A lone woman walked around the forest, delirious, as the dark red of the room spilled down on her, bathing her in an illusion of blood.
Her feet were caked with mud, her dress dragging the much around on the forest floor.
But she didn't pay attention.
Harper's eyes were glazed as she walked in the forest, unaware of the predators in the shadows, watching and stalking her every move.
She tripped over roots, blood trailing behind from the branch that now poked out of her right feet. She couldn't feel pain.
Grrr!
A loud growl reverberated through the forest, and suddenly a lone white wolf was standing right in her path. She didn't seem to notice as she still walked towards it.
The wolf lunged, maw wide open.
Branches snapped as with a bark another wolf, a brown one, tackled and engaged the white wolf in a combat, letting the to-be victim to walk away, unaware and unscathed.
Harper continued walking, her mind muddled.
Aargh!
A pain on the side of the neck brought her senses back, and she woke up with a loud gasp and a throb in her neck. Her eyes landed on the black wolf perched atop her, biting her neck.
Her eyes widened, as screaming, she tried pushing the wolf off her. She couldn't budge him.
The wolf let go of the struggling human in its own time, his lips dripping with blood.
Harper looked at him, scared, tried to get away when the wolf swooped down again. She couldn't fight a large animal like him!
She closed her eyes, surrendering to her fate. If she was to die soon, the last thing she wanted to do was remember all her happy memories.
Her mom cooking food, her brother and sister playing in the sand as their father left for work...
Yes, these moments were few in between, and only when she didn't dare dream of rising above her current life, but they had been there. She knew, in her own way, her family had indeed loved her.
It didn;t matter that she had hoped to get the freedom, the life she had longed for in this world, and yes, she was openly admitting it. What mattered was, that she couldn't. She would be dead soon.
She prepared for death, for the pain, only to feel...wetness?!
What?
The bacl wolf, instead of tearing open her throat was...licking her wound?
She watched, perplexed as the wolf moved from top of her when he sensed she had stopped struggling, and was now laying beside her, his head on his paws as he watched her.
She slowly sat up, keeping her eyes on the wolf. By some miracle, she was alive.
This was her chance.
She started to back away when suddenly, the black wolf growled.
Okay, okay.
She settled again, scared.
The wolf did too.
She had no way out, she had to wait. And so she did.
The light in the trees changed from red to gradually portray the rising sun. Harper still kept her eyes on the sleeping wolf, as she had all night.
She figured she would be safer her than anywhere else. How had she forgotten about the hunt, she had no idea. But somehow, she stupidly had. And now she was stuck here, in the middle of the forest with a wolf, while others were somewhere nearby.
She had an inkling as to who this wolf was, and she was prepared to lay one on him when he woke up.
Prince or not.
How dare hi bite her! Her fingers roanmed over the swollen mark on her neck, which had stopped hurting and bleeding after he had fininshed licking the blood away.
She did not want to think what it was, she was too angry.
All she wanted was to get out of here.
If her near dead experience had taught her one thing, it was that she could not afford to waste this new chance that life had afforded her.
She would get away, she would be free.
Harper sat there, thinking of her life ahead.
She would get a job, a small one. She had no skills, but with Maerva teaching her...maybe a job in medicine? It would take some time, but now she had plenty of it.
She would buy a small house, maybe in the village, and live alone in a life of peace.
Her mark suddenly throbbed painfully.
"AAh!" She cried out. It stopped as soon as it had started, she rubbed the area, what was that about?
It was almost like a...warning.
Harper glanced at the wolf, who had turned into the man she had thought he would be. Kael.
No, she was overthinking it.
Just then the man stirred. He raised himself from the ground, naked and without embarrassment, as he stretched in front of Harper.
She averted her eyes from the scene. Seriously, the nerve.
"You're still here." He said, not a question, but a statement.
She gave him a stink eye, irked by the smirk she saw on his face, "Not like I had a choice."
He smiled wider, his teeth showing. Kael let out a chuckle as he turned away, humming.
"Follow me."
She felt an urge to do as he said.
'It's just because I am fed up of sitting here, not because of anything he has to say.'
She reasoned with herself, uneasy at the lingering doubt continued.
The two walked in silence, not uncomfortable, but with a slight tension that had not been there before. It charged Harper with something she had not felt before.
Her mind unknowingly went to the time she was in Prince Sorien's chamber, but she shook the thought away.
Focusing back on the present and the other troublesome Prince that came with it.
Honestly, if she did not need his help to get out, she would have already left him.
'Liar.' She quieted the voice.
Keeping her eyes on his face, she turned to face the man only to find him already watching her. She averted her gaze, a blush blooming on her cheekd.
'Better to concentrate on walking.'
His smirk was ever present as he walked, without stumbling. She was almost envious.
He suddenly stopped, just as they reached the edge of the forest. Harper could see the palace in the distance behind him. It would be a walk.
"What? Let's go."
He didn't say anything.
She sighed, annoyed. She took a step forward, it was not like she needed him anyway.
When a hand curled around her arm, dragging her back.
She stumbled into Kael's arms, stunned, as he watched her with his stormy grey eyes.
His other hand raised to her neck, caressing the mark...and then her chin. Finally he raised them to her lips, a finger hovering over them.
"Let me look at you for another moment, all to myself."
Her eyes widened, confused, tense.
He smiled, a real smile.
"Mate."