Chapter 6 ( A night in the woods)

"Then are you still in love?" Asked Ellie again.

"I don't know what my response should be as I wouldn't want it to be offensive to you Prin...sorry Ellie." Alma replied.

Ellie turned her head to meet her face,but was still in the tub. With a look of concern and sincerity, she asked.

"No...don't feel like that. You have known me for 18 years now and never for once have I ever treated you indifferently." Ellie said.

"That's true your highness. Sorry Ellie." She replied with her face bowed towards the ground.

"Now. I want you to tell me about it. Who is he and does he love you back?" Ellie asked.

Alma cursed under her breath,she had never spoken about her love life and wouldn't want to tell the princess about it either, but she dared not to be silent or leave the princess's question unanswered.

"His heart belongs to another of my Pri...Ellie." She corrected almost immediately, then she continued." I have loved him for many years but I dare not let my feelings known to him because I don't know how he would react since he is a beta." Alma explained.

"What is his name?." Asked Ellie as she relaxed her shoulders on the sides of the bathtub.

"His name is Kenan." She said, with fear written on her face.

Ellie's face brightened at the mention of Kenan. She turned around and stood up from the tub, with water dripping down from her shoulders, she stepped out of the water and Alma rushed to clean her up with a towel.

"Wow! Really? That's a good choice, Alma. Kenan is a good man,and handsome too." Ellie said.

"Yes my... Ellie. Yes Ellie." Alma replied.

"But I believe he has an affair with Elsa. Looks forced to me though." Ellie said but there was no response from Alma.

"You should do something about your feelings if I may suggest." Ellie said,while taking the towel from her and wrapping it around her body.

"I can't do anything yet, my Princess. I do not want to be killed." Alma replied.

"Killed! By who if I may ask?. The last time I checked,it is not forbidden for anyone to be in love in the palace. Who knows...you may be his mate." Ellie said, flashing a wink at her.

"Mate?" Alma asked.

"Yes mate." She said,as she walked back into her room. She stood in front of her mirror and Alma stood behind her.

"Look Alma...I know nothing about love but I would advise that you go for what you want. I may be 18, but I ain't gonna suppress my feelings or refuse to follow my heart just because of ethics. You should do that too. Take risk." Ellie told her whilst looking at her from her mirror.

"Thank you Ellie." Alma said with a look of gratitude written on her face.

"You may leave now,"Ellie said. 

Without saying any more words, Alma took a bow and left her room. Ellie smiled at herself through the mirror before something caught her attention. She went towards her window and looked at the sky, the moon, she looked at the moon and smiled. It was getting ready to welcome it's fullness. She knew that the full moon was close and for the first time,she was going to transform into a wolf.

"This seems like the perfect time to go for a stroll." She said to herself.

She had not been able to leave the palace into the woods because her father would not allow it,and now she wanted to take a bold step, a huge risk by leaving the palace and sojourning into the woods.

With a smile on her face,she slid into her night gown which was a sleeveless white gown and a robe to match. She didn't want any sounds from her,so she didn't put on foot wear. She opened her door gently in order not to attract attention, then she looked sideways and walked out of the room. She maneuvered her way through some guards and got the side of the palace where the entrance to the woods was. It was heavily guarded with guards. She thought of a way to go into the woods without being noticed.

A fire! she thought. She was going to start a fire so that the guards would be distracted.

She went to the dry shrub sitting comfortably by the side of the garden,picked two stones,lighted it up and hid quickly behind a statue.

A guard noticed the fire and raised an alarm immediately and other guards ran towards the burning dry shrub.

Ellie then ran into the woods when she saw that they were concentrated on the burning shrub.

She ran as far as her legs could carry her;as if she was being chased,taking different turns as she never ran straightforwardly. She looked backwards as she ran and when she saw that she was a bit far from home,she stopped to catch her breath.

She sat down under a tree, burying her face in her palms as she breathed in and out, then she paused. She looked around, she was surrounded by trees, she could clearly hear the sound of the birds. She laughed out loud and swirled around in excitement that she finally got to leave the palace and come to the woods.

She touched the trees and kept walking,having not the slightest idea where she was going. As she kept walking, something passed her from behind. She quickly looked back, turning her face side to side to see if she could get a glimpse of anything that was different from the obvious. Convinced that she saw nothing,she continued walking and then with a speed,the strange thing passed her again.

"Who's there?" She asked, fear engulfed in her face.

Meanwhile,Nathan, a vampire in his mid twenties, sat high up in a tree,his brows furrowed with a frown as he closed his eyes to enjoy the soothing breeze. Nothing except the breeze seemed to be appealing to him at that moment until her voice woke him up from his deep thoughts.

"Who's there?" She asked as she continually looked around her.

Nathan watched with Keen interest but still remained where he was. He already sensed her fear and could see her from where she stood but he couldn't see her face;because he was sitting up at a tall tree and she was below.

"I said who's there?" She repeated until she heard a roar from behind her. Her heart began to beat faster than usual, her mouth slightly agape as she slowly turned towards the creature. She looked towards the darkness where the roar was coming from, she saw an animal-like figure but couldn't tell what it was.

The creature approached her as it made angry sounds. As it came close, she was able to see a pair of golden eyes, fury clearly written in them, she stepped back in fear but stumbled on a fallen tree and she fell down. She saw a stick beside her and picked it. She then stood on her feet,pointing the stick towards the unknown creature.

The creature got closer as the moon light made it's figure appear clearer. Ellie gasped I'm afraid as she could now clearly see the wild animal that stood in front of her. It was a gigantic tiger, anger clearly written on his eyes, he roared angrily at her causing her to shake in fear. Her father had told her of wild animals when she was little and now for the first time,she was seeing one. She had never fought an animal before so she decided to scare it away.

"Shoo...go away." She said as she flung the stick towards the animal that was approaching slowly to her.

Nathan laughed gently as he saw her hilarious display as he thought. He still sat still,wanting to know what would happen between Ellie and the tiger.

"Just go away." Ellie begged as she kept stepping backwards,and the tiger forward. Ellie saw that none of her tricks worked, so she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She was very speedy which surprised Nathan who was still watching from his tree.

She took turns as she kept running and the tiger chased after her until it grabbed her robe with its claws and she stumbled and fell on her face. She turned around and was face to face with the tiger, who looked like it was ready to devour her. It opened its mouth and she could clearly see it's teeth which looked sharp. The animal was just about to kill her with it's claws close to her neck,it roared angrily as it was about to devour her with it's teeth but was killed by three slashes of a sword from behind.