Taming The Wolf

Chapter 1

Aoife |EE-Fa| gripped her dress as her feet pounded against the moist earth. Her chest felt like an inferno ready to engulf her with every heaving breath. Branches scraped her arms stinging her porcelain flesh as she continued to run as far as her legs would take her. She didn't dare turn and look behind her. The pounding of her heartbeat and her labored breaths blocked any sound. The fear of not knowing if they were still behind her fueled her adrenaline.

The forest around her continued to grow thicker but it didn't slow her pace. Aoife pushed the green foliage away from her path as she continued to pull herself further into the dense woodland. She felt her dress pull back. She yelped and turned to see a branch had captured the cloth. She pulled roughly causing the hem to tear away from the finger-like twigs. She gathered her dress in her hands and pushed her aching muscles back to a sprint. Aoife continued to run. Her tired body felt as if it would sink to the ground if she stopped. She felt her fiery red hair beat against her back with every lunge as she maneuvered around the fallen branches and tree trunks.

The setting sun met her face as she stumbled into an open meadow in the forest. She didn't know how far her tired legs had taken her but she had never been this far from home. She leaned against a large tree trunk and slipped down to the ground feeling the rough bark through her dress. She pulled her legs to her chest and continued to regain her breath. The fear they may be behind her still pulsed through her. But she was too tired to run. The adrenaline and fear wouldn't be enough to pick her up her body as much as she wanted to.

Aoife gave in to the exhaustion consuming her. As the fire in her chest subsided, she took in her surroundings more. The blazing orange and red sky above her was waning into darkness as the sun continued to disappear. Beyond the green meadow dotted with yellows and purples of the flowers blooming was another dense forest. As her heart rate calmed, she listened to her surroundings. The fluttering of birds and the wind softly moving the leaves above her met her ears.

The Vikings must have not caught up to her. She cursed their existence as she trembled with the thought of what had occurred earlier in the day. Their arrival caused a panic among her clan. They didn't have the resources or the valuable goods to pay the debt they owed. Never did she imagine she would be one of the valuable goods pawned off to pay off the insurmountable debt.

Aoife felt her eyes prickle with tears as she thought of her father offering her to the Vikings for payment. His emotionless face would never be erased from her memory. If her mother was still alive, she knew this would have never happened. She shivered thinking of the large burly man who grabbed her fiery mane clearly pleased with its color. His eyes danced with the mention of her being a maiden never touched by a man. She might have been older than most maidens at twenty years but that didn't seem to bother the Viking. Especially since she was the chieftain's daughter.

All that didn't matter now. She ran before she could be boarded on their boat. She fled before the man could touch her beyond her hair. And now she didn't know what her future held. It was impossible to go back home. There was no telling what the consequences would be for fleeing, for her or the clan. And, she knew she couldn't look at the man she once called Father again. Not after negotiating a high price for her purity in exchange for the debt he owed.

As the sky grew dark, Aoife pulled her legs closer to her body. She looked down at her dress noticing the small holes and tears from the branches that snagged the cloth. The cool air whistled past her exposed forearms and through the small rips bringing a shiver through her body. Her vision started to grow blurry as tears threatened to escape. She held back a sob as she leaned against the trunk of the massive oak tree.

Wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, something caught her eye in the dense forest in front of her. Aoife pulled her hand away and scanned the darkness. Her heart leapt to her throat when something moved in the shadows. Her eyes grew wide taking in her surroundings. A new rush of panic filled her. As her heart started to pound against her ribcage, a dark shadow edged closer to the meadow in front of her.