Chapter 12: In My Mind *Asher*

As I walked away from her, I tried to turn around quickly to hide the giant smile that came to my mouth. She made everything I knew about the clan from the castle a complete child's story.

I was simply out hunting like my uncle had told me to and Aliana was always on my mind, so I decided to head towards the river, where I had first seen her. As I got closer, I scented her instantly, but with other scents mixing in with her sweet original scent. One was a tainted scent of squirrel, and the other was a strange new scent of another wolf, it seemed like it was intertwined with Aliana's sweet scent. Could this be the first time that I will see her in her feral form. I got so excited that I did not even realize that I began to start sprinting towards her scent.

Then, I stopped dead on the edge of the forest and saw something that I would never forget. A white wolf. The first white wolf that I had ever seen. It was her, and I knew it. Her belly was on the ground and her eyes were stuck to a tree straight in front of her. There was something in the shape of a squirrel, but it was a tinged red color. She was close enough to it, that I thought would be the perfect time to pounce and sink her claws into its flesh. Instead, she just crouched there, frozen, staring at the squirrel.

I suddenly heard a loud screeching sound from where Aliana was. Then everything happened so quickly; the squirrel was on top of her knawing on her neck and I did not hesitate, I hauled myself to the river and jumped over it in one powerful stride, then I sprinted towards Aliana and grasped my teeth around the squirrels back clenching my teeth down, straight through its spine. I heard my teeth scrape bone and then ripped it from Aliana's neck; as the squirrel released its jaws from her, I leapt away from Aliana and tore my teeth through the squirrel's bone, it snapped as I tore its body into two separate pieces.

It was the strangest thing I had ever seen. I stood there with the dead squirrel at my paws, until Aliana's scent of blood hit me and as I looked over at her she looked as if she could not manage any more pain; she looked like the girl I saved at the humans' camp. The weakness in her eyes, the agony in her breathing. As I walked toward her, I changed and placed my hand on her bleeding neck; it seemed the bite had barely missed her artery. She flinched away from me, so I pulled her closer to my body, placing her head on my lap. When her eyes hit my eyes, her body relaxed, and a small smile tried creeping onto her face.

My mind was swarming with thoughts full of fear for Aliana. Will she be okay? Did she lose too much blood? Is there hope? What do I do now? Then she spoke, and her voice was calm, and I knew she would be alright. It shook my mind that there was a creature such as this in Telaerion. A carnivorous squirrel seemed out of question and a mutated form of its own self. Where did it become this way, and why? How could it have possibly been mutated into such an absurd thing? I could not comprehend the creation of this thing in my mind alone; it might just be the humans that have done this. It is always reasonable to blame them for the odd things that have been going on.

I do not know what came over me, but I just wanted to comfort Aliana and make sure she was safe and protected. That is when I remembered my aunt telling me about the saliva trick, when I was little, and I had skidded into a tree, scraping my side badly; she licked my wound and it no longer stung, I felt relieved. I wondered if it worked on such a terrible open wound like Aliana's; so, I asked her if it was alright, she did not really give me a yes or no answer, but I did it anyway. Call me cannibalistic, but when my tongue hit her blood, it was a sweet sensation that enveloped my taste buds. It was warm and had a minty tinge to it; I do not ever remember any other animal's blood tasting this delectable.

Suddenly, Aliana was feeling much better and she decided to begin to talk to me. I changed forms to speak to her; she had asked me how I came at such the perfect moment to save her. Truth is, I was out hunting for my uncle, but I could have gone anywhere in our territory. The river is a bit hard to hunt by sometimes, but I wanted to get a chance to see Aliana, and I did.

I looked away from her, with my mind traveling over her feral form from before. Her fur shimmered like pure soft snow in the light colors of the sky. She was absolutely stunning, and she made my heart race like the prey before I go in for the kill, trying to escape from death. She was the huntress, and I was her prey. Her body structure was more petite than most female werewolves. Her tail had a thick streak on it, like a shadow had struck her tail and left a scar. All that was running through my mind was how utterly beautiful she is. That is when I found out that she is the Princess.

