Royally Mated

-3-

Dashing through the forest, I jump over logs, and rocks to avoid the animal behind me, which happened to be approaching at a very alarming rate. The wolf lets out a howl, and it sounds almost as if the beast was directly behind me. Suddenly, my breathing hitches in my throat when I feel something slash at my legs - claws to be exact - and I stumble, and crash to the forest floor. I scream out in pain, as the rocks scrape against the bare skin of my body, not covered by the fabric. The sound of his pants behind me had me scrambling in an attempt to get away.

Letting out a small whimper when I attempt to get up again, I realize the blood now gushing out of my leg. Bringing my shaking hands down to my throbbing leg, I wince at the small pressure I put on it, and quickly flinch, pulling back my hand. It's laced in my own blood, and I feel faint at the sight. Sure, I tend to animals who bleed, but humans? Not my thing.

I suddenly feel something, cool, yet wet slide across the wounds on my skin. My eyes widen in alarm, and I scamper away, trying to avoid whatever had done this to me. Out of the darkness, a wolf saunters out, and the familiar golden eyes meet my own. The beautiful brown wolf I had saved the other night now comes to kill me. How sadly ironic. The wolf I had saved now comes back to kill me. Lovely.

He bares his teeth in a warning and slowly gets closer. Staying completely still in fear, I squeeze my eyes shut hoping for him to either leave or make my death a quick one. Suddenly, the wet feeling is on my legs once more, and my eyes flutter open, and I look over to see him licking up and down my leg. Almost as if trying to... heal it? For a few moments, I watch curiously, trying to decipher the true motives of this animal. Then he stops licking, and he looks up at me. A guttural growl rumbles from his chest, and he stalks closer to me, and I know now I'm his prey. Backing up quickly, I find my back suddenly hit the trunk of a tree, and he comes impossibly closer. When I make a move to get around the tree, the wolf lets out another warning growl.

If I move, he'll attack, but if I stay who knows what the beast will do.

Squeezing my eyes shut once more, I turn my head to the side, not wanting to watch whatever he was going to do to me. Suddenly, I feel the wolf lick up the side of my neck, and then moments later I feel his teeth pierce my neck and I let out a scream of agony. It hurt so much that I was gripping onto the grass pulling it out of its root. Attempting to move away only makes the wolf clamp down his jaw harder, and I am stuck in place, as my body begins to burn.

The wolf doesn't stop, and I feel myself begin to become faint, and stars dance across my vision. I'm biting down on my bottom lip in an attempt to stop myself from screaming out once more in agony, and I feel the tears begin to well up in my eyes.

So, this is how I die. And I never even got to say goodbye to those I care about. A single tear falls from my eye before the pain reaches an all-time high and everything goes black. And I'm gone.

I am nothing.

-

My eyes flutter open, and suddenly all my memories come back to me, and I shoot up from where I lay. Looking around I don't realize where I am, and I feel my breathing become unlabored, and eventually, I am gasping for air.

I was dead. I felt dead. Clawing at my throat in desperation, I try to settle my breathing but I can't. I'm freaking out to the point where my vision becomes blurry, and I'm flailing in what now I found to be a bed.

Two arms reach out, stilling my flailing arms, and they pin them to my side. A deep, smooth voice begins to murmur words into my ear, one I can't exactly make out, but it calms me down.

Air finally is able to pass through my lungs, and my breathing evens out. My vision becomes clear, and I find myself staring into a pair of golden eyes that have me taking in a sharp breath. The golden color darkens slightly when he looks at me, then he closes his eyes for a moment. When they open once more, they're a hazel color. Suddenly, without warning, he leans closer to me, and his lips are close to mine.