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Elora's POV
When he had first asked me the question, I was only thinking with my heart. A quick yes. But nowhere I was, in my bedroom at three-fifty getting ready for my first date. Maddox had said comfortable, and thankfully, Haven, Verity and Faith decided to follow that criteria.
I was dressed simply, a floral day dress and my left out, curling over my shoulders, black as the night. It was a sharp contrast, one that I was assured didn't look nearly as bad as I thought. No makeup, no jewellery. Just a pair of ballet flats on my feet.
"Are you sure this is the right thing to be wearing for a date?" I asked nervously, "I mean, this dress is white, It could get stains on it-"
"Stop trying to make up a reason to change, Elora this dress is perfect and Maddox will love it so stop worrying." Faith interrupted, re-adjusting my hair.
"Trust me, this is the best option in your closet for you to wear." Haven agreed.
"Do you know how many dates Maddox has been on before? Maybe if he's ever had a girlfriend..." I trailed off,
Verity smiled, "Only one or two dates, per his mothers' request. But he has never had a girlfriend. most wolves don't but it's common knowledge that the King has been saving himself for his mate in every way possible. So you really don't have a reason to be nervous."
"I know, I know it's just... well I don't even know." I mused, "I wonder if he made the effort to go ask my older brothers. God, they'll be mad at him if he hasn't."
"When was the last time you saw your brothers again? It would have been before you got hospitalized no?" Haven asked, fixing up the sheets on my bed.
I nodded sadly, "Yeah. I guessed that they would need Maddox's permission to enter, and I don't want to ask. He'll probably say no."
"To his mate?" Faith inquired with a rained eyebrow,
"Well, my brothers can be quite rude and outspoken. Plus, the only reason I'm here is because I'm his mate, the rest of the humans here are in employment. I feel as if I would be asking too much," I admitted, "I do really miss them though."
"Well, the purpose of a date is to get to know them and make conversation, just try asking him, I would bet anything on him saying 'Sure, no problem!'" Verity suggested.
"Maybe I will."
My eyes stayed on the clock, the slow ticking causing my heart to beat faster and faster at every moment.
And then I heard it, the knocking from the door. I tried to take a breath, I was being dramatic, it was just a date. The door opened and revealed Maddox, casually standing in the doorframe with his hands behind his back. He was dressed casually too, black skinny jeans and a dark blue button-up shirt. His hair was left untouched, bouncing up on top of his head. While his clothes were casual, he still looked as regal and royal as ever.
"Good afternoon ladies, Elora, are you ready to go?" He asked me,
I nodded, but my feet seemed firmly planted on the floor. With a shove from one of my ladies, I was able to start making my way in his direction. I closed the door behind me,
Maddox brought his hand out from behind his back, a gorgeous, white lily in his hand.
"For you," He handed the flower over in my direction. I gently took it from his hands,
"Thank you, it's beautiful," I whispered, tucking the flower behind my ear, letting the stem get caught amongst my tresses.
"Shall we?" Maddox extended his hand and I carefully took it, letting him lead me gently out of the hallways and into the main foyer. From there, we left the castle entirely, walking out into the main courtyard where a large, sleek car was waiting. The same car that we had taken from the hospital to here at the palace.
I opened the door myself, Maddox seemed to get the hint and walked around to the other side. The moment that we were both inside the vehicle, the car began to move. We slowly made our way down the mountain, driving through the busy streets. When the wolves saw the car, they bowed, some even cheering. My brows furrowed, the last time we had driven through here, all I could see was werewolves - in their wolf form - but I couldn't see any now.
As if sensing my confusion, Maddox spoke up, "I took the liberty in sending out an announcement that no wolf was to be in wolf form, at least not when we were driving."
"Oh... thank you," I replied, embarrassed, squirming in my seat.
"You're welcome dove."
We went silent after that. After about twenty minutes of driving through the city, I could slowly see the gate starting to come into view. The gate itself had already been fixed, and so had the surrounding wolf businesses. But I could see that the affected buildings on the human side were still nothing more than rubble.
We approached the gate, the light sending kaleidoscopes of rainbows in every direction. And even though the gate was completely transparent, I could see the shimmer of the electrical field when it moved in a certain direction.
We stopped in front of it, the driver wound down a window and held his hand out. One of the guards standing by the gate nodded and with a small pop and crackle, the transparent gate disappeared, letting us enter the Human side, the one I hadn't seen since the accident which was... I didn't even know.
"Where are we going?" I inquired, was he taking me to see my brothers?
"Our date. There is a certain place in the woods that I want to take you too, you can only get to it if you passed through the Human's side." He replied coolly.
My heart sank, I guess I wouldn't be seeing my family today. My eyes were stuck to the window, watching the car drive past what I thought would be my home for the rest of my life. I could tell that people were in mourning, their sad faces looked even more distraught than usual.
"What's wrong with them?" I wondered, "Why are they so upset?"
"One of the packaging factories was affected by the bombing. It's being repaired, but the decision was made to close it down until further notice. Everyone who worked there has lost their jobs until the factory is deemed safe enough to begin work again." Maddox imparted, not meeting my eye.
