The doors opened but that was all. No threat they could see awaited them on the other side, so they cautiously stepped through the archway of the open door leading downward. Cold walls surrounded them and darkness engulfed the hallway they walked down. Soon, blue light began to illuminate their path from ahead and they emerged into a large underground cavern. Above where the walls met the ceiling was a strip of gel glowing blue and illuminating the room. The same was along each of the eleven pillars down the center of the room and at the base of the walls near the floor. There were no books or scrolls covering the walls, but instead what lined the walls were slabs of stone. Over the walls, on pillars, and in rows looking like book cases. Etched into every piece of stone in this cavern were more of the symbols they had discovered in their attempt to get into this place. “I hope there are no more riddles to solve.” Aria looked over to see that Absalom had turned back into his h
“Are you going to help or not?”Absalom’s voice sounded distant and when Aria looked up he was across the room studying a wall. Reluctantly she pushed up from the ground and shuffled her feet to another wall, angry that she’d let him get to her like that; angry that she was now so downcast; angry that her stupid body longed to please him and still longed for his touch. None of it made sense. She set out on this journey to be with Morgan. To become a full human or get control of this shape shifting so she could marry him and displace that stupid whore on his arm. Her chest burned and she held back a sob. She wasn’t sad; she was angry. She couldn’t remember ever being so angry in her life. Her fist pounded the wall but no sound erupted from the solid fortress and for that she was thankful. The last thing she needed was more mocking from Absalom. She could feel his eyes burning into her back now, but refused to give him the satisfaction of her attention and backed away from the
Absalom took a while to recover from the return of his memories. Aria hated to admit it but she was worried about him. Since she’d met him she’d never seen him so weak. She’d had to help him up from the floor and walk him to one of the tables in the outer room to sit down in what remained of their sunlight. She then walked through the village remains and found a home near the archive building that was still mostly intact and would protect them from the weather and provide some protection from lurking danger as well. After explaining its location to Absalom, she helped his heavy body up from the table and allowed him to lean on her a bit while they walked to the house. His body was hot against her skin and she tried to not notice.“Absalom, did you have a family before the attack?” She hoped she wasn’t bringing up painful memories but she was curious. She feared she was starting to really care about him. He’d been a Duke and Dukes usually had families, didn’t they?“I had a si
It was a cooler day in March and the wind only slightly rustled through the trees. The white she-wolf’s snowy white fur moved as the breeze teased it while she sat on the rock. Her eyes closed as she sniffed the air for hints of anything exciting. It was a perfect day for hunting and she’d hoped to find a rabbit or two that should be out grazing on a beautiful morning like this. Instead, she caught the scent of something that didn’t frequent the forest, but wasn’t totally foreign, either. It was the scent of a man. The she-wolf’s ears perked at the recognition of the scent and her icy blue eyes shot open. Down below the rock on which she sat came the hoofbeats of a large charger on which sat a very handsome man with dark hair and a clean-shaven face. He was dressed in brown trousers with knee-high black boots and a white tunic with a tan vest buttoned down to a glistening belt. But it wasn’t the attire that gave him away,
A warmth in front of her and laughter somewhere near woke her from a sound sleep. If she’d had been dreaming, she couldn’t remember. As her eyes blinked open a bright light infiltrated her sore pupils, so she pushed herself to try and stand to move away from the burning sensation. As she did, pain seared through her shoulder bringing back into memory the fight with the bear to save the life of a stupid human. But then… the man, he’d taken her, hadn’t he? So, why was she alive? She lowered herself back onto something soft. And where was she? She shook her large furry head and blinked, trying to clear her vision. When that failed, she pawed at her face and eyes and shook again. Finally, her vision cleared, and she saw that the warmth in front of her was a fire made in a brick fireplace. The soft ground she was laying on was a sheepskin rug. She pushed off the floor, this time succeed
Her eyes flickered open, and the morning light shown through her eyelids blinding her for a moment. Squinting and blinking, she gave her blue eyes a chance to adjust to the invading light before pushing off the ground and stretching her body out for a long and satisfying relief of tension to get her blood moving. She looked around at the stone and tapestry covered walls. The same walls she’d seen every day since being brought to this dreadful castle. How did they do it? How did they live day after day in this boring place with their boring routines? She walked to the balcony grateful Philip had left it open for her. She missed the breeze whistling through the trees of the forest. She missed the hunt, though she couldn’t entirely complain about having a full stomach every day. She even missed hiding from the other packs and the sense of adventure and slight danger.A rattle sounded behind her, so she spun her he
CHAPTER 4:A rustling somewhere nearby jarred the white wolf from her sleep. She yawned with a wide-open mouth and let out a little whine at the same time. Rich laughter caught her attention and pulled her from her lingering yawn and she blinked to focus her eyes. It was Morgan, standing shirtless in front of his armoire tying his trousers. She let her eyes drift over his beltline at the toned chiseling that teased her. His laughter stopped, pulling her eyes up to his face.“I’d better get you some food. That intense stare tells me you must be hungry.” If he only knew what she was hungry for, just now. She let her icy blue eyes drift down, again, enjoying the chisled curves that led to somewhere she'd only explore in her dreams.As he pulled his tunic over his head, a cluster of voices chorused in the hallway and traveled away from the door, pulling her from her imagination
She had spent the day wondering the castle and avoiding people. Occasionally she’d hear a gasp from a servant as she’d pass them in the hallways, but she was used to it now. One would think they’d be used to seeing her and know by now she wasn’t interested in eating anybody except the castle feline, though she did vow not to kill anymore of the king’s pets.It was getting colder, and the stone floors of the castle were starting to make her toes numb, so she headed to Philip’s chamber to rest for the night. She would have rather gone to Morgan’s room, but the air between them felt awkward to her now that she had damaged the relationship between him and his father. As she approached the chamber door, a familiar scent hit her nose, then she heard the giggling of the tramp that was supposedly Morgan’s betrothed. She scrunched her nose, wrinkling her snout in a canine grimace. Better see