Maia
The following day I climb a tree near my cave and watch a woman holding a wicker basket. She kneels on the ground, plucks a few mushrooms from the soil and puts them in her basket. There goes my dinner. The woman, unaware of my presence, wanders off, and my stomach rumbles. I'm so hungry.
I reluctantly follow the woman, knowing I need food. After a few hours, we reach the edge of the forest, and I watch the woman, with her basket, walk through a grassy field toward a small hill. I freeze at the forest's edge, admiring the clear blue sky, the grassy field, and the small hill ahead.
‘I've never left the forest before. I need to know where they’re taking all my food,’ I tell Ember.
Taking a deep breath, I step into the field of grass and exhale. I had been nervously holding my breath.
‘Okay, that wasn't so bad,’ I tell Ember. Ember steps forward. ‘No, Ember. You must stay here. If anything goes wrong, I don't want anything bad happening to you. Go home to our cave. I’ll come back as soon as I can. I promise,’ I tell him.
I cuddle him and kiss him on the head.
‘Off you go, little one.’ I watch Ember run deep into the forest, back to our cave.
After walking across the field, I reach the top of the small hill and crouch down when I spot a busy village with market stalls and many people. The men wear tunics and breeches in assorted colours, styles and fabrics. Some of them wear velvet capes. Some even wear silver armour and daggers under their cloaks.
The women wear long gowns and cloaks or shawls, and their hair is styled in braids or buns. Some women wear strange headdresses made of feathers and flowers. I was surprised by one lady. She may as well have stuck a whole peacock on her head.
I can’t stand naked in front of everyone – it doesn’t seem right, and I don’t want to draw any attention to myself. Covering one’s body with clothing seems like the acceptable thing to do.
Creeping closer without being seen, I hide behind a large barrel and a wooden wall covered in parchments. There are small symbols and scribblings on these sheets of paper. I don’t know what they say because I can’t read. I look around and spot a stall selling different garments.
I snatch two items I can easily reach from a wooden table and run back behind the wooden wall covered in parchments. I step into the roughly-sewn brown dress that reaches my ankles and push my slender arms into the sleeves of an olive-green velvet cloak that touches the ground. I fasten the clasp over my collarbone and pull the hood over my head. These clothes will do just fine. No one can see my face, and I’ll blend in perfectly with these.
I step out into the hustle and bustle of the market, blending in with the crowd perfectly. All the talking, trading, and haggling is quite foreign to me. I’ve never heard so many human voices all at once. Older women sit on wooden crates gossiping away, while young children run in groups after stray ducks, laughing, ignoring their parents who admonish them and demand they return to their sides. Adolescent girls giggle and gawp at groups of young men a distance away.
Many of the stalls sell fruit, seeds, herbs and mushrooms – products that have all come from my forest. Men in armour, presumably soldiers, fill wooden crates they are holding with these goods. A soldier shouts for all stall-holders to hear, and the market grows quiet. Only the barks of dogs and the quacks of the stray ducks can be heard.
‘By order of King Fenris! King Fenris orders everyone to donate half their food to their sovereign again. These donations will feed his soldiers when we go to war against Alpha King Damon.’
Most people in the crowd around me yell in protest, and it consoles me, knowing they feel how I feel, not having enough food to eat. So I watch on silently while crunching on an apple I pick from a stall.
‘We won't have enough food for our children and ourselves if we have to keep giving it away to the soldiers!’ A mother of seven small children, who cling to her dress skirts, cries.
‘Either help support the war, and win, or don't support the war and lose! I guarantee the first thing the werewolves will do if they win is rip your children apart, limb by limb, and eat them!’ The man shouts back in response to this woman’s pleas. I shudder at the thought of innocent children being ripped apart by werewolves.
The crowd let out gasps, knowing they have no choice but to put the food they have just bought into the crates for the soldiers. So this is why they’re taking food from my forest.
Turning, I accidentally bump into a stall, making a table wobble, and apologise to the stall-holder sitting on a barrel. He smiles and says, ‘Not to worry, darlin’. But, to my horror, he is selling fox pelts and some other extremely large furs from an animal I’ve never seen before.
Another man, standing beside me, also looks horrified by what the stall-holder is selling. It’s unexpected when this man purchases every large pelt the stall-holder has.
I instantly feel emotional, my eyes become teary, and my stomach churns. I think I’m going to be sick, so I plant my hand over my mouth and run away from the stalls and toward a row of cottages.
