Better Left Forgotten

*Vlamira*

We were pure fire and earth breathing out hurricane winds as we rode atop a wild wave of chaos. We were a whirlwind of silver and red and our feral fury carved its way through the forest like a stream cuts its way through earth. Pressed against his neck, my wild mass of silver hair becoming tangled in the wind, I urged him faster into the fray. His powerful legs, urged even faster in response to my desperate hunger for freedom, reached out and devoured the frozen ground we crossed. With our spirits raised in the wild crescendo of freedom, we were unstoppable. Or so I thought.

The wind that seemed to sweep us along in its desperate currents suddenly ceases as the red stallion I rode dug its hooves into the ground in a frantic attempt to halt its momentum. I clung anxiously to his streaming mane as his front legs briefly lifted into the air and for a moment, we were suspended in the frozen silence as his front hooves clawed furiously at the sky. When he landed he gave a loud snort and began to nervously paw at the ground ignoring my heels that remained pressed at his sides. In seconds we were surrounded.

They materialized from the woods silently, their eyes glowing vivid shades of ambers and blues. My stallion snorted and shied away from their advancing forms and I hung on to him fearfully, this large red horse, my last hope of freedom. We were trapped and the quiet sentinels around us stood still, cold and silent like statues. My eyes were still scanning for an opening when he finally emerged from the tree-line, the quiet statues parting like a sea for him to enter.

Lucian seemed calm, he wore an expressionless mask but when I looked into his eyes, I could see the fury simmering just beneath the surface. He moved with animalistic grace and I hated myself for being intimidated. When he reached for my unbridled steed, I slapped his hand away and a stiff chorus of growls emitted from the throats of the wolves around us. Lucian looked momentarily surprised before that cold fury took over again and I was being pulled off of my horses back and into Lucian’s arms. He crushed me to his chest as I furiously tried to claw my way from his grasp.

“Get away from me!” I howled and even though I sunk my teeth into his flesh, his hold on me did not falter. “I am sorry my love.” He whispered and suddenly he was biting me . I screamed and fought him harder but I already knew that all was lost now. He had marked me as his and when a werewolf claims his mate, separation meant death. For both mates.

I was beyond livid and cold dark fury cut through me sharp as glass. Even though I wanted to tear his eyes out, I could not fight the darkness that clouded my vision as the mate poison ate away at my insides. I fought it for as long as I could but my consciousness slowly slipped away, the last thing I remembered was Lucian’s silver eyes staring down into mine. Even with my heart filled with anger and injustice I could still see the sadness that lurked in Lucians gaze. This time, when the darkness came for me, I let it consume me.

~Then~

“Where are they taking us Anehila?” I asked, my voice small and fragile like a porcelain vase waiting for the blow that would smash it to pieces. I wanted to reach out for her, to touch her arm or hold her hand but the heavy iron shackles around my tiny wrists kept them firmly behind my back.

She looked down at me, the once constant scowl she always wore on her face twisted into something I’d never seen on her before. She was always so strong, so fierce in the face of authority that I never expected to see anything other than contempt and scorn in her gaze. So it was when I saw the fear and the horror written clearly on her face that I finally let go of that last piece of the life that was before. Years later and I would still always remember my life in two separate pieces. There was the time before, and then there was the time after.

When we reached the castle, they tore my sister and me apart. I screamed for her but all I got in return was a rough shove that sent me sprawling to the floor. Blood pooled in my mouth for my hands had not been there to brace my fall, and when I tried to regain my footing, a boot pressed me back down to the floor. When the screams rose into the air, I was terrified. All I could see was the pale green tiles my face was pressed against so when the wild crescendo of screams grew closer to me, I nearly blacked out from the panic. What were they doing? Were we going to die? Where was Anehila? Would I ever see my sister again?

The pain was worse because I wasn’t expecting it. The hot iron burned into the side of my neck with an agonizing fire that would haunt my dreams for years to come. I screamed again and chocked on the blood of my busted lip as they branded me with the mark of their king. An ‘R’ for king ‘Ramsey’ conqueror of the great city to the elves, murderer to the fae folk. An ugly reminder to us all of who we belonged to. To me the ‘R’ would always just be a reminder that no matter where you are, no matter how happy life is for you, you will never be safe.

~Now~

*Lucian*

The law of my kind states that finding your mate is a holy thing. It is finding the other half of your soul and your heart so when she absent from your side, it is if your heart has been torn in two, your soul somehow incomplete. When you are fully mated, separation for too long kills both of you for one cannot live with only half of a heart. While the law tells us to cherish our mates and urges us to only mark our mates when they are ready and have given us permission, there is one small exception to this decree. If a wolf is certain they have found their mate and they have accepted your first meeting, they are denied by pack law the chance to reject you again. You are allowed to forcefully mark your mate if you are in danger of losing them in any way.

I hated myself for having to use this exception but I knew I could not risk losing her again. With every day, our bond will grow stronger and I knew that eventually, she would accept me. My loving gaze traced paths on her beautiful face and I clutched her unconscious form closer to my body shielding her from the cold. Her eyelids fluttered and she frowned as if the dreams that danced behind her eyelids were not pleasant ones. Pausing for a moment, I leaned down and carefully kissed that frown line between her eyebrows wanting nothing more but to smother the bad dreams that plagued her. Tightening my hold on her, I continued my silent march through the forest back to where we both belonged. My eagerness to return my mate home made me miss the angry ‘R’ that marred her flesh forever marking her as something other than my mate. That angry bitter brand peered out accusingly beneath her silver hair as if screaming out the truth. As if screaming out that the harsh realities and injustices of the world had marked her long before I could.