Chapter 3: Mate

DAHLIA:

This was it. I was going to die in this manner. I closed my eyes and raised the dagger as high as I could.

I waited for the sharp pain that the fangs of the wild rogue would bring, but it didn’t come. I opened my eyes slowly.

That’s when I saw it – a great white wolf that was double my human size! He was clutching the rogue’s neck with his teeth, and his immaculate fur was drenched in blood.

The second rogue fell upon his side, but a swift swipe of his paw hurled him violently away somewhere.

Who was this wolf? Why was he attacking these rogues?

I tried to look closely at him, but I don’t recognize him at all. Was he part of Kaist’s guards? If so, Kaist himself must be around here somewhere…

At that exact instant, my nostril was filled with an extraordinary smell. It was the scent of lemons and the wet woodlands.

I immediately recognized it as the scent of the great, white wolf. But why was I tantalized by his smell?

This has never happened to me before… I had never been interested in the smell of any other male wolves before, not even Kaist’s smell, which was a pleasant mixture of rainwater and ripe apples.

The rogue in his snout quickly fell lifeless into the ground, and I shuddered at the sight. This wolf had really meant to kill these rogues! Who could he possibly be?

The other rogue, upon seeing his comrade dead, tried to flee, but the white wolf did not let him. He hopped into the air and landed right in front of the fleeing wolf, towering over him like a lion over his puny prey.

With just one swipe of his paw, the white wolf dug his claws into the rogue’s heart. I heard the rogue wolf panting, whimpering in fright before he lost his consciousness forever.

The blood in my veins stirred. Once again, the white wolf had killed someone… Truly, he must not be part of Kaist’s army if he could kill so mercilessly like that!

Now that none of the rogues were breathing, he only had one prey left to kill – me.

My whole body trembled violently as he began to approach me. I couldn’t even raise my dagger properly against him, but I heard myself utter some words, probably out of the sheer determination to live.

“Identify yourself! Who are you? Are you a knight of the prince?”

There was no answer. I could only look at the dark violet irises of this wolf. Their mysterious and malevolent glint brought me no comfort.

“Speak,” I said, raising my arms a bit higher. “Who are you? Who sent you here?”

My voice croaked. I don’t sound convincing nor even a bit authoritative at all. I clung at the dagger with both hands now in an attempt to steady myself.

“Don’t come any closer,” I said almost as a whisper. “Don’t come, do you hear me?”

The massive wolf did not listen. He continued to walk towards me.

My heart started to beat even faster that I could almost hear the blood gush into it. I tried to look backwards. I knew that I was one inch away from the ravine… One more move and I will fall down to my death.

The wolf was just several feet away from me now. He seemed hell bent in devouring me!

I locked eyes with him, for that was the only thing left to do. There was nowhere for me to run nor to escape…

The dark violet eyes that stared back at me were monstrous and cruel. I could feel a tremendous amount of hate burning from them, boring a hole into my skull. If the white wolf’s eyes were daggers, I swore I had been dead from those gaze!

There was no need for that though. In a few moments, I would really die either through his bite or by jumping down the cliff.

I gasped when I took a quick peek down the ravine. It was too deep. A mist has already covered what lies beneath it. Perhaps I would already die in fright even before my body could even hit the ground. 

When I looked back at the wolf before me, something crazy had happened. The horrendous eyes that looked at me so cruelly before had changed. Why was it looking curiously at me like that? Why has it gone soft and almost sparkly?

I shook my head. I must be seeing things out of fear. However, when I looked back at the white wolf towering over me, I realized that the look in his eyes really did change.

Gone was that trace of evil and malevolence from before. He was looking back at me with round, puppy-like eyes…

I gasped. That wolf was an absolute brute just minutes ago, so why did he turned docile?

He was still coming closer to where I was. My hands shook as I clasped the helm of my dagger, but I lowered it a bit.

Now, he was just an arm’s length away from my face. The scent of citrus and woods enveloped my body. It was so strong that it was threatening to engulf me.

What I did next was beyond my own belief… I let go of the dagger, and instead, I reached out to the soft and immaculate fur before me and stroke it.

The white wolf whimpered as I touched it.

Why did I do that? It seemed as if I was also turning positively crazy!

