My Long Lost Mate

"You are finally here," Luke called out to me while stroking the horse beside him. A beautiful white-colored horse stood tall between us, almost of the same height as Wolfie. No single dirt was found on its white skin, adorned with hair glossy as silk. Anyone who saw this horse will know that it was a very well-groomed horse.

"Beautiful, isn't he? His name is Nox," he smiled proudly to Nox, "Come here," he waved his hands to me, asking me to come closer to them.

I stepped closer, but not close enough as I was kind of scared of the horse. Luke frowned after looking at our distance and walked to me, "Come on, don't be scared," he pulled my wrist gently and stopped only when I was two steps away from Nox.

Nox who noticed my presence glanced at me and started to lean on my body, which caused me to tense up almost immediately.

Luke who saw my reaction laughed, "It seems that he likes you."

"N-no, please get him away from me," I asked him for help, but the only thing I got from him was his laughter.

"Try touching him," he said calmly with no intention of pulling Nox away from me.

I brought my hand up nervously, trying to pet his head. I guess there is nothing bad about trying to befriend my fear. My trembling hand made its way on the top of Nox's head but did nothing to rub his head.

"Here, pet him like this," Luke petted Nox gently which made Nox neigh in pŀėȧsurė. I followed his gesture and got the same response from Nox, "See, it isn't that scary, is it?"

"Yeah," I nodded my head down, feeling the end of my lips curved up after I had just successfully pet Nox.

He patted my head while smiling, "You are adorable," he stepped closer to me, then his hands suddenly made its way to my waist, lifting my body up in the process. I was now sitting on top of Nox.

"L-Luke! What are you doing?!" Flabbergasted at the sudden action, I quickly grabbed on the saddle, trying hard to not fall down.

He ignored my question and instead also climbed up to Nox, sitting right behind me. One of his hands grip on Nox's rein, and the other wrapped around my waist securely, "We are going to learn how to ride a horse today."

Right after he said it, Nox started to walk, alarming me at the same time. I quickly hold on to Luke's arm around my waist, "I-I'm scared."

"What's there to be scared of when I'm right behind you?" he chuckled, "It's fine, we will learn slowly."

I stayed still like a stone, not daring to move even an inch away. It was my first time riding a horse, so it was very nerve-wracking for me to be on top of one. I've never imagined there would be a day where I'll be riding a horse myself, instead of going in a carriage.

"Here, hold the rein," Luke offered me the rein, "And put your feet on the stirrups." Feeling my tensed body, he gave me a gentle squeeze on my shoulder, "It's okay, I'll be right behind you."

He's right, I don't think anything bad will happen when he is with me. So I mustered up my courage and hold on the rein, also placing my feet on the stirrups. It's good to learn something new as I didn't have a lot of chances to do so before. Now I was given the chance to, I need to take upon it and learn properly.

"Good, now this rein right here is used to direct the horse, so to turn left or right, you can pull the rein towards the direction that you want. Remember to not put too much pressure on it, or you will hurt and upset the horse, okay?"

I nodded slowly at his explanations, giving the rein a light squeeze as he says.

"The first thing you need to know before riding a horse is how to ask him to halt. To do that, you just have to close your fingers and pull backward, don't yank on it suddenly, but pull on it slowly, minding the light pressure on your hands.

"Then, to ask the horse to walk you need to give him a light squeeze with your lower legs, you can release it once he moved. Try doing it," he said as he patted my hands.

I tried to give Nox a light squeeze with my legs, but it doesn't seem to work with Nox as he stayed still. I glanced to give Luke a look, and he only smiled back to me, "Put more pressure to your legs," he commanded.

I gave Nox another gentle squeeze and finally succeed in moving him forward. But his sudden movement surprised me so I unknowingly let out a shriek, pulling the rein tightly in the process. Nox reacted to the pull and stopped, but it seems that I pulled on the rein too harshly as Nox let out a neigh. Luke holds on to my body to steady me, "Relax, Nox will know when you are nervous and will react accordingly."

"Sorry," I scratched on Nox's neck lightly as an apology which got another neigh as a response.

"Let's try again," he suggested, "Don't be nervous."

I swallowed my saliva and tried to calm my nerves before giving Nox another try. I demonstrated the thing Luke had just taught me before, and once again succeed in getting Nox to move.

