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Part Two

Up ahead of us, the sun seemed to shine brighter, the texture of the rays thickening as we drew closer. I smelt salt, almost like the saltwater waterfall behind the palace.

My unvoiced question of where we were going was answered when the clear mass of water became visible. Like a mirror, the water rippled in the blazing sun, reflecting the forest in its blue depths.

I realised that I stood frozen on the edge of the forest, unable to draw breath in the face of such beauty.

"Exquisite isn't it?" Braeden had already started walking up to the water's edge. He kicked off his shoes with the easy grace of someone who knew their surroundings well.

I picked up my skirts and followed him towards the shore, speechless in my captivation.

"If you head West down the lake for five days you get to Creta," his eyes twinkled mischievously as he threw a glance at me over his shoulder. "That's where I'm from."

I smiled at this piece of information, I revelled in everything and anything that Braeden would share with me of himself. It was nice to know that he was opening up to me more. I wondered what it was like in his hometown and I wondered whether I would ever have a chance to see it in my lifetime. Perhaps Oscar would take me one day.

"Why did you move here?" I asked the obvious follow up question.

At least, I thought it was an obvious question but from the way his smile fell from his face I could tell it was not a light subject for him. I was getting better at reading expression.

I moved forward, about to reassure him that he didn't have to answer when he spoke.

"I had friends here. Asher and Gelina, we grew up in Creta together." He was smiling again, obviously fond of the memory.

"Who is Gelina?" I had never heard him talk about her before.

"Oh I forget you haven't met these people. Feels like I've known you my whole life."

I smiled at his offhand compliment.

"Gelina fancies herself a witch," His eyes laughed at the apparent absurdity of what he was saying. "Makes me potions and stuff. She's a lovely lady though, very good friend."

A spark of fire raced through my chest, settling in the pit of my stomach. The feeling was as foreign as it was unpleasant, it actually made me feel a little sick. From what I had read I was sure I could take a good guess at naming the emotion. Jealousy. I was jealous of a girl I had never met, just because Braeden was friends with her and had a history with her. My leopard seemed to think she was being perfectly reasonable in her reaction, even though I thought it was totally unwarranted.

A flash of black against tan skin drew my attention as he made to run his hand through my hair. Upon closer inspection, I saw that a line of numbers ran across his wrist, a bold rectangular stamp enclosing them. I grabbed his hand with mine before he touched my hair, turning his arm so his palm faced upwards. 702 683 were the bold numbers engraved in his skin, a gap between the first and second three figures.

He jerked his hand back as if I had burned him, causing me to raise my eyes in surprise. His glared at me fiercely, his expression glowering and hostile. I backed away from him, dropping my arms and not even thinking to enquire over the harsh tattoo.

An old wooden pier extended into the huge lake, and Braeden made his way down it now. I followed him uneasily, taking care not to slip on the shiny wet wood. As we walked it looked like the end of the pier dropped off unevenly as if it were unfinished but as we drew closer it became apparent that half of the structure had collapsed, presumably during the Quakes.

Braeden stood on the edge of the pier, looking out at the lake as if it were his empire. With the way the wind tousled his hair and the strength his posture held looming over the water, I could almost believe the water was bowing before his commanding gaze.

We stood that way for several minutes, him reigning the world at the front and me waiting for him at the back. I didn't look too close into the meaning behind our body language, preferring to watch Braeden's face carefully.

When finally he spoke he did so in a hushed, hoarse voice. "I need to tell you something," He hung his head in defeat and turned his tormented eyes away from the lake onto me.

I was held immobilised by the heavy weight in his stare.

"You're not going to like it Rey but I haven't been entirely honest with you," he breathed the words, searching my face earnestly, "about...me."

I tried to reason what could possibly be causing him so much pain. I wanted to believe that it was relevant to the stamp on his wrist but his previous closed off expression hinted to me that it was not. However I was sure that whatever his dark secret was, it couldn't change the way I felt about him.

"I'm not...what you think." Braeden was really struggling for words.

He wasn't what? Courageous? Nobel? Caring?

"I'm not a leopard."

That statement pulled me up short. My mind rejected the idea of him being anything other than the only changelings I had ever been around in my life.

"What do you mean?" I asked hesitantly, half expecting him to smirk and declare the whole conversation a joke.