"Are they being compensated?" I demanded, turning my gaze from the window to the wolf sitting next to me.
"No, but only because the factory is expected to be fixed by next week at the most." He faltered.
My gaze narrowed, "Change that. Maddox, if that happened to my family, we wouldn't survive. We wouldn't last a week."
He sighed, "Of course, I'll mind link Elliot and see what he can do right now. If not, I'll have it sorted by this afternoon."
I turned back to the window, watching the people slowly move out of the way for the car to keep driving through. I could begin to see the soft green tips of trees after another couple of minutes of driving. I sometimes forgot just how large Gyabo was, sometimes it seemed that the city never actually stopped, that all the houses and businesses and people just went on forever.
"Have you ever been outside of Gyabo before? To one of the rural packs or perhaps one of the islands that are just off the coast?" Maddox asked, breaking the slightly awkward silence.
I shook my head, "Until you, I hadn't even left my little square. I would only ever walk from my house to the grocery store and the factory. I've never been anywhere else, even on the human side."
"That will change," He told me, "I'll take you everywhere, even the Southern Continent," Maddox promised, letting his hand slide over to seek mine.
I let his fingers curl around my own, "I'm sure that would be lovely," I murmured.
We drove until the houses slowly turned into luscious green plants. Tall trees that blocked off the sunlight, yet the grass still seemed to be bright green. The car stopped and I let myself out, my feet immediately being lost among the blades of grass underneath my feet. The car then slowly pulled out and began driving out of sight. There was a large gap between Maddox and I, I couldn't help staring at him.
His eyes were beautiful, that was something that I had acknowledged long ago. But here, surrounded by nature, they seemed to sparkle even more than usual. His feet were bare, and at some point, he had unbuttoned some of the buttons on his shirt.
He looked so calm, so serene, so... happy. It brought a small smile to my own face.
"Shall we? We have a little way to walk, it isn't far, I promise." He assured me, extending his hand forward as he started walking backwards.
I shoved down the lingering nerves and took the steps forward before taking his own hand in mine. And then we walked.
We walked until I could no longer see where we had come in from, we didn't talk but we kept an easy atmosphere between the two of us. And then I saw it,
A large clearing, the green colour of the leaves were gone, slowly morphing into reds, yellows and oranges. I could see a small pond, tall, purple, sprouting flowers were coming out of it and dangling themselves over the top of the grass. The grass also seemed to have changed colour, or the leaves from the trees had fallen down in such large amounts that it simply looked as if the grass was red.
In the middle was a blanket, large and spiralling. Carefully threaded with blues, purples, magenta and more. There were no chairs, but there was a large, woven basket, most likely filled with food.
It was so simple.
So perfect,
So... me.
"Do you like it?" I heard a nervous voice, Maddox. "If you don't we can still head back and maybe go into town or something-"
"It's perfect," I cut him off, "It really is, I love it, thank you."
I heard him exhale in relief, "Thank goddess, I was no nervous that you wouldn't like it." He chuckled, "Will we sit?"
I lead him over this time, sitting down on the surprisingly soft, comfortable rug. "Where did you get this?" I asked, running my hands over its silky texture.
Maddox shrugged, "Imported from the Southern Continent."
I nodded my head in understanding. I wasn't really surprised. The Southern Continent was full of the arts, they would make beautiful things like this rug and send it up to us, the Northern Continent, who specialize in mainly war. Our strengths lie in our power, while the southern wolves power lies in their abilities.
The combination worked, I had never heard of the North and the South going to war, only combining to fight off the humans and force them into slavery.
"What did you bring to eat?" I pondered.
Maddox opened up the basket, "Some fruit, pineapple and strawberries, stuff like that. Some salad sandwiches, ham and cheese. I have some chocolate and caramel treats as well. For drinks, I have Idon Red Wine and a range of juices in case you didn't like alcohol."
"That's a lot of food..." I trailed off, almost in disbelief in the pure amount as I looked into the basket.
Maddox gave me a wolfish grin, "I get hungry,"
I nodded, wolves did have an appetite.
He pulled out two wine glasses and then grabbed the bottle of wine, He uncorked it and slowly poured the blood-red liquid into the glass. He placed it down on a flat surface before grabbing the other glass,
"Wine dove? Or something else," He offered,
"The juice please," I replied, "I don't drink alcohol."
He smiled and nodded, grabbing a juice container and proceeding to pour the bright, orange liquid into the wine glass. Maddox handed the glass over to me and picked up the wine for himself.
"Have you ever had alcohol?"
I shook my head, "It's not exactly a luxury that is made available to us. But I doubt I would be able to handle it very well, so it would probably be safer if I didn't have any,"
He swirled the liquid in his cup before taking a sip, "Wolves don't really get drunk. Of course, if we have too much we can start to feel tipsy, but nothing more than that."
After a while, we eased into a slow, easy chat. We talked about a lot, he told me about his family. His two parents, Margaret and Charles had retired a few years ago, choosing to reside in a castle that had been here since before the wolves took over. Maddox was an only child and had been training to become the next Alpha King since he was ten. He had told me other things too, random things, ranging from his favourite colour to food to some of his favourite childhood memories.
