I watched as the male standing over the female unbuckled his pants and kicked her repeatedly in the stomach.
While the complete opposite of how we treated our females, I knew better than to get involved in the business of another pack.
Wolves have strict laws, the most important of them being the autonomy of each pack. While I may not agree with it, even as a Beta, it was not my place to interfere. They were free to make their own rules and traditions and carry them out as they saw fit.
So even as the male continued to deal blow after blow upon the woman, I edged my way back out of the clearing and under the covering of the surrounding trees.
That is until the direction of the wind changed, blowing their scent towards me. In an instant 1000 years of evolution caught up to me and every instinct snapped into place. Before my human brain had even had a chance to comprehend what was happening my body's natural urges and chemical makeup took over and I was transforming into my wolf form.
That wasn't just any woman on the ground. In an instant with one inhale of her scent my vision had tunneled, every hair on my body had raised and every cell in my being had urged me to protect her.
Within seconds I had run straight at the man bowling him over before standing over her, keeping her small body curled up in a ball between my front paws. They wouldn't come near her again.
The rage on the man's face was evident as he stood back up, his mind pushing at the walls of mine so that we could communicate. I relinquished control enough for a sliver of space to open in that wall so that we could speak.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! You have no right to interfere in our pack's business." He screamed both out loud and through the mental bond.
"I do when she's my mate." I said calmly, my rage barely controlled. I turned to keep her safely beneath me while watching the other two wolves, half expecting them to spring into attack.
The human male let out a loud laugh. "Your mate? There's no way she's your mate. You're too old, you have to have mated already."
My low growl was the only indication that he had struck a nerve. Why had it taken me so long to find her? I shook my head clearing those thoughts from my mind. That didn't matter anymore. I had found her now. She was MINE and I would protect her at all costs.
"I really don't give a damn what you have to say about it. She is my mate. She is mine and I will defend her. I don't care that you're of another pack. I'm a Beta, I am built to be faster and stronger than you. Come near her again and the three of you will not live to see another day."
I watched as his eyes flickered to his brothers, a conversation that I was not privy to occurring between them.
"You've just interfered with another pack. You've broken the law. And there will be consequences eventually." He growled even as he transformed, bounding in a leap over me, running into the forest on the other side of the clearing with his brothers in his wake.
I stood guard for several long minutes to be sure that they didn't return. When they did not, my human form fell to his knees before the woman on the ground who was broken and bleeding, the tears already cascading down my face.
I gently took her into my arms, brushing the long brown hair off her face revealing bruises and a broken nose. A sob racked through my body as I held her to me, resting my forehead gently against hers, whispering to her.
"Come on baby, wake up. Open your eyes, look at me. Let me help you. Please wake up."
And as those long eyelashes fluttered and her beautiful brown eyes were revealed to me for the first time, the world narrowed and the mating bond between us immediately snapped into place.
I could immediately feel the bond, the tether connecting our minds, our souls. And as a rush of pain pushed its way from her subconscious into mine, I cried out. Not from the shared pain of her injuries but from an immense all-encompassing, burning sensation rushing down my forearm as the mating tattoo seared itself onto my skin, marking me as hers forever.
