Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir
Chapter Six
Holly chased the shifter through the city and all the way to the forest. Then, once he was out of sight of the humans, he shifted and ran into the woods. Holly glanced around her quickly and then did the same. She pounced onto her four feet, racing through the woods after him. She was fast. But it seemed that he was even faster. She ran in the direction where she saw his streaking dark shadow ahead of her and kept on running until it seemed that he was getting farther and farther from sight. By the time Holly realized that she had lost him, she was also further out than she had ever been. She thought that she had been to every last corner of the woods, but apparently not, because this was somewhere that she had never ventured before. She shifted back into her human form, since she had given up the chase, and looked around her.
This part of the forest was thick with moss and mushrooms. There was a stream in the near distance that she could hear trickling, and plenty of game to be had. She could hear the sounds the animals were making all around her. It was a lush and thriving part of the forest, untouched by settled packs or human hunting parties. And it was one of the most beautiful enclaves that she had seen.
Since there was no longer a need to rush before heading back to the city, she took her time looking around. If she could remember how to get back to this place, she would like to show it to Rubius. He would appreciate its untouched beauty, as did she. She wandered around a little, looking at the wildlife and trying to remember which way she had come from the kingdom. But then she stumbled upon something—a den.
There, in the middle of this remote and isolated chunk of forest, was a den. It was nestled into the side of a massive hollowed tree trunk and looked only to be big enough for one. She peeked her head inside and saw all of the modest comforts of home. In front of the den was a makeshift campsite with the remnants of a small bonfire and an empty mug. She picked up the mug and lifted it to her nose to smell. A whiff of pungent ale filled her nostrils. Whoever this den belonged to liked ale. She snooped around some more, thinking about the fact that this place had to belong to the shifter, or else an ostracized human that had chosen to be a recluse in the forest. As she was still looking around, the rogue shifter appeared. He stood behind her until Holly felt his presence and whipped around to put her arms up defensively. The man, now in his human form, didn’t flinch at all. He simply looked at her curiously until she lowered her arms. The two of them stood there staring at each other for a minute and saying nothing. There was a moment when Holly was both scared and intrigued simultaneously. But then, the moment was broken by the sound of the shifter’s voice.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. His tone was unwelcoming and definitely abrasive.
Although she was nervous, Holly didn’t take heed to his tone. She would have been abrasive if she had walked in on someone going through all the dresser drawers in her bedroom—same thing as this.
When some people got nervous, they lost their voice entirely. Holly, on the other hand, rambled.
“I followed you out of the tavern. Didn’t you see me? Never mind, I know you saw me. I tried to catch you, but then I lost you, and then I stumbled upon this place, and then—”
“Stop talking,” he said as he shook his head. It was as if there were too many words coming out of her mouth for him to listen to all at once. “You need to leave.”
“No!” she said with a high-pitched plead. “No, I want to stay for just a few more minutes. I want to talk to you and ask you who you are, and what this place is, and—”
“Why do you talk so much?” he asked her in annoyance.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted. She could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks.
“Because of me?”
She didn’t answer that question, but he answered it for her.
“Good, you should be. Now leave,” he said again.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, ignoring his direction for her to leave. “Why are you out here all by yourself instead of with the other packs? Are you a rogue shifter?”
She turned and looked around her again.
“This place is really cool; did you make all of this yourself? And if you like being so reclusive, then why are you inside the kingdom so much?”
He looked at her as if she was delusional. He had asked her to leave twice now, yet somehow she still managed to stand there and continue launching an endless stream of questions.
“I like the ale at the tavern,” he said, answering one question that she had asked. “Now I want you to—”
This time, it was her turn to interrupt.
“Yes, yes, I know. You want me to leave,” she said. “But I don’t want to, not yet anyway. Please let me stay and talk to you for a while. I want to know all about your experiences without a pack.”
“No,” he said in more of a growl this time. His dark hair blew wildly around him in the cold breeze, and his captivating eyes stared back at her. “Leave.”
There wasn’t much more Holly could do. He wasn’t going to answer more of her questions, and it wasn’t like she could just stay there on his territory uninvited without causing a problem. If he truly was rogue without a pack, then that meant he answered to no one. Which meant that he could try to kill her right there on the spot and probably get away with it. Still, she hated giving up after she had finally tracked him down and had so many burning questions to ask. The idea of leaving this beautiful and mysterious part of the forest, with a lone shifter who was equally intriguing, just to go back to the boring monotony of the castle, made her pout.
Fine,” she said. “I’ll go. But maybe someday you’ll let me buy you an ale and talk with me at the tavern.”
“Doubtful,” he murmured as she turned to leave.
Holly was fairly heartbroken about not being able to stay and find out more, but just after she had taken a few steps to leave, she turned back around for a final glance at the gorgeous shifter and was pleasantly surprised to see that he was staring back at her too. For a guy who didn’t want her to stay for more than a second, his eyes sure were giving a different message. When their gaze locked, he suddenly pulled his face away as if he had been caught doing something that he shouldn’t have been.
As she reluctantly walked away, Holly couldn’t help but think that the dark shifter’s look had seemed more intense than that of just a casual recluse who wanted someone off their territory. It seemed almost as if he had trouble not looking at her.
She took a moment to get her bearings and decide which way to walk back toward the kingdom. She had made it only about halfway there when she thought that she heard some light shuffling behind the trees and felt sets of eyes watching her. She quickened her pace and brushed it off as being her imagination, but her wolf senses were too keen to ignore.
Someone was definitely watching her. Being followed in the forest wasn’t any big deal as long as it was just one or two people she could easily take and win. But this felt like several people, and that might have been more than she could handle. She froze for a moment, trying to decide whether to turn back or to try and shift and make a run toward the castle. It sounded as if she was surrounded, and that made the situation more difficult. Holly turned around, feeling a pair of eyes boring a hole into the back of her head, and was surprised to see that it was the leader of a small group of human hunters that had spotted her.