Blood In Exile

This Moon

Her eyes dart around the hallway as if the ghosts will spill the beans of the secrets she hides. Her mouth opens wide enough for the specific words to exit, but what sound is made is nothing short of a blood curdling scream.

I clutch my ears in attempt to save my eardrums from deafness. She kills the scream. Guards rush over to us. Their footsteps echo down the hallway. A stampede of them surrounds us, growling at gods know what. The only one unaware of the stalking danger is little ol’ me.

I spin around, my feet just barely regaining their balance when a wolf crashes into me. My body hits the ground, my head smashing against the cold hard stone. The impact should have knocked me out, but it didn’t. I look up and register the panting black wolf on top of me. Its blood red eyes gleaming from its skull bore deep into my soul. The strong black paws push hard onto my shoulders with so much force that if it weren’t for my supernatural blood, they would have been breaking by now.

The wolf’s ears tilt ever so slightly to focus its hearing on me. It lowers its snout, allowing its eyes to glare even deeper into my being. I dare not break eye contact with it. I can’t move my eyes from it even though I desperately want to, desperately need to. There is something about its stance, the power it emanates that just makes my inner being whimper. The wolf demands respect.

I narrow my eyes to give myself some courage while daring the wolf to do its worst. Yet, the wolf makes no movements. Its flaring nostrils breathe heavily onto my skin as if taking in my scent. Its mouth opens, revealing those jagged, painfully sharp teeth one would expect a wolf would have. A quick moment of fear runs through my veins and on impulse I try to prop myself up and scamper away from the wolf. But I cannot move.

“Daniel?” my mouth whispers upon my recognition of his scent.
The guards turn their gazes away, suddenly aware that the wolf- yet furious- has regained its senses and won’t attack its queen, its own mother. Why would he attack his own mother, anyway?

The wolf’s eyes shift to a golden colour, the typical alpha wolf colour. He places the full weight of his body on top of me, lying down as he does so as if in an embrace. Should he shift now, he’ll be stark naked. I smile at the thought of seeing him without his clothes, imagining him in all his physical perfection. My cheeks heat up, a clear indication that I’m blushing.

“Get off of her son, you are crushing the poor girl!” Evanora orders, yanking at the wolf to get him to move.

He growls at her but gets up anyway. The guards start walking away but are called back by the queen who orders them all to do different tasks, which include bringing a large cloth for the prince, telling the servants to ready the dining hall and some other less important tasks.

The guards nod and bow in respect, taking in my frazzled form. I’m still on the floor probably looking like a major idiot, not to mention the embarrassment.

“Three hours until nightfall,” Evanora states, shaking off invisible dust from her dress. “Becca, the Valonmoon is this way. Follow me.”

I get to my feet. The wolf growls at his mother, threatening her, it would seem. She shrugs off his attitude, placing her hand in the small of my back and pushing me onward. I glance back at the wolf, trying to imagine what he is feeling right now. How could I know anyway? I am not an Immortal Being. ‘Feeling’ is not an ability I possess.

My heart lingers on the moment the wolf jumped me. It is strange though, to think that he was close to biting my head off, but he wouldn’t do that to me, would he? Daniel is surely in full control of his bestial side, why would he flip out on seeing me?

I shake my head, as if to clear it. No, Daniel would never hurt me. At least, never again.

A wide, black oak door stands before us. Its wood having engraved wolves howling at a crescent moon. The knobs are golden. The seamless design is nothing short of a marvel, and yet it isn’t. It is just a door.