Following Maia’s scent, I come across a beautiful plum tree with many fresh, ripe plums on the ground deep in the forest.
I pick one up and bite into it. Its wine-coloured juice runs down my chin messily. I suddenly hear a scream and know it’s Maia. I quickly undress, shift into my wolf, and run towards Maia, which leads me to a spot with a cave. A soldier I do not know hovers over my mate. I pierce the flesh of his neck with my fangs and rip a large chunk out, killing him instantly.
Maia sits up and looks at me in fear. I shift back into human form and cover myself with my hands. I slowly approach her. ‘Your safe now.’ I say gently. ‘I won’t hurt you.’ I assure her. Her shaking subsides. I gently pick her up sparks form from where our skin touches. I walk over to the waterfall and step in until I am chest-deep in the water.
She stares at my chest, and my body hardens. Thank goodness she can’t see her effect on me under the water. The water washes away the blood while I caress her face and stroke her hair.
‘Are you okay? Did he hurt you?’ I ask her, concerned.
‘No,’ she whimpers, washing the remainder of the blood off her face. ‘Have I missed any?’ She asks, asking me to inspect her.
‘No,’
‘How did you know I was here?’ She asks.
‘I didn’t. I just happened to find you,’ I tell her honestly.
‘I’ve heard werewolves are bad,’ she says.
‘Not all. Only some,’ I say.
‘Why are you here?’
‘I was looking for you,’
‘Why?’
‘Because we are mates, I want to be near you. I feel protective of you, and I feel happy when I’m with you,’ I say, desperately wanting to caress her face again.
‘I haven’t been this close to a man before,’ she says, and I sense she is beginning to trust me.
‘It’s okay,’ I say, inching closer to her.
‘There are many things I don’t know. I haven’t had parents to teach me. Although I’ve just returned from Vivian’s house, she explained many things,’ she explains.
‘Who is Vivian?’ I ask.
‘My friend. She lives in Wellmore Village,’ Maia explains.
‘Do you live in this cave?’ I ask her.
‘I do,’ she says. ‘With my fox Ember.’ I pity her. She has no parents, and she lives in a cave. I step closer to her, take her hand, and plant it firmly on my chest over my heart.
‘Do you feel that?’ I ask her, knowing she feels my heartbeat beneath her fingers. I gaze into her violet eyes. She is so sweet and innocent.
‘I do. It’s so fast. Why is it so fast?’ She asks, surprised.
‘It’s fast because I’m happy,’ I tell her, softening how I feel about her so I don’t scare her off.
‘Do you desire me?’ She asks, and it’s a question I wasn’t expecting. Maybe she does know about the birds and the bees.
‘I do, Maia. I do, in the deepest way,’ I tell her, staring into her eyes. She bites her lip and contemplates my answer. I don’t know what she is thinking.
Once we’re clean, I follow behind her out of the water, and she goes inside the cave.
‘Give me a second. I just need to fetch my clothes,’ I tell her running to where I left my tunic, breeches and
boots. I retrieve my clothes and dress quickly, hurriedly pulling each boot onto each foot before sprinting back to her cave.
Thousands of glow worms illuminate the cave inside. It is quite beautiful.
I make my way through the cave until I spot Maia, a fox and a basket on top of a tree stump, being used as a table. On the ground not far from this is a makeshift bed with a straw-filled pillow and a wool blanket. Daylight shines through a square hole in the cave wall, and water cascades over it outside. It’s the waterfall that runs into the pool we just bathed in.
Maia moves to her bed and lies down flat on her back, on top of the blanket. Her fox cuddles in the curve of her waist beside her.
I lie next to her, and she lifts her head and instinctively rests it on my chest. She turns onto her side and moves closer to me, so our bodies are pressed together, and I wrap my free arm around her tightly. No words at this moment are needed. I have been dreaming of this for a very long time. I smell her hair and bask in the scent of violets and honey, and we fall asleep.
The next morning, when I wake, we are in the same position. Ember is licking my face. I scratch him between the ears, and he makes a sound similar to a cat purring, but almost a chuckle.
Maia stirs. I let her roll from her side onto her back. She gently pushes Ember away, and with her eyes closed, she speaks.
‘Ember. Don’t wake me. I’m so warm and comfy. I’m going to stay like this forever,’ she says dreamily.
Her eyes flit open, and she stares at the cave’s ceiling before turning her head and looking into my eyes.
We’re breathing in tandem, and she knows we both know this.
‘Good morning,’ I say, smiling, and she returns the smile.
‘You are still here?’ She asks.
‘I’m your mate,’ I say softly and calmly.
‘I’m not a werewolf, though. Only werewolves have mates,’ she says, rubbing her eyes.
‘Untrue. Any species can have a mate. Love is universal,’ I say, taking her hand and placing it on my chest over my heart so she can feel my heart beating for her. Maia keeps her hand where it is and ponders what I’ve just said.
‘I know what you are, Maia,’ I tell her, kissing her fingers. She smiles at the sensation.
‘What do you mean you know what I am?’ She asks.
