บท 25: A day with mate - Part 1
"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 the same height as Wolfie. No single dirt was found on its white skin, adorned with hair as 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 at Nox, "Come here," he waved his hand at 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 towards 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 his head on me, causing me to tense up almost immediately. Luke saw my reaction and 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 was nothing bad about trying to befriend my fear. My trembling hand made its way to 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 pleasure. I followed his gesture and got the same response from Nox, "See, it isn't that scary, is it?"
"Yes," I nodded my head down, feeling the end of my lips curved up after I had just successfully petted Nox.
He patted my head while smiling, "You are so adorable." He stepped closer to me, then his hands suddenly made their 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?!" Surprised at the sudden action, I quickly grabbed the saddle, trying hard not to fall down.
He ignored my question and instead climbed up to Nox, sitting right behind me. One of his hands gripped Nox's reins, 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 held 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 never imagined there would be a day where I would be riding a horse myself, instead of going in a carriage.
"Here, hold the rein," Luke offered me the rein, "And put your feet in the stirrups." Feeling my tense 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 held on to the reins, also placing my feet in the stirrups. It was 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 needed to take it upon myself 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 reins a light squeeze as he said.
"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 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 has moved. Try doing it," he said as he patted my hands.
I tried to give Nox a light squeeze with my legs, but it didn't seem to work with Nox as he stayed still. I glanced over to give Luke a look, and he only smiled back at me. "Put more pressure on your legs," he commanded.
I gave Nox another gentle squeeze and finally succeeded in moving him forward. But his sudden movement surprised me, so I unknowingly let out a shriek, pulling the reins tightly in the process. Nox reacted to the pull and stopped, but it seemed that I pulled on the reins too harshly as Nox let out a neigh. Luke held on to my body to steady me, "Relax, Nox will know when you are nervous and will react accordingly."
"I'm 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 succeeded in getting Nox to move.
"Try turning left," Luke said. I pulled on the reins 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 pride and happiness as I succeeded in doing so.
"I did it!" I squealed cheerfully, feeling a wide smile sprawled on my face.
Luke laughed softly at my cheery exclamation, praising me as he patted my head, "You are doing great."
I kept on practicing, turning left and right a few more times before finally pulling on the reins to halt when Luke suggested, "Do you want to go to the packhouse?"
"Packhouse?"
I've never thought about where people live before. It just came to my mind now that they all have their own houses. I realized Luke's pack territory was like a village where people live together, with Luke as the head of the village.
"Yes, we need to go into the forest to go there. Try leading 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 led Nox in 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 had 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, "Do you remember what I told you about it?"
"To stay away from it," I answered. I stared at the flowers, feeling the urge to go near them 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 meet 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 of you after what had happened, but I didn't."
"What happened?" he asked.
I bit my lips when I realized I had just made a slip of the tongue. Now I knew that he would 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 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 tense at my words, "When?"
"When I was eight," I let out a sigh, "It was when everything went wrong in my life."
"Are you sure it was werewolves and 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," water started to fill my eyes, blurring my vision. I wiped the tears away and smiled, "But I was also helped by a wolf."
"A wolf?"
"Yes, a big grey wolf. It took me home safely, but I wish it hadn'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 had to suffer so much."
I felt a warm feeling in my chest when I heard him talk with so much sincerity in his words. It made me wonder how someone could be this kind to me. It was a feeling of gratefulness.
"But I'm here with you now," I glanced at him, making eye contact with the owner of the beautiful red eyes. The deep red eyes were now so profound, something that I unknowingly search for every other day. His presence always comforted 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 breathed 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 but 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 had 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 for me, like a repeated opera that went on in my head every day. I needed to move on from those phases before getting into a new one. I needed to remove the bad feelings I had inside of me.
I wish to be freed from them soon.
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