Aribelle & the Lone Wolf: YA Fairytale Retelling (Once Upon a Fated Mate Book 1) by Joss Fitch

Author:Joss Fitch [Fitch, Joss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joss Fitch
Published: 2022-09-11T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

ARI

“Ari...”

A hand softly shook my shoulder, pulling me from a deep sleep. I blinked and then stared up at Vir’s blurry face.

“What is it? A bear?”

“No.” His lips curved into a small smile. “I’ve got something planned for today. A little detour. But we’ve got to go now if it’s going to work. The weather’s just right.”

I yawned and then sat up. The forest was still draped in darkness. No doubt, he’d woken me just before dawn.

I’d probably never get used to these early morning hikes. Vir seemed to like to get started the moment the sun touched the tops of the trees. I’d been around him long enough now to realize that he took advantage of those early mornings to shift and run through the forest in his wolf form. The old me would’ve shivered in fear. The new me was growing more and more curious about Vir’s wolf form — but not curious enough to rise before the sun.

Still, I wasn’t going to complain. After two days of travel through the Dark Forest, he seemed to have forgotten his momentary loss of nerves at the start of our journey. We’d fallen back into an easy companionship, just like when we’d been training my magic. I’d tell him all about growing up in Oraville and he’d relay some of his hijinks as a young were-pup in the pack.

There were only a few moments when the conversation would lag and I’d catch him staring at me, his eyes hauntingly sad. He knew our trip was coming to an end very soon. I wished I could be braver and tell him that I felt the same — that our time together had changed me. But if I allowed the words to slip off my tongue, there was no telling what else would follow. Emotions and feelings that I wasn’t quite ready to explore. Words that I couldn’t take back.

Instead, I kept my mouth zipped and pretended I didn’t notice his odd looks.

As I finished putting away my sleeping mat, the sound of a bellowing horn in the distance made my whole body turn to stone. My hands began to shake. We must’ve been close to a Third Kingdom village. I knew that sound intimately. Any human would.

It was a warning of impending doom.

“Vir...” I spun around to see him standing and listening to the sound. He seemed interested in the noise but unconcerned as far as what it could mean. “The alarm.”

He nodded, his brow arching. “The Black Fog.”

“Yes,” I breathed out the word, horror tightening its icy grip on my lungs. We had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide from the damaging effects of the Fog. If it swept through the forest, we’d be done for.

“We have to run,” I said, looking around. I wish I could tell which way the wind was coming from. Maybe then, we’d have a fighting chance. “We have to find shelter.”

“Ari, relax — or as you define it, become less anxious.” A small smile lingered on his lips as he casually played along with my father’s game.

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