The hecate

InSaga

Melvins’ pov

I snatched the bowl of water Connor was going to take to Willow, who had just woken up.

“ I'll take care of this.” He rolled his eyes and just let go without a word, his lips were as dry as a deserted root, and his eyes were sagging.

One would think he was the one who fainted.

Outside the room, my hand hovered over the door for a bit. If she's a shadow wolf, what is she doing here?

Hecate disappeared a few nights ago.

Could this be her?

Or is she just following orders from her?

“ Connor?” She called, her voice low but somehow still sounding strong.

She must've heard me approaching.

I cleared my throat and shook the tray like I was adjusting it before coming in.

“ It's not Connor.”

She squinted as the light reflected on her russet skin. “ And so I'm aware.”

She still managed to be sarcastic.

I gave a slight smirk. “ Are you alright?”

A bit of quiet hung in the air.

“ Yeah…yeah.” She rubbed her eye, adjusting her back from the wall, roughing the woolen sheets.

“ What happened last night?”

I tried to hide my nervous curiosity. “ You don't remember?”

“ Umm… I was running, then I started to feel dizzy and the last thing I heard was you screaming my name.”

With that explanation, I don't know what to believe.

“ Well, that's pretty much everything.” My hands met my thighs. I stretched out the bowl of water to her. “ Here, have some. You look pale.”

Her eyebrows wrinkled up before she reluctantly took the bowl. “ You're not gonna ask me any other thing?”

A part of me is disturbed. But the other part doesn't want to trust an unknown coastal wolf who appeared out of nowhere.

“ I'm not curious. Your safety is all that matters.” I stood up, gnawing at her eyes. “ That's the only way we'll both get what we want. And you seem fine to me.”

The silence pressed in suffocating. It weighed on my chest. But it's nothing compared to what's coming next.

“ I want to come with you.” She stood up, stretching her neck a bit to meet my eyes. “ Just for today.”

My heart stopped.

“ A feisty coastal wolf wants to spend the day with the lone prince. Why is that?”

She came in closer to me, close enough to feel her breath on my face and to see her chestnut eyes.

“ Look, it's barely been two days since I got here. And they already wanted me in their pack. I just lost mine, I don't want another one.”

“ So you want to check out the bigger territory.”

Her breath heated. “ That's right, and I would rather be with the lone mysterious prince than serve anyone.”

I chuckled, making her move back. “ I'm flattered by the mysterious tag. But everyone knows me. Except for you.” Her eyebrows furrowed. I walked towards the door, just as I was about to open it__ “ Do they know the real you though? Or just the one you let them see?”

My heart dropped to my stomach. Beating slower than it used to__ like a dog going to sleep after its colour faded with kisses.

“ Get dressed. I'll be waiting.” I left.

*************

After a long breakfast filled with arguments with Connor alongside his friends, I broke the news that Willow will be spending the day with me, or even more depending on how well it goes. Connor didn't take it really well.

“ What? Why?”

“ I don't know… because she wants to.”

His eyebrows creased. “ She should be the one telling us this. Not you.”

My skin crawled. He's not wrong. I have no right to go behind her like this.

The door creaked open slowly, and she stepped out like a snail, rubbing her neck.

The sun shone brilliantly on her dress__ cream fabric glowing too softly for someone who almost gave me a heart attack. The dark bodice pulled at her waist, the sleeves hanging loose like they belonged to a calmer day.

My gaze was longer than I intended. And so did others. She doesn't look like she wears a dress often and that puts us in awe.

“ Are you all going to say something!” She complained.

“ You look gorgeous.” Connor complimented without hesitation. My eyes widened. That moon-cursed flirt!!

“ It…it doesn't look like you wear one often.”

My breath jammed after spewing that nonsense.

“ Umm, thanks?” She scrunched her face, her hands still touching the fabric. Despite that, she looked at us without a touch of emotion in her eyes. She groaned and started to walk towards the breakfast table. “ Stop staring at me, or I'll strangle you right here.”

Connor shook his head. “ So Melvin told us.”

The quiet clung for a moment, like a thought that has been pushed away.

Her face clouded. “ It's not a big deal… I have to find__” Connor cuts her off. “ I get it. I'm sorry.”

She nods softly with a mild smile.

“ If you need our help we're right here.”.

He seems to comfort her really well.

For someone we all just met, we've started to get really attached.

I should speak for myself though.

“ We have to go,” I said, grabbing her attention.

“ Why? I haven't had breakfast yet.”

“ We'll get something to eat along the way.” She scrunched her eyes, following behind me. “Why not just wait?!”

“ No!” I exclaimed.