"Try turning left," Luke said. I pulled on the rein to the left lightly, giving the cue to Nox to turn left. Nox did as he was told to and turned left, giving me the feeling of proudness and happiness as I succeed in doing so.

"I did it!" I squealed cheerfully, feeling a wide smile sprawled on my face. Luke laughed softly at my cheery exclaimed, "You are doing great," he praised.

I kept on practicing, turning left and right a few more times before finally pulling on the rein to halt when Luke suggested, "Do you want to go to the packhouse?"

"Packhouse?"

I've never thought about where the people lived before, it just came to my mind now that they all have their own houses. I realized Luke's pack territory is like a village where people live together, with Luke as the head of the village.

"Yeah, we need to go into the forest to go there. Try walking Nox there, I will show you the way," he said, "You can give Nox more pressure on your legs to ask him to walk faster."

"Okay," I lead Nox to the direction Luke told me, going deeper into the forest. As we walked into the forest, I saw a couple of blue flowers which I encountered before, the very same one Luke reminded me of how dangerous it is.

"What is the name of that flower?" I asked Luke out of curiosity.

"We just call it the blue flower," Luke replied, "Remember what I told you?"

"To stay away from it," I answered. I stared at the flowers, feeling the urge to go near it for the second time. I quickly snapped out of it and shook my head, chasing the urge away from me. I remembered this flower was what made me and Wolfie met each other. Even such a poisonous flower could bring something good out of it.

"Do you remember how you growled at me for almost touching it?"

"Of course I do. I don't even want to imagine what would happen to you if I was a second late," he held on to me tighter, "Why?"

"I was glad to meet you that day," I smiled, "It was the first time I saw you in your wolf form, although I didn't know it was you back then."

"Really? I thought you were scared of me when you first saw me," he replied.

"I was scared at first, but I then felt that you looked more cute than scary," I laughed, "I was supposed to be scared at you after what had happened, but I didn't."

"What happened?" he asked.

I bit back my lips when I realized I just made a slip of the tongue. Now I know that he will not let me off before telling him what had happened. I went silent for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not I should tell him about the incident that occurred to me a few years back. But knowing this impatient man, he called out to me, demanding an answer.

"Violet," he called, "Tell me."

"I was once attacked by werewolves," I replied hesitantly.

I could feel Luke's body starting to tensed at my words, "When?"

"When I was eight, it was when everything went wrong in my life."

"Are you sure it was werewolves? Not rogues?"

"I'm not sure, they all look the same to me," I answered.

"How did you escape?" he asked with a grim tone, it was evident that he was starting to get heated by my story.

"My mom, she sacrificed herself, giving me the chance to escape," my hand tightened, "I shouldn't have left her back then," waters started to fill my eyes, blurring my vision. I wiped the tears away and smiled, "But I was also helped by a werewolf."

"A werewolf?"

"Yeah, a big grey wolf. It took me home safely, but I wish it didn't. Because the place where I thought was a safe place for me to go back to soon changed into a hellish place, somewhere that I wish I hadn't stepped into my whole life. It would be better if I stayed in the woods."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you back then," he sighed in frustration, "I wish we had met sooner, you wouldn't have to suffer so much."

"But I'm here with you now," I glanced at him, making eye contact with the owner of beautiful red eyes. The deep red eyes I was now profound to, something that I unknowingly search for every other day. His presence always comforts me, he was slowly starting to become a part of my life.

He sighed and hugged me from behind, wrapping me in his arms, "I will protect you with all my life."

"You don't have to do that," I smiled, "I will protect myself."

"But I want to," he breathes into me, tickling my neck while doing so, "I love you," he confessed out of nowhere.

It was not the first time he told me about his feelings for me, but I couldn't help to feel surprised at his sudden confession. I didn't know if I had the same feelings as he had for me, so I couldn't bring myself to reply to his confession.

"Luke, I—"

"It's fine. You don't need to tell me anything," he released his hugs, "I will just keep saying it to you until you are ready to tell me that you love me too. I will work hard and wait for you."

"Thank you," I smiled, despite feeling a little bad that he have to do that for me.

The memories of the past years of my life were still haunting me, I was still chained to it, like a bird in a cage. Everything I did remind me of those tortures, even when it was irrelevant. Those memories became a daily occurrence to me, like a repeated opera that went in my head every day. I need to move on from those phases before getting into a new one, I need to omit the bad feelings I had inside of me.

I wish to be freed from them soon.