Looking For Wolfsbane

Ahh, I see." Sophie blushed and nodded shyly. She tried not to think about the idea of some men only wearing loincloths and showing their sculpted figures.

Did those from the clan wear little clothes? If Nicholas already looked amazing in shape and he spent most of his life living as a human, how much more were those who lived their life growing up as lycans?

Sophie quickly erased that string of thought. People in their kingdom thought of the werewolf clan as their enemy, the monsters, so there was no time for Sophie's thoughts to get mixed up with dirty ideas at all.

"Ahem," Nicholas coughed lightly when he realized that Sophie was lost in her thoughts. What was she thinking of? Did he not give a good image to her because he transformed?

Or… did she think of him as a freak?

Nicholas's heart pounded loudly when he thought that Sophie might possibly not accept him. The young man spent a good portion of his growing years constantly thinking of this wonderful girl that took care of him that it never crossed his mind that she would dislike him.

"Sophie?" Nicholas asked nervously.

"What is it, Nick?" Sophie asked. She noticed that he looked a bit bothered and she wondered if it was because she saw his body naked for even a short while.

"Do you think I'm strange… or a freak?" Nicholas looked her in the eye. "Am I scary in your eyes? Does the idea that I can change forms from human and into a wolf scare you or freak you out? I'm just like those monsters…"

Sophie's eyes widened and she stepped towards him. She cupped his cheeks with the two of her hands and looked at him. "Nicholas, please don't say that about yourself. You're NOT a monster."

Nicholas's body flushed underneath her touch, Sophie's hand was incredibly warm and he yearned for this kind of contact. Back when his mother discovered that he transformed into a wolf and could not control his transformations… the queen sent him away.

He knew it wasn't out of malice, but Nicholas grew up looking for love.

Sophie's touch was so heartwarming and sweet that he leaned into her hand and closed his eyes.

"Thank you so much, Sophie. You're amazing," he said and sighed in relief.

Sophie's smile grew wider as she realized that Nicholas felt a lot better.

The two of them stayed in this position for about a minute before Nicholas reluctantly pulled away and cleared his throat. "Uhm, since it's getting a bit late and it's getting darker here inside of the forest. Maybe we should go home?"

Sophie blinked. "Home?"

She did not realize that Nicholas had just referred to her home as his… but somehow it felt just right when he said it.

Nicholas gave her a definitive nod. "Yeah, let's go back before it gets dark."

Sophie didn't want their day spent searching for wolfsbane to be for naught. She looked around them and found a dry branch of wood on the ground and some other sticks. She picked up some smooth stones and rubbed them together to make a fire.

"Nicholas, we can use fire instead to travel a little bit further today than usual," Sophie told him. "And don't you have a great vision because you can transform into a wolf? We're still at an advantage. It gets a bit harder to keep moving back and forth."

"But… what about the food? Aren't you hungry and want to eat dinner?"

Sophie batted her eyes at Nicholas. "You do remember that there are a lot of berries and other crops here in the woods. There are nice mushrooms too."

Nicholas sighed and knew that Sophie was right. Traveling to this part of the forest took them about an hour of traveling so going back to their hut and then returning the next day always meant that they spent some time repeating areas where they already arrived before.

If the two of them wanted to progress in their search for wolfsbane, it was up to Sophie and Nicholas to go further than their usual route.

"What do you say, Nicholas?" Sophie smiled brightly and held up her impromptu torch burning with fire.

"I really wish we had a lamp." Nicholas sighed but then grinned. "And yet you always manage to make solutions out of anything. A smart girl as always."

"Don't embarrass me." Sophie blushed and pointed to the north. "Let's just get going, shall we? After you first, Nicholas."

"Yeah, I need to go first so I can protect you," Nicholas nodded as he took the torch from her and stepped forward.

The young man checked the ground for any vines or roots that could trip them, he looked at the trees for any creatures that might surprise them.

Sophie chuckled and stood right behind him. "Nicholas, as far as my father and mother ventured before, they said that there's nothing outwardly dangerous here in the woods. You don't have to worry about animals either. I'm sure you can easily scare them off."

"That's true, but still, things might have changed between then and now," Nicholas replied.

The reality was that not only did transforming into a wolf give him heightened senses, the animals in his vicinity also seemed to bear notice of his presence and avoided him. Nicholas wondered if it was the effect of him becoming a lycan.

Actually, Nicholas was curious about his position. He knew that those in the great werewolf clan were all ranked and given different social standings based on their individual powers. Nicholas read the information from the scrolls and books in the royal library and discovered them.

Alpha was at the top of the pack along with their destined mate.

Beta was the second in command and heeded the orders of their Alpha and made sure that the Omegas were kept in line. The Omegas were the last of the wolf order and were often the most numerous of the werewolf clan.

Nicholas hoped that he wasn't an Omega because the abilities of the Alpha included actually dominating Omega and enforcing their will upon them.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sophie shook his shoulder lightly.

Nicholas glanced over at her and sheepishly grinned. "Ah, I was suddenly—"

Drip.

Drip.

Suddenly, they felt raindrops fall on their skin.