Chapter Seven: The Cave

A new beginning had just emerged for I and Drake in the cave. The adventurous encounters I had with the human were quite remarkable.

From swimming in the river, to catching fishes, we hunted and wandered deeper into several parts of the forest in search of things that we knew nothing about. Our wildest imaginations played different roles at the sophistication of the delight we felt from being in the forest.

For a moment, I felt free and unchained after a long time. The memories of the recent encounters long forgotten, I longed for more experiences in the world of freedom.

From wandering into the forest to wandering into each other, I picked up a sudden likeness for Drake. Only few days with him and his gaze had already started making me coy. The tranquility I felt whenever he was close transcended to my heart, apart from healing my soreness, he also quenched the thirst of a lingering feeling that had long wanted to be filled up.

In a matter of time, I could feel Kira's wolf remarking greatly within me "Mate! Drake! Mate!" The intense excitement always ignited a warmth feeling inside of me. 'Could he really be her mate?' I wondered each time the resounding voice uttered those words. 'How come it took a while before she could realize that Drake was her mate? How come she didn't have a mate at such an age? Are Humans even allowed to mate with Werewolves?'

The thoughts of the possibility of the turn out of events lingered in my mind but the more I tried to persuade myself and Kira that we needed to be careful, the more intense the feeling was. Maybe that was my Second Chance at love again. Sooner than later, I gave in. Silly me! I too wanted to really know the feeling of having a wonderful partner.

Entangled in the arms of each other, Drake and I began a fairy tale in the forest, something that we thought was going to last forever uninterrupted.

Drake got tamed my beast, he made me learn how to control Kira lessening her viciousness. However, the reminiscence of her vendetta still lingered, causing me to wake up in the middle of nightmares at certain times.

I was like two sides of a coin, Kira was fire while I was water and we both complemented each other. I was the soft one, she was tougher but we both had one thing in common, strong will and determination.

"It's ok! I am here." Drake would always say taking me closer into his arms each time I gasped in the middle of the night or at early hours of the morning panting as a result of the nightmares I had. Being in his arms for a while always made me to be at ease; my breath slowly returning to a normal pace. His touch was comforting!

On the other hand, Drake too was not left out. Once I had woken up to him mumbling some words in his sleep; his face looking so worrisome. Perspiration running through his body. There was something about him which he himself couldn't explain.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" I asked while we were roasting some fish on fire, the sun had risen and its brightness reflecting on the river.

"No I don't." Drake replied taking an inquisitive look at me.

"What happened last night?" He asked smiling at me. His hands moved towards my face and with his fingers, he slowly shifted part of my long black hair which was covering my face, carefully dressing it behind my eyes. His touch was soothing; I found myself smiling miserably!

"Oh no. don't worry about it." I said, the smile still persistent. Drake took a long gaze at me returning the smile, then he cut a piece of fish with his hands and put it into my mouth. The taste was good even though we could have had better if not that I was on the run and we both had no identity at the moment.

We knew that our stay in the cave was meant to be temporary but having difficulties figuring out where we were supposed to be headed, we managed the little space for that time still hopeful of moving to a better place. I longed to belong to a community. Someplace I could be loved and cherished without having to fight for my right.

Drake said he wondered what it felt like to have a family; people who really cared for you, provided for you and even protected you. I guess we shared some similarities.

"We really need to find a better place. We don't have much time till they find us!" I could see the specks of worry written all over Drake's face, he seemed really scared or maybe he was bothered that I could be taken away from him.

"Where do we go?" I asked completely clueless and out of options.

Drake sensed that we didn't have any options but the thought of determination still lingered from his gaze. He still had the remark of confidence written all over his face. 

"Don't worry, we will find a better place." He said slowly, finding comfort in his words, I rested my head on his shoulders closing my eyes hopeful that things were going to be better. 

For a moment, I thought I had escaped the assailants and that for a while, there was going to be no need for violence. I found great peace with Drake by my side. Alas, I thought wrong; we weren't really prepared for the fatal challenges that were coming our way.

The sun was almost setting, the shadows of everything existent had began to cast upon the earth and every other surface close-by, the water in the river was surging amidst the cool breeze that touched our skins. We were having an amazing time in the arms of each other above the swing Drake had made; he had such an amazing talent.

There was a sudden movement heard from a distance among the hills close to the mountain. We were startled. At first there was absolutely no cause for alarm as thought that it was probably a small animal retiring for the day, but the sound came again, and then it came again.

"Did you hear that?" Drake said to me startled.

I too felt a sudden feeling of usettlement grasping me. I was alarmed, lifting my body slightly from Drake's bosom, I scoured through the horizon to see if I could capture any figure. No one was on sight, but the feeling of agitation had already crept into my body.

Drake got up and looked above his shoulders, darkness was slowly coming upon us and by all means, we had forsaken the idea of burning woods with fire that night. 

In a trice, a figure appeared from nowhere, approaching us with a fierce speed. At a glance, I could see that it was huge, extremely fast, moved on four legs and with glittering blue eyes.

"Run Drake! Run!" I screamed panting. It was a Werewolf and certainly not a friendly one.

But before I could finish uttering the words I said, two other figures appeared from the same direction, this time they moved slower than the first.

Before long, the Wolf was few meters away from me, I took my stance with Drake behind me; there was nowhere to run. I was left with only one option. To fight!

The creature dashed at me with a strong force aiming for my neck. I got hold of it fast enough before its canines could sink into my neck and hurled him over to the mountain. He hit the rock and with a whimper fell to the floor.

"I see she has company! This makes our hunt more interesting. Maybe we could be offered extra payment for two heads." The female voice said from a distance sneering as it approached.

I was taken aback, taking a peek with the side of my eye at the wolf that still lay on the floor; it seemed to have been wounded. I could feel Drake's heartbeat increasing by the second. I tried to shade him off from the view of the two unknown approaching bit they had separated from each other nearing us from two sides.

"I was told to be wary of the Rogue one, your profile precedes you." Came the voice again, this time with a slight laughter.

Sooner than I envisioned, the two figures were visible. The owner of the voice, a tall muscular lady dressed in tight black jean pants and camouflage jacket. She wore a black crop top; her belle button showing with a ring pierced into it. Her hair was colored like the rainbow, behind her were two black long objects strapped across the two ends of her shoulders. She was the perfect definition of catastrophe. How dare she refer to me as Rogue!

Her companion on the other hand was shirtless, his packs visible. He wasn't much muscular but certainly had a scary outlook. His huge black boots certainly could send one to the floor with a single kick, there were several tattoos all over his body.

"The price on your head was too good to reject. I hope you comply!" She said again growling in excitement. The first assailant was still down thankfully and so I had two more to face, hopeful that there was no other lurking in the darkness.

"Do you really have to do this?" I questioned but they seemed not to be in the mood for chats. The lady put her hands behind her and with a swing, drew out two katana swords; they seemed to be very sharp as I could see the glitter from their edges.

Without no hesitation, the two of them rushed at us with only one intention; to kill and claim whatever bounty price was placed in exchange for my head.