Princess of the Wolves

9.

The days to follow were filled with training, work, and true love that I had never felt before now. My mind was never far from Jonah and often neither was I. He pushed me harder than anybody to become my best or at least be less terrible at archery. No one officially knew anything, but I sensed suspicion in the air from Carla. Bailey was too busy with her own antics, which was totally fine by me. Jonah now slept on the floor beside me, and I lullabied to sleep by his soft snoring. I didn't know what real love was, the encompassing of my soul with feelings never felt before, until now. He was amazing. He was amazing in a totally different way that Dimitri I realized. Dimitri was amazing like the admiration of a political figure, but Jonah was amazing as a lover and a friend. He was kind of worrisome about me, making sure I ate or about going to bed early. However, he was a killer when it came to training.
It was surreal that I had almost assimilated to this new life, but things held me back for enjoying life here. The castle and being found was never far from my mind; I thought worriedly about Dimitri and what he might do every day. Jonah did too. "What's wrong Jojo?" I had dropped calling him a turd; that wasn't a very pleasant nickname.

"Nothing babe" he said, as we sat on the porch with our legs dangling over the side.

"Don't you lie to me."

"I'm just thinking. Don't worry about it." Then, he kissed the side of my head.

"I'm worrying about it now!"

"Okay, fine. I'm just thinking about how awful it would be to have you leave me." He didn't look at me for obvious reasons.

I kissed him back, straightening to reach his cheek. "That would never happen."

"I know. I just worry."

"You shouldn't," I told him, "I love you."
"I love you more." He was dismally unaware and stared off into the forest. We sat in silence for awhile, the comfortable kind that one didn't mind. The silence was broken by his silky yet husky voice, "Are you cold?"

"No, stop worrying! My gosh!"

"Sorry," he mumbled. I kissed him on the cheek again; I didn't mean to snap at him. It had been a rough day. "Take my mind off of it," he said.

"Okay," I replied. This was common thing sometimes when he felt insecure.

"Favorite childhood memory?"

"Ah..." he thought, "Going to the beach after Jesse came back from school for good."

"You didn't to school?"
"No, I was mainly self taught with some help from one of our neighbors, but what I meant was he went to a special school. What about you?"

"I was homeschooled," I said.

He laughed, "I meant memory."
"Nah," I said, "mine isn't that great."

"I'm sure it is."

"Okay, fine. Don't hate me..."

"It's not possible for me to hate you even if you do frustrate me beyond belief." He was kidding of course.
"When my sister left home for good," I said strongly yet quietly.

"So our stories are kind of opposites."

"Yeah, she was really rude to me. My self confidence took a major dive." That's why I clung to Dimitri, to make my parents proud. "Any better?"

"Better."