Her Forever
Chapter 68

Sadie

Angry was not the word to describe how I felt. Furious, irritation, annoyed, cross all those stupid synonyms popped into my head as Gaia continued to run through the forest around the pack house. Her nose is constantly sniffing for any strange smells of this new world. I had hardly been out of the pack house thinking I had so many things to do on Seth’s stupid list. A list that would just make me stay in the pack house and think I couldn’t go out.

As I immediately shifted in front of the entire pack, who saw my little tantrum to their future Alpha, I saw a figure in the woods. We were both too angry to care, but we knew the smell wasn’t familiar and weren’t sure if the other warriors could smell it, either. We ignored it and kept running. That was their job anyway, right?

The woods were peaceful as our paws hit the embedded moss that carpeted the forest floor. Each part of a paw let small fireflies erupt from underneath and small little squeals erupted. It sounded as if they were laughing, being tickled by our rush through the woods. My anger was so strong once I entered the forest, but as I continued to run, my heart did not feel as heavy.

The heat of the sun hit the leaves of the canopy. It was unusually cool in the forest. With our enhanced eyes, we could see doe and rabbits eating and not paying attention to us. They knew we weren’t hunting, just running, trying to get away.

I remember the first time I really ran, ran for my life. It was when Seth found me on the pier with Nathan. He wasn’t trying to hurt me, but I was running for my life, it seems. Here I am, running through the forest, away from him because if my heart stayed I knew I would break into sobs. I didn’t need the pack to see me as weak. Born human or ‘without a wolf’ could happen to anyone Bergarian. They weren’t seen as humans, but had the smell of them. Spells and potions were needed to keep the enchantment at bay, not harming them as if we were really human. Wolfless people could be taboo, and some packs could reject them. Luckily, my parents never did such a terrible act. It was cruel and unfair for the wolfless, basically turning into slaves of other cultures.

I would change that, I’d work for the weak.

I knew some thought I would be weak, but I fought the head warrior not to just prove to Seth and the pack I was strong, but to myself. Gaia snuffed and shook her head. We weren’t weak, not one bit. We weren’t frail and innocent anymore.

The deep stream running through the territory was a beautiful crystal blue. You could see the bottom and all the colorful fish and small water sprites. Looking like little sea monkeys, they stared back at me, tilting their head to the side to study me as I was them. A few popped out of the water to touch my snout and I let them, licking them in the process while they all screamed and jumped back in the water to laugh at their friends. Gaia grunted in happiness.

Lapping the water, I heard a few branches snap. Gaia, being ever so watchful, slung her head in the direction. A tall Fae stood before me. His hair was platinum blonde with a small straight nose and pointed features. He was so beautiful you could almost mistake him for a woman. He was not buff or overly muscular, but slim and trim, with of lanky muscle. If he had lifted his shirt, I was sure he would have an almost hourglass shape about him. Faes had an ethereal beauty, and this man was certainly beautiful.

His robes were white and pale green with gold intricate designs weaving in and out of the hems. The long, pale fingers were holding on to a vine that he was braiding while he flicked his golden eyes to me. A small smirk lifted on the side of his face.

Gaia didn’t find him threatening, but still stayed on alert. “Hello Sabrina, Princess of the Moon Kingdom and Luna of the Warrior Pack.” The fae’s voice was smooth as a silky stream. The wind blew his hair and covered a bit of his thin lips. How did he know my name?

“It is hard to not know who you are,” he began as he walked forward. Gaia stood in her position, showing no fear. “You are quite the celebrity in just a few days’ time. It isn’t often we find a missing princess.” Gaia held her head proudly. We didn’t care for the title. The Fae scoffed and pulled his outer cloak off of him and laid it on a nearby stump beside a large tree.

“It might be easier to talk if you were in human form, don’t you think?” The gleam in his eye gave me a little comfort, the comfort I wasn’t sure I should have. Curtly nodding, I went behind the tree and shifted and grabbed his cloak to cover myself. It was considerably larger since he was so tall himself and dragged on the ground as I walked barefoot back to the stream.

“Ah, see? Much better. No more one-sided conversation.” He waved his hand to walk me to the clearing that was just on the other side of a few trees. There was a lone bench overlooking a small valley with an abundance of furry animals I had never seen. Being more interested in the fae, I sat down and folded my hands in my lap.

“May I ask who you are?” I lifted my eyebrow.

“I’m surprised you do not know. Do I not emit enough power for you?” I looked at him hesitantly and it was then I knew it was King Orion. However, I never felt the power he radiated. “Interesting. It must be because you are royal.”

Again with the titles. I was tired of it. Already sick of politics. “King Orion, it is a pleasure.” I acknowledged, not wanting to touch his hands. Seth always told me to be wary of the creatures. He chuckled and leaned back on the bench to watch the animals and sprites play.

“I wanted to meet you alone. I thought it would be difficult, but here you are running on the borders of your territory.” his voice was like a song. It was soothing, like a melody. I knew little about his culture, his race, so I didn’t know of his intentions.

“Yes, well, some wolves needed to be put in their place.” I scoffed, remembering how our mate made decisions without us. King Orion laughed and patted his knee. It was gentle and elegant, heck everything he did was elegant.

“You are certainly something Sabrina, princess of shifters.” He eyed me up and down and I pulled his overcoat over my body to hide more. “Don’t worry, princess, I’m not starting a war. I am just,” he put his thumb on his chin while his index finger rested on the side of his face, “curious.”

“There isn’t anything curious about me,” I spoke firmly. “Maybe everyone else is just different.” He smiled.

“I just want to know your story. I find you fascinating. Your aura you radiant it is a color I’ve never seen.”

“Color?”

King Orion nodded. “Every living thing has an aura that a fae can see. The darker the aura, the more heartless they could be, the lighter it shows their personalities such as joy, peaceful, elegant, trustworthy. Your aura is neither light nor dark, yet it is nothing in between,” he hummed at the end.

“I’m going, to be honest, you lost me.”

Orion gave a smirk, “still using the color analogy, most people have one dominant color they radiate. It is easy to pick up their spirit, but you have a rainbow of colors emitting from your tiny body that it is almost hard to read anything. You are a puzzle to me.”

His eyes were calculating, trying to figure me out. Faes like to speak in riddles and I was not a very ‘deep person.’ I never understood philosophy class, the greater good and all that. I was mostly black or white, good or bad. Coming into this world, I realized life couldn’t be black or white all the time. There was always a grey area. Just as with Nathan. He was wrong about what he did to me, trying to mark me, but his reasoning why he did it made it grey. He was lonely and thought he would forever be alone. Once given the chance, he made the right decisions and now he walks in the light.

“I trust him,” Gaia finally spoke up. “I don’t think he means us harm. He is just looking for something.”

I pondered her words. Still not sure to trust King Orion. After a few minutes of weighing the pros and cons, I trusted my wolf. She had never steered me wrong before, as young as she may be.

“How about we get to know each other, then?” I mumbled to him. His eyes widened and a small smile was placed on his lips. Orion wasn’t stupid. He knew that Seth had talked to me about faes and their trickery. Orion thought he was going to have to put up more of a fight to get me to talk. Well, the joke is on him because I’m going to figure him out like no one else tried to do.

“I would very much like that.” Orion stood up and held out his hand to help me up. Without hesitation, I took it. His surprise couldn’t be masked and a sense of adoration I felt in his heart.

Maybe this King needs a friend more than anything.