It was a cooler day in March and the wind only slightly rustled through the trees. The white she-wolf’s snowy white fur moved as the breeze teased it while she sat on the rock. Her eyes closed as she sniffed the air for hints of anything exciting. It was a perfect day for hunting and she’d hoped to find a rabbit or two that should be out grazing on a beautiful morning like this. Instead, she caught the scent of something that didn’t frequent the forest, but wasn’t totally foreign, either. It was the scent of a man. The she-wolf’s ears perked at the recognition of the scent and her icy blue eyes shot open. Down below the rock on which she sat came the hoofbeats of a large charger on which sat a very handsome man with dark hair and a clean-shaven face. He was dressed in brown trousers with knee-high black boots and a white tunic with a tan vest buttoned down to a glistening belt. But it wasn’t the attire that gave him away,
A warmth in front of her and laughter somewhere near woke her from a sound sleep. If she’d had been dreaming, she couldn’t remember. As her eyes blinked open a bright light infiltrated her sore pupils, so she pushed herself to try and stand to move away from the burning sensation. As she did, pain seared through her shoulder bringing back into memory the fight with the bear to save the life of a stupid human. But then… the man, he’d taken her, hadn’t he? So, why was she alive? She lowered herself back onto something soft. And where was she? She shook her large furry head and blinked, trying to clear her vision. When that failed, she pawed at her face and eyes and shook again. Finally, her vision cleared, and she saw that the warmth in front of her was a fire made in a brick fireplace. The soft ground she was laying on was a sheepskin rug. She pushed off the floor, this time succeed
Her eyes flickered open, and the morning light shown through her eyelids blinding her for a moment. Squinting and blinking, she gave her blue eyes a chance to adjust to the invading light before pushing off the ground and stretching her body out for a long and satisfying relief of tension to get her blood moving. She looked around at the stone and tapestry covered walls. The same walls she’d seen every day since being brought to this dreadful castle. How did they do it? How did they live day after day in this boring place with their boring routines? She walked to the balcony grateful Philip had left it open for her. She missed the breeze whistling through the trees of the forest. She missed the hunt, though she couldn’t entirely complain about having a full stomach every day. She even missed hiding from the other packs and the sense of adventure and slight danger.A rattle sounded behind her, so she spun her he
CHAPTER 4:A rustling somewhere nearby jarred the white wolf from her sleep. She yawned with a wide-open mouth and let out a little whine at the same time. Rich laughter caught her attention and pulled her from her lingering yawn and she blinked to focus her eyes. It was Morgan, standing shirtless in front of his armoire tying his trousers. She let her eyes drift over his beltline at the toned chiseling that teased her. His laughter stopped, pulling her eyes up to his face.“I’d better get you some food. That intense stare tells me you must be hungry.” If he only knew what she was hungry for, just now. She let her icy blue eyes drift down, again, enjoying the chisled curves that led to somewhere she'd only explore in her dreams.As he pulled his tunic over his head, a cluster of voices chorused in the hallway and traveled away from the door, pulling her from her imagination
She had spent the day wondering the castle and avoiding people. Occasionally she’d hear a gasp from a servant as she’d pass them in the hallways, but she was used to it now. One would think they’d be used to seeing her and know by now she wasn’t interested in eating anybody except the castle feline, though she did vow not to kill anymore of the king’s pets.It was getting colder, and the stone floors of the castle were starting to make her toes numb, so she headed to Philip’s chamber to rest for the night. She would have rather gone to Morgan’s room, but the air between them felt awkward to her now that she had damaged the relationship between him and his father. As she approached the chamber door, a familiar scent hit her nose, then she heard the giggling of the tramp that was supposedly Morgan’s betrothed. She scrunched her nose, wrinkling her snout in a canine grimace. Better see
Morgan froze after passing through the doorway and Aria watched from behind as his shoulders heaved up and down. Then, to her surprise, he calmly and quietly announced, “The engagement is off.” With a quick turn on his heel, he brushed past Aria out the door and started down the hall.I’ve angered him. Aria thought as she stared after the stony figure of Morgan as he marched down the hallway. Shouting from the bedroom followed after him, but Aria was too engrossed in thought to comprehend what words were being said. I’ve hurt my friend. I’ve failed him. I need to leave. I shouldn’t even be here. I belong in the forest.Morgan stopped his march and turned toward her. A quick surprised look crossed his face before a somber and thoughtful expression replaced it. His mouth opened and he started to say something, but his words were drowned out by the
