Chapter2

#Chapter2

Blood Warrior

Althea Zoe Castellanos Silvermoon

My heart drums loudly against my chest as I sit upright on the bed. Sweat beading my forehead and my heavy pants echoing through the dark empty room.

The same blue eyes.

Just who did it belong to? Why do those pair of eyes haunt me every single night?

My dreams are a constant vision of them. Bright. Blue. Piercing. Yet so full of pain.

My heart aches every night as I encounter those eyes, again and again. But I just don’t know who it belongs to.

I look at the digital clock on the table beside my bed which reads 4 A.M. Well I guess it was time to get up then. With another deep breath, I pull the sheets off my sweat drenched body and step on the cold marble flooring.

I pull my oversized t-shirt over my head and dump it into the laundry basket as I walk into the bathroom. I step inside the glass shower and let the warm water wash the night away.

I quickly rinse off my body and get dressed into a black legging with a matching black sports bra and a trainer, ready to relieve some stress off this sleep deprived body. It doesn’t help that much but at least it relaxes my muscles.

I jog my way into the woods which soon turns into a full-blown sprint while my mind wonders back to my dreams. Like it always does. As far as I know, I have always had this dream. Every single night. Without a day amiss.

And with my thoughts fully occupied, I once again end up doing an entire lap of the island. But it still doesn’t help. Nothing does. I take in a deep breath and increase my pace even more. Trying to fill my head with something else.

Or better yet, nothing at all.

When the land once again floods with the divine light from the sun, sneaking through the wide horizon of the ocean, I finally stop. I close my eyes and let the soft wind gently blow my long black hair across my face. Like a curtain, it tried its best to conceal the beginning of yet another day. Trying to stop me from stepping into the new day.

While at the same time, the wind also whispered into my ears. But its voice foreign to my ears and just a meaningless noise to my brain. It was just another voice which I will never be able to understand even if I tried.

So, I ignore these voices and inhale the ocean. The green land and the vast sky above me. My head, finally as clear as the now blue sky. Not entirely but it was a lot better than before.

I slowly open my eyes, my hands on my hips as I stand on the edge of a cliff, outlooking the world far beyond the ocean that I had yet to discover.

It called out to me. It always did.

Something in me told me to jump right into the deep blue heaven and travel across to another universe. A universe that awaited me.

Why?

That I have no answer to.

Even though this was my home, I never felt like I belonged here. I always felt like there was more to my life than just this green land surrounded by the ocean.

Happiness bloomed here yet my heart begged to differ. Even the most joyous moments felt like nothing. I smiled and laughed along with the people around me. The Lycans. My families.

But I always felt like something was missing in my life. My heart craved for something else. Something more.

Something that I didn’t quite understand.

Why does this life, so full of luxury, did nothing to content my heart? Most girls would die to live my life, yet here I was.

Unsatisfied. Ungrateful. Undeserving.

I sense the slight shift in the air, knowing that I now had a company. I hear the sound of the arrow slicing through the space as it aims for my head. I tilt my head just in time as the arrow flies past my head and smirk knowing who it was.

/"Coward./" I call out.

I step to the side and turn around to face the man behind this horrendous act. /"You never learn now, do you?/"

I see his blond hair peeking out from behind the trees and hear him sigh. I chuckle shaking my head as he steps out of the tree, fully armed with his bow in one hand and spare arrows strapped across his waist that sat on his back.

/"Oh, I will get you, Zoe./" He shoots the arrow that was already on the bow, but I take a step to the side and dodge it. Yet again.

/"Bring it on./" I bend my knees and stand low, ready for him to make a move. And as promised the arrows starts flying my way. I speed past every single one of them and stand behind him with an evil smirk on my face.

/"Got ya./" I whisper in his ear and disappear from his view as soon as he turns his body around and starts shooting again.

/"Come on out, Zoe./"

I stand crouched on a branch of a tall tree and watch him intently from above as he calls out to me to make a move. He moves like a hunter. Slow and silent. His deep brown hawk like eyes scans the woods. But he was as impatience as ever. As soon as I blow a whistle, an arrow comes shooting my way.

Definitely fast and deadly.

