fingers as they gently began to caress the tender skin over her collarbone, and stroking over the pulse points nestled under both sides of her jaw, and in the smooth dip of the base of her throat.

Incidentally a few of the primary locations of where she knew the slight changes in her personal pheromones were altering and releasing in her own personal scent.

A scent he could smell with his highly advanced senses.

And a scent she suddenly realized was being reciprocated by his own enticing and wild musk. Cloaking her. Drawing her in. Purposely arousing her.

He used it as a weapon. Just as he used those eyes, those hands, and that voice. Shamelessly efficient. Dangerously powerful.

His scent was also wondrously free from any tint of drugs, and only the barest hint of alcohol. But that was from a previous night, not this one. He hadn't had anything to drink in the last few hours…

For this night, had not been meant for relaxation. And for that, Sophia was oddly grateful, at the same time disappointed.

For if he had come to her with the cloudy, mind-numbing, and altering substance present in his body, it would have been a lot easier to turn away from him. Knowing that he wouldn't have willingly pursued her. Just a half-breed. A mutt.

She could feel her heart pounding in her throat, as little tremors ran through her body. Both from fear and excitement.

And he had known that. And hadn't risked giving her that excuse to evade his touch this night.

But the fact that he hadn't spoke volumes as to what he wanted from her. What he had set out to pursue long before she had even left the false security of his car, to step into his world.

Luke may have protected her from the other males in the forest that she had carelessly wandered into without realizing it, but she had a sudden dart of realization run through her. Igniting nerve endings in such a way that she began to wonder if her body was her own at all this night.

Who would save her from him?

As if reading her thoughts, Luke's lips suddenly curved up slightly at the corners in personal amusement. And those eerie pale green eyes – now beginning to glow faintly around the edges with golden fire – peered down knowingly into hers. Making her suddenly aware of the tightening under her skin, her shallow breaths, and the beads of sweat starting to trickle down the valley between her breasts, soaking through the fabric of her jeans pressing against her thighs, and glistening on her lower back. Despite the coolness of the night outside of their little circle of pent-up passions and revealing desires.

That and the fact that she was completely alone with him. Stranded in the middle of a wild and untamed forest. A forest that was his domain.

Eyes that gave her the answer to her self-asked question from the need of her own self-preservation. An answer that spoke silently, if blatantly strong into the night with its assured promise.

Sophia closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath against the simple truth of it.

No one.

~*~*~*~*~

Oh yeah… it just has to be said yet again…

 Although this could be considered a prequel to Wolf Lake, and therefore, any of my WL projects, I can't deny that this is steadily becoming primarily a prequel to my upcoming WL project… A series devoted to a new, dark, and highly erotic take on Luke and Sophia's relationship, which will be entitled "Embrace of the Wolven"

I hope you enjoyed that little installment, and will let me know what you thought!

(Sapphira)