William finally let me go back to the cabin. I made a beeline for the bedroom and the blanket piled on the top. William was right behind me. He settled into the bed right after me. I wondered if he was still going hunting like he had mentioned, or if my disappearance had ruined that for him.
“Did you have time to go hunting? Or will that be later?” I asked, looking up at the ceiling from the bed and not wanting to meet eyes with him, knowing that I probably ruined his hunt.
“No, I did not have time to hunt. When I woke up, you were nowhere to be found. I told the hunting party to go without me. I had to locate you.” He said, some of that angry bite reappearing in his voice again.
“I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else. I don’t have anywhere else to go, William.” I said, trying to make sure he understood that because of him and his doing, he was my only home now.
“Elias, that isn’t true. You could go anywhere. There are several other kingdoms where you could run off, too.” He said, way too seriously. I chuckled. “Your hate of my father is common, even among the other rulers. No one would shelter me from you. Know that.”
“I see. I didn’t know they weren’t fond of your father, either. I figured you would have been able to patch things up. You’re a very smooth talker.”
“Not smooth enough, it seems.” I muttered.
“Really, Elias.” William hissed.
“It’s the truth, William. Nothing excuses that.”
“Go to sleep Elias.”
“I’m no longer tired.”
“You best get tired. I don’t have enough energy to deal with you right now.”
“Is that so?” I asked, as he sat down on the bed. I waited until he laid down to test my luck with him. As soon as his back touched the bed, I rolled on top of him and pinned him down.
“Elias, I am not in the mood for whatever this is.”
“Well, I am.”
“Elias, I am warning you—--”
I slapped my hand over his mouth, without thinking, and freed one of his hands. I could feel his chest rumbling under me as his eyes flooded with that beautiful golden colour again. I freed his other hand, so that I could use that hand as support. William pulled my hand off his mouth and added sound to the rumbling I was feeling.
“This colour is still so beautiful.” I said, touching his cheek with my free hand.
He closed his eyes, and I grunted at him in annoyance.
“Open them again!” I demanded.
He kept them closed. Slowly, the growling stopped. He was trying to go to sleep. I wasn’t ok with this; I wanted to see his eyes again. I pinched him on the hip where I could reach and his eyes flew open, and he was livid.
“Elias!”
He grabbed my right arm roughly. That was the one I pinched him with.
“Sorry! I wanted—--” He rolled us over and knocked the air out of my lungs, but also changed the position we were in. Now my legs were spread, and I was flat on my back, William between them. My cheeks flushed as I realized how this looked and how close together we were right now.
I turned my head to the side and looked away. I couldn’t look at him right now, not with the ruby flush on my cheeks. Sex was normal with feeding, depending on your feeding source, so it wasn’t like I was a virgin, but something about William hovering above me like this made me feel embarrassed and shy.
“Elias, look at me.” William said.
“I can’t.”
His fingers grabbed my chin, and he turned my head back to look at him and his eyes were golden, but flecks of something else danced in them, and they drew me in.
“Kiss me?” I whispered, the words sounding more like a question, then a request, and least of all a demand. Not that I would demand him to kiss me.
“Never.” William hissed, and his eyes faded back to normal, and he moved, and it embarrassed me. I had been so caught up in his eyes that I had asked him to kiss me. Moving out of the bed, I left the room, and even the cabin. I needed air. William didn’t come with me. I was more than alright with this. For once, instead of heading to the hall where everyone went to eat, I went to check out where my friends, family and others were living, quite comfortably and freely.
More than anything, I wanted to see my aunt.
I hadn’t really been on this side of the pack set up, but it was nice to see vampires and werewolves mingling and playing. The wolves, for the most part, ignored me. They gave me a quick look, and that was about it.
Finding my aunt proved harder than I thought. Thankfully, one of the vampires passing by me stopped and pointed out where she was when I asked. Heading to the cabin, I knocked and waited. My aunt opened the door and seemed shocked.
“Elias!”
