Chapter 6 She's The One

• *Canaan*
• The girl stands with her nails embedded into Ellison’s arm so deeply, if he wasn’t wearing a suit jacket, he’d probably be bleeding. Her eyes are wide in horror as she takes me in, and I can’t blame her. Any moment now, she’ll scream and rush from the room.
• Somehow, she manages to eke out the rest of her statement, “Your Maj—esty,” and keep her feet planted firmly in place. I am impressed. She’s lasted longer in the same room with me than everyone else.
• But then, I realized there was something different about this girl as soon as I saw her name on my list. I’d gone to see for myself earlier this morning, something I’ve never done before. I’d felt how special she is the moment our eyes locked—not here in my office, but in the woods outside her home.
• “Bexley,” I growl, the sound of my own voice making my skin crawl. “Pleasure. You may go.”
• Ellison stands there a moment longer. He’s never had to actually escort a girl from my office before because they have always taken off running before he had the chance. Through the mind-link I say, “Go, El.”
• “Yes, of course, Alpha.” He blinks a few times and then leads her out of the room. I wait until the door closes to let out a somber breath. With her gone, I turn on the lamp on my desk. My vision in the dark is better than any other creature on the planet, but I still need the light to see fine detail. I look at her photograph and go over the details from her file again.
• “Bexley,” I mumble. “What kind of a name is that?” No one is around to answer my question, and that’s just fine. I prefer to keep it that way.
• She’s strikingly beautiful, with chestnut hair that falls around her shoulders in waves. Her doe-eyes are brown and warm, and the angles of her face are sharp, just like her intellect. A hollowness fills the center of my chest just looking at her and imagining what might’ve been if I hadn’t been handed my fate all those years ago.
• Letting out a sigh, I close the folder and set it aside. It doesn’t matter. Nothing I say or do will ever lift this curse. I should be happy at having found Bexley. The rest of the castle will be so full of hope if I tell them the truth. They’ll want to do everything they can to convince her to stay. I turn to look at the calendar hanging on the wall and note I only have eighty-seven more days until my twenty-fifth birthday, I’m running out of time.
• But not even a thousand days would be enough to convince Bexley to see past what I’ve become. I lift a mangled paw and run it through the fur on the top of my head. Not a wolf, not a human, I am trapped in-between. I can’t even bear to look at my own reflection. How can I expect anyone else to want to look at me?
• She’ll be down the hallway back in the light area of the castle with Ellison and the others now, enjoying her supper and trying to forget about the hideous creature she just encountered. The problem is, unlike the others, Bexley will never forget me, which could be quite problematic when she returns home. I’ll have to find some other way to make sure she doesn’t tell the people in her village what she’s seen. After all, no one could possibly swear fealty to a monster like me. The whispers in the villages, particularly the ones claimed by my father when I was younger, reach my ear, even though I haven’t left the castle in over seven years. I know that these are troubling times. It would only take a few descriptive words from Bexley to inspire citizens to revolt against me.
• Standing, I make my way over to the window and pull the curtains open slightly. In the distance, I can see the lights of the villages on the west side of the mountain. Those territories had previously been a buffer between our lands and the kingdom of Hexeton. But my father had foolishly claimed them as his own, despite the advice of his most trusted, wisest cabinet members telling him not to. The result is the mess we are in now.
• I take a deep breath and lean my head against the cool glass. Winter is coming—in more ways than one. I have to be careful when I look through the window or else I’ll catch my own reflection, and I don’t need any more reminders of how hideous I am. Any notion I may have of attempting to keep Bexley here and convince her to fulfill her role in this mess goes out the window as I recall my gruesome fangs and creepy yellow eyes.
• I could never ask anyone to do that—to try to love me.
• Not even her—my mate.
• ***
• *Bexley*
• I sit at a table next to Ellison in the grandest dining room I’ve ever seen. The food is delicious, and everyone I’ve met is so kind and interesting, but I can’t pay attention to any of it.
• All I can think about is him—the king.
• Terror swept over me as I took in the outline of his form. Cast against a backdrop of shadows, with only the faint illumination from the wall sconces in the distance, it had been difficult to see him at all.
• Except for those glowing yellow eyes.
• But in my mind, I can see his outline. I know that he is not human. At least, he’s unlike any human I’ve ever seen before. I had no idea someone like him could ever even exist, and yet I’ve seen him with my own eyes.
• He’s seen me, too. Not just in the castle, but as I think about my encounter earlier today with the creature in the woods behind my house, I know for a fact that was him.
• Why the king would come to my home to spy on me, I have no idea, especially when he knew I was coming here this evening. Yet, his eyes were exactly the same as the pair I’d seen in the forest earlier today. The height would be about the same, too, I imagine, if he were crouching in the woods, rather than sitting as he was in his office. It had to be him.
• “Bexley?”
• Ellison’s voice lures me back to the table. I look up at him, a sheepish expression telling him that I have no idea what he’s asked me.
• He repeats himself. “Are you enjoying the lamb?”
