i stopped and shifted back to my human form at the edge of the cliff on the border of our territory. the view was breath taking with forests as far as the eye could see across the mountain range. to the right at the edge of the cliff the river fell from the stone ledge in to a beautiful waterfall. my dress was torn at the skirt line but was otherwise mostly intact. though my hair was now completely undone it still held the perfect curl.
Before his scent could reach my nose i could feel his presence near as my body grew warmer starting from my fingertips crawling its way through my nervous system. he had shifted as the scent of his cologne was now melded with the scent of a canine. what was i to do i had no where i could run, was he here to take me back to my exacution?
as he stepped out of the treeline i felt my head grow dizzy as a blue light shrouded my vision..what was this? i turned slowly to meet his emerald eyes. he smirked at me with a crooked boyish grin as he ran his fingers through his messy black hair " are you alright? that was quite a show you put on back there..." he said his tone suggested he was nervous.
If i was being completely honest i was nervous too but i was too good at lying to myself to say i was fine. " uh, yeah. im okay...it wasn't a planned event if that is what you think. " i said a with a bit of sass. i had to remind myself that regaurdless of the bond he was looking for someone dear to him and he deserved that. " why does it matter anyway? im just a servant to the madam. i am undeserving of a mate let alone an alpha. i dont know how this happened so if you came here to reject me just get it over with." i said coldly turning my gaze back to the bright full moon.
he chuckled and began to laugh, the sound reverberated in my own chest and i somehow felt myself feeling rather tickled at the situation...stupid mate bond i chastised myself. he stepped over and took a seat beside me his shirt half unbuttoned revealing his muscular torso...it wasn't too muscular but more of a gentle outline his tanned skin had stretched over but if one examined it closely you could see a set of scars slicing down his body blemishing his above average features " im not going to reject you, that is up to you really."
i raised my brow and looked at him as if he was mistaken in his knowledge " excuse me? i cannot reject an alpha it would not work. let alone the refusal of your companion ship from someone like me would be..."
"scandelous" he said with a hint of humor as he looked over with a half grin.
i nodded. " i suppose, but mostly for me it feels almost as if im disobeying"
he would raise a brow "hmph, i suppose...i found it rather enchanting seeing a slave shift in to a wolf of such power...did you know your wolf was such a magestic creature?"
i shook my head " no, tonight was the most i have ever communicated with odette. i have never had a complete shift...believe me the alpha tried. i miss him every day." i said solomly pulling my knees off the edge and to my chest as i looked up at the indigo blanket that covered the night sky.
"miss him?"
i nodded " yeah, before everything was in Thelmas control i wasn't a servant. but then Nephi got sick when i was ten and suddenly...it was like i didn't exist any more. thelma was always cruel she has always hated me and i have not a clue as to why or what i did to make her feel that way but she does. she managed to convince the alphas i was after calista's place in the ranking and that i was just putting on an act to get on his good side...so i was forbidden to be near him and was shoved away in the slave quarters. i already stayed there anyway because of space so it really wasn't a change for me...but the coldness in his eyes toward me is what hurt the most." i looked down at the mist that rose from the base of the falls impending tears loomed upon my lower lash line.
" he once cared....what was your place then?"
" he wanted to train me as a warrior. he felt i had the drive and loyalty to protect this pack at all costs...and a part of me does...but another part of em cant help but feel everything about this is wrong. when odette first spoke to me i was 6 yrs old...nephi had so many he had saved from the raids and the war he didn't know what pack i came from anymore so when i confessed to him i could feel her soul in mine and i could hear her clearly he helped me. he said it was likely i was from grey-mane...they shift at ten the first time then every year on the moon they are born they shift till they are 15. by then their body's have grown accustomed to the pain." i said softly...i missed my alpha dearly. he was the closest thing i had to a father in my life and just as i started to finally get over the fact i was just a girl he took in and started to feel like part of the pack...he shoved me away.
" so what did he do to help?" xander asked his eyes swimming with curiousity.
i smiled giving one short breath of a laugh " well nephi knew the alphas before...but the grey-manes was his grandfathers line. so he knew how to force the shift if the body refused it...we tried everything to merge with Odette but it just didn't work i meditated i entered the spiritual plane i tried so hard but every time i tried the further she got...she just would evaporate in to mist and tell me it wasn't time. i suffered from the pain of my bones shattering only for it to fail and never complete until tonight.."
