Chapter 14 - Restless PenelopeI heard a distant buzzing sound, pulling me from my restless sleep. I rubbed my eyes as the vibrating got louder, feeling my way across the obscenely huge bed. My fingers brushed across the nightstand until I found my phone. Squinting against the bright light, I looked at Hilary's picture smiling back at me. I cursed as I scrambled to get up from bed. After my and Garren's argument, if you could call it that, I had completely forgotten to call her to let her know I wouldn't be there this morning. I looked at the time; it was five am when we usually called one another while we got ready. I wasn't sure how the time difference worked for the dragon realm, but in Ontario, it would mean it was eight am. I swiped the green button bringing my phone to my ear, clearing my throat."Hello.""Wow, so you do know how to work your phone. Here I was, thinking that maybe you hit your head, got amnesia, and forgot how your phone worked. Because surely you wouldn't j
Chapter 15 - Respect Penelope I tried my best to bury the unease that was working its way through my chest. A lot of these people were bigger than me, but I was used to being the smallest in a group. For a she-wolf, I was tiny, but what I lacked in height, I made up for in speed and precision. I trained with my brother and the warriors of the Bloodstone pack. I may not have had the experience that most Fae and Dragon warriors got, but I still had some under my belt before I had left for the academy, and then I got more hand-to-hand combat there too. Yes, humans were weaker than other species, but that didn't mean I slacked. I worked hard; I could do this; I had to do this. I knew what Mildred was doing. She was trying to psych me out, and I couldn't let her get the upper hand. I came here to prove Garren wrong, and it started the second we walked through that portal. So I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat and nodded. "Right," I said before making my way towards H
Chapter 16 - Irritation Garren"No, I'm not." Penelope ground out. She swung her legs off the side of the bed, taking a deep breath to steady herself, letting me know that she wasn't as healed as she wanted to lead me to believe. Once the world stopped spinning for her, she slowly turned her head, so she was looking at me once again."You can't tell me what to do, Garren. I'm fine. It comes with the territory. I'll heal." Penelope practically growled. Her eyes were ringed with blue and purple: and her lower lip and eyebrow were split. Yet she still managed to glare at me, her emerald green eyes swirling with the promise of a fight if I continued to push it. Her inability to understand why I told her this was a terrible idea was infuriating. As soon as Mildred informed me of Penelope's situation, I left my throne room, leaving Gregory to handle the organization of my next hearing. The people could wait for another few hours while I sorted this out. Though from Mildred's description,
Chapter 17 - Games Penelope My body hurt, muscles I didn't even know existed ached, and I knew they would return with a vengeance come morning. My wolf healing could only work so fast while I worked myself to the brink of exhaustion. My fingertips were raw from shooting arrow after arrow at the targets before me. The skin was angry and red; every time I released an arrow, the wounds would reopen, making me hiss from the stinging pain. Shooting a gun and hitting the center of a target every time was a walk in a park compared to this. Everything that came with being good at archery came from years of practice, and I definitely didn't have that training. Not yet, anyway. "Focus, Penelope. Calm your breathing and keep your eye on the target. Hold your arm steady." I adjusted my grip and tightened my fingers around the wooden bow. I drew back the arrow with my right hand lining it up with my ear as I peered down the bow at the target that was in front of me. If the target were alive,
Chapter 18 - Temptation Garren I didn't want to have this dinner, not because I didn't want to be near Penelope or because I didn't want her to meet my parents. It was the exact opposite, actually; I did want those things, and therein lies the problem. After only two days, I found myself thinking more about her and everything I wanted to do with her. After I had gotten word of what had happened to her, I all but lost my mind. It was dangerous for both of us to resist our bond. And the longer she was here, the harder it would soon become for me to give her the option to leave anymore. But instead of forcing us to stay separate, I sat quietly and listened to my parents ask Penelope all sorts of questions, questions I wished I could have asked her. It was while sitting here that I realized I had to tackle this from a different angle. Trying to force her to leave only made her want to do the exact opposite, and for her safety, I needed her to go of her own free will before someone cha
Chapter 19 - Warrior Penelope "This is stupid," I muttered as I pulled a black t-shirt over my head. "So, so, so stupid," I repeated as I slid on a pair of leather pants and boots. Garren hadn't given me much to go on for attire, but I figured a t-shirt, pants, and boots was a safe bet as any. "It's not, Poppy. Our mate invited us out with him. It's the first step towards something." Kyra reassured me, but I could still hear the faint twinge of uncertainty in her voice.Hope was a dangerous thing; it destroyed worlds and created monsters when it was lost. It was why I made a silent vow to myself last night that I wouldn't hope for anything more than just a day out with Garren. I blew out a heavy breath, playing with my hair as I tried to recreate the braids Mildred had done for me yesterday. It turns out it is a lot harder to do something like that without any previous braiding skills. I gave up and pulled my hair up into a high ponytail.Better than nothing. A soft knock sounde
Chapter 20 - Ramiro Penelope It was surreal how amazing yet utterly terrifying it was being so high up above the world. I felt invincible up here, and as Ophir glided through the sky effortlessly, I found myself getting lost in the world around us.The further we went, the fewer dragons we encountered until we were the only ones flying in the vast open sky. The sun shining brightly above us made Ophir's black scales glisten. He was a truly magnificent beast, probably the most breathtaking creature I had ever seen. But he was also the most terrifying creature I had ever had the pleasure of encountering. Still, despite his frightful appearance, I wasn't afraid of him. Instead, I felt a swift connection with him, one that made me feel highly protective of the giant beast that belonged to my mate. Ophir let out a low hum that reminded me of a cat's purr. The comparison had a smile spreading across my face. My stomach let out a rumble, a reminder that I had skipped breakfast this morni
Chapter 21 - Unexpected Garren By the time I had shown Penelope the rest of the village and got her settled into her room, the sun had started to set, and I knew that tomorrow would feel even shorter than it did today and that after tomorrow it would already be time for us to return to the castle and all the threats and problems that were waiting for us there. But even with the distraction of the people here and the problems back in Caspian, I still couldn't drown out the words Penelope had said to me when we first got here, right after I had basically told her I didn't want to go. The close contact with her seemed to make my mouth work faster than my mind and I knew that if I wasn't careful I would only make all of this harder on the both of us.The hurt that crossed her emerald eyes still made my chest feel tight and my skin itch with anger. Not anger towards her but towards the cruel hand that fate has dealt us. It was why I had found myself behind the bakery, cutting wood as th