Nadine

13. Prince Decker

"It's so pretty here Tre." We lay in the shade and watch the water.

"Not as pretty as you."

We spend the evening feeding each other berries and talking. A few kisses now and then. We're about to go back when we both smell a wolf at the same time. Neither of us say anything. We share a glance. I pretend to be putting food back in the bag, trying to see where it's coming from.

Tre sees him first and nudges me with his elbow. I glance over and it's a child. He seems to be in pretty bad shape. His clothes have holes and are dirty. Fairly skinny. But not going hungry. His hair is all over the place. It hasn't seen a comb in days. But he seems to only be about 7 years old.

He approaches us very slowly. Neither of us says anything, we watch him. I hear Tre take his sword out and poke him in the rib.

He whispers. "Just a precaution baby." He lays it down under his leg.

The child comes all the way up to us and eats a berry we dropped. Then he drops to his knees and eats more of the berries that are on the ground.

"Are you hungry?"

He nods and I get in the sack to see what all is left. I get out some meat and bread. He loves those.

I hear a rustling behind him and a woman pops out from behind a tree.

Tre jumps up and pulls the sword out.

I can tell she's a wolf too, but she doesn't seem to be a threat. She is crying and has her hands up.

"What are you doing here?" Tre is staring right at her. I don't even think he's blinking.

"Searching for my son. He roamed away from the pack. Please don't hurt him. He's just a cub. We mean you no harm."

I put the rest of the food in the sack and hand it to the boy. "Go back to your momma." Then I stand up. "Why are you so close to our land?"

The little boy runs back to his momma. She hugs him and cries even harder. "Thank you miss. Thank you. Our pack is moving. Trying to find a safe place. We didn't know we were this close to vampire lands. My son roamed off looking for food."

Tre seems very confused. "Ma'am, we have werewolf attacks against us nearly every day. Neither of you are safe here. Why are your people attacking us?"

I hear the whooshing. Vampires are approaching. "Hold up your sword so they stop Tre."

He holds his sword above his head and 4 vampires stop 20 feet behind us. It's the 4 advisors. Of course it is.

"It's not our pack sir. Our pack is peaceful. We live off the land. We bring no harm to people or any super naturals. We will not harm you."

The little boy runs back to me and gives me a fabric of some kind. It's animal fur. "This is so soft. What is it for?"

He puts it around my neck. "It's a scarf. It'll keep your neck warm in the cold."

"Thank you. It's beautiful. What's your name?"

Then 2 huge black wolves jump out of the tree line and are standing 20 feet ahead of us.

"My name is Decker."

"I'm Nadine. It's nice to meet you." As I shake the little boy's hand, a man comes out from behind another tree.

"Hello everyone. It seems we have stumbled somewhere we are not supposed to be." He starts approaching me and Decker.

Tre drops his sword ever so slightly and the 4 advisors close in by about 10 feet. Why are they following his order? There must have been a clause in that contract my dad signed. I should have read it.

The 2 black wolves snarl but don't do much else.

The man puts his hands out. "Let's calm down. What's going on? I'm confused."

The woman behind him speaks. "They say there are werewolf attacks against them almost daily. We are on their land."

He turns back towards Tre. "Really? Here?"

"Yes, a woman was attacked yesterday by the river. Day before, a convoy was attacked."

I look around and there are about 10 guards behind the advisors. Then I see a few more wolves in the trees. Me, Tre, and Decker are right in the middle.

Decker puts his arm around me. "They gave me food daddy."

"That was nice of them. Did you say thank you?"

"Yes." The little boy stands there smiling with his arm around my waist. I touch the scarf and smile back.

The man stands between the 2 black wolves with his hands still out. "I am Werewolf King Ronion. My family is traveling with these 2 alphas to set up a packland near here. We have heard of a lot of rogue wolves near these parts. We are hoping to put an end to it. I am sorry to hear the rogues are attacking your people. We wish to end these attacks and bring order to all the wolves. I do ask for passage off your land and a bit of time to fully end the rogue attacks."

I smile at the little boy. "You're a prince?" He nods and smiles back. I whisper in his ear. "I'm the princess." He hugs me.

The werewolf king turns to me. "Wolves have very good hearing princess." He bows and stands back up.

"Can you really promise the attacks will stop werewolf king?" I don't know how to be very formal I guess.

"Yes ma'am. I do ask for some time though. We will set up a packland an hour from here and start rounding up the rogues. They will follow our laws or be killed."

Tre motions to the advisors. "Write it." Then he turns back to the werewolf king. "If you fail,"

"We will not."

Dipak comes up beside me and bows to the werewolf king. "How much time before we see a noticeable decrease in the attacks?"

"A few days, a week at most. The rogues will join the pack and order will come to them. If they refuse to join, we will kill them. I would like to add 1 item to that contract."

Dipak looks up from the paper. "What would that be?"

"We both know children like to roam. The princess will be able to walk on my lands, free of any kind of harm. I wish that for our prince as well. As you can see, he likes to roam."

Dipak glances at me and the prince hugging and starts laughing. Then Tre laughs. I smack Tre. "I don't roam."

"Of course not, princess."

Dracul takes the sword out of Tre's hand and does some fancy wave thing with it and gives it back to him. "They're standing down."

"Thank you."

The 2 alphas go into the tree line. Dipak signs the paper and gives it to Dracul who signs. Dracul gives it to Tre and he signs it. Then Frode signs it. Two men walk out of the woods and stand beside the king.

"Are you 2 the wolves? Can you actually turn into wolves?" I'm really in shock. I don't know what I thought a werewolf is. But that isn't it.

They both smile at me. "Yes ma'am." One of them says, "I will turn after I sign the paper. So you can see."

Dipak gets the paper back and takes it over to them. They all sign it and I wait as patiently as I can. One of the alphas takes his shirt and shoes off. I'm glad I have this veil on. They have even more muscles than vampires. He is so nice looking. I'm standing there admiring his body and he becomes a big black wolf. The clothes he left on shred and he's a wolf.

I squeal and run up to him. I think all the advisors and Tre about die. They all grab for swords and I hear chaos behind me as they try to grab me. But I was to fast this time. I get to the wolf and touch his head. "Your fur is so soft and silky. You're beautiful." He runs his head into my stomach playfully and I laugh.

Tre comes up behind me putting his sword away. "You can't have 1 princess."

Everyone laughs. Even the wolf coughs a little bit.

He sits and I rub between his ears. "You're amazing."

Tre puts his arm around me. "I mean it." He shakes the werewolf king's hand. "Everything is sealed. You are free to go. We do expect results in a weeks' time."

"Thank you sir. We will not fail."

I throw my arms around the big black wolf. "Thank you." He rubs his head against mine a couple times. I guess that's his hug maybe. He doesn't growl or anything so that's nice.

The little prince runs up beside me and I give him a hug too. "It was nice meeting you Prince Decker."

"You too Princess Nadine."