Her eyes popped out. “ You're not gonna order me around.”

“ I'm not ordering. Let's just go already.” I grabbed her hand. She twisted my arm, making me squeal in pain. “ You're lucky I don't wanna fight back.”

“ Really, you think I can't handle you, prince?” She teased in a squeaky voice.

She twisted my arm in one sharp motion once again, but before she could press her advantage, I hooked an arm under her knees and another behind her back, hoisting her up effortlessly—like a bride carried over a threshold.

I could feel her heart racing. “ Put me down… when I find my family. You'd be the first I'll kill.”

The others just sat there eating with a grin on their face.

I chuckled. “ Shhhh” She threw her legs redundantly trying to break free.

“ See you soon guys.” I greeted as I made us disappear into the fog.

************

The village basked in a lazy afternoon glow, stone cottages pressed shoulder to shoulder as if sharing secrets. Vines curled along the walls, their leaves whispering against the sun-warmed stone, and a breeze carried the scents of fresh bread and pine resin through the cobbled lanes.

I caught her peering at the basket of bread.

I proceeded to the woman and took a big loave as I watched her swallow like her heart was about to burst out. “ Here it tastes good.”

“ I didn't say I wanted one.”

“ Ughhh.” I shoved it into her mouth.

I watched as she chewed gently, soaking in every bit of flavor. Her eyes lit up like a sunrise. “ How is it?”

“ It's amazing actually.”

The woman who sold the bread__ Lucy stayed and gave a soft giggle. “ I know the face of a fellow wolf who hasn't had bread before.”

She laughed at herself taking another bite.“ You're not wrong.”

My eyes widened.

“ Thank you, Lucy. Have a great day.”

She bowed, turned around, and left. “ Pleased to serve you, Prince Melvin.”

“ I knew you wouldn't have had bread before.” We walked past the women chatting softly over baskets of herbs, a child darted past with a wooden hoop, and somewhere, a lute hummed an idle tune.

“ What? How? I'm confident you're wrong.”

“ Don't all coastal wolves rarely have stuff like this?” I watched her eyebrows crease as she took another bite. “ What? I mean you barely settle on land.”

She nodded. “ Yes rarely… but we still do. And you're talking like you've met a dozen packs of coastal wolves.”

“ That's because I have…. Well, not a dozen but a few.”

“ So you've been outside of here a lot.” She paused. “Why? All for the Hecate?”

Every movement was a little too measured, every glance just a moment too lingering. “ Not at all. I've travelled a lot of times before hearing about her.”

“ What did you hear?” Curiosity sparked in her voice.

Before I could give a reply. The ground began to vibrate, and the villagers made way in a single file for the source to make its way. I could recognize that sound anywhere__ Walters’ soldiers.

I brushed Willow to the side, swiftly behind the crowd where we could not be spotted.

Her warm breath flows down my shoulders.

Their jackets were made from thick, dark leather reinforced with iron-thread stitching.

Pauldrons curved over their shoulders like layered scales, etched with claw-like patterns.

Across the chest, a diagonal sash of deep forest green bore the crest of a crescent moon entwined with a wolf’s fang, glinting silver under torchlight__ just like my forefathers had carved.

“ Who are they?” She whispered.

“ My brother's soldiers… come on, I know a spot.”

I dragged her away behind Lucy's shop, taking a dark tunnel to meet a cave__ only the shortcut that I know of which now makes two.

Her hand traced every curve, every shape engraved on the walls of the cave.

I started to feel chilly all of a sudden, like a spirit was within our space.

I wanted to call her attention by touching her back only to realize that her shadow flickered unnaturally against the wall.

My breath ceased.

What is going on? Is there something in this cave? Is there something I don't know?

She turned her back out of the blue.

“ Are you okay? You seem weirdly pale.” Her lips curved.

Way too relaxed.

“ I'm fine. Just a bit cold.”

“ Weird.” She found the markings of the chants right above a stone.

I approached her. “ This cave was made by the witches who lived here thousands of years ago.”

“ I thought so, look at these chants… or a spell.”

A thought flashed to me to tell her not to recite it, but a part of me held back. If there's any way to find out what__who she really is, it's this way.

“Moon bleeds low, shadows creep,

Fur of night, teeth that weep.

Breathe the ash, drink the mire,

Wake the bones, feed the fire.” She recited without hesitation.

Mist coiled around my ankles, cold and damp as if it were breathing. A faint wailing hum threads the air—neither wind nor voice.

My father once said, ‘When the hecate recites the moon-blood chant, your body, the earth will react, and so will your soul.’

My heart raced without stopping.

She doesn't know.

“ I found you.”