Haiden stepped out into a small grassy clearing, where a few equally naked men were sitting on chopped logs and blabbing around a stacked stone firepit. The tall green canopy of trees wavered peacefully above them, while the crackling flames cast an ambery glow on their wolfish features. All of them seemed to be very tall with well-defined and strong musculatures, with ferine eyes, short black claws, and elongated canines. And all of them seemed to have literally no problem whatsoever with their dicks shamelessly hanging out for the world to see.

Their gruff murmuring quieted down upon our arrival, and they all slowly glanced towards us with a mixture of both confused and wary looks in their golden and silver gazes. Panic flooded my veins at the sight of them. I was now lost in the middle of the forest with a bunch of naked werewolf men. I didn't know much about them, but I did know that they were man-eating predators. I had just recently witnessed their bloodlust, after all. 

"No, no, no, no, no!" I cried, immediately falling back into hysteria. "Please no!" I full-on screamed, while trying desperately to get away.

"Haiden?" One with long golden hair cascading down his strong sun-kissed back warily drawled while standing up and taking a few steps towards us. "What are you doing with that terrified human girl?" His equally golden eyes pierced mine with a look of both uncertainty and concern. 

Haiden sat down on a log with some long grass growing around it, once again keeping me firmly imprisoned on his lap. His boner poked at my thigh, as he nuzzled into my neck with a pained expression. "Please, dragostea mea, please just calm down. It pains me to see you so upset." His arms wove tightly around me.

"Haiden, what's going on?" Another with brunette hair tied up in a top bun and silver eyes asked. His goofy chevron mustache moved in a slightly humorous way as he spoke.

Haiden shook his head with pleading eyes as if silently asking the others for help. "She is my mate." He replied.

My mouth fell open with a flabbergasted look on my face. I'm his mate!? His motherfucking mate!?

"Haiden, you know that's impossible. You need to take her back to where you found her." The golden one said while worriedly shaking his head.

"No." Haiden growled, then began to softly speak. "I thought so too. But she is definitely my mate, and I'm not bringing her back." He gently caressed up and down my arm. 

"Oh, no, no, no!" I exclaimed. "I've read way too many werewolf stories to know where this is going!" 

"We're not werewolves, we're lycans." A random one hollered.  

"Well, regardless of what you are, I'm nobody's mate! I am an independent woman, and I fully intend to stay- Wait a minute... " A sly idea suddenly bounced into my head. "What's your last name?" I curiously asked Haiden. 

He tenderly smiled, clearly pleased that I wasn't crying anymore. "Lupei. My name is Haiden Lupei."

"Of course it is..." I sarcastically mumbled with an eyeroll. "Well then, Haiden Lupei, I, Isabelle Rosetti, reject you as my mate." A glimmer of immense hurt flashed in his reddish eyes, causing me to inwardly cheer in victory. "There, that's that. Now let me go home." I tried to jump off of his lap, but his grip only tightened while his jaw angrily clenched.

Abrupt laughter and amused howls suddenly broke out all around the fire. "Reject your mate!? That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard!" The one with the mustache said through his cackling while wiping a tear from his eye. "You can't just reject your mate! That's like trying to reject the moon goddess's divine decision. It's a sacred and unbreakable bond, not something that you can conveniently throw in the trash and forget about if you don't want it. Oh no, if you two are truly mates, then you're stuck with each other for life, and all of your next lives too." He joyously elaborated. 

"Oh..." Was all I said.

My face turned ghost white and I lost all feeling in my limbs... I can't reject him? Are you kidding me? I sucked in a few deep breaths to try to calm my nerves and figure out another way out of this mess. Okay, if I'm his mate then at least I know he won't hurt me... But then again, maybe not? I've also read stories about abusive mates...

I nervously peeked up, terrified of how angry he might be now that I just tried to reject him. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he appeared to be trying to calm himself down with deep breaths but was failing miserably... Yikes. 

A huge rough and rugged looking lycan suddenly stepped out from beyond the line of trees and began to predatorily stalk towards us. His medium-length black hair was pulled back into a disheveled braid, while a long scar marred his right cheek, stretching down over the corner of his mouth. His cold silvery eyes glared daggers at me with his cruel countenance pulled into a taught scowl. He looked like a complete macho man, tough as fuck, and like he loved plowing his way through oodles of women.

"Oh my god... The alpha..." I quietly whispered under my breath.

They all managed to hear me perfectly clear, and more abrupt laughter and amused howls suddenly resounded all around. "The alpha!?" The one with the mustache once again exclaimed, while slapping his knee and hooting and hollering. "Oh dear, that is a myth if I've ever heard one! Having a pack alpha is only something that happens to unfortunate wolves who are locked up in zoos! In fact, Rudolph Schenkel, the man who first came up with the alpha wolf theory, later debunked the whole concept! And beside the fact, having a hierarchy based on who has the biggest dick is a terrible political system anyways!" More laughter boomed all around, while I stared at the mustached lycan in confusion. "No, we are wild lycans! And..." He held up an excited finger, as if he was loving telling me all of this. "...our pack is run by a democratic council!" 

"He's only excited to tell you about it because he was recently voted on as the council spokesperson." A silver eyed blond who was whittling a block of wood said while pointing his whittling knife at the mustached man. Little woodchips were piled up around his feet, and it looked like he was carving a duck or something.

A democratic lycan council? You've gotta be fucking kidding me!?

"What is going on here!?" The rough and rugged lycan's voice suddenly thundered, while threateningly shifting his gaze around the circle of men with a sinister glare. Then to my surprise, he sat down next to a golden eyed, sandy-haired man, and they shared a passionate kiss with their cocks both springing to life. 

Well, I didn't see that coming...

