Chosen By The Moon - First In The Red Wolf Series.

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 22

"Henry!" I shrieked as he ran with the fae folk hot on his heels. "What did you do?"

I joined Henry in running for our lives as the fae folk chased after us relentlessly with pitchforks, stones and...

"Are those real pixies?" I asked out loud. "What the hell did you do?"

"I may have stolen a harness from an elf and they found out that we were not fae." We rounded up to two pathways. Henry looked left and right for a second and dragged me to the right path. "This way."

"Why would you do that? What do you even need the harness for?" I panted as we ran into an open field of dandelions. "Henry..." I lagged back and rested my hands on my knees. "I can't go much further..." My lungs burned and my heart beat faster than ever before. I had never run that fa's before.

"We can't stop here." Henry walked back to my side and listened. The mob of faeries were not far behind and they would catch up to us in no time. "I guess this is our stop."

"What are you talking-" Henry gave a shrill whistle to the north side of the field. It rolled off the valleys and the plains. For a moment, nothing happened and the mob sounded even closer.

"They are over here!" a voice shouted and the stampede was headed in our direction.

"Henry..."

"Wait for it..."

"Wait for what exactly? Because as far as I'm concerned, we are about to get killed by a stampede of angry fairies!" I yelled. As soon as I said those words, I heard a flap of wings and a screeching sound from afar. I looked up and squinted my eyes to make out the form of whatever was flying to us, and when I did, my eyes almost popped out and rolled on the ground. "What is that thing?"

It had the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. It also had pointed ears and its forelegs were eagle's legs, while the hindlegs were like a lion's. It was about the size of a Ferris wheel and when it flapped its humongous wings it blew a gust of wind at us, making our hair and clothes fly wildly before it landed beside Henry with a screech. For a huge creature, it knew how to land softly.

The creature seemed familiar with Henry because it tackled him to the ground and began licking his face while I stood there watching like an idiot because, in truth, I was shocked to my bones and a tad scared. "Okay, okay. I missed you too. Down, girl, down!" Henry laughed.

"It's a girl?" At this moment, when I spoke up, they both snapped their heads to me. I froze when the creature regarded me with intelligent eyes and blinked its large doe-like eyes at me and stepped away from Henry.

"Yeah, she is. Her name is Phoenix." She cawed at the sound of her name and began to walk to me. "She's a griffon. Relax, she's harmless if she knows you are not a threat." I breathed out through my mouth and shut my eyes tight to stay calm. Just relax. I can relax. I can just relax.

I felt feathers brush my cheek and almost fainted in panic. It took its time sniffing around my body while I trembled in panic, fear and exhilaration.

Finally, the griffon stepped back and bent low. I opened my eyes to take a peek. The griffon waited patiently for me with her head bent low. I blinked at her, unsure of what to do. "This is the part where you pet her," Henry whispered.

I slowly stretched out my hand and when my fingers touched the bridge of her nose, she closed her eyes and nudged my hand with her head.

I shakily released a breathy giggle and put my other hand on the side of her head, scratching her feathers. When she turned her head and nudged me so hard, I fell to the ground giggling like a schoolgirl. "Down, girl," I laughed.