🧚Overdue yet a slight struggle, I've been enjoying the slight reprieve from work due to the Snowmaggadene that got most of the U.S these past few days. I hope y'all have been safe and warm to those that live in the States also.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the extra little add ons at the end.🌹
Hehe 😜
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One of the many cruelties Count Heron, my snake of a sire, laid upon me were his constant horrifying stories of what lies within and beyond the West Wood. Wild humans and shifters that owe no allegiance to any proper pack, ones that would hunt all but the strongest of male wolves.
But the worst tales were from his men every time I was within earshot.
Trees that could move and tear unsuspecting beings in half. Sharp toothed pixies that can eat a male wolf alive in seconds. The fae that saw all mortals, shifter or human, as toys to play with till they die. Kelpies that lured innocents onto their backs so they can drown their prey in the lakes.
Lecherous ogres that stole females to satisfy their darkest urges until their victims were corpses once they finally finished.
How those tales frightened me as a young one, keeping me from even daring to escape over the Count's walls or beyond the safety of the village bounds. The old fears still haunt me, even within the fold of the Cunning Lord's caravan, protected by Nyx's friends, Ezra, and the cunning folk armed to the teeth, the towering forms of the West Wood's barked dwellers still has me uneasy and terribly afraid.
After three days of near non stop traveling amidst rain, fog, and chilling sleet, making camp for only a short while in small clearings guarded my an array intelligent eyed bears and a handful of deer, the cunning folk turn the head of the line to the left. Whispers, groans, and coughing from the sick grow as the sound of rushing water emanates from up ahead.
The caravan's leader, the cat shifter Prince Aydan, ushers his horse forward and into a large hanging curtain of ivy. The curtain hangs twelve feet high from an over hang of rock, the ivy wide enough for two wagons to enter side by side. This is what occurs, each wagon and horse guides inside until all enter inside the large cave.
All are organized into helping the sick and injured, setting up campfires and laying out bedrolls, rubbing down horses, and a few selected to patrol the forest with the same bears that have watched us the last few nights. They must be shifters or the rare bears who have been gifted with speech and intelligence by a witch or fae.
Ezra and his friends make ready to join those sent to patrol, though Nyx, her mother, and sister stay within the Cunning Lord's wagon, most likely to rest and recover from their shared ordeal.
"You'll be alright here by yourself?" Ezra asks me as I assist one of the older human women with gathering the great number of children to be given food and fresh dry clothing. "I can stay if you want."
A flush warms my skin, the little girl twins next to me giggling and peering between their fingers up at Ezra. My mate. My kind, understanding, patient, and strong mate. One who has taken away most of the fear that had haunted me, one I am still astounded to have been blessed with having.
"I'll be fine. There is plenty to do here, and plenty of these little fiends to be seen to," I answer, ruffling the little girls' hair while smiling up at Ezra. His icy gaze twinkling with mirth as the children laugh and giggle.
"Very well. Stay inside the cave and don't overtax yourself." He then, unexpectedly, leans in and kisses my cheek, making me turn even redder as he steps away and joins his friends on their horses.
The next few hours fly bye after that, everyone being fed, dried, and seen to before the next task begins. All the former slaves are gathered and centered round one burly female cunning folk and two human males that had been blacksmiths for their former masters. All line up to have every single iron ring from off their wrists, ankles, and necks removed. It hurt my heart to so many, young and old, from the oldest grandmother to the youngest babe, decked in the heavy metal of bondage.
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Forest of Lies
FantasyA thousand years past, the world was run by humankind. But it changed, when countries became embroiled in a war that gave the werewolves the opportunity, to recreate the earth in their own image. Now humans are the lowest on the food chain, little m...