"Haiden thinks that this human girl is his mate, despite the fact that we're always mated to another lycan." The golden one answered while gesturing towards us. "And he's refusing to take her back to where she belongs."

"I don't think, I know!" Haiden growled in agitation, clearly still angry about the whole rejection thing. "I recognize her scent! We're both in agonizing heat! I literally found her under a full moon, and my instinct to protect her was far greater than the bloodlust of the curse! I'm already madly in love with her! And not to mention that I very strongly feel the fucking bond between us! She is my mate, and she belongs with me!" He furiously spat, silencing the others. I nervously shifted my gaze around like a cornered rabbit... What in the hell... "For the past two weeks, I could feel that she was close by. Her being human explains why she never came to me when I was howling for her." He added in a more calm manner while holding up a palm. I just sat there and awkwardly listened, unsure if now would be a good time to pipe up about the L-word or not.

A bunch of soft murmurs followed, and a falcon screeched somewhere up in the light blue sky. "Well Haiden, it sounds like you finally found your mate!" The mustached one excitedly said, while clapping his hands once then rubbing them together.

"That's not all." Haiden solemnly added while the fading flames and tall grass danced upon the breeze. "Someone was foolishly flickering lights at the home she was inside of." He sucked in a deep breath. "It attracted Codrin to them, and he broke in. He killed an elderly woman and badly injured another girl. Then he tried to attack Isabelle, so I killed him first."

The trees eerily rustled and the birds softly chirped, as a stretch of suffocating silence passed between everyone. The sun was now beaming brightly in the morning sky, dulling the glow of the crackling fire. Sorrowful glances were exchanged, and tension filled the air.

"I didn't have any control over myself, you know how the curse is." Haiden remorsefully added. 

The golden one scratched the back of his head with a frown. "Honestly, as much as I hate to say it, it might have been for the better. He's no longer suffering, and now he's reunited with Silviana." The others all nodded and muttered in agreement.

"Besides, we can't hold someone accountable for what they do while under the influence of the curse, so it wasn't pack murder." Rough and rugged mentioned. I think he was trying to be sympathetic, but he still came across scary as fuck. 

"Well, this, and the human mate issue will still have to be discussed by the council regardless." Mustache's top bun bobbed as he spoke. "I'll call for a village meeting tonight." He looked directly at Haiden. "We're going to have to think of a way to protect your mate from ourselves..." Then he abruptly clapped. "But in the meantime, I believe we've all been rude and not introduced ourselves to our new pack member!" His hand gestured towards me. "My name's Costache. Costache with the mustache, that is!" A warm smile beamed on his face, as he accented the words to make them rhyme. 

"I'm Aurelian." The blond who was whittling said with a nod.

"Sorin." Goldilocks muttered with a soft smile. 

"I'm Razvan, and this is my mate Dragomir." Rough and rugged said while gesturing to the man cuddled up beside him. Dragomir kindly waved.

As a few more introduced themselves, my mind began racing, thinking about how impossible all of this was. I couldn't be a part of a lycan pack. Lycan's weren't even supposed to exist! This all seemed like a bad acid trip. A mere hallucination... And then a realization hit me...

"Drugs in the wine!" I abruptly blurted out like a maniac, remembering how I had chugged that entire glass of wine right before going to bed.

Haiden raised a curious brow. "Drugs in the wine?"

I began to cackle like a lunatic. "Oh my god! It all makes sense now! Bunica was putting drugs in the wine!" I swiftly turned around and started groping Haiden's face like a weirdo. He seemed to like it. "You're not real! Ha-Hahaha-HA HA! You're not real! Lycans aren't real! None of this is real!" My heart was filled with joy knowing that this was all some sort of fucked up hallucination and that I would be waking from this nightmare.

"You think you're on drugs?" He inquisitively questioned with a tilt of his head, while the others chuckled in the background. 

"It explains everything! There's just no logical way that I could have been abducted by a literal lycan, a goddamn mythological creature for god's sake, and then have watched it literally transform into the most handsome man I've ever seen in my entire life!" I exclaimed while gesturing towards Haiden. "That shit just doesn't happen in real life!"

"Wooo! She like's you, Haiden!" Someone hollered.  

A wide excited grin flashed across his face, and hope glimmered in his eyes. "I'm the most handsome man you've ever seen in your entire life?" 

"Yeah, I've got one hell of an imagination, don't I?" My finger seductively trailed over his impressive bicep. I was extremely confident that none of this buffoonery was real. How could it be? 

Thank goodness I'm just really fucked up right now! 

He happily nuzzled into the crook of my neck, causing me to softly squeak. "Well, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my entire life." 

I softly giggled at his touch. "Why didn't I realize this before!?" I happily exclaimed while throwing my hands up into the air.

A playful growl rumbled out of him. "Yes, why didn't you realize this before!?" He agreed while pulling me closer against him.

Costache stood up while chuckling and rubbing his hands together. "Well, I'm going to get heading back to the village now. Crina threatened to kick me to the dog house if I'm late again." He laughed. 

Then he casually walked a few feet away from the others. To my surprise, his bones started violently cracking, and he quickly transformed into a huge fluffy brown wolf. Not a horrifying wolf beast like the night before, but an actual wolf. His silver eyes glanced around, and he gave a nod, right before running off and disappearing into the forest.

Well, that was odd...

"I'm going to get going too. Ivone is likely waiting for me." Sorin said, then he shifted into a beautiful grey and gold wolf. 

The other's all murmured stuff along the same lines, right before shifting into wolves themselves and running off. Soon enough, it was just Haiden and I sitting alone by the now smoldering coals of the fire. I looked into his reddish eyes and he looked into mine, then he meekly smiled.

"In all honesty though, you're not on drugs."

...I should have gone to Sicily.