Don't Forget About Me

3. Waving goodbye

I throw a handful of yellow flowers into the basket and drop down onto the soft grass. I watch his facial expression closely and he is actually positive. I could never distrust him, but the thought is hard to grip.

“Are you saying that I will be able to escape?”

Jupiter nods at me reassuringly. “I am saying that you will be home in time to celebrate your birthday with the other triplets.”

“A wolf spirit wouldn’t lie, right?” I whisper agitated. They never promised me something this big before. It feels surreal; will I really be with my family within a week?

“It is not going to be easy, but any way you try will succeed. The Wolf Spirits will go outside their usual comfort zone to make sure of your return.”

“But why?” I say dumbfounded. “What happened? You could have done it sooner so what changed?”

“Your sister doesn’t want to be a follower of the Wolf Spirits anymore. Her prayers along with others over the years just added up to the point where we get enough power to make it happen.”

I throw my arms around Jupiter so he drops his flowers.

“Thank you!” I cry into his ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll make my sister love you all again. So how do we start?”

-

Alpha Eon is drinking tea in her garden when I finally decide to go see her. She’s the only one who has a private garden and her house is also the largest home. The Alpha gets the best of course. She can be great, but she’s greedy in a way that makes me sick. She loves the hard work I put into collecting the herbs since she is harvesting the price for herself.

The other woman is taller than me and she has red long curly hair. She’s forty years old and looks a lot better than I do, that’s for sure. She’s married to a man double her age who isn’t her mate and they have four children together. I doubt they ever loved each other. It’s quite common on Rosalea.

“Freya,” she greets me with a smile. “I’ve been trying to find you.”

“I was collecting herbs,” I tell her grumpily and ignores her offer to take a seat in one of the chairs. I keep my gaze down to not challenge her. We both know that I avoided her but none of us will bring it up.

“Your dad came to see me this morning,” she continues with a frown because I didn’t sit down. “He’s worried about you. We are all worried about you.”

“I’m not dying,” I inform her rudely. She wouldn’t be standing here at this moment if she really saw my dad this morning. It pains my heart to think about the lovely man I am blessed to call my father. He’d do anything for me.

“We will not grant you permission to leave the Rosalea Island to search for your mate,” she informs me annoyed over my unusually bad behaviour. “We are afraid that you will starve yourself to death if you leave.”

“Of course, Alpha Eon,” I nod back at her. “You know what’s best for me.”

“There are a lot of fine men here you can get married to,” she adds more brightly when I don’t fight against her.

I cringe at the thought. All younger unmated men leave the Island to find their mates. The few that stays wait to get married until they are at least fifty before they choose a young girl to marry. I am that young girl. There are at least six men at the moment who have their eyes set on me. They are attracted by my starved body and I like to ignore their existence. I rather live with my kidnapper than being forced to share a bed with someone else than my mate.