His Fugitive Mate

It was a bright afternoon in what looked like a palace's private training grounds. A young lady in her early twenties was seen swirling a bright, long sword with a silver blade.

"Ay!" She shouted as she twirled the sword around again, hitting the mannequins arranged one after the other in a straight line. The mannequins had been arranged there for her to be used for her daily training.

Her sword, as she began the first pass, moved faster than the eye could follow. Her feet moved swiftly against the floor, movements were precise. Almost done hitting the mannequins, she stopped suddenly, her breaths only a little louder than usual in the still afternoon air.

She pushed the hair back from her brow and looked up to the sky. Then, she squinted. The sun sat differently on the horizon now that it was

winter, seeming to slant into her eyes from every angle. The calm sound of the soft wind caressing the autumn leaves enveloped her ears.

At that moment, her eyes narrowed. She could hear hurried footsteps and some men's voices drawing close to the training grounds. She turned, sword twisting behind her to point at the approaching figure.

"Yes?" She spoke as soon as the figure walked to meet her and bowed to her as a form of respectful greeting.

"Your father has sent for you, ma'am Ivy ," the male figure who is one of the palace guards, said to her.

"It's just Ivy , I've corrected you many times." The young lady, whose name is Ivy , replied to him almost immediately.

"My apologies," the guard replied again. "Your father sent for you, Ivy ," he corrected himself.

"Good. I'll be there in a minute. You can take your leave." She responded, and without any other word, he turned around and walked out of the training ground.

They walked down and entered the inner

court of the palace. There were so many images that beautified the place and only a good artist could do the sculptures. They were ushered into the Alpha's court, which was a big hall where most of the meetings take place. The room had three chandeliers, two on both sides with one in the middle. There were two thrones in the room. The thrones are situated on a platform with soldiers standing behind them.

As she walked inside the hall in the Alpha's court, she found her father who is the alpha, and other elders seated. The council meeting had already begun. It was a rounded table hall, which looked more like a conference hall. Ivy 's father, the alpha, sat in front of them all on the bigger throne, while the other elders sat on the other chairs facing the round table.

As soon as Ivy walked in, the elders welcomed her with respect. Some stood up, while some simply bowed their heads while still sitting in their seats. She acknowledged their greetings with just a nod as she walked further into the hall to meet her father in front. Being the alpha's daughter was one thing that earned her respect from everyone, and besides that, she was also the soon to be alpha, after her father. So the respect was due.

Getting to where her father sat in front, she sat next to him on the empty and less big throne which had been placed there, especially for her. Then, she greeted her father.

"Father," she said as a form of greeting and bowed her head to show respect and courtesy.

"Ivy ." Her father replied, acknowledging her greeting. "How is training going?"

"It's strenuous, but it's going fine, father." She said.

Her father smiled and patted her back gently. "You're finally becoming the woman you want to be, Ivy . And I'm so proud of you for that."

"Thank you, father." She replied to him with a smile, and he retreated his hand from her. While they were discussing in front in lowered voices, the elders were discussing something within themselves too, so they had no time to wonder what Ivy and her father were talking about.

"A guard said you sent for me. Is everything okay?" Ivy asked, wanting to know why her father had summoned her. He doesn't always require her presence in the meeting with the elders, especially when she was on the training grounds, but today was different.

"Ah, yes. It is to avoid the dangers that have been lurking around." Her father started and sighed. "There are things about to happen that you should know."

She sat upright and faced her father squarely, her full attention now on him. "What is happening? I hope it's nothing dangerous? Is that why you called the meeting?"

"It is one of the reasons, but this is more of a secret between us because you're a white wolf." Her father started and she just stared at him curiously.

"Is something about to happen to us white wolves?" She asked, a look of confusion and curiosity widely written on her face.

"The red moon pack are attacking packs, looking for white wolves," he said and it was then she understood what he meant when he said it was a secret between them. She is a white wolf, but no one other than her father or her knew about it.

She didn't say anything as she just kept staring at her father as realization hit her that she wasn't safe anymore. Her father gave her a pointed stare and her heart dropped, knowing fully well that trouble was coming, sooner or later and she had to do something about it.

"Then, what is this meeting for?" She asked. Her face was still clouded with sadness.

"It is to discuss with the elders and bring out suggestions on what we can do to protect our pack." Her father replied.

"Our pack?" She asked, looking confused. "But they're attacking only white wolves, so why does our pack need to be protected?"

Her father sighed before replying to her. "The thing is that very soon, I feel like our pack will also be attacked by the red moon pack, so we had better be prepared for the worst."

"Oh," she simply replied, still thinking of how much danger she was about to get into.

Seeing that she was beginning to think too much about what he had just told her, he calmed her down and reassured her that whatever came from the outcome of the meeting, they would try out those means to protect her, and she nodded in agreement.

"The meeting will start now!" Her father said as soon as he was done reassuring his daughter. As he spoke, the elders ended their discussions and everywhere turned silent immediately. "Thank you," he added. "I believe we all know why we called for this urgent meeting."

"We do." The elders chorused, while some simply said yes.

"Good, but I'll repeat it once again though. What we have at stake now is that the red moon pack is causing troubles here and there. They are currently after the white wolves, and even though we are not in danger yet, we might be, soon. This is why I called this meeting to know what preparations to make to save and protect ourselves before they think of attacking us." He finished, and murmurs began in the hall again.

Then, one of the elders stood up and spoke. "I believe the best thing to do is to lock our gates. The gates that lead to our kingdom, and we set traps all over the place that will only hold down the red moon pack whenever they sneak in or try to get in."

"I don't think that's a good idea," another of the elders replied, countering the first person that spoke.

"Then what do you think we should do?" Ivy 's father asked the second elder that spoke. Then, he turned to face the first one, "have your seat, sire."

The first elder nodded and sat down. All heads were turned towards the second elder that spoke, as they expected him to say what he thinks would be of help to prevent the attack of their pack.

"As we all know that our pack, silver moon pack isn't as strong as the red moon pack, I feel the only thing we can do is to seek help from other stronger packs, and-"

"No, no, no," came from the elders on the table as everywhere became noisy once again with every one of them voicing out their thoughts on what he had just said.

The meeting went on with them arguing about what to do and what not to do. This went on for about an hour with Ivy just staring at them and what they were doing and saying. All that was on her mind was how she would save herself since the red moon pack was currently after white wolves like her.

Lost in her thoughts and the elders were also lost in their arguments with Ivy's father, they suddenly began to hear shouts and screams from outside of the hall.

Immediately, everywhere in the hall went silent for them to listen to know where the direction of the noise was coming from.

"What's happening?" Ivy asked no one in particular as she stood up from her seat.

"We have no idea either," Ivy's father replied. He also stood up, and the elders followed suit. He walked down to the door, followed closely by Ivy and the elders, to know what was going on and whatever was happening outside.