So I told him about myself. It took a while at first, I was... hesitant. But the more we talked, the more comfortable I felt. He asked me questions at first, and I would just answer them but as the date went on he stopped talking and rather just listened to me talk. I told him about some of my happier memories from when I was younger and just some things about me. At first, I thought I was boring him, that my rambling was just going in one ear and out. But it seemed that he wasn't, his eyes not leaving mine, intent on listening to what I was saying.
It was only when the clear blue sky began to shift into a range of multi-pastel colours and the trees began to send long, eery shadows over our picnic that we decided that we may need to begin heading home.
"I've mind linked the driver," Maddox told me, "He shouldn't be most, he was already on his way so we're looking at maybe twenty minutes, half an hour.
I nodded, "That's fine, I've had a lovely time. Thank you for taking me out here."
He looked down at the floor, while I could still see his goofy smile, "It's no problem really, I'm happy you enjoyed yourself, I know I certainly did."
We eased into silence. I moved from my sitting position onto the floor, spreading my arms out into the grass and my legs out in a hundred different directions. Suddenly, Maddox tensed up, his shoulders strained and jaws clenched. But I didn't ask.
Only a few moments later, I heard a low rumbling growl. I sat up, It was coming from Maddox.
"Somethings wrong," His voice was raspy as if the words were being forced out.
"What do you mean?" I asked, brushing a stray piece of hair out of my face.
"Something is here."
At that moment, a large wolf jumped out from one of the bushes. I screamed, almost on instinct and jumped up, taking a few steps back and launching my back into the trunk of one of the trees. Maddox, however, immediately jumped to my defence. He was standing in front of me, slightly crouched, most likely with his long canines out to ward of the wolf.
Its light blonde fur was matted with dirt and mud. His eyes were red and large bubbling droplets of spit were foaming at his mouth. It was a rogue. I knew almost immediately.
But Maddox wasn't shifting. He was just standing there, growling at the now still wolf.
"Leave," Maddox commanded. It seemed that the word 'leave' was the rogues trigger word.
It jumped, launching itself into our direction. Another scream left my mouth as I tried to create as much distance between myself and the beast.
Maddox immediately jumped into action. Still not shifting, he used his own brute strength to fight off the rogue.
And it seemed to be working.
In one swift, easy movement, Maddox's arms came up and flung that wolf off hurdling to the side. I expected it to jump right back up and keep attacking, yet it didn't, more pushing itself up, its form shaking on all four paws.
"Stand. Down." Maddox growled again, this time stronger. I suddenly felt the slight urge to lie down on the floor.
His words hit the wolf like a punch to the face, staggering back. He shook it off and leapt at Maddox, sinking his razor-sharp teeth into Maddox's arms. The blood came seeping out of the wound straight away, causing Maddox to let out a howl of pain.
I was terrified.
In a moment of anger, Maddox began shaking his arm, repeatedly slamming the wolf into the ground over and over until it had stopped moving completely and a slow trickle of blood was making its way into the wolf's already matted fur.
Maddox pried the jaw open and off from his arm, he stood up straighter, rubbing a hand over the wound as if to ease the pain. All it did was leave him with a red palm.
I put a hand over my heart, I didn't realise how hard I was breathing. Maddox was still staring at me intently, his hand covering the large puncture marks on his arm.
I met his gaze, "Why didn't you shift?" I whispered, taking a few steps forward and reaching out to hold his injured arm in my small hands. "You wouldn't have gotten hurt! Why didn't you shift?!" My voice slowly got louder as I looked at the injury, holding back the bile at the site. Thankfully it seemed to be healing quickly enough.
He sighed, "I-" He raised his uninjured arm and ran it over his face, "I didn't want to scare you."
It was like a punch to the gut, as if noticed my face he began to talk frantically.
"Today went so well, I didn't want to lose the little progress that I had made with you today. I knew you weren't ready to see my wolf, I just- I just didn't want to risk it." He replied brokenly.
I clasped my fingers around his hand, "You stupid wolf man. But thank you, I really appreciate you thinking of me."
He smiled sadly, "Anything dove, like I said, whatever you need."
I looked back at the wolf that was now lying motionless on the ground. "Is it dead?" I asked weakly.
Maddox shrugged, "Probably, he might just be unconscious."
At that moment, Maddox's eyes went glassy. After a few moments, he blinked and his eyes went back to normal, "The car is here, should we leave?"
I looked back down at his arm that had now almost completely scabbed over. "yeah, let's go."
We walked out of the picnic area. The red slowly changing into the familiar pine green. I could see the car, and in a way, It made me feel better, that I wasn't anywhere near the rogue that had just attacked us.
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So, what did we think of the chapter?
I want to thank you guys for 30 votes, again, it means a lot to me. If you don't usually vote on stories, that's ok, but please consider pressing the lil star, maybe even going back and voting on the other chapters? No pressure tho :)
I don't have much to say, so I'm going to leave this here.
See you in the next chapter,
Eryn