Ven
The moonless night is eerily quiet as I stood by the window, looking at the distant forest. A sigh left my mouth when I thought about my father's words earlier this afternoon.
"Ven Elise, you're already 21 and still haven't found your mate. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed." He started off but I know that he is.
"I kept looking for him dad, maybe he's just out there." I said, not even sparing him a glance. I'm not lying, I'm just telling half of the truth because I know he would be more disappointed if I tell him the whole truth.
"You know, Alpha Archer still hasn't found his mate yet, who knows? Maybe you're destined to become the Luna of the Ruby Moon Pack, the strongest pack in the region." He grinned suggestively and I just chuckled.
Honestly, when I was younger, as in when I was in high school, I do have a huge crush on Archer, he wasn't an Alpha at that time yet though. We go to the same school and he's two years my senior. His green eyes just captivated me and his calm and collected personality gets me every time he speaks. Yes, yes, I had once wished he'd be my mate but of course fate has to play some tricks on me.
"Pack your bags honey, we'll visit Alpha Archer tomorrow." Dad said. Oh gosh, he seems too excited and I'd hate to fail him. "We'll discuss the alliance of the Golden Moon and the Ruby Moon, by marriage hopefully."
I sighed again. Five hours after that talk, I still have my suitcase empty because I don't want to go. I looked at the forest and then the river at the border of our territory, I took my coat and was about to go out when suddenly...
"Alpha Vlad! There's an intruder!" One of our patrols shouted as father's doors swung open and then was banged shut. However, his door was not the only door that was opened and closed too as a cloaked figure with no scent entered my room. Thankfully I turned off the light earlier so the intruder didn't notice me and I pounced at him, pinning him to the ground. His fierce hazel brown eyes narrowed at me as he skillfully kicked me off of him, throwing me to the bed. I was about to scream but then a thick mist suddenly appeared in front of me and then nothing.
I felt my body being rocked gently as the sound of the forest graced my ears. My mind was blank for a while until the events of the night came flashing in and I immediately opened my eyes. As expected, a canopy of leaves greeted me and when I was about to sit up from the soft bed that I was laying on, I felt the restraints tightened around my body. I was chained at the back of a midnight black wolf!
"Let me go!" I screamed as I struggled even more, however, the wolf just stopped for barely a second before it dashed through the forest in bullet speed. I shouldn't be scared because my wolf can run faster than this but it's a different story when I, as a human, am tied to the back of a wolf zooming across the forest in a very awkward position. I screamed and screamed yet I doubt that anyone could hear me. Suddenly, the atmosphere around us felt so heavy and I looked up to see something like a tornado coming our way. The black wolf saw this too and jumped behind a huge tree to take cover. However, the strong wind uprooted the tree and for the second time tonight, everything went black.
When I woke up, I found myself being tied to the center post of something like a cabin and tried to yank the ties off using my werewolf strength however it won't budge. The ties stuck to the post like its life depends on it.
"Stop struggling, it won't help you." A velvet masculine voice said and a neat looking man with an average height and a lean physique rounded the post to face me. His eyes are the fiercest hazel brown that I have seen yet there's something more to it.
"Let me go! What do you want from me?" I snarled and he chuckled, it's sound is like music to my ears though. I know this guy technically kidnapped me but for some reason, I feel genuinely calm about this and I still have to figure out why.
"Well love..." The endearment suddenly made my knees feel like jelly and I gritted my teeth to get a grip of myself.
"Ven." I blurted out and he raised an eyebrow at me. "My name is Ven, don't call me love." I said, firmly this time.
"Well Ven, I didn't ask you to introduce yourself but since you already did, my name is Geo, and your pack needs to pay for what they did!" He snarled, putting his hands around my neck but he didn't really choke me, more like threatened to choke me, his face so close to mine.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I retorted and he moved away from me.
"Of course you don't. Don't worry, I'll tell you. Your father sent a troop of soldiers to burn down a rogue's house last month..." He trailed off and my eyes widened, indeed I remembered my father did that. "And my mother died because of that. You can't bring her back to life so I won't ask much from you, only the heads of the soldiers who were there that night." He stated, his voice menacing and for a moment, I was speechless.
"Who do you think you are? The king? I'm sure my father would not grant your request, Geo." I spat and he chuckled.
"Oh he will, because if he won't, I'd serve him the head of his beloved daughter instead." His statement sent shivers down my spine but I didn't make it obvious.
"Please, my father has an army and he would wreck this cabin before you can cut my head off, and he would crush you for kidnapping me." I responded.
"I don't think so." He said, suddenly the ground shook and he stumbled to where I was tied and our bodies are only an inch apart. That's when the scent of mint and berries hit my nostrils and my heart skipped a beat. His scent... Whatever he used to cover it when he was at the packhouse finally wore off and his scent almost gave me a panic attack. I stared at his hazel brown eyes and my jaw dropped, oh my god!
The shake finally stopped and he lets go of the post and stepped away from me. "Honestly Ven, I don't think someone would ever find us in this mist." He opened the door and showed me exactly what he's talking about.
"Magical storm, we're caught in a magical storm." I muttered, seeing the specks of purple in the thick mist. That must be what the hurricane was earlier.
"There's a thing like that?" He asked as he closed the door.
"Of course! Weren't you taught by your elders about that at school?" I responded and the look in his eyes made me regret my words.
"Unlike you, I wasn't privileged enough to go to school and my knowledge on magic is very limited." He stated through gritted teeth.
"Oh, sorry." I apologized meekly.
"Tell me about it." He ordered and my mouth fell agape.
"Seriously? You want me to give you a lecture while I am chained like this?" I protested and he just sat on the log by the door.
"You don't need your hands, feet, or whole body to tell me, just talk about it already. Your mouth seems really good with that, Ven." He smirked and something inside me just shifted.
"It's like a dome built by witches to enclose an area. It's penetrable from the outside but once you're inside, there's no way out. The mist that lurks everywhere in the dome weakens a creature's power as their life force is slowly being sucked by the witch who created the dome." I said, remembering everything that my elders taught me.
"How do you get out of it?" Geo asked, worry evident in his eyes.
"The witch that made the storm should be defeated first before anyone could get out of it." I answered.
"Where will I find that witch?"
"What am I, a map? Of course I don't know where you're gonna find that witch, we're both stuck here at the same time remember?" I bantered and he growled. Oh gosh he's making me feel lightheaded.
"Aren't you the smart one? Would the witch be inside or outside the dome she created?" He asked.
"Oh, she's gotta be inside so that the power transfer would be smooth." I provided.
"Okay then, I'll find her and kill her, so that I can ask your father for your ransom price." He grinned and I rolled my eyes.
"Please, you're going to die before you'd even find her. Your knowledge in magic is limited, remember?" I stated in a duh tone.
"How sweet of you to warn me. Thank you for that. Perhaps you should tell me how to find and defeat her." He suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. He looks more handsome when he does that.
"I can, in one condition." This time, it's my turn to smirk.
"What?" He asked.
"Let me go from these chains."
"Never. Don't try to trick me young woman, it won't work." He snarled but I kept my ground.
"Your choice then. It's not like I'd go anywhere when there's a thick mist outside ready to drain my life force." I retorted and he just growled lowly.
"Fine, deal." With that said, he cut the vines that strapped me and when the last one winded off the post, I lost my balance and fell right on top of him.
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