" your madam looked rather angry about it...do you know anything in reguards to her rage?"
at his inquiry a smile stretched over my face as i looked up then away shaking my head " i do. she told me not to appear tonight even though i was eligible."
his eyes grew wide as he smiled and then laughed softly " so you not only deliberately disobeyed an order from you alpha female but you also stole the show...she must be seething"
i shook my head " if i didn't id never know. i know its forbidden for others to read the books in the alphas library..but i couldn't help it. my best friend merida who made tonight possible she helped me then we read every book till our heads ached with so much knowledge..." she learned some packs have different traits. the ceder-root pack could only shift on a crescent moon casted down in the ceder grove near their mating grounds. shadow paw you guys shift at 15 normally but only after..." i couldnt seem to recall the passage about his pack in this moment causing me a bit of frustration as i ran my hand through my hair shaking out the curls a bit.
"the shadow paw clan shifts at 15 that is true but we actually shift the first time at 6 like the blood-tide pack whom we always had close relations and bonds too. our warriors tended to find mates among their packs at a young age. which is why the arranged marriages existed in our packs the way they do, shadow paw blood-tide black-fang and the oak river packs all Develop a form of bond with their mates early. it starts as a close bonded friendship that blooms in to a true mate bond. in my pack we shift when that friendship bond is created, which is why i travel from pack to pack looking for blood-tides lost luna..." his voice carried a tone of dispair that i could feel in my bone's i could not imagine the pain an emotional turmoil xander felt in her absence.
" xander...she died.." i said softly placing my hand over his as i shifted to face him allowing him to see my entire face from a frontal view. The sadness i felt burrowed into my very soul " i am so sorry.."
xander shook his head " No, she isn't. i am sure of that, the blood tide pack had a few unique traits like any other...they can only complete their shift after developing a mated bond. you have that trait, another is the appearance of the white wolf...that is extremely rare. very few have that trait, and those who do most of the time have blood ties to the alpha. if she isnt dead then she is a rogue but id still have to find her i owe her that...but i am half convinced that the missing luna is you." he said gently his eyes full of sincerity.. i hated myself for not knowing unable to give him more then the answers i knew from what i was taught growing up.
" to my knowledge, the madam tried her best to save her, knowing killing the child would cause even their ally's to turn on them...but she didn't get in to the manor fast enough...by the time they both emerged the girl had stopped crying and Thelma was coughing so hard she could barely breath. it was already to late she did c.p.r she tried everything nothing could help her...i really am so sorry.." i felt the tears tread down my face as i felt genuinely sad for him but this was the truth i had seen the grave of the child myself and i couldn't let him go on carrying such guilt and despair
he shook his head " that is not the luna of the blood-tide pack...i suppose she wouldn't be a Luna anymore, funny title for a princess dont you think...she would have been an alpha the moment her father passed. she cant be killed by normal means and a proper challenge and toddlers are not suitable opponents for adults dont you think? anyway i suppose i could be wrong...but i feel like i would feel it if she passed i would have felt something a shift in the friendship bond something...not this deafening silence.
i could understand his pain on some level. it is what i felt with odette for so long, all i wanted was to be able to communicate with her the way others could communicate with their wolves but she just stayed shrouded behind the mist of the spirit realm never speaking always silent.
" i know the feeling...well i suppose it is different for you, for me my wolf offered me nothing but silence through my life..."
his smile reached his eyes this time as i felt the bond grow hotter in my veins as his eyes began to glow blue. " that is because your pack lived in peace by the ancient ways, one must learn to be self sufficient and strong. you would have shifted sooner if you had lived among them...your blood gives it away, through the bond i can smell it clearly you are blood-tide not grey-mane." he leaned forward and touched my face his warmth seeping in to my skin like flames as the blue hue in my peripheral vison grew brighter..." what?? i..." i was speechless. how had he been able to tell what pack i came from "you can tell by my blood?"
he pulled back and laughed " no i was messing with you, your features give it away. Blood-tide women have a certain celestial look to them, the golden hair like wheat in the sunlight.." he gently caressed a loose curl between his two fingers before touching her cheek bones " skin as white as the moon light that looks as if its crafted from pure porcelain...and eyes so blue they put the stars to shame.." the last words on his breath were barely audible as he leaned in a feathers breath from my lips.
