The Mate's Pull

The way Yuri stealthily left the palace grounds will leave one with their mouths agape in awe if they'd have seen her. She knew her way around and used that knowledge wisely. Before her last lap to be free and have the palace building behind her, Yuri saw some officials that she knew her father had sent to come and get her. Among the five men that all moved with their pot bellies bouncing in front of them were two of her arch enemies.

Sir Tyran and Sir Fish. They were the ones that her father always sent to 'teach her humility' especially after she had behaved or said something that her father thought was 'out of place'. Her father didn't even know that these men had always taunted and teased her. Always called her names when she was much younger. They tried to make her feel that she was unworthy of the position that she was in.

Lowly men! Yuri would often think to herself.

Yuri didn't see those two as men. They were nothing but bullies to her while she was growing up. Now, they dare not dream of doing what they had done to her when she was little. They were scared and lying old men now -- graying and expanding.

Yuri Yidal's mind reeled with various insults as she watched them pass by. Of course, they didn't see her and they wouldn't see her in her chambers as well.

"Peace to Sally," Yuri murmured with a little smile and walked briskly through a space that had been created for her through a thick hedge surrounding the palace.

Yuri rolled her eyes as she felt a hot air swim around her ears. She hated those men and Yuri could not wait to teach them a lesson or two.

* * *

As she walked amongst the tall and damp grasses, Yuri felt her heart race as if she was excited about something. It was a weird feeling and she had to stop in her tracks to cradle her arms under her bust.

Yuri attributed the feeling to the fact that she was venturing into lands that she wasn't supposed to. However, the princess didn't see the sense in having a part of her own kingdom unknown to her. She had planned and waited for this day to come -- the day she would answer to something that was akin to a pull. Yuri had to know who inhabited these lands. The excitement was uncontainable because here she was.

She heard a sound. It was a growl. A low, menacing, and hungry growl.

If Yuri thought that her heart was racing before, she was wrong. Now, it slammed against her chest causing her discomfort and a little ache. Yuri was rattled. Still, she was intrigued.

"Who's there?" Yuri asked through already dried lips. She looked around her but couldn't see anyone. Still, she heard the growling again.

This time around, the second time, Yuri didn't ask about who it was or what was making that sound. She stood in the spot where she was standing for some seconds. It was as if she was waiting to see if she would be attacked or not. She listened closely as she steadied her breath and broadened her hearing range. Her fingers curled tightly around the dagger that she had carried with her from the palace.

Then she picked up the sound again. Now, it sounded like an animal breathing. Yet, the breathing sound so rhythmic like a human's.

Yuri was utterly confused. Something told her to turn around and walk back the way she came, but Yuri couldn't get herself to do that. The more the princess thought about how dangerous what she wanted to do was, and how she should be wiser in preserving her life as the future queen, the more she wanted to dart into those bushes for the source of that sound.

"What is in someone breathing that you haven't heard before, Yuri?"

The grip around the hilt of her dagger loosened as she nibbled on some fingernails on her other hand.

She pondered on what she had just said to herself but wondered why she still wanted -- no -- needed to see what was making that sound. The need to know was something that she could not ignore. She needed to see for herself who this unknown subject of hers was -- at least that was what she told herself.

Slowly and carefully, Yuri counted her steps in the direction of where she thought the sound was coming from.

What she saw!

"Wha-" Yuri wanted to exclaim but the sound and words that were about to come out of her mouth got hooked somewhere around her throat. She was in shock -- putting it lightly.

There, under the revealing moonlight was something -- no -- someone sitting with an easel in front of him or it. From its back, Yuri could tell that it was a person and a man. But why did it have ears -- ears so high up above its head like that of a wild wolf? Yuri could not understand what she was looking at.

From where she stood and trembled slightly, she noticed the movements of fur as a little breeze blew past. The creature sat on a clearing that had no trees as if it wanted to borrow the light from the moon for whatever it was drawing on that easel.

Suddenly, so sudden that Yuri had almost missed it, the creature turned around and looked in her direction. It faced her direction for some seconds as if it was searching for her -- as if it knew that she was there. But how would that be possible?

Perhaps, it had been the breeze that blew past just now that had carried her scent because that was the only way that it would have known she was there. Yuri had made sure that she had remained silent even though the shock and surprise that she had gone through, so as not to give herself and her location away.

Quickly, the creature packed up its easel and darted into the woods.

Yuri released her squinted eyes. She was beginning to feel a dull ache around her eyes from concentrating too hard to get what the creature's face looked like. But it had been dark and she could only see silhouettes of things and people.

"Why did he run?" Yuri murmured with a pain in her chest that had not been felt before now.