I could not help my reaction to the realization that I had just been told. I froze; this is even worse, being with someone from the castle, let alone the princess. This could put the clans to war, and yet bring upon my death.

Then she shocked me once more with an unexpected question. She wanted me to teach her how to hunt. Why me? Why is she asking me, a rogue, to teach her how to hunt and not someone from her own clan? I thought about it hard for a few moments, and then stated that I wasn't so sure if it would be easy to be together so much. Then I thought about how much time I would get to see her. That was something I just could not give up.

When I mentioned the girl I saved, Aliana's face lighted up and she hugged me tight.

To me, this did not feel like just any other ordinary hug from a family member or even a friend. To me, this hug was something more, much more; my body electrocuted into something I had never felt before. I had no idea what these so-called feelings were. My face felt hot, and I assumed she could hear my heart about to burst like a bomb. As she pulled away, she looked away quickly, pushing her gold strips of hair, glistening in the brightened sky out of her face.

As I broke the silence that was growing between us, I mentioned how difficult it will be to teach her how to hunt in the snow. The South can be wide open spaces in some parts. I wonder if she has even ever been on any other territory.

After we had both agreed to me teaching her, a memory had crossed my mind. I just remembered that Aliana is from the castle, and the princess for that matter. My parents were killed by that clan. Why would I want anything to do with anyone from that place? I could feel her staring at me, and I noticed I was staring at her. I shook my head and looked away from her brightened eyes that filled with sudden sorrow; then it just faded as quickly as it came.

She got up suddenly and began to stumble; I caught her as soon as she did. She lost way too much blood to be moving already. I figured she has not yet had a meal today, so I told her to drink some water and asked her if she has eaten. As I assumed she had not, so I decided to hunt for her.

As a rogue I did not want to hunt on Aliana's territory, so I went over to the rogue's territory. When I hit the tree line, I instantly scented a rabbit a few yards away. I followed the scent and as I got closer, I went into my stealth mode. I focused on my breathing pattern, slowing it down, along with my heartbeat. I watched every step that my paws took over the forest ground. The rabbit had no idea that I was coming. It then looked in my direction; still had not spotted me. As it looked away, I shuffled my feet ever so close. Then I dived for my prey. My front claws landed in the rabbit's stomach. Pressing down into its skin, I felt my claws hit the warm blood. I looked at the small bundle of gray fur that was lying underneath my claws. I wonder if what the squirrel had, had affected the rabbits. It had not looked like it; this rabbit looked perfectly healthy and not in any way abnormal. I wondered if it would ever affect any other animal.

I picked it up with my jaws and headed back to Aliana. Looking through the trees, I saw her by the river, drinking the water thirstily. She made me smile by just looking at her beauty. When I dropped the rabbit beside her, she jumped. Apparently, she had not heard me; that will be one of the first things I need to teach her, always paying attention to your surroundings.

Dipping my feet into the water beside Aliana, I began to skin the rabbit with the little rock knife my dad had made me as a little boy. I was also gloating to Aliana about my impressive hunting skills. At the mention of my uncle, she got an odd look on her face, and asked about my parents. I hesitated to respond, so I made it short and simple by just saying they died. Then I decided to tell her the truth; that they never came back from the castle.

She had apologized to me, but I do not know why, it was never her fault, and I knew she could never kill anyone like warriors do. She was too gentle to do anything so drastic. I set my hand on her arm gently and told her it was not her fault. Her heartbeat intensified when I touched her; that made mine race in pace with hers. Every time I touched her, some new sensation, new feelings arose inside of me. What was wrong with me, I could not comprehend what was going on with me.

I told her I was over it, just to calm her mind; I did not want her to feel guilty or anything, but I wasn't over it either. I would never be over my parent's death. She began to walk away as we started getting silent. I was not so sure if we set a date for hunting, so I asked. We hadn't had an awfully long conversation, but what we did talk about, was a lot to take in. I gave her a cocky grin after I called her Princess; trying to show her that just because she was the princess, it didn't scare me that I was with her or going to be with her more than I should, but I was scared.

She set the date to the day after tomorrow. I could not wait to start.