Aria lay alone on a stone bench in the garden. Morgan had let her out of the castle, hoping it would help calm her nerves, but her mind swirled as she strained to grasp at memories that might explain what had happened in his room that morning. Only foggy remnants came to her. Flashes of a little girl running through some forgotten forest. An old woman with long silver hair. A village of little wooden houses. Was the little girl her? And how long ago did these flashes of memory take place? Were these memories even hers or were they things she’d seen as a wolf? Aria groaned in frustration and adjusted her position on the bench. Her thoughts now turned to the events in Morgan’s chamber. His body had responded to her advances… but why? He knew she’d been a wolf. Was it possible that he could yet love her even as she was? The idea was ridiculous. She had been naked and what man wouldn’t take
Aria spent the better part of the day wondering the catacombs of hallways above and below the castle. She’d found many fascinating rooms including dance halls, torture chambers, prison cells, the armory, and trap doors in the guest rooms. The only place she didn’t seem to find was the library. Back on the gallery upon exiting yet another maze of hallways, she sat thoroughly frustrated and heaved a sigh. Perhaps this castle didn’t believe in keeping records on its various rulers and their accomplishments. It would be nonsensical, but they could be entering a change in times where such things didn’t matter. Come to think of it, she hadn’t ever seen a scribe in the king’s study or recording any of his meetings. If this was the case, her plan had just flown out the window.She decided to wonder outside the castle. It was a cool day but not too chilly, so the front doors of the fortress were
Absalom took a while to recover from the return of his memories. Aria hated to admit it but she was worried about him. Since she’d met him she’d never seen him so weak. She’d had to help him up from the floor and walk him to one of the tables in the outer room to sit down in what remained of their sunlight. She then walked through the village remains and found a home near the archive building that was still mostly intact and would protect them from the weather and provide some protection from lurking danger as well. After explaining its location to Absalom, she helped his heavy body up from the table and allowed him to lean on her a bit while they walked to the house. His body was hot against her skin and she tried to not notice.“Absalom, did you have a family before the attack?” She hoped she wasn’t bringing up painful memories but she was curious. She feared she was starting to really care about him. He’d been a Duke and Dukes usually had families, didn’t they?“I had a si
“Are you going to help or not?”Absalom’s voice sounded distant and when Aria looked up he was across the room studying a wall. Reluctantly she pushed up from the ground and shuffled her feet to another wall, angry that she’d let him get to her like that; angry that she was now so downcast; angry that her stupid body longed to please him and still longed for his touch. None of it made sense. She set out on this journey to be with Morgan. To become a full human or get control of this shape shifting so she could marry him and displace that stupid whore on his arm. Her chest burned and she held back a sob. She wasn’t sad; she was angry. She couldn’t remember ever being so angry in her life. Her fist pounded the wall but no sound erupted from the solid fortress and for that she was thankful. The last thing she needed was more mocking from Absalom. She could feel his eyes burning into her back now, but refused to give him the satisfaction of her attention and backed away from the
The doors opened but that was all. No threat they could see awaited them on the other side, so they cautiously stepped through the archway of the open door leading downward. Cold walls surrounded them and darkness engulfed the hallway they walked down. Soon, blue light began to illuminate their path from ahead and they emerged into a large underground cavern. Above where the walls met the ceiling was a strip of gel glowing blue and illuminating the room. The same was along each of the eleven pillars down the center of the room and at the base of the walls near the floor. There were no books or scrolls covering the walls, but instead what lined the walls were slabs of stone. Over the walls, on pillars, and in rows looking like book cases. Etched into every piece of stone in this cavern were more of the symbols they had discovered in their attempt to get into this place. “I hope there are no more riddles to solve.” Aria looked over to see that Absalom had turned back into his h
“I don’t recognize this one but it is similar to the symbol for blood.” He put his hand to his chin and brushed his goatee. Aria walked around to stand beside him so she could see the symbol he was studying. Instead, her eyes fell on Absalom. His eyes became intense and his jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. Though his features were hard, she couldn’t help but think how handsome he was. It was a different kind of handsome than Morgan. Absalom embodied a type of regal-ness that demanded respect with his edgy jaw and muscular neck. His skin seemed slightly weathered yet healthy. Had he wanted to, he could have been an amazing leader in the human world. Even a king. His demeanor demanded respect. His jaw twitched again and his eyes flickered toward her but his head didn’t move, “Are you going to help me or just stare at me?” A chill shot down Aria's spine and she jerked her nose toward the wall and heard him huff next to her. Then out of her peripheral vision she saw him