no, no this isn't right. its the bond. 'dont fight it...' odette said softly offering me her council as she now felt as much a part of me as my soul did. i pushed him back and turned my head. he had a girl he loved, and he lost her. he is in so much pain over her i cant take that hope from him. "no. listen, if you think the alpha of the blood-tide pack is still alive then i think..." i took a deep breath as every fiber of my being wanted to kiss this flawless man. " i think that i want to help you find her...how would you know if you do though?"
xander sucked on his bottom lip letting it slide between his teeth as he grinned " id hoped it would be as simple as forcing her to shift upon the bond but it seems that goddess had more in store for me...i met you, but there is a few more ways to know who she is. a wolf can tell its own, the alpha had two children the luna and the solstice. and her brother would know her anywhere he just has to be near her."
a smile twitched at my mouth. this girl had a brother who survived in the shadow paw pack? impressive. my thoughts were interupted by the wail of pain coming from the manor. i had heard that sound enough times to know it was merida " oh no! this is all my fault, i have to go." i ran off toward the manner through the woods. 80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3eTSHcDEm
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" did you asisst that girl in attending the festivity's merida!" thelma shreiked at me. my body was slumped to the ground after one lashing pulling on my arms prying them from their sockets. i gritted my teeth to hold my breath as i heard the whistle of the whip as it seared through my skin with a loud CRACK!
"answer your alpha you insolent pest! sneered one of the warriors if i recalled his name was randall
i could smell the copper in the air from the flesh she tore from my back with every lashing. i could hear my blood splattering across the grass around me after ten more she asked me again " did you. assist. your fellow slave. to attend. yes or no."
i would press my forehead against the wooden post they had my arms tied to above my head. i wasn't telling that bitch anything, if scarlet could take 100 without dying so would i...
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i raced across the clearing as fast as y feet would carry me tripping a few times as i tried to read merida. why didn't she just answer her...i raced forward before thelma could land another blow as the whip came down on the left half of my face opening a wide gash rage boiled up inside of me as i gripped the end and teared it away from her. " that is enough! she is half human you could kill her then what? huh? is that the example you wanna set for all your allies here! that you whipped a half human girl to death for assisting me? well-"
i was instantly cut off as thelma raced across the clearing toward me her nostrils flaring, eyes wild with rage "you stupid stupid girl! you have any idea what your stunt did!" she said gripping me by my throat. i fought the urge to grip at her hands to prevent her from killing me and instead kept my eyes focused on hers. i reached up and gripped her wrist in my hands. her bones felt so brittle now that i had my hands on her " let...go.." i choked out applying pressure to her wrist threatening to break the bone.
the crowd gasped at my defiance of her, knowing their would be consequences to my actions. "sam. take her to the barn." she said her voice full of malice "seems this little wolf needs to be taught how to obey her alpha."
sam gripped my shoulders and forced me to my knees. i spat at her feet " you are not my alpha" i said maliciously. as sam tied my hands behind my back.
Thelma gripped my jaw and smiled " we will see.."
i could see xander as he had arrived at the back yard clearing and rushed to help merida. seeing my face his mouth twitched in anger as his eyes narrowed and his gaze became cold " take care of her please" i yelled as they hauled me away. 80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrsJoNIg03
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the audacity of thelma was shocking when it came to scarlet 'she really hates her' my wolf said his tone a bit astounded. i couldnt help but agree with gnash. i made quick work of the knots holding scarlets friend in place picking her up in my arms.
thelma would move to stand in front of me " and what do you think you are doing alpha xander?"
i raised a brow and glared at her "being an alpha to my people. this slave belongs to me now since you would see her dead at your feet"
thelmas eyes widened as she stared at him in disbelief " for assisting scarlet after she was forbidden to attend. this is her punishment, you dare disrespect me in my own home?"
i finally understood why this poor girl was at the whipping post..this was merida the friend that helped her tonight " what will you do? fight me?" i said my tone deathly serious i was willing to kill thelma just for scaring scarlets face. "scarlet did this on her own, she had no help. your punishing this girl for nothing" i turned on my heel and would take merida inside.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