“Hi, it took me a minute or a few, but I’ve finally found where you’re staying.” I said, just standing there.
“Please, come inside.” She said, stepping out of the way to let me inside and closing the door behind me. “Did William not come?”
“William is at his cabin resting, I believe.” I said, sitting down on one chair she had. They were ones from her home before.
“Right, so what happened, since he doesn’t let you out of his sight?”
“Nothing happened.” I said.
“You’re a terrible liar, Elias. You act like I don’t know your lying face.”
“It’s nothing, just another bad judgment call on my behalf.” I muttered.
“Oh, now you are telling me in fine detail.”
“I asked him to kiss me.”
“Oh! Was it that bad?” She said, sitting in another chair and looking at me.
“He refused. The word he used was ‘never’. I can’t believe I asked him. I know where he stands on that.”
“On vampire and werewolves having relations, you mean?”
“Yes! Exactly that.”
“Give him time. He looks at you interestingly. Trust me, he is interested.” She said, taking my hand and pressing her lips to my fingers. She did this both endearingly and as a way of pledging her support to me.
“He said he will allow me to still reign over my people here, but I think it’s because he wants to know exactly what I am doing every waking moment.”
“Your father is to blame for that, and it will take everything in him to separate you from your father. Sadly.”
“I know, I do. I just hate this. We have a blood bond. I can feel his bloody emotions, but I ask him to kiss me and that’s too much? Seriously. I don’t want this.”
“Enough of this talk. Felix is coming shortly with some children, vampires and wolves. Something about building a snow fort, I’m sure he could use a hand.”
“Why? Felix is strong enough on his—-”
“Just do as I’ve asked of you, your highness.”
“Fine.” I hissed, not even feeling slightly better after telling her my annoyances.
When Felix showed up, he was amused to see me, but accepted my help. They dressed the wolf children and vampire children all the same, and it was hard to tell who was a vampire and who wasn’t.
“How do you tell them apart?”
“Tell them apart? What do you mean, Elias?”
“Vampire and wolf?”
“I don’t, I don’t care, they are children. Play is beneficial for both types of children.”
“They are cute.” I muttered.
“They are.”
“Whose idea was it to have them play together?” I asked.
“The Alpha, William. He wants to have the next generations grow alongside each other. That way, there will be compassion.”
“Oh. I didn’t know. He never told me.” I muttered.
Felix looked at me and back at the children. “Come along, your highness, we have a snow fort to build. You best do your fair share.”
Felix let the children decide on a spot, then we started rolling snowballs to make the fort. Everyone was pitching in. My hands were frozen by the time I started my second snowball. The weather wasn’t terrible, just chilly when the wind blew. I covered my hands with the sleeves of my shirt to continue rolling snowballs.
“I think our kingdom needs some snowmen for guards.” I said, watching the children as they agreed and starting making snowmen. I looked at the trees and saw something move in the trees. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Hey Felix, I’m just going to check something out over here. Ok?”
He never answered me, but I assumed it was alright. When I was at the tree line, I watched something dart out at one child. Not thinking twice, I darted at the child, scooping them up as the wild wolf bit down. Saving the child, the wolf sank its teeth into my arm and held on.
“I’m going to put you down. Run!”
The child ran to Felix, who was ushering them into the closest cabin and safety. The wolf on my arm was relentless. The more I hit it with my free hand, the harder it bit down. It was trying to yank me, or at least my arm, with it back into the forest with it. I didn’t want to kill it.
“Let go, you stupid mutt.” I snarled, showing it my fangs finally and punching it again. It yelped but only bit down further.
“Elias!”
I heard William yell as he got to my side, my blood staining the snow. He grabbed the wolf by the jaws and the sound of yelping and snapping bones and pressure off my arm was all I felt and heard. As for seeing, I closed my eyes, not wanting to see him kill the wolf.
“Open your eyes.”
Opening, the wolf was dead, crumpled on the ground.
“Why didn’t you kill it!” William yelled at me, looking at my arm.
“I didn’t want to have to kill it.”
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