‘You’re the one in the stories… you’re the Forest Princess,’ I tell her assuredly and smile.
‘Oh. I know that,’ she says.
‘I know much about you. Hundreds of years ago, it wasn’t just humans on these lands. There were also orcs, witches, vampires, fae, sprites and mages. You’re a
sprite,’ I tell her.
‘A sprite?’ She asks, frowning again.
‘There are five kinds of sprites. Four who control an element each. They’re Pyrokinetic, Hydrokinetic, Aerokinetic, and Geokinetic. The fifth sprite is called a Primal sprite. A Primal sprite controls all the elements,’ I explain.
‘I’m a Primal sprite?’ She asks, her face instantly alight with excitement.
‘Yes,’ I assure her, smiling. ‘Primal sprites are of royal blood,’ I say.
‘Royal blood?’ She asks.
‘Well, it means you’re a sprite princess,’ I smile.
Maia sits up and crosses her arms in consternation and ponders what I’ve said. Then, after a moment, she relaxes.
‘What happened to the other sprites? Why am I alone? How did I get here?’ She asks.
‘My Gamma, Eric, is doing some research, so I’ll answer your questions soon,’ I say, slowly reaching for her hand and waiting for her to drop her hand in mine. ‘But you’re not alone. Not anymore,’ I say, staring deeply into her eyes. She blushes and looks away, and attempts to withdraw her hand from mine.
‘Please, don’t pull your hand away, my love. I would
never harm you,’ I tell her earnestly. She looks into my eyes intently, trying to read me.
‘Why are you so frightened of me, Maia? What makes you think werewolves are evil?’ I ask her.
‘The humans said your kind do awful things. I heard many stories. The worst one: how you rip children apart in front of their mothers and eat them,’ she says.
I place my hands on her face, and she flinches out of fear and from the sexual energy between us.
‘Maia, please look at me,’ I gently plead with her. ‘I told you I would never harm you, and I mean it. What you heard isn’t true,’ I tell her earnestly. She holds my wrists in her hands and looks at me.
‘It’s not true?’ She asks, her walls lowering as she begins to trust me.
‘We would never harm anyone unless we had to. But, even then, we don’t enjoy it,’ I explain.
‘I’m sorry. I thought–’ she mumbles.
‘It’s okay,’ I say, smiling at her.
‘What happens now?’ She asks apprehensively.
‘I know you don’t want to come home with me yet, so maybe I can stay here a little while, and we can spend some time getting to know each other?’
‘I guess. What if I still don’t want to go with you?’ She asks. I pause, not expecting the question.
‘We will worry about that bridge if we come to it,’ I say.
‘Okay,’ she agrees.
‘Do you want to show me around the forest? Your
favourite spots, maybe?’ I ask.
‘Okay,’ she smiles and stands, and I take her hand.
‘Lead the way,’ I say, smiling.
We walk around the forest and climb a tree together. We race each other to see who can climb to the top first. Maia is the victor when it comes to tree-climbing.
My feet, in my boots, constantly slip off the branches, and she laughs and shrieks when she thinks I might fall.
I carefully and awkwardly pull my arms out of my tunic sleeves and hang my tunic over a branch. I unbutton my breeches, lift each leg carefully out of them, and hang them over the branch with my tunic. Without warning, I shift into my wolf and scale the tree effortlessly, joining my princess at the top, where the branches are thinning out. My wolf knows how to balance.
Maia doesn’t know what to think, so I gently nudge her hand with my nose, prompting her to reach out and pat my fur.
We make our way back down the tree, and on firm ground, Maia, who is more relaxed around my wolf, pats me and puts her arms around my neck, embracing me.
‘You’re just a bigger version of Ember,’ she laughs.
I lick her face playfully and shift into my human form
again. Maia hands me my clothes.
We walk to the edge of the forest, near Moonstone River,
and stop at a field of sunflowers.
‘I bet you can’t find me in this field,’ she says, running ahead.
‘I’m sure I will,’ I say.
The smell of the sunflowers makes it hard to track her scent, but not impossible.
‘Found you!’ I announce, and she squeals and giggles, surprised.
We lie down on the ground among the sunflowers and stare into each other’s eyes. She is beautiful, and her violet eyes are almost luminescent under the sun. We sit up and savour the silence before she leans her head on my shoulder and sighs. The chemistry and magic between us do not go unnoticed by either of us, so I cradle her face in my hand and plant a kiss on her lips, our kiss growing more and more passionate. I lift her onto my lap, and she instinctively wraps her legs around me.
‘Is this okay? Are you okay?’ I ask her, breaking away from the kiss to see if she is comfortable with the pace.
‘This is okay. I’m okay,’ she says, smiling.
I put my hands around her waist, and she places a hand on my cheek. Her other arm is already instinctively around the back of my neck. I kiss and nibble her neck. We both feel the electricity every time we kiss or touch.
We then spend a few minutes gazing into each other’s eyes.
She pulls my face toward hers to kiss me, and I hear my wolf howling with happiness through mind-link. I want to stay like this forever with my love, mate, and Luna.