I lean against a stone wall to catch my breath and wait for my stomach to settle. Then, composed once more, I notice a group of children playing a game, laughing raucously and enjoying themselves immensely.‘Hello. Miss?’ A young woman with a posh accent says. She has long dark-brown hair and brown eyes. She appears to be in her mid-twenties, and two young girls hold her hand.‘Hello,’ I nervously reply, saying hello to another human for the first time in my life. It’s odd yet liberating. I shade my face with my velvet hood, so she does not see my violet eyes.‘Is everything okay?’ She asks. I nod.‘Yes, I'm fine, thank you.’ I say.The woman tilts her head to the side, frowning.‘I'm sorry. It's just that you’re not wearing any boots, and it's not very ladylike or customary for a young lady to be barefoot in the street,’ she says. I look down at my feet, and boots were not something I thought about when I stole the clothes from the stall. I’ve seen the forest visitors wearing boots b
Alpha King Damon Women in all shapes and sizes, wearing all sorts of colours, gush and gape at me and run their fingers along with my vest as we dance at a ball held in my honour. Their behaviour would be socially unacceptable anywhere else.Damn you, Eric! I know you have told these she-wolves I might have to choose my own mate, get them off of me before I release my wolf and start ripping their heads off! I tell my Gamma Eric via mind-link.Sorry Alpha. You might have to consider it. If the rumours are true and King Fenris attacks Moon Crest Valley, you’re stronger with a mate and Luna. Eric mind-links back.Not if she isn’t my true fated mate, now get them away from me, Eric, before it’s your head I rip off.‘Ladies, ladies. Let the Alpha King compose himself. Being surrounded by your beauty is overwhelming for him. Let me escort you all to the drink table, where you can tell me your progress with Alpha King Damon.’ Eric says as he winks at me and ushers the she-wolves away. I cro
Beta TroyThe forest is the most serene, harmonious place I have ever seen. Trudging through thickets and bramble, I hear leaves and twigs crunch under my boots. The forest has a sense of magic about her. She truly is enchanting.Halfway through the forest, I hear the sound of trickling water. Feeling quite thirsty after such a long trek, I follow the sound and eventually find a stunning waterfall. I hold my flask underneath the stream for a while to fill it before having a drink.In the distance, someone with a very melodic voice sings a very beautiful song.I make my way toward West Wallow in human form and arrive a few hours later. Had I been in my wolf form, I would have arrived sooner, but going undetected by the humans when war could be approaching, is extremely crucial.I wander around the market in Wellmore and buy some of the juiciest fruit I have ever had. The King’s soldiers stop at stalls with carts and place half the contents on t
In Wellmore, the villagers are angry and on edge. They’re complaining about a tax hike and a food shortage, having cleared the forest of food. The market stalls are only half-laden with edible goods, from which I steal some apples and a loaf of bread. I sit down on a bench, and eat an apple, storing the loaf of bread in the hessian bag I kept from my first visit. Standing on Vivian’s doorstep, I knock on the side window and wait patiently for her to come to the door. ‘Maia! I'm so glad you’ve come to visit us. Come in,’ she says, smiling and standing aside so that I may go in.‘You’ve come at the right time. I’ve just boiled a pot of tea,’ Vivian smiles.‘Oh. That sounds lovely. What is tea?’ I ask her, and she pauses.‘Have you always been homeless and alone?’ She asks, pulling out a chair for me to sit in.‘No. I live with my friend Ember,’ Vivian places a warm drink on the table in front of me.‘This is a cup of tea. Be careful. Sip it slowly. Don’t burn yourself,’ Vivian caution
King FenrisArriving at the training fields, my most trusted knight, Sir Hugo, and I hop down from our thoroughbreds and tie them to posts with rope. Thousands of soldiers are in training. There is a cacophony of sounds: swords clashing, axes and maces thrown at wooden targets, tree stumps, and men grunting with exertion.A few hundred archers shoot at targets from varying distances and nod at me as I pass behind them. There is lots of yelling as men practice their war cries or call out to one another. A few training casualties hobble around with injuries to their ankles, knees, and feet.My Commander in Chief, James Boroughshaw, is stationed outside a makeshift tent and is observing the jousting closest to us.‘My King,’ James says as he kneels before me.‘Commander James,’ I nod, and he stands back up.‘I require an update of our progress,’ I say, sitting down in a wooden folding chair and accepting the glass of brandy Squire Thomas hands to
Maia‘Maia,’ Grace says.‘Yes, Grace?’ I smile at the young girl in front of me.‘Can we come to your forest and meet Ember one day?’‘Sure. I’d love to show you my home. And I'm sure Ember would love to meet you,’ I say excitedly and smile.‘Perhaps when this war is over,’ Vivian says, exhaling and folding her hands in her lap. The girls nod and run off again.‘Vivian?’ I say. ‘Where’s your mate?’ I ask.‘Only werewolves have mates. Humans have husbands. I had a husband: it was love at first sight. His name was Derrick. We were married a few weeks after meeting and had our girls not long after. When they were two, he died in a mining accident. The mine collapsed and killed him and twenty other men,’ Vivian says, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.‘Oh. I'm so sorry,’ I say, watching her dab her eyes.‘I don't know if I could love another man. I know Derrick would want me to. He’d want the girls to have a father, but I just haven't be
Beta TroyIn Shadowguard, a slave auction is about to commence. Twenty-five children between the ages of five and fourteen stand side by side in a row, with their hands tied with rope. They’re bruised, dirty and malnourished. A man walks toward a small cage, and a growl emits from within it.Excited and shocked, the crowd is divided between those who view the wolf pup as a commodity and those who view him as an animal to be feared.The auctioneer drags the young boy out of the cage and demands he stands. The boy is so exhausted and weary that he falls over into the dirt. I’m disgusted but must know the fate of this poor boy.After lunging at the crowd of spectators, the auctioneer punches him hard in his stomach, winding him, and knocking him over. I make eye contact with this young soul—defeat and grief blaze in his eyes.‘A real genuine wolf pup! Not just an ordinary wolf pup! This one has Alpha blood. He’ll be the strongest farmhand you’ve eve
Alpha King DamonWe don’t stand a chance at winning this war with fifteen thousand warriors, so we stop at Mist Falls and Wolfwell, recruiting everyone able to fight and increasing our number to eighteen thousand.After a few days, we reach Thornwell, a town halfway between our packhouse and the forest border. We decide to train the recruits for a few days there. Thornwell is a decently-sized village with a river running through the forest border and into human lands.For the past few nights, I’ve had the same dream of my mate. I see only the back of her long dark hair, and every time I try to get closer, she vanishes.I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. The war should have my full, undivided attention, and yet, here I am, pining after a girl I don’t even know. I yearn for her: to touch her, to kiss her, to smell her violet and honey scent, to hold her in my arms.My wolf has been uncontrollable because our unspoken mate bond is driv