The Moon Goddess' Chosen

He did know, however, from the scent coming off her that she was indeed his mate. Surprisingly, the prince didn’t care that she was weak. What mattered was that he’d found her and could save her from the starvation that was eating a hole into her stomach.

Now that he thought about it, what was his mate doing out in the middle of nowhere? There wasn’t supposed to be anyone this far down the river. There could always be the obvious answer that she was from one of the Rogue King’s breeding homes, but she looked too young in comparison to the few escapees he was acquainted with. His curiosity eventually got the better of him, “Can I know your name?”

The woman looked up from the bread in her hands and looked around in search of a third person. When she was sure there was no one else he was talking to, she swallowed the food patiently residing in her puffed-out cheek.

Before she could talk, though... she was choking on the chunk of bread she’d forced down. The girl struggled against the dry bread when the prince closed the gap between them and guided the juice bottle to her lips.

Having forgotten about the drink, she hurriedly gulped down the juice to force the near-dry bread down her throat. “You might want to slow down,” the prince chuckled. When she’d regained her composure, the woman inched away from him, sending numerous red flags through the prince’s mind.

He pulled his hand away from her, ignoring the slight sting the rejection came with. She’d probably been through a lot. After all, she was in the middle of nowhere. Who would willingly come out into the woods with no direction or understanding of where they were going.

He took off his shirt and handed it to the woman, finding the jacket minimal covering, “Use this to cover yourself.”

The woman eyed the shirt as though it was a treasure. In her mind, she would be bathed in his scent and the thought made her wolf leap with joy. This didn’t bode well with the initial reaction she’d had to his touch though... and there was a lurking regret. She had many habits she wondered if she had to break now that she’d found her mate, “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to be cold,” she tried.

.....

“Between you and me, I’m better off naked, but I know that will make you uncomfortable. Now put it on, you’ll catch a cold,” the man responded warmly. The woman was malnourished and much more prone to the cold than he was. She took the hint of finality in his voice and received the shirt from him before gesturing for him to turn away. Sean rolled his eyes and turned away from the woman as she dressed, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh... my name is Amanda. What’s yours?” she replied. Her voice was muffled by chewing. Sean took this as a sign that he could turn back.

“My name is Sean... Sean Sirius,” the man responded. The woman wasn’t taken by the man’s name as she quickly continued to eat the food he’d given her. ‘She is cute when she is eating,’ went his thoughts as he observed her, ‘She takes on a keen resemblance to a cute chipmunk.’

The amber in her eyes identified that she wasn’t all that strong, but something else got his attention. It was the fact that she didn’t feel like anyone from either of the empires and hadn’t yet shrunk in fear from the colour of his eyes, “Where are you from?”

The woman was stunned by the question. She didn’t want to answer it and the appetite that had been driving her all this time was all but gone at the moment the man asked her about where she’d come from, “You don’t have to answer that. I think I can make a guess about that. Don’t worry about it though. I don’t really mind.”

“I don’t want your pity,” she stated bluntly.

Instead of the reaction she’d expected, Sean began laughing at her, “I’m the last person that would ever offer you something like that. Believe me when I say that... but, you’re different. You’re my mate and that changes the way I would treat you, doesn’t it?”

“It doesn’t have to. I’m a rogue and you’re a... what are you... Wait,” it was only then that the woman took note of the man’s eyes. They were bright blue. A colour that she’d dreaded for a long time and been told at the breeding centre about its meaning and that those who possessed it were werewolves of untold power, “You’re a royal. No, this has to be a mistake.”

“Quite shocked that you’re only noticing that now. You must have been really hungry. And here I thought my mate was going to be a normal alpha or delta from another pack... I would have never thought she would turn out to be a rogue. What are the odds!” In truth, the odds were next to none, “I know a lot about how other female werewolves would act around me if they ever found out I was their mate, but this is a whole new situation I hadn’t prepared for.”

The woman only moved further away from him, “I ran away... from the rogues. I don’t know where I am and I definitely don’t know who you are. Honestly, I was ready to die at this point. There is no point in my struggle anymore. I’ve escaped from them, but I don’t know what else to do now. No one would simply take in a stray rogue. I don’t know how the world beyond the rogues works. I cannot be of use to anyone. All I know is that I craved freedom from my former life and now that I have it, I can die knowing I found it.”

The hidden meaning behind her words was clear. She was telling him that he didn’t have to take in a stray like her. That it was okay if he left her out to die. She was ready to die for she had already accomplished her task: To escape her life of captivity and she’d succeeded. Something like that, however, took a special kind of strength. Anyone could train their bodies, but that didn’t play a role in helping them escape the rogues. Someone would have to be cunning and extremely determined to pull off something so foolish. Sean smiled.

“Yeah, that’s a... colourful plan. How about we go with this one instead? I could teach you what you need to know about the outside world and you can choose what you would like to do about it. I’ll protect you and nurse you back to health because honestly, you’re already far too malnourished to do anything on your own. I’ll teach you to hunt. I’ll teach you to cook and everything else you need to survive. This is the minimum I’ll do for you... if you come with me that is,” the man responded.

“What’s the maximum?” Amanda asked, suddenly curious to hear what the prince was hiding in that beautiful mind of his. She liked him already... He was peculiar and she couldn’t read him, but that’s what made him even more interesting.

All she could tell for now... was that her mate was kind. Too kind.