Ch 240: A Panting Creature

Oh, this is so stupid. I thought this when I looked at Abby and Maria oddly. Perhaps, I'll just tiptoe myself elsewhere and act like I am playing along.

"I'll check over here," I said acting unbiased while I trail off in a different direction.

Maria hollered in a giggling tone, "I call the pink flowers!"

I rolled my eyes and hollered back, "I got the white ones."

As I walked on the beautiful garden pathways from out of their view, I mumbled, "not really."

I stopped for a second to take in the wind blowing through my hair. And the sunlight beaming on my flesh. I took this moment to close my eyes to listen and hear the sounds of nature. The breeze blows through the leaves that cling to the bushes. All around me, I heard birds chirping and singing in the sky or on the tree branches. The songs they chirped were lovely. Each different species of bird sang a different tune and pitch. As I focus, pass the singing birds chatting with one another. I heard the sound of trickling water coming from somewhere nearby. Slowly, I opened my eyes and went around this right bend of these tall hedge bushes. And to my surprising discovery, I found this enclosed cycled-out space with a glorious fountain in the center of it. In the middle around the fountain's base were small carved-out wolves. Then in the center of the fountain were two perfectly chiseled statues of these wolves that resembled Beast and Luna. The water sparkled up in the air and then trickled down on both stone wolf statues.

When it came to art such as this the inside of my heart overflowed with passion. Cory certainly chose such a beautiful design when he had this mansion built. I never would've guessed he had such exquisite taste like this when it came to rich defining arts.

Whether it's the art of music or old antiques my passion for such inspiration with creativity like this ran wild. It's crazy to think Cory might have an eye for it. I glanced at my engagement ring to think in such a short time frame, he crafted me a breathtaking ring. Perhaps Cory and I share the same passion when it comes to defining arts like these.

Ugh, who am I kidding here! Myself? Most of the time I can't stand the hybrid Kingdom man for kidnapping me! This is ridiculous to even think Cory and I could have anything in common! I'll be lucky enough to survive being a Primary Queen let alone to be his wife! I shook my head pushing this bizarre thinking away.

Just when I swerved my heel to leave. A loud puff from a creature caught my attention. I turned forward across from me on the other side of the fountain. Is where I start hearing heavy panting over the hedge of these tallish bushes. This low-pitched growl moaned out following more sounds of heavy panting that sounded like snorts. Nervously, my sight scanned about the bushes to find it. Even though my eyes saw nothing, I hear slight sounds of leaves from the bushes shuffling and branches snapping in half or cracking.

Whatever creature this was it crept very stealthily as it got closer. If it wasn't for hearing small twigs snapping and low grumbling groans. Nobody would even notice it. My body was stiff to stand here as it got closer with each slinking step it took. Even my breath became still and silent as this unknown creature kept lurking closer. A louder big puff of breath is heard coming from this land-walking beast.

On the low ground, I looked and waited for whatever it was to come out. Then it sorta came to me that pathways in the hedges looked like trails that the wolves made. I started to calm my spooked heart down and thought this was likely only one of the wolves.

All of a sudden the panting sound seemed to be nearing my side in this enclosed cycle area. My heart felt so heavy but I still tried to remain calm.

"It's just a wolf," I muttered. Unexpectedly, the noisy panting breath and footsteps have suddenly gone quiet.

The only sound I heard was nothing more than the light breeze.

One of those prolonged 'huh' echoed in my head. Ok, perhaps the wolf decided to lay down in the shade. Hence, I told myself trying to make sense of what I heard a second ago.

Till I sorta jumped from hearing dragging feet behind me but I chilled out to realize it was only Maria and Abby.

"How many insects did you find?" Maria asked me but I was in my own little world so I had forgotten we were playing this stupid game. My mind kept drifting back to the wolf and I wanted to have a peek in the hedge to see where it went.

"Sally!" I heard Abby's voice say loud enough to wake me out of my deep thoughts. I turned back around and realized Abby and Maria had the strangest look on their faces. I knew the look was directed toward me since I was concentrating elsewhere.

"Is something wrong?" asked Maria.

"I was just listening to the birds and checking out the fountain, for insects," I replied cooley. "I didn't find any insects."

Of course, I left out the part that wasn't playing. They both seemed to buy it. So this worked out for me, I thought.

"I guess I won!" Maria said giggling. "I found six, Abby found four, and you Sally found zero."

I giggled at the fact Maria looked way too happy to win.

"Okay, so now what do we want to do?" I asked giggling.

[Author's note: If you're still following my book. Please leave me a review and power stones to help my ratings. I thank you so much for your support. Also, come check out my new novel called "Time Gap Queen and the Alpha Apex Predators." It's faster-paced compared to this story. As I've mentioned this story has a lot of details. I hope to hear from my supporters. Have a lovely week.]