My Human Mate novel Chapter 4

"I'm Alana, nice to meet you." He stuck his hand out for me to shake, and I attempted to shake it back. His hands were covered with bulky gloves and it was awkward to grab hold of.

"Sorry "bout that. Safety precautions in case the boxes have something sharp sticking out." He smiled sheepishly at me. I laughed it off and together we packed the van. Obviously I packed the light stuff while he took all the heavier boxes.

Once we packed the van, I smiled and waved bye to Alex thanking him for his help. I waved to the guy at the gate and drove down to the beach for a quick break.

Driving though Apollo Bay was beautiful. The warehouse was located inland, so driving out, I took my time and looked around. There was a thick green forest for most of the drive and it instantly reminded me of the news story. It had been about 2 days since Bryson Coleman got attacked and curiosity sparked my interest.

They hadn't found anything, not even where Bryson claimed he got attacked. The spot where he claimed where he got bit was clean. No blood, wolf hairs or fur, no snapped branches or bushes or no struggle marks indicating signs of an attack. It proved that he must have imagined it from all the alcohol he had consumed that night.

Shrugging my shoulders, I tried to forget about what the news had said and peacefully drove to the beach with my music quietly playing in the background.

When I got to the beach I saw it was deserted. There was no sign on anybody or any wildlife for that fact, just me and nature. It was peaceful and I had it all to myself. The beach itself was just as beautiful as the forest, even though it was still there. Right where the sand ended, there was about 2 meters back of plush green grass that erupted into the healthy, tall trees making the forest. The way nature so effortlessly combined the two different landscapes together was breath taking. And the ocean was stunning. The blue water had perfect waves breaking 50 meters off shore in barrels perfect for surfing.

Damn, I cursed to myself. Shoulda" bought the surf board. I hopped out of the van, grabbed my cookies and walked along the stone path that lead me down to the beach. Glancing into the forest next to me I was blown away. Everything's so green, I thought to myself.

I stepped onto the sand, having of ditched my shoes in the van and smiled at the feeling. The sand was warm and felt relaxing with the tiny sand grains seeping between my toes. I turned out to face the crystal ocean and took a deep breath. The scent of the salt water filled my nostrils, as well as the plant smell from the forest not even three meters away from me. When I let out a sigh of joy, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the slight breeze and perfect weather.

I walked along with my head held high, enjoying the sun beating down on me. The denim shorts I was wearing were a tiny bit longer than usual, so I rolled the bottom of the material up slightly so my skin could get some sun. When I felt someone staring at me, I instantly tried to find who it was.

I spun around to find nobody was there. There was still no signs of any living thing apart from the nature so I kept walking. The presence never left me as I continued the peaceful walk down the beach. My feet dragged in the sand and my hair swayed from the slight breeze coming off the water.

Suddenly, a stick snapped in the forest and my heap whipped around to find what caused the noise. The story of the man being attacked reappeared in my mind. As I searched, I found nothing but a pair of red boy shorts lying on the forest edge just behind me. Odd, I thought.

My natural instincts told me to run but my body wasn't co-operating. I had just frozen on the spot as I watched with fear as the wolf that was the same height as me walked closer and closer, teasing me and toying with me from the slow pace. I listened to my mind begging me to get away but wasn't physically able to do so.

"No," I whispered barely audible. My body was paralyzed. I couldn't move a limb, I couldn't even think straight. I couldn't believe what was happening. It's not possible, I thought. This isn't true. I can't die, not now. I'm only 23 for crying out loud. My heart felt like it was in my throat and I was finding it hard to breathe. No matter how much my mind screamed for me to run, my feet just wouldn't comply.

As it got nearer and nearer, closer and closer, I found it that more difficult to breathe. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I needed to snap out of it. But I couldn't. Just looking at the overgrown wolf put me into a trance that I couldn't seem to snap out of. My brain was finding it hard to process everything that was going on in front of me. How can a wolf be the same height as me? Was the main thought in my mind.

Its eyes were a deep brown colour, and were perfectly in line with my eyes. I stared into them for about three seconds before averting my gaze to me feet and squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I hadn't even realized, but I had dug my nails into my palm and started drawing the slightest bit of blood, not lots, but enough to set the wolf off.

The growling rose even louder and I snapped my eyes open expecting to see it jumping at me and prepared for my life to end. But it didn't. Not yet. The wolf's ears were pushed backwards and it was staring at my hand with big eyes. Before anything else could happen, another sound was made in the forest.

As the wolf whipped its body around, coincidentally placing its body in front of me with low growls escaping its mouth. It stood as if it was prepared to fight something else, something that was a threat. A threat to a wolf the size of a lion, I didn't want to stick around and find out that that was. My body suddenly went into overdrive and I let out an ear piercing scream and took off running towards the van as fast as my legs would take me.