Chapter 47

Malia POV

Pines and cedars were passing in the corner of Shila’s eyes at great speed. She was in for real, and will have him crawling to her paws, even if she passed out from it. He was in for a chase, and a mad one at that. But I couldn’t care less. For what I knew about Samael, as he hasn’t let his wolf out in our presence, he wasn’t in a perfect agreement with him. To know he had to let him take over for him to catch up with Shila, he would’ve been a fool otherwise, was a small win for me. He wasn’t in full control. Shila was and would remain, until she got what she wanted, what she needed from her mate.

That was catching up rather quickly, despite the uncommon power and speed of my wolf. A shadow was approaching behind us, we could feel it. Worried, I tried to connect to Shila but she pushed me out. She was confident in herself, but not enough to let me intertwine my doubts and feelings. In a way, I was thankful for her protecting us. I retreated in the back of her mind, and left them in peace

Shila POV

*‘Farther. More. Push. A little bit more. He’s not ready yet…’*

I was feeling my legs falting, but I didn’t respond to their plea to stop. My heart was pumping up to my ears, deafening. But I didn’t surrender to my body. I needed to push the machine a little bit more. I needed that to obtain answers from him. But from that, I needed to show I was superior, better than he was.

But he was moving fast. Too fast. I saw his brownish shadow in the corner of my eyes. I needed to move. Quickly. I shifted on my left hind left, and pivoted in a completely new direction. Surprised, but not enough. I thought he would’ve been startled enough to crash into a tree, or at least eat a branch or too. Was that too much to ask for?

Seemed like it was. Sighing, acknowledging he was catching up, almost a bite away from my tail, I put a stop to the chase, locking all fours, digging into the ground to stop in my tracks.

He passed by me, looking at me, clueless, and then, crashed into a large tree trunk. Chuckling under my breath, thanking the Moon Goddess for the spectacle and granted wish, I sat, trying to slow down my panting. Shaking his obvious shame and some leaves that stuck to his fur, he trotted back towards me, and tried to stop close. Too close.

I snapped at him, baring teeth, a deep and warning growl erupting from my throat, without moving from my spot. He backed down, head hanging low, tail tucked to his belly.

“You don’t need to be so harsh with me…”

“Oh, you think?”

He stayed silent. But his stare didn’t budge from me. His eyes were riveted on mine, the gold of his iris glowing in the dim light of the starting day, the dawn just beginning to paint the sky with lighter shades of blue, that could be seen among the dense forest coverage.

We looked at each other for endless minutes, bathing in the silence of nature, as we didn’t know where and why to start. I was losing my resolution slowly, drifting towards nonchalance and carelessness about all this story. His human hurt mine, and that was it, to the point where we were weakened and yet, he didn’t do anything.

I stood on all four, and he took a step in my direction. Again, I couldn’t refrain from a warning snarl, and he froze again.

“It was a mistake.” I blurted out, turning around, ready to bolt out of this uncomfortable situation that he wasn’t willing to face head on.

“Wait… why would this be a mistake? What do you want?”

Snap. And no, it was not a twig breaking under my paw, it was my patience. If a wolf could turn red, I bet I was as scarlet as a beet.

“What do I want? Do you really ask? Do I really have to tell?” I shook my head, exasperated from the damnation us females had to deal with, with these fool males. “Your human made us weak. Knowingly. Our human shell is all covered in bruises, and muscles are hurting from just supporting us throughout the day. And you do nothing to stop him.”

My voice went low, threatening, dangerous. My forehand bent down, following the drop of my voice.

“I disagree with his behavior. Of course hurting you wasn’t what I wanted! How can you accuse me of such an abomination?” He growled, as if I was in the wrong by coming so upfront with him.

“And why didn’t you stop him? Aren’t you strong enough for that?” I spat, giving him an up-and-down look that made him snort.

“You’d be surprised how strong that human is… He… he is not what he seems.”

An ear perked up. But that was all I was willing to grant him attention, but stayed silent.

“He mastered the blockage with the link between the wolf and the human. He has, he is, however you want to read into this, some kind of a shield. I can’t do much when he decides he’s done with me. I would never have agreed and cooperated with all of this, had I had the power to take over.”

“What about now? Why are you here…?”

“Ades. Call me Ades, love.”

I snapped the air in front of his face.

“Quit it with the ‘Love’. You don’t have, nor deserve the right to call me so.”

“He sort of let me through. To say I clawed his mind is an understatement. I shredded his mind so badly, he was physically impacted, thus not in a state to prevent me from taking over and chasing after you. I also think he wanted this.”

“Yeah, after fuccing his mate then his chosen, that he marked and got marked by, why not come again for the mate.”

The sigh Ades let out was heavy and endless. But I waited, fuming, but patient. I had nothing more to lose except my dignity. And Malia who was so weak I could barely feel her. Her, that had the presence of a warrior, was as light as a feather right now. I guessed I was like that for her too. We were fading because of the foolishness of one, and the helplessness of the other.

“Why do you talk as if he was so special?”

“Because we discovered something once. You know, our pack is from deserters, rejected, outcasts. We’ve grown quite a number in the past few years. But before it took that turn, we came across a couple that was running away but was then captured by the Elders for treason. The she-wolf was an Alpha daughter, and during one of her visits to the Elders’ quarters while her father was in the Council, she came across something. Something that her lover swore on an oath to protect, more than her life, before they both died in the grasp of these outrageous leaders.”

“What is it?”

“A prophecy. We were young at the time. We didn’t get to understand much of it. But it was about an heiress, the Moon Goddess heiress. And keys.”

“Do you have them?”

“I am one.” I laughed, before hiding my mockery with a light coughing. “And I am talking to one.”

“How can I be sure you are not messing with me?”

“Because we gathered clues over the years. It’s a puzzle worth of years.”