Chapter 101

Ruby

Later in the evening, after we’ve spent a few hours just walking around the castle grounds and enjoying the nice weather, Nancy goes home.

Even though it’s much warmer outside than it has been in a while, my face and hands are freezing from spending the day outside so I decide to head in to warm up. I can still hear a bit of commotion in the ballroom as the wedding reception is still being set up when I get inside.

My stomach starts to growl and I realize I haven’t eaten all day, so I head toward the kitchen to find something to eat.

When I enter the kitchen, Atwood is already there. He’s sitting at the counter with two plates of food.

“Perfect timing,” he says with a smile, gesturing to the other plate. “I figured you’d be hungry after trekking around the castle grounds with Nancy all day.”

I can’t help but smile at Atwood’s kindness as I take a seat at the kitchen island. The food is still steaming, fresh off the stove. It’s a simple plate of vegetables, chicken, and rice, but is somehow incredibly delicious.

Despite how good the food tastes, however, I soon find myself picking at it as the feeling of being watched comes back.

“What’s wrong?” Atwood says, setting down his fork. “Still nervous?”

I nod, keeping my eyes on my plate to hide the fact that I might cry at any moment.

Atwood pushes his stool back and stands, circling around the counter island to meet me. He holds out his hand. “Come,” he says, leading me out of the kitchen when I take his hand. “Let’s hunt. Maybe that will bring your appetite back.”

“A… real hunt?” I ask, my face turning red as we head toward the back entrance. “I’ve never done that before.”

Atwood turns to me with an almost mischievous smile as we step out into the moonlight. The moon is nearly full; it’ll no doubt be full on our wedding, which is tomorrow already. He looks devilishly handsome under the moonlight, his sleek black hair pulled back into a low bun to expose his sharp jawline. In the moonlight, his orange eyes burn even brighter.

“I’ve seen you fight,” he says. “You’ll be a natural. We’ll just find a deer or two.”

Atwood descends the stairs that lead onto the lawn and shifts into his wolf form. I’d never realized just how quick the transformation is; a blink of an eye, and he goes from a human to a huge, black wolf with glowing orange eyes. He takes a few steps out toward the trees before looking over his shoulder at me, waiting.

With a deep breath, I shift, too. Even in my wolf form, which is significantly larger than my human form, I feel dwarfed next to Atwood’s great size.

But when we start running toward the woods, with the wind in our fur, I’m quicker than he is.

I sprint ahead of Atwood with ease, leaving him behind me. He lets out a shocked yet playful growl and speeds up to catch up with me as I break through the treeline and deftly leap over the exposed tree roots.

Soon, as we run through the woods, I feel the anxiety slip away, replaced only by pure bliss. It feels natural to run like this, to exist in the forest. The cold air fills my lungs and invigorates me, heightening my senses.

“Slow down,” Atwood eventually says with our mindlink. I stop running to let him catch up to me. He approaches, keeping low to the ground with his orange eyes fixed at something ahead. I follow suit and crouch low, looking where he is.

Ahead of us, there are two deer: a doe and a buck. They’re still quite a ways away, but our heightened sight allows us to see them perfectly from this far. They’re grazing peacefully, completely oblivious to our presence.

“I’ll take the buck,” Atwood says. “You take the doe. They look young, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

With a nod, I follow Atwood through the underbrush, still crouched low as we step carefully so as not to make any noise. We both freeze when the doe lifts her head suddenly with a snort. There’s a bit of grass sticking out of her muzzle as she scans the forest in our direction.

After a painstakingly long few moments, the doe returns to grazing and we continue our stalking.

Soon, we’re only a few yards away.

My instincts kick in as though I’ve done this a million times before and we split up, each taking one side of the deer; I take the side of the doe and Atwood takes the side of the buck. We circle around the deer, flanking them, then crouch low in the ferns as we prepare to attack.

Although my instinct is strong, however, it’s a matter of fact that this is still my first hunt and I am not as experienced as I believe myself to be.

I accidentally shift my weight onto one foot and carelessly snap a twig.

The deer both jerk their heads up, nostrils flaring. Atwood fixes his eyes on me from across the clearing as if to say “Really?”

I hold my breath, freezing every muscle in my body in the hopes that the deer won’t see me; but they do. The doe’s eyes scan the forest and finally fall on me, and for a brief moment, we stare into one another’s eyes before they both bound off into the forest.

Atwood and I try to catch them, but eventually we lose them after weaving to and fro in the increasingly darkening forest for a while.

Panting, Atwood trots back to me from his spot ahead.

“I’m sorry,” I say, still using my mindlink as I hang my head low.

“It’s alright,” Atwood responds. He walks up to me and nuzzles my neck. “On my first hunt, I tripped over a tree root and fell head first into a small ravine, so you’re already better off than I was.”

Inwardly, I smile at Atwood’s story. The image of him as a clumsy pup falling down a slope is funny to me. I guess I had never really pictured him as anything but a king and a proficient warrior, but I suppose he had his firsts just like the rest of us.

“You tired?” he says. “Wanna go back?”

I shake my head, partially because I don’t want to return to the castle where I’ll no doubt feel the anxiety return, but also for another reason.

Hunting with Atwood has turned me on more than I thought possible.

With a playful growl, I leap toward Atwood. We collide and tumble around in the underbrush, nipping playfully at one another until he winds up on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

With one look, we both know what we want.

We shift back into our human forms and begin kissing fervently, our tongues exploring each other’s mouths as though it’ll be the last time we ever kiss. With little hesitation I reach down to his pants and unbuckle his belt, pulling out his warm, throbbing member.

A growl escapes Atwood’s lips at my touch. He grabs me and flips me over onto my belly, pulling down my pants and thrusting himself inside of me.

I don’t mind that my face is in the dirt.

When we’re finished, Atwood rolls off of me and onto the ground, panting from the vigorous sex we just had. I pull my pants back up, still throbbing from the feeling of him, and roll over onto my back to look at the sky.

The moon is perfectly in view ahead of us, as though it was watching.

Atwood buckles his belt and sits up, looking at me over his shoulder. “We should get back to the castle,” he says softly, standing and holding out a hand for me. But I shake my head.

“I don’t want to,” I respond, still laying on the ground.

Atwood frowns and places his hands on his hips.

“What do you suggest, then?” he says. “That we should sleep out here, in the woods?”

I smirk and bite my lip with a nod. “Yes,” I reply. “Let’s sleep outside. We’ve already been animals tonight.”

“It could be dangerous,” he says, although I can hear a playful tone in his voice. I stand and wrap my arms around him, looking up at him from below. Even though we just had sex, he moans a bit at the feeling of my breasts pressing against him.

“You can protect me,” I say in a sultry voice.

Atwood sighs and closes his eyes for a moment, tilting his head back toward the sky. Doing so exposes his neck and his Adam’s apple.

“Alright,” he says finally. “But just tonight.”

He kisses me deeply again, taking a moment to suck on my neck, before we both shift back into our wolf forms and curl up together beneath the moon.