Wolf-Shifter

Dancing among the Stars 23

Rose Kai Cobriana's POV

It has been a week since my sixteenth birthday and I am, once again, alone in my room. I am just sitting here, combing out my black hair, the mirror in front of me and a brush in my hand. I would rather have a knife in my hand and an enemy facing me—I've told my mother this and all she says is, "It's your wolf blood, my dear. You long for the hunt don't you?"

I never answered the question but rather notice the note of sadness in her voice. Did she once participate in hunts when she was young?

Freedom is all my mother knew long ago, but I believe from her tales, she misses the feeling of the blood pounding in your veins and the wind rushing by as you run. Her face lacks the soft lines of laughter it used to have, and her eyes are no longer sparkling like they used to. My mother reminds me of someone who has lost someone else in her life and can only sit back and dwell in memories. My father, Salem Cobriana, has become stressed, with his duties as heir to his cousin, the Arami and Tuuli Thea Oliza Shardae Cobriana and just as distant as Mother.

Princess Chu'si, exactly a year and a half older then me, seemed too engrossed in the men to notice my departure from the ballroom that night, a week ago, so it was easy for me to slip unnoticed into the halls and to my chambers. Does my mother really think I would fall in love with those stuck-up, presumptuous boys who call themselves lords and leaders?

But there was a man who kept his business to himself and seemed very— what's the word I'm looking for? Mystifying. His eyes were the strangest color I'd ever seen: A pure, deep violet. His face was not sharp-boned but rather he had a boyish look to him and his manner was rather gentlemanly, which probably caused me to talk with him.

He said he was a mixed-blood son and that his mother, a panther shape shifter, Marra of the Panthera tribe, had died recently of a raging sickness. He was here as a replacement to his father, to represent the Panthera tribe. He also said for me to give my mother a letter, which he handed to me.

I asked him who his father was and that's when I got really curious—he had stiffened and his emotionless façade returned. I asked him again, this time more gently, and he finally told me that his father was a wolf and that he was an old friend of my mother.

I shook my head and laughed lightly at this, "My mother did tell me she had a friend…this is certainly a strange occurrence, sir."

The man's face softened, "If it pleases you, princess," He held out a hand, for me to shake, "Call me, Nyesh."

"Well," I smiled, "you then may call me, Rose."

"You have a beautiful name, Rose. May I have this dance?"

The question was unexpected, yet I accepted and was whisked off twirling across the floor.

Was I really going to admit to mother that night that Nyesh had given me the letter? When she read it, she threw it down in frustration and I saw tears in her eyes as she slumped into a chair and asked for me to open the window.

"Who was it from, Mother?" I asked.

"Oh, no one you would know dear." She replied, "Just…"

"Your friend?" I blurted out.

My mother turned to me, "How would you know?" she demanded softly.

I kept my head bowed, "Because, Mother," I sighed, "Tonight I met his son…"

That night, I slept in restless memories of my childhood and of the strange man who called himself Nyesh. I'm beginning to think that night was a dream, or just wishful thinking of mine.

Yet, in my heart, I now know it was real.