"I mean it like it is," he said simply. The corners of his eyes creased as he struggled with some kind of inner turmoil. "I'm not a leopard...I'm a wolf."

A high pitched, rather hysterical giggle escaped me. Now I realised that he must be joking. Wolves had been extinct since the Quakes, no one had seen one for many many years. The aggressive, uncontrollable creatures had been hunted for sport and their furs were worn with flamboyant pride.

His fierce, almost angry gaze pinned me down and dared me to laugh at him again. That was when I realised he wasn't joking. Not at all.

I gasped and I was sure shock and perhaps even fear was openly displayed on my face. "You're serious?"

He simply nodded, watching my reaction carefully.

I took a step backwards.

And slipped into the cool embrace of the water.

The cold was a welcoming relief for all of a split second before the gelatinous substance started to sink into me from all sides. I tried to move my limbs in the jelly like medium but I moved in slow motion, the resistance of the water holding me back.

Briefly, my mouth hit an area of air and my lungs filled of their own volition. Then water was inside me and air was an abstract entity once more.

Something grabbed my waist and I recoiled forcefully, thinking it was some sort of sea creature that had come to attack me. It was only when it became apparent that the reaching limbs were not tentacles but arms that I finally stopped fighting. I hardly had much air in me what with the way my lungs were about to burst with their need for air.

My body shuddered when my face finally came above the water and stayed there, my lungs convulsing and my mouth gaping as it greedily sucked at the air around it.

Braeden was in the water with me, his arms wrapped around me as he treaded water. I realised that my legs were clenched tight around his waist, holding his entire body flush with mine. My head fell onto his shoulder as I panted heavily. His arms seemed to tighten around me as my hot breaths hit his neck.

After a couple of seconds air was travelling through my body once more and thoughts cascaded through my mind.

"You're a wolf?" My words were more air than sound.

He nodded as he moved us closer to the pier. Somehow I felt safe in his arms, even though we were still in the black, pitless water that had tried to swallow me only a few seconds ago. I wrestled with the new fact he had presented me. Wolves were our enemy, how had he befriended me when we were once at war with each other?

His deep blue eyes considered my reaction carefully as if waiting for me to pull away from him and tell him to go to hell. I knew that wolves were our enemy but I couldn't, wouldn't accept that Braeden was out to hurt me until I saw it with my own eyes. Meeting Braeden had made me happier than I'd ever been in my life, he had freed me from the ideals that held me prisoner.

I found myself pushing a lock of damp, midnight hair out of his eyes. "I'll trust you until you show me you can't be trusted," was all I said as I stared into his eyes.

Despair crossed his expression in a fleeting twist of the lips before some of the tension left his eyes in the form of relief. I couldn't assimilate the contrasting emotions that he seemed to express at my statement.

"I care for you Rey," the vibrations of his voice shook me. "Don't ever forget that."

There was something ominous in his tone that I didn't want to identify. My hand hadn't left his face after pushing his hair away and it cupped his cheek now. "I care for you too," I whispered.

It was true. I felt more for this man than I had ever felt for anything in my life. Prior to then I had always been avoiding from my feelings for him as the strength of them had always intimidated me. At that moment I decided to put my faith in the man before me. He meant more to me than the rest of my world combined and inevitably I knew I would give up everything for him.

I raised my other hand from where it rested on his shoulder to touch his face as well. I pulled myself closer to him, reaching into to his unchanging heat and away from the cold of the river.

His eyes dropped to my lips as his forehead fell against mine. His breath came in a shallow gasp as my lips barely brushed his. My heart rate accelerated at the accidental contact but I made no move to pull away. Our heavy breaths mingled as we both froze in place for a couple of seconds. I was about to pull away slightly when he pushed forwards, firmly pressing his lips on top of mine. It was my turn to suck in a breath as I tried to survive the onslaught of electricity that sparked between our joined lips. My leopard pushed to the front, the word mate echoing loudly in my mind.

Braeden groaned against my lips, his fingers tightening painfully on my hips before he pulled away. His eyelids fluttered as he realised his surroundings once more. My body ached with the need to pull him close and join our lips again but before I could do just that, he was lifting me out of the water and placing me on the pier behind me. I shivered from the combined effect of losing his heat and being out of the water.

"You'll be the death of me Rey," he muttered as he pushed himself up.  

--- A/N --- 

Thank you for reading, I love you all! - Zoe x