I pause, needing to think. I've trained for all possibilities. A children’s story suddenly comes to mind that my parents once told me. It was about a young wolf who was being hunted. The Fates had foreseen his future and how he would play a pivotal role to our people. They intervened and led him along a clear pathway and kept his feet from moving when he would stray in the wrong direction.
An unexpected wave of relief washes over me. Accepting the Fates know better than me, I follow their direction and go sit where I had waited before. With complete confidence that I solved the source of the tug and my unmoving feet, I relax. I’m actually intrigued to see what will happen. I have full trust in the Fates, but I’m going to research more escape routes and safe places to hide out while I wait.
I’m so focused on my research that I startle when my phone vibrates in my hand with an incoming text from Klaus. Even though I've had my phone in my hand the whole time I’ve been waiting, I haven’t paid attention to the time. Although, with the sun fully set, I know the guys will be arriving soon.
I open and read the messages Klaus sent, and slide my phone in my pocket when I’m done. With Klaus’ arrival, I move to get up, but my tailbone sticks to the ground. I guess the Fates still want me to wait here. I pull the string to my storage pouch over my head and open it to pull out a bag of trail mix to snack on. The guys and I typically celebrate the start of our vacation with a hunt, but seeing as the Fates have devised a new plan for me, I’m not sure when I’ll be having my next meal.
I finish my measly snack, which is barely enough to hold me over for an hour, and feel the Fates encouraging me to shift into my wolf. With no urgency behind the sensation, I take my time, staying vigilant for what the Fates may deliver next. I remove one piece of clothing at a time, fold it carefully, then place it into the pouch in its designated place, before moving on to the next item of clothing. Once everything is put away, I pull the string on either side to close the pouch and put it back around my neck. I pause for a moment, making sure the Fates still want me to shift. The breeze caresses my skin as a strong gust blows in from the north.
With the Fates permission, I crouch down and order my body to change forms. As soon as I’m in my wolf form, I shake out my fur and lift my hind leg to scratch an itch behind my ear. My hind leg stretches to reach...ahhh, yep, that’s the spot. The relief of an itch no longer nagging me is one of the only joys I experience in life. Having successfully banished the itch, I lay down to wait out the Fates. It’s not long before the man with glasses comes strolling out of the trees. He has pockmarks all over his face, and his unkempt shaggy hair looks dreadful.
I stand and fix my attention on him as he walks over to his truck and pulls the door open. Bending over the seat, I hear him mutter, “Where the fuck is it?” He grunts as he pulls himself onto the driver’s seat and leans over to the passenger side. After looking around, he sits up and I hear him grab his phone from where it’s placed in the door. He sighs in relief, and I hear the click of him unlocking the device. He steps out of the truck and shuts the door before leaning against it, seeming to be in no hurry this time. I can hear his fingers swiping over his screen as he fiddles around with it. The wind shifts and I catch a whiff of his scent. He smells different from when he was here before. I mean, he still smells the same, but at the same time, he doesn’t.
“Don’t leave her alone, Wilks. You’ll create a security breach, Wilks.” I hear the guy muttering in a mocking voice. “If you really feel that way, then give me a full-time team. I need to eat, and some sunshine once in a while would be nice too. Fuckers.” I can practically hear his eye roll in his voice.
I try to forget about the smell, but I just can’t. Why can’t I pinpoint what it is? There’s definitely something wrong with his scent… something clinging to his skin that is most certainly not a smell belonging to him. This scent belongs to… it belongs to me…? Why do I get the distinct impression that smell ismine?
Not mine as in the scent I carry around on my body, but mine as in something belonging to me. Like a person… but that doesn’t make sense because this man arrived alone, and I haven’t picked up any other scents around me.
After a moment, it comes to me. This is the same scent I always catch a fleeting whiff of when I wake up from the nightmares. The ones I can never recall once I'm awake, no matter how hard I try. The smell itself brings me the greatest sense of the purest joy I've ever felt, but it also reminds me of happiness that’s been tragically ripped away from my soul. I always try to hold on to the moment of pure bliss but it’s like trying to squeeze your fist around water.
A loud screech emits from his phone, startling me from my thoughts. He curses, eyes going wide in panic, and is suddenly hauling ass back into the woods.Seriously… what is this shady guy doing? Who hauls ass intothe woods at the sound of an alarm?
I make a move to follow him, hoping the Fates have deemed it time. They must because my paws are free to move swiftly underneath me. Time to find some answers.
Chapter 5
Cecily
Five Hundred Years Ago
Idon’t have a normal life. I don’t even know what the meaning of normal is, outside of the fact that I haven’t experienced it. Sometimes I ponder what life would be like if I weren't a princess. What time would I get to sleep till? Would someone plan out every second of my day for me, or would I be allowed some freedom to choose how I spend my time? Would those surrounding me act more genuine?