That was aimed to kill. But sadly, it wasn’t aimed at me. Otherwise I was as good as dead. Or maybe not. I don’t know. You see, I haven’t tried catching his arrows with my body yet. And I don’t intend to. Ever.

Alexander Sancus Constantinou. He was one heck of a warrior.

He was unbelievably fast and gifted with precision, an accuracy. He never missed his target. What he aimed, he always hit the bullseye. Out of all the weapons, he chose to train with bow and arrow. But that only made him better and faster. Lethal.

This brother of mine could have been a great warrior of the palace if only he wasn’t constantly following me around. If only he listened to this one advice of mine. But no, he refused to. The only word of mine he didn’t follow. Instead he twisted the meaning of my words and decided that he would become a warrior.

My warrior.

A personal warrior for the princess herself. A typical Constantinou. He was just like his father.

Christopher Constantinou. A true warrior.

Alex refuses to leave my side. Everywhere I go, he follows. Like a shadow.

But even my own shadow leaves me in the darkness.

But Alex, he never does. He thinks I don’t know, but I do. I can sense him everywhere I am.

The thing is, ever since he was born, he was attached to me. And as he grew older, he was inseparable from me. But I always welcomed his presence.

Because he understands me. His silence comforts me.

It’s like we share this bond. An unbreakable bond. It was like he was born for me. To be by my side.

He trained himself so hard. Made himself unbeatable and became the best. He said he would be the strongest so he could protect me.

But his action right now says otherwise.

I sigh as I observe his movements. I don’t know if he genuinely wants to protect me or is just trying to find my weakness to get me killed.

But I know better than to doubt his loyalty.

When he’s right below me, I swiftly jump down the tree and stand in front of him. I hold the arrow that’s targeted at my head. /"Play time’s over./" I smirk at him and snatch the arrow from him as he backs off a few steps. With a smirk of his own he puts the bow across his back and starts throwing punches my way.

I easily dodge them and throw punches of my own. He’s able to block a few but I manage to land some hits. While he’s busy blocking my punches, I step to the side and hold him by the neck with one arm and point the sharp edge of the arrow by his throat with another.

/"You got me. You got me./" He taps my arm, so I let go of him.

I chuckle at him as he turns around with a disappointed look on his face. /"I thought I would get you today./" He snatches the arrow from my hand and puts it into the holder on his back.

I ruffle his hair and laugh out. /"Not a chance./"

He groans and rolls his eyes but smiles, nonetheless. /"Oh, don’t worry, Zoe, I will get you one day./"

This time, I roll my eyes. /"The day you’ll get me will be the last day of my life./"

A feral growl leaves his mouth, but I know it wasn’t intended at me but the words I spoke. I look into his brown eyes which was now starting to cloud over a little.

/"Althea./"

He speaks through his gritted teeth, calling me by my first name which he only used to show his seriousness.

It was a name given to me by my grandmother, the Lycan queen herself. A name which was a premotion of some sort. A name that I didn’t go by. Because it was a name that belonged to the almighty. A goddess.

A goddess that has cursed me.

/"Don’t ever say anything like that again./" I let go of my fists that had unconsciously tightened and relax my stiff shoulders.

/"If that’s what it takes, you’ll always be second to me. Death will think twice before it comes knocking on your door. It will have to get through me first. Because I will always stand in front of you as a shield. Your shield. Always remember that, Althea./"

For a second, I stare blankly at him before amusement takes over my expression. I fold my arms across my chest and shake my head while scoffing at his somehow blunt retaliation. /"Come on, Alex, no need to be so serious. I was just joking. Gosh, you are one heck of a defensive and overprotective brother. And of course, a warrior too./"

I turn around to head towards the palace, knowing he was hot on my tail. /"That I am. But promise me Althea. Promise that you will never utter words like that again./"

/"Don’t call me by that name, Alexander Sancus Constantinou./"

/"I will stop only if you promise, Althea./"

If someone else had said that name this much time, I would have already detached their head from the rest of their body. But him, he just makes me smile inwardly as a warm feeling spreads over my heart. With him, I felt safe.

/"Promise./" Because he was like an amulet that I possessed which would keep me safe even from the god of death himself.

And no matter what, Alex is and will always be my warrior.

My blood warrior.