• “Oh, yes. It’s delicious.” I smile and take another bite. I notice that everyone sitting here has a lot of meat on their plates, even the dainty women. We don’t eat a lot of meat in Menschen. It isn’t that we don’t enjoy it. Meat is hard to come by and expensive. Harvey is one of the wealthiest men in town and still doesn’t spend a lot on meat. We eat a lot of stews and soups which incorporate local beef and goat, but it’s been ages since I’ve had lamb. It is tasty, but I’m not inhaling it like the others.
• “You work as an accountant?” a woman named Naomi asks. She is seated next to her husband, who was introduced to me as Dr. Justin Sands. She’s probably a few years older than me with bright blonde hair and green eyes. In some ways, she reminds me of Fiona, and I imagine we could be friends if I were to stay here.
• But I won’t be staying here, thank goodness. It’s clear the king wanted nothing to do with me. A ripple of disappointment passes through me with no origin whatsoever.
• “That’s right,” I tell her, taking a sip of the best red wine I’ve ever tasted.
• “Do you find it boring?” Olive, a brunette who sits on Justin’s other side asks. “I think I’d go crazy having to fuss over all those numbers all day.” She giggles, and I wonder if there’s much going on in her head.
• “Olive here has never been one for math,” Ellison explains, shaking his head.
• Olive narrows her eyes at him, and I wonder for a moment if perhaps they’re a couple, but then she shakes her head, and I decide they’re not.
• “I don’t mind math,” I say. “Though I do prefer being outside when possible.”
• “What do you do when you’re outside?” Justin takes another bite of lamb and choose it slowly, savoring it. My, these folks do enjoy their meat.
• “Mostly, I go out into the forest to study the animals,” I tell them, hearing the excitement in my own voice. “I just love them. Sometimes, I get lucky enough to pet a rabbit or have a bird land on my shoulder.”
• “Oh, how wonderful!” Naomi clasps her hands. “That would be nice. Every wild creature seems to be afraid of me.” She looks at her husband and whispers, “Well, all but you.”
• Justin’s eyes widen slightly, and he jabs her lightly in the ribs. I can’t tell if it’s an admonishment or not, but he doesn’t seem thrilled that she’s talking like that at dinner. She only giggles.
• Ellison chuckles in the back of his throat again, and I feel more at ease. It’s too bad I will have to say goodbye to all of these people and this castle tomorrow. I think I could learn to enjoy it here, though I would miss my mother. If I were allowed to visit the gardens and the forest outside of the castle, I would be a very happy girl.
• An image comes to mind, that of the king, and a shudder goes down my spine. What about him? Could I live in a place where the man in charge is an animal of some sort? Some kind of half-monster creature I’ll never understand?
• Intrigue takes the place of fear as I realize that’s exactly what I would like to do. My whole life, I’ve been chasing after wild creatures trying to understand them. What could be more thrilling than studying the king, determining how it is that he seems to be half-human half… something else?
• I realize I’ve lost the conversation again when an older woman a few seats down says something about poor Queen Sophia never getting to see her son marry. Everyone makes a soft, sad noise, and I go along with it a beat too late because I hadn’t been paying attention.
• No one knows how the king and queen died, only that they passed and their son became king. That was before I moved here, but Fiona told it all in the greatest detail she could. It all happened shortly after the villages between Luna Hollow and Hexeton were claimed--under mysterious circumstances.
• When the staff brings out dessert, I don’t think I have room for another bite. I’ve watched the daintiest of women at the table devour plates full of meat and side dishes and don’t expect them to have room for chocolate cake either, but everyone says they’ll have a slice, so I take one, too.
• Before anyone lifts a fork, Ellison says, “Let’s salute Bexley on her birthday. While this isn’t the same sort of birthday cake I hope you had at home yesterday, I do hope it’s delicious.” He has a twinkle in his eye that makes me wonder if somehow he does know I had chocolate cake for my birthday yesterday.
• Everyone toasts to my health and wishes me a happy birthday. My cheeks go pink as I thank them. I take a bite of cake, and it is delicious. The chocolate melts in my mouth, coating my tongue in sweet, rich flavor, and the cake itself is so moist, it practically dissolves. Someone is going to have to roll me to my room.
• After supper, it’s Ellison who walks me to my room. Outside of my door, he pauses and asks, “Did you have a nice time?”
• I nod. “Yes, everyone was lovely. Thank you.”
• He smiles at me. “I hope you have sweet dreams.” With a bow of his head, he turns to go, but I reach out and grab his arm, afraid this might be the last time I see him. He looks down at my hand and then up into my eyes, expectantly.
• “Will I see you tomorrow? That is, will you be the one to take me home?”
• I see the hesitation in the flicker of his eyes as he says, “I’m sure you’ll see me tomorrow.” But that’s all he says, and then, he walks away swiftly, leaving me wondering what caused such a reaction. Will someone else be taking me home? Will he possibly miss me, too?
• I walk into my room and begin the search for a nightgown. I am exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in such a comfortable looking bed, but I wonder if my dreams will be full of haunting yellow eyes.