Chapter 6: unidentified pull

"Sapphire, my darling, there's something I want to tell you," the woman spoke softly, running her nails into her daughter's hair. The girl hummed, though she was drowsy and her mind fogged with sleep. "You shifted quite early, dear, but your wolf will never be able to identify your mate until you turn eighteen. If you find your mate before then, you will still feel the pull, you will still see him as the most attractive specimen in creation, that is if he is older and his wolf recognises you first. Please, dear, when you do feel like that, run away as far as you can."

"Why, Mummy?"

"Because if you don't identify the sign before you turn eighteen, he would have already imprinted himself in your heart, making it impossible for you to ever escape him and thereby triggering the curse. So please, never forget this valuable information, okay?"

"Yes, Mother." The child murmured, every bit of her mother's warning going away with her thoughts as she fell into a blissful evening sleep.

_____

Zinnia yipped as she ran, digging her paws into the ground and feeling every coolness of dirt, leaves, and insects. She listened to every sound her ears could pick out, and inhaled every scent, whether good or bad. It had been nine months since I last shifted for her to stretch her legs. Then, she only stayed out for thirty minutes because I was scared that someone would find us. However, with Scarlette keeping an eye out for us, she had been running and playing for almost two hours.

My wolf deserves happiness, a lot of happiness. It was a shame neither of us would get it, but the little I could give, I tried my best. It was not my fault we were like that, it was not our fault that if anyone found out the kind of wolf I possessed, we'd be dead. We both deserved far better than a life of suffering, even if not luxurious, just better than slavery. But as life would have it, we couldn't change our predicament but hold on long enough. Then, when we are found out, we fight until we die.

‘Stop thinking about death and have some fun!’ She chirped, followed by a happy whoop. Scarlette jumped from tree to tree because her senses are more active in the air. She rode Zinnia at the beginning but decided to climb the trees instead. Zinnia was able to hunt down a family of rabbits and boar. We couldn't hunt the last time, so she was more than happy.

After drinking by the lake, we ran back to the pond. It was time to shift back. Zinnia was more than satisfied. It was the longest she had been out for three years. We switched bodies when we got to the pond. Zinnia rolled in my head, panting with delight with paws stretched forward. I smiled as I picked up my discarded clothes and wore them back on.

"Cannonball!" I cringed as the water splashed on me, mentally groaning from how cold and prickly it was on my skin. I threw her a scolding glare, one she flipped off with a laugh. Scarlette swam over to the edge, smiling so brightly, I found myself smiling back. "Sapphire, join me, the water is so good. It feels so nice, join me!" I shook my head negatively, proceeding to slip on my panties. I need new underwear. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun! Just you, me, the water…" she paused and looked at the quacking ducks, "and ducks." I giggled.

She twirled into the water, disappearing under it. I combed my hair with my fingers, tapping my foot as I hummed. Scarlette sang a song earlier, one that was stuck in my head even if I didn't know the lyrics. It was rare for me, but I was happy, slightly happy.

Scarlette broke out of the surface, gasping for air, with a delightful laugh and a whoop. "Come join me, my fellow S-mate!" I shook my head, gathering my hair into my palms to braid it again. "Stop being such a chicken, Sapphire, and get into the water. It's not that bad. After that run, you need a dip to cool off your panicking. It's over now, isn't it?" I dropped one hand and gestured for her to get out of the water.

Scarlette loved water, her temperament, as she would call it. Whenever she was inside any water, she never paid attention to anything but the water, which was a disadvantage for me. As long as she was in the water, she was endangering herself.

"Sapphire, the water is so… did you hear that?" I took some steps forward, ignoring her eyes because my focus was to get her out of the water. "Crap! Someone's coming!" Her ears twitched. "No, more than someone! Sorry, Sapphire, gotta go!" See what I mean? If she wasn't in the water, she would have heard them on time, and if I wasn't worried about her, the same thing goes for me.

"No, no, no!" I can swear I heard it. Scarlette swam to the edge of the water and climbed out, but she didn't go far because an ash-blonde wolf leapt over my head, flying across the pond.

"What the…! Aaaah!" The sudden appearance made Scarlette fall with a sloppy thud. The wolf didn't waste time, he let himself fall on top of her, pressing her down with his weight. From fear, I ran towards a tree to hide, but couldn't bring myself to run when my only friend was in trouble. "Get the fuck off me, you heavy meat!" I contemplated as I watched them with my eyes wide with horror, wondering if I should shift and help her, or wait until she saved herself. After all, she was a hunter. But with how she was struggling to get him off, I didn't know what to think.

If she was as powerful as her story described, then she would be able to get him off her with ease. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes to process the situation. I reopened my eyes and looked at them, the wolf licking her face while she cried from how disgusting it was. To get him off, Scarlette would have to hurt him, and she didn't want to. Why didn't she want to? If my memory serves me right, the wolf had a medium ash blond coat, no wolf in the pack had that colour. Another pack came to ours, for mate hunting…

My eyes widened as I finally processed the situation. The wolf was from another pack and Scarlette was his mate. It was a good and a bad thing. One, now that she had been caught, the wolf would protect her from harm as his mate. Scarlette would have a new family and more opportunities to visit me without sneaking in. Bad because she might not take the mating to a werewolf very well, and I would be punished for harbouring an intruder. But what's the worst that can happen?

