Chapter 2

"Do you want to tell me about last night?" 

Ariella shook her head, then winced from the pain that still wrapped around her body. She'd taken a pretty nasty fall into the river, and if her dad hadn't been there to rescue her, she'd surely be dead.

The vestiges of the cold memory still wrapped around her in icy fingers, clutching and dragging her down to their dark depths, but if she stared out the window at the golden sunlight and vivid green tree, she could keep the fear at bay.

"I know your father was angry with you earlier, Ari, but he has good reason to be. You can't keep sneaking out like that."

Having expected this lecture, Ariella sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. They would never understand why she'd been so foolish. But then, did she really? With her face buried in her pillow, Ariella still heard every word her mom was saying from where she sat on the edge of her bed. She felt her hands gently stroking her hair, and it calmed her.

"If Charles hadn't heard the back door open quietly and followed you out into the woods, you might have almost certainly drowned. Don't you realise your fanciful notions could one day end in disaster?"

She nodded her head, all the while feeling a hot tear slip out of her eye and soak into her pillow. Many times, she had tried explaining the things she's seen and heard, but they would never believe her. So she'd stopped trying.

Her mom sighed, knowing it was useless to push her, then began unwrapping the bandage on her arm. It still ached a bit, but the deep scratch had stopped bleeding. Sitting up so her mom could wipe it clean and apply a fresh bandage, Ariella avoided her watchful eyes and instead looked at her hands, at the scratches that were nearly faded. The memory of escaping that wolf, of running through the trees for her very life, would hurt for much longer. They were certain to remind her never to accidentally cross the border. She'd had a far closer brush with danger than either of her parents had realised, but it would only worry them to explain that it felt predestined. As if she was meant to run from that wolf and fall from the cliff.

As if, even after breaking the universal pack rules by trespassing, she had done nothing wrong, instead being led each step of the way. By whom, she wasn't sure. What for, was even more hazy in her mind. But Ariella was certain it would all become clear. A peace settled around her, even as the frown deepened on her mom's face.

"And what about your neck. Let me check the bruises," Lexi gently turned her head to examine her, then felt along her back where more bruises lined her ribs. Her mother had carefully patched her up when Charles had carried her home in the early hours of the morning, and though Ariella was grateful, she could feel herself healing and didn't know what all the bother was about. Wolves were tough, weren't they? Just because she'd broken her arm falling from a tree at eight years old didn't mean she was forever made of porcelain. She loved her parents, but their protective tendencies were frustrating at times. Like now. With each touch of her mom's fingers, each frown and clucking of the tongue, all she wanted was to escape. To feel the sunshine on her skin and fresh breeze in her hair, and write down her midnight adventure in her picture journal before she forgot any details.

"Your ribs still feel broken. I think you should stay in bed—"

"Mom, I'm fine!" Ariella snapped, her words tumbling forth like a match that finally bursts to flame. Then like watching a house catch alight, she regretted the tiny action that could cause so much damage. She regretted the harsh words that suddenly cast a shadow over her mother's kind face.    

Lexi pursed her lips watching Ariella with a careful expression. "I know you are darling. I'm just...it's hard for me sometimes....." her mouth twisted as if she was fighting something, then started again. "I don't want to lose you too. I don't know what I would I do.."

   

"I'm sorry," Ariella instantly sat up and flung her arms around the woman who had taken her in to her heart after she lost her parents. Lexi had comforted her like her own flesh and blood, and poured all her own unrequited love into the heartbroken orphan. Ariella had heard how the former head guard had lost her unborn child during the same battle with a neighboring pack, and together the broken pieces of their hearts had formed a family of sorts. She knew Charles and Lexi loved her as their own child, just as she loved them back like her own parents.    

"I'll be careful," she promised, meaning it with all her heart.

"I know you will, baby," Lexi kissed her cheek, wiped the tears from her eyes, then rose. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."

Ariella nodded, already tugging day clothes from her dresser.

When she came downstairs, her mom was cheerfully working in the kitchen, whistling as she flipped fried eggs onto a plate. The hot bacon and oatmeal muffins filled the kitchen with a delicious smell that Ariella never grew tired of. Her appetite seemed to never end after her ordeal last night, so after eating for a few minutes, she snagged another muffin then headed out the back door.

"Wait, Ari!"

She turned with her hand on the gate that led out from the small cottage.

"I'm visiting Aunt Chesca this afternoon for her checkup. You want to come with?"   

A smile touched her face, "Sure! These freesias are just about to bloom. Do you think she would like a bunch?"

"I'm sure she would, sweetie," Lexi smiled at the flowers that grew in the garden out back of their home, and Ariella felt proud of the hard work she'd put into the garden beds. Alpha Chesca always liked receiving some new and special flower she'd managed to grow, and more than once even Alpha Kaiden had remarked how pretty they were.   

With a dreamy smile on her face, Ariella then made her way into the forest. Not the dark and frightening forest of last night that traversed the northern perimeter of their territory, but the warm and familiar trees that lay just down the hill from their rural dwelling.

Ever since the battle, her parents had decided to live a quiet life, removed from the busy hustle and bustle of normal pack activities.

The green meadows of wild grasses and dancing flowers greeted her with open arms, and she skipped along the path with a song on her lips. The sunshine bathed her skin, the breeze tangled her long hair, blowing the chestnut and blonde strands over her shoulder, the tips of colour fluttering gracefully.

With all the time in the world, Ariella lifted her hand to shade her eyes, and gazed at the border line that was now easily seen in the daylight. Memories of the shadowed trail and growling wolf sent a shiver across her warm skin.

She yearned to explore if it weren't for her trembling spirit. Maybe one day she'd find out the meaning of her dream, but for now she was content to just draw and write in poetry her experience. Sinking down in the soft grass, Ariella pulled out her notebook and pencils, and began sketching. Her heart beat slowed down, her breathing became easy, and the songs of the forest and meadows lulled her into a peaceful state, so far removed from the fear of last night. So different to the pain she'd felt all those years ago when her heart had been ripped out.

She wasn't sad, and she didn't miss her real parents. She barely even remembered their faces. But she did remember the intense emptiness of that moment, and the feeling of being utterly alone. But that too had faded, quickly replaced by the love and parental bonding of Lexi and Charles. They had become her shelter from the world, from the harsh darkness that breathed on every wolf.    

This part of the forest grew around them as a safe haven, and Ariella came here to escape reality. When she was scared of living in black and white, with sinister lies and deadly threats, these hills and endless sky of colours refreshed her. When her school friends laughed at her dreams, she came here and dreamed some more. When her parents smiled and rolled their eyes as she told them a new imaginative story, she would repeat it to the daisies who beamed with appreciation, their little yellow faces bobbing in the breeze.    

This was her canvas on which to paint anything she fancied, and fancying was what she did best.

It was how she survived.