Why am I even having these thoughts? I can’t change my position in life, nor would I want to if I’m being honest with myself. Although, it’s fun to imagine something different on a day like today... for someone who is living a privileged life, today is especially trying. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself as my right hand tugs on the end of my left sleeve making sure there are no wrinkles in my gown. Well, and to make sure my mate mark is covered on my arm. It’s a habit I’ve had since I was old enough to understand the importance of keeping it covered up.
My fingers trace over the fabric covering my mark, the mark that is considered a gift placed on my skin by the Fates. There’s only one other person who will ever receive a mark matching mine as each design is unique to the individual couple. The mate marks will show up once the two people are at a point in their lives, where they are ready to meet each other. The Fates will determine when the couple’s souls are ready to form the bond linking them for the rest of their lives, and when the time comes the marks magically show up on the person’s left forearm.
That’s how it typically works, at least. Nothing is typical about me though. I’m the firstborn daughter, crown princess, and heir to my mother’s throne. I'll be the next Alpha Queen to our people. As such, the Fates gifted me my mate mark at birth. I remember vividly learning about my mark. I was five, running through my mother’s study, trying to hide from my guards, Frances and Baxter.
My bare feet slap against the stone as I run from my guards. If I can just get to the empty cupboard in my mother’s study, I know I’ll be able to hide from them. Suddenly I’m swooped up in strong arms and am surrounded by the honey scent of my mother. “Sinopa, what are you doing running through here? And your sleeves! Why are they pushed up?” she chastises me, a hint of something else in her voice while placing me on the ground and pulling my sleeves down.
I pout and stick out my bottom lip, not understanding why I have to keep my sleeves down. “But, Momma! It’s too hot! And I like looking at my pretty mark.” I love my mark and someday my prince will show up with a matching mark and he’ll be my mate and we are going to be in love and live happily ever after. For some reason I’m never allowed to show it off, though. It’s part of why my guards were chasing me down. “Why can’t I show it off?”
My mother lets out a sigh. “You will be able to someday, my little Sinopa. We used to be able to show off our marks from the start, but then we had to stop. Don’t you remember the story I told you about The Deception?”She sits and wraps her warm arms around me again as I get comfortable on her lap. I shake my head no and she continues on. “There once was a maiden who saw one of the princes. She instantly fell in love with him and couldn’t stop thinking about him. Day and night, he consumed her thoughts and she became desperate to gain his attention. She wanted nothing more in the world than to be his fated mate. She was so sure they were destined to be together, she convinced herself the Fates just hadn’t deemed her ready for her mate yet. So one day, not wanting to wait any longer, she fabricated a matching mate mark to gain her prince.
“The prince, having thought he found his mate, started to spend all of his time with her to work toward completing the bond. As much as he tried, he never felt a connection with the maiden and no one could understand why the prince couldn’t bring himself to accept his mate. The Deception would’ve never been found if his actual fated mate hadn’t shown up. The prince was distraught to have been tricked and made sure to pass down his cautionary tale through the generations. He wanted to ensure we are never again blinded by evil, trying to stain the purity of a fated bond.” My mother finishes her story but I can tell she isn’t done with explaining to me his tale. Some parts of her story were hard for me to follow, but I know when I’m older I’ll understand it all.
My mother runs a hand over my hair and looks into my eyes. She has on her serious face, so I know to pay extra attention. “This is why it’s so important to hide your mark. We don’t want anyone but family to know what it looks like so you aren’t tricked by an imposter.”
I still don’t understand. “But, Momma, why do we get our mark so early if a bad man will want to trick me?” My mark is special… why can’t I show it off?
She frowns before trying to explain it to me, “It’s a tradition, sweetie, going back almost to the beginning of our evolution. The Fates realized people were holding back on the search for their fated mates when their marks showed up in hopes they were paired to someone in the Royal family. Mostly it was males who were ambitious enough to hope the crown heir was their mate.
“To solve this problem, the Fates decided to gift the royal family their marks at birth. That way, those who came to see if their mark matched a royal could receive a definitive answer. That allowed those who were not a match to begin their quest in finding the one who was fated for them. Sometimes they even found each other at the castle having both come to present marks.” I scrunch up my nose with all the big words she used. Sometimes Momma forgets I’m too little to understand them all.
My eyes blink trying to clear the memory. While it was hard for me to understand back then, I have no problem processing it now. There is evil in the world, everyone knows it. But no one believed the evil in the world would ever attack the sanctity of the bond. Our people hold the phenomenon of fated mates as sacred. Not everyone is guaranteed to be gifted with the bond between souls. Some people are just never ready to share that strong of a bond with another person. Therefore, our word is believed when we declare someone’s marks don’t match with any of our unmated family members.
Along with making sure we don’t show our mark, the prince implemented some other preventative measures after “The Deception” took place. Now, the actual marked individual may not come to inquire if they are a match. They must embrace their magic from within, using it as a signature to transfer a replica of their mark onto a parchment. This spelled parchment is then presented to the royal court by a family member of the petitioning marked shifter.
