Nature is not a place to visit 16

Chapter 16
*“The world consisted of predators and prey. You were either hunting or running.”*
*Charlene Weir*
Hudson once told me that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Occam’s Razor, he’d called it. If you have a
headache, it’s more likely you’re dehydrated than it is that you have a brain tumor. If cookies disappear from the cookie
jar, it’s probably someone in your house, not a ghost.
I knew all about Occam’s Razor. Yet, as I hurtled through the woods at breakneck speed, I was not sure I was willing to
accept the simplest explanation for what had just happened. Was there even a *simple* explanation for what I’d just
experienced?
My brain ran through the facts.
Fact #1: Luke and I went to the Moon God’s temple to pray.
Fact #2: The tomb exploded with blue light.
Fact #3: The tomb hadn’t been empty as we’d thought. In fact, it had been very occupied by an alive man.
Fact #4: That man was my mate and he didn’t seem like a normal wolf at all. Besides the fact he’d been napping in a
crypt, he seemed like he was able to control some of the blue light. He would’ve used it against Luke, and that was
definitely not something normal wolves could do.
Deep down, I knew what the simplest explanation was.
Occam’s Razor would tell me that the man I’d encountered in the temple, my mate, was the Moon God.
*But there’s no way.*
*The Moon God is just supposed to be a story.*
*The curse of the Moon God was just some silly bedtime story I heard as a kid. It’s not supposed to be real*.
But then how else was I supposed to explain a man sleeping in a crypt with blue light powers? Was there even any other
possible explanation for that?
*Maybe he’s a witch. The Moon God was supposedly cursed by witches. Is it possible they put one of their own kind in
the crypt instead? Maybe it was a final ‘fuck you’ to the wolves – they’d get the last laugh as we prayed to a witch, not a wolf.*
But even as I thought it, I realized the theory held no water. That man in there was a wolf, I was sure of it. The way he’d
growled, the raw power in his voice and his presence – that didn’t come from a witch.
He wasn’t a witch.
But he also wasn’t like any other wolf I’d ever encountered before.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I stumbled over a root in the ground and tumbled to the ground. I managed to
break my fall with my hands and knees, but once I was on the ground, I realized just how out of breath I was.
My heart was hammering a million miles per hour and my ribs ached with every shallow breath I took. I hadn’t thought
about the pain in my chest when I was making googly eyes at a man in a magical coma, but now, the ache had come
back in full force. My ribs still weren’t fully healed, and I was in no condition to be running long distances.
I wasn’t entirely sure how much distance I’d covered either – I’d just bolted into the woods as fast as I could.
*I just needed to get his attention away from Luke.*
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complete story. Head over there to dive into the next chapter—it’s all free! Now, I began to wonder if it was a stupid move. Had bolting into the woods done enough to draw his attention? What if
he decided to take care of Luke and then come after me? I’d been running for at least five or ten minutes, and I hadn’t
seen a single sign of his presence yet.
I moved to rest against a big oak tree so that I could catch my breath.
My wolf had started whimpering in my brain again, confused as to why we’d run from our mate. She’d wanted him to mark us on the spot like the love-drunk spirit animal she was.
*There’s no way I’m mated to the Moon God.*
*Sure, I’ve heard the stories and the legends…but me? There’s got to be some sort of mistake here. If that’s really the
Moon God, then fate made some sort of cosmic mistake.*
*I mean, the Moon God – assuming that’s who he is – needs some extra-powerful mate to match him, right? I’m a
regular she-wolf with a little Beta blood running through my veins.*
I couldn’t wrap my head around any of it, but deep down, I knew the answer in my gut. I could come up with as many
explanations as I wanted, but it didn’t change the facts. I’d seen that man wake up from a magical coma, and I’d
recognized him as my mate.
*Can I even call him a man? Or is he something else? He looks like a man, but –*
The sudden crack of thunder interrupted my inner monologue.
*Wait, thunder?*
I stared up at the sky. Just minutes ago, it had been a sunny, cloudless sky. Now, dark storm clouds had collected into the
sky. There was no rain, but thunder and lightning cracked across the sky. There was a change in the air too – heavy. Thick.
A pit formed in my stomach.
The sky looked and felt angry, and somehow, that didn’t feel like a coincidence.
*That can’t be because of him…right?*
I scanned my surroundings, backing further into the big oak tree.
My heart jumped into my throat when there was another loud crack of thunder.
*Oh, that one definitely sounded pissed off.*
I used every ounce of my supernatural hearing to listen for anything suspicious – the sound of footsteps, the sound of wolf paws, even a voice. But there was nothing but the sound of angry thunder. All I could hear were typical forest
sounds, nothing that sounded like a man (or a potential deity) trying to hunt me down.
*Maybe he gave up.*
*Maybe he thought about it, realized that he didn’t want some regular she-wolf for his mate, and just went on his way.*
*Maybe he went back to sleep. I don’t know how magical comas work.*
After a few minutes of nothing but silence, I began to relax, my shoulders slumping as I took a few deep breaths.
*The thunder and lightning were probably just a weird coincidence.*
As soon as I thought it, a flash of lightning struck just inches away from me and I gasped, stumbling back as far as I
could.
Right into someone’s chest.
A very bare, shirtless chest.