"Urgh! Someone, get this thing off me!" Scarlette cried, reminding me of our present predicament. I took a step forward by instinct, but someone beat me to it. A man grabbed the wolf by its snout and yanked him away from Scarlette. He had the sleeve of his cool black shirt rolled over his thick forearms, his rosewood skin smooth and soft looking. Dark golden brown hair covered his head, somehow highlighting the cross-stars tattoo he had on his neck. I could tell it wasn't a marking, just a regular tattoo. Somehow, I found his appearance rather appealing. Well, I'm not blind to good-looking men.

"Calm down, Cole, you're scaring the panties off her. Can't you see she's human?" That made the wolf stop, tilting his head to observe Scarlette's shaken form. Wow, she's good. Her acting skill is way better than mine.

"Human? How did a lowlife human get into my land!" Uh oh. I shrunk back into the tree or tried to enter the tree, but failed. Alpha Swindells's neck snapped towards me, finding my hiding spot with ease. "You." I gulped, frantically looking around for an escape. I was sure they already figured out that the intruder Luna kept complaining about before it reduced was her. It wasn't that hard to tell. "You let a human into my pack occasionally! Who gave you the right?!" Maybe I should have been more worried about me.

"Will you stop barking and face me, I'm standing right here," Scarlette spoke, standing up but her eyes on her wet self. She had wolf slobber all over her. Her words dragged his attention to her.

"Stay out of this, human." The tattoo guy and the wolf instantly growled at him, the wolf taking a protective stance in front of her. Scarlette looked at the wolf with amusement, clearly not realising the reason he was being protective. Well, she can take care of herself.

My eyes wandered about for a means to quietly escape, but instead, they made contact with a pair of midnight blue eyes. My mind momentarily went blank. All I saw was him. The first thing I noticed about him was my favourite hair colour, caramel blond. I'd always wished I had that hair colour, been in love with it since I learnt how to brush my mother's hair. His hair was caramel blond with a few strands of dirty blond. Next, his midnight blue eyes. It was like staring into a mystical night sky. I loved the way his orbs seemed to be spinning and not spinning at the same time. He also had warm ivory skin, like the first boy I crushed on from a film.

My eyes shamelessly wandered to his lips, taking in the rather small but perfect, plump pink flesh. Within ten seconds, I already saw myself making out with him, having those soft-looking things in my mouth. I realised what I was doing, regrettably shaking the thoughts off. It was the third time I was visibly shaken by a man's good looks, to the extent of kissing him in my head. I only did that with cartoons.

That's odd.

‘What if…’ I trailed off, letting my wolf pick up on the hint. She pushed forward a little, but withdrew quickly, shaking her head negatively.

‘I don't think so, I can't perceive any fascinating scent, just his strong pink pepper, praline, and buttercream. But the tattoo guy and the wolf both smell like praline and buttercream too, which means the praline and buttercream is their general pack scent and the pink pepper is his personal scent. If he is who you think he is, I'd perceive the pink pepper with something else, not praline and buttercream.’

‘Then why—’

‘Simple, he's hot,’ she interjected, ‘and you're a living being. I mean, look at those muscles, see that body, girlfriend, it's worth dying for. Wow, is it me or am I in love?’ I giggled mentally at her response and the way her tail was wagging happily. ‘Girl, I like, I really, really, like.’ I reopened my eyes since I closed them. It was a way to hide the fact that I'm speaking to my wolf, just in case. I was surprised he was still staring.

Why was he staring? From intuition, I knew he hadn't stopped looking at me since he entered, which I was expecting to spike me. After all, all the boys always gave me the same look. However, the way he looked at me was different. He wasn't looking at me like something he must devour, or like a piece of clothing he must acquire, or with disgust and hate. Instead, he stared at me the way I stared at the kitchen after cleaning it. He was observing, trying to figure me out, instead of staring at my body or hating my face. His face contoured as he continued to stare, emotions I could detect as disbelief, jubilation, and confusion in his eyes.

From experience, the only people who gave me a look of observation were the four alphas that visited some time back. While their gaze scared me, I was surprisingly not bothered by this one, already coming to the conclusion that this was the alpha of the visiting pack. It was as if my brain was telling me that I shouldn't fear him, that even if he was a stranger and could be dangerous, I was perfectly safe with him.

My heart tightened when he tore his gaze away from me, almost like being rejected. But what do I know? I've never been rejected before. I blinked out of my daze to pay attention to my surroundings, and what I noticed shocked the life out of me. No wonder none of the oppressors had attacked me yet, they were in as much shock as I was thrown into.

What's the shock about?

Scarlette had Alpha-Junior-Ass pinned to the ground, her foot pressing his skull into the earth by his neck and a long colourless blade sword a few inches from his face. The sword had a beautiful hilt, a water dragon of icy blue and white colours. The alpha and Beta were on guard, but they couldn't move out of fear that she would lower the deadly-looking weapon.

How did he get her to snap?

What was I saying? If I wasn't used to his nonsense, I would have snapped a long time ago. Luna was somehow in tears, while his sisters shook with fear. How long have I been staring at that man?