Where is it? Aria’s head spun around looking for the vile creature that had invaded her body. “It’s gone.” Absalom’s voice rumbled through the air and he sighed heavily, then brought a hand up to rub his neck. “You did it.” He rose his eyes to meet hers and lifted one corner of his mouth in a crooked smile. Inside she beamed. “Think you can do it again?” Aria was silent for a moment and dropped her head watching the floor spin. The whole ordeal had taken much of her energy. How did I even do it? At first when she’d changed, Morgan… his smell… his touch… the thought of…! She stopped and looked up. Absalom’s glowing green eyes were pinpointed directly at her. “But it wasn’t your memory of Morgan this time, Aria. I tried that.” Aria huffed and tried to look away but couldn’t pull herself from his fixated gaze. Then her mind wondered back to her fight with the phantom. Flashes of Absalom’s voice commanding her to quiet, listen, and remember flitted through her memory but
Aria’s mind wrestled with the strong anger inside her. Somehow a surge of it seemed to overtake her along with a great sense of hopelessness. She struggled to open her eyes, but everything was black. Revenge her mind told her. Was it her mind? Her voice sounded different. Death, it said. When she opened her eyes, the world was in faded colors around her… except for him. Who was he? Her eyes honed in on a red form that was… wolf! Aria growled in her throat. She hated wolves. Wolves had trapped her away in a dark place. Wolves had killed her! Heat surged into her chest and she lunged at the large form in front of her. The wolf was quick to dodge out of her way, but she spun around to face him again. A noise sounded in her head, but it was inaudible. Still it tugged at something inside of her but an involuntary reflux pushed it away. Her body seemed to move on its own and she walked to where a scrap piece of a metal rod lay on the ground and picked it up, then began swi
Aria looked up and down the wall investigating any etching that resembled a word. On the wall in front of them, there was nothing. Absalom searched the floor around the tiles they’d been stepping on, nothing. Aria backed away from the wall and began to investigate further out on the floor. Other tiles were found with similar words that had also been on the wall mural, but none of them were the one they were looking for. From across the room, she heard a loud growl and raised her eyes to see Absalom with his arm behind his head grabbing a fist full of hair. The sight made her smile in amusement. He hadn’t seemed to be the type that was easily rattled, always so noble and in control of himself, even when he was driving her up the wall with his “tests”. She made it to the opposite wall where empty shelves lined it in elegant stony form and began to walk along it casually glancing up and down the shelves when an idea struck her. “Absalom!” His head snapped toward her and her sto
Three days later, Aria was still in her human form. She frowned as she pondered what could possibly be the cause to the seeming eternal human form. Absalom said nothing to her about it and she wondered at that too. Her human form used to last only moments and while two months ago she would have given anything to maintain her transformation this long, now it was hindering her mission. Aria grunted as she tripped over an exposed tree root and Absalom, who had been walking ahead of her, quickly turned around ready to attack, then relaxed as he realized there was no threat.“You should be more careful where you’re stepping.” Aria scowled over his obvious comment. Absalom grunted and turned back to his path. Aria was so deep in thought, she neglected to notice the familiar terrain Absalom was leading them through as she pushed a red leafy bush branch aside. She didn’t realize where they’d been headed until the dark wolf statue materialized in front of them as then entered Absalom’s
After hours of walking, Aria’s feet burned with raw spots and cuts from the ruthless forest floor. Absalom hadn’t slowed since exiting the cave and his quick walk kept her at a slow jog. Her body was tired and though trying to breathe, she hadn’t a moment to ask any of the questions pressing on her mind. Absalom had stayed silent, barely uttering a word besides the occasional this way or watch your step. “I thought you said this village was just up ahead.” “It is.” His rumbling voice immediately silenced her desire to complain. His ability to demand her respect still annoyed her as did the urging from the wolf inside to submit to the desires he drew out in her. They climbed over more fallen trees and emerged onto a well-worn path. Absalom turned his nose up into the air and sniffed. Aria wondered that he could still use his wolf abilities in his human form. He stood still for a moment and then resumed walking. The path began to turn down into what appeared to be a ravine. T