The wolf came even closer towards me, his massive neck almost inside my whole arms already. He stretched his head towards me, still not breaking away from my gaze. Then, as if it was the most natural thing to do, he opened his snout and licked me on the cheeks.

That was when I heard the sound of an excited wolf yell inside my head.

“Mate!”

Shocked beyond belief, I lost my footing against the edge of the cliff, and I fell helplessly down into the ravine.

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TRISTAN:

I heard the sharp scampering of feet across the forest ground, and I knew someone was being chased. I sniffed the air. It was the familiar, alluring scent of that woman.

Following her smell, I ran deeper into the night towards the ravine.

I had heard that the noble lady from the Hurst family had a weakness; apparently, she couldn’t shift at will. I was going to ignore their party when I saw them getting attacked. It was really none of my business. I was just there to verify Gideon’s report.

When I saw the carriage turn upside down and the lady running away from the rogues in her human form, however, I knew I couldn’t stand idly by. I channeled Albus’ form and ran towards her.

If I were in my human form, I would have already scratched my head in astonishment. It seemed like this noble lady didn’t know the signs of danger. She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was running into far more dangerous terrain as she trudged wildly into the woods.

Instead of the valley, she was going straight into the ravine.

I wanted to warn her, but bit my tongue to stop myself from growling. She didn’t know me, so she would be naturally frightened, and growling would give away my presence to her enemies. If I were to help her, I should do it well and not get caught prematurely.

At last, she had reached the edge of a steep ravine. The uncouth rogues taunted her, but she has got spirit. She climbed to the top and held a dagger towards them, unwilling to surrender herself despite the looming danger against her life.

I couldn’t stand it any longer. I attacked the first rogue who dared to touch her!

I sank my teeth into his putrid body, and I snarled as the other one tried to attack my side. I easily swung it away with my paw. He was a puny wolf compared to those I had faced.

It only took me just a few seconds to wipe away those two punks. After I had finished, I turned my attention towards the lady in the ravine.

As soon as I turned my eyes on her, a lovely smell filled my senses. It was the smell of milk and cherries.

I didn’t even know such a lovely combination of smells existed. It was also the first time in my life that a smell had completely overwhelmed me that even my heart started to mellow down.

Gideon was right. Lady Dahlia Hurst was a breathtaking beauty. He had warned me beforehand of her charm, and I had been observing her safely from afar these past few weeks, but no one prepared me for the magnitude of her loveliness from up close.

It was like looking at a picturesque view that night. She was standing there with the moon in the background, her brown curls blowing astray in the wind. Her eyes looked as if she was deathly frightened of me, but they were too mesmerizing for me to look away from.

She held a dagger in her trembling hands. She mumbled several words, but I was too focused on her lovely face that I failed to comprehend what she was saying.

She looked so frail. I only wanted to caress her and assure her that it will be alright... I felt like if the whole world was making her cry, I would burn it alive and everything else in it. She looked like a delicate, delicate thing…

I was not a person that was good at words though.  All I could do at that time was to look at her in awe and walk towards her.

I wanted to hold her hand and rest my head on her shoulders.

That was a very surprising notion. What was happening to me? Why am I having these damned thoughts? It felt like I was helplessly losing my mind!

Perhaps, she was thinking the same thing too. She had stopped trembling and started to look at me in amazement, her eyes twinkling in wonder.

What was this fuzzy feeling inside my chest? Why was I so drawn into her like this?

The dagger she previously held against me had slipped into the ground. I continued to walk towards her now open hands.

Why was she opening her arms towards me? Did she really want to embrace me like this?

It doesn’t matter what her intentions were. I wanted to embrace her. I walked into her arms and felt her skin against my fur.

When I saw her for the first time afar, my wolves had already jumped in glee. They went wild when they realized who she was.

Now, as I stand here closer to her, my wolf was screaming yet again on the recognition of what this she-wolf meant to me.

“Mate,” Albus whimpered excitedly in our head. “My mate!”

That was the last sane thought I had, for in the blink of an eye, she slipped, falling downward into that blasted cliff.

I didn’t think twice. I jumped with her, hovering just above her falling body. I reached out my paws against her arms and held tightly onto her as we descended down into the unknown.