“We have a legend in our family, your family now. It is of a young man that falls in love. His love isn’t returned and in his pain of rejection, he curses his love to the stars with the help of magic.” Aria grinned, though the solemn look on everyone’s face made it less funny.
“Through the generations, his curse was turned on him and he was never able to find love. He tried everything, but magic always has a consequence. It wasn’t just him that was cursed, but everyone around him. His family, his friends, all were struck with loss and unrequited love. None of them have ever been able to find a mate. Their line was dying so they went to drastic measures to secure a way to break the curse.”
Aria was getting more uncomfortable. She had went from thinking it was a fantastical tale, to realizing that they were all crazy and she was in a situation that she quickly needed to get out of. Remembering his innate ability to know her thoughts, she tried to clear her thoughts by listening to his story. It was becoming painfully clear that she was the only one in the room that viewed it as just a story.
“Returning to the same witch that had made the mess in the first place, the man made her make a spell to change his fate. He told the old hag that he’d do anything to release himself and his family from the curse. He was given instructions to find the Star and to wait for one with blonde hair and blue eyes the color of the sky to be born. Then he’d have to wait another eighteen years until they were to be wed. In the first moon after her birthday, she’d become Queen of the Calien Pack and the curse would lift from all.”
Aria waited for more, but it seemed the story had ended or had yet to be finished. There were strange words sprinkled in that she wondered about. His eyes burned into hers and she looked down at her plate to avoid the contact. His pull on her was stronger when their eyes met and she did not want to feel the overwhelming sensation there in front of all of the prying eyes of his family.
“That is quite a story Keith. You all seemed to have heard it before.” Aria kept her mind clear. She started to think about the bathroom and how badly she had to go. She didn’t really, but she just filled her mind with thoughts like that. After several moments, Keith bent down and told her to follow the hall to relieve herself.
In that moment, Aria realized three things. That he could and possibly all of them could read her thoughts. Which made him seriously not normal and that she had to get the hell out of there because the idea that they weren’t crazy was even worse than sitting in the woods with a bunch of crazy people.
Aria tried to think of only the bathroom, overshadowing her other thoughts that she couldn’t control. She stood up and ignored the eyes on her. She looked down at her feet as she went the way he had suggested. She found the door and when she shut the hard wood, she locked the handle and the slid lock on the top. Aria needed a moment to think and she hoped she was far enough away. She didn’t know how their telepathy worked or why, she just needed to go. Aria didn’t want to know anymore, especially if it was in the same ilk as the story was. It was too fantastical to believe, but the situation was too strange not to.
She was lost in her misery and her fate that seemed to be so far from what she had thought about only hours before. She was on an adventure, but surely it wasn’t the one that she really wanted. It was in her despair that she saw the window in the corner of the plush bathroom. While the window was small, her determination won out and she was quickly squeezing through the small opening. The clear night air tasted like freedom and she did not even care that she got dirt on her hands and clothing where she fell onto the ground. Nothing mattered but getting away from wherever she was. Aria had no idea where she was going to go, but she knew that it had to be better than there.
***
“Looks like we have a runner.”
Petra smiled to herself, but quickly veiled it with the sharp look from the pack’s Alpha. “I am sorry. Would you like me to go get her for you? It is almost time.”
Keith glanced at the woman and then at the way her scent trailed.
“No, I will.”
Nothing was going how it was supposed to and he knew that they would miss the ceremony if he did not get her back in time. His heart raced as he leapt out the window that she had escaped. His eyes changed as the moon light hit his body and he took off in the direction of her scent. It wasn’t long before he picked up other smells that bothered him. His change was complete and by the time he got to Aria, she was cornered by a man who was trying to console her.
Aria’s eyes widened at the large wolf that suddenly appeared. The eyes were familiar and she felt drawn to it.
“Aria, stay away from that beast. That is your husband. We need to leave now. They need to keep their fate as it should be.”
Aria looked at the man who claimed to be her father. She could see the resemblance in their faces, but she kept looking over to her husband. She knew he was different, but she never would have guessed what he’d become. It was then that her father wielded a short, crooked blade and pushed her down to get at the creature. Aria couldn’t believe she had found her voice, “Stop! He is my husband!”
The wolf looked at her with those eyes and was surprised when she moved in front of him, shielding him from the man. No one was more surprised by her action than she was, but she knew that she had to protect him for some reason. Maybe she believed in the stories or maybe it was the way he made her feel when he touched her. Either way, Aria couldn’t see him hurt by anyone, even someone who said that they were related by blood.
“Leave us or I will release him and let him have his way with you, father.”
The man shrank back, fear in his eyes as she put her arm loosely around the wolf’s neck. It was larger than it should have been and by the way it was growling, she’d have been afraid to. If it wasn’t Keith, the man of her destiny, she’d have already swooned from the size of him. He could put terror into anyone’s heart except her. She was oddly aroused and couldn’t wait for his form to change back and for him to finish what he had started in the shower. Aria was tired of waiting.