Bound By Faith Divided By Blood

Chapter 3.

The days that followed, Elera followed her father to the stream, hoping she would see the werewolf who had saved her, but she didn't. He never came.

After a while, she stopped. Zach complained, persuaded, and tried to convince her, but she was adamant, making excuses upon excuses.

The rumors about humans turning into wolves and vampires died down just as quickly as they rose.

Life never stopped.

That day, Elera went to the market to get foodstuffs, and on her way back, she felt a shift in the air and turned back. She didn't see anyone, so she increased her steps. However, when she turned back again, it was the guy from the forest. The werewolf walked right behind her. Her heart raced, but she stopped, turned to face him. She wanted answers, why he had saved her and killed one of his own,but he was wearing a smile.

“Why are you following me?” It dropped from her mouth instead. He still carried his smile.

“I wasn’t,” he said. “Urrgh, did you think I was?” he asked. He wasn’t following her? She thought he was.

“No,” she said and turned back on her way home.

“Let me help with that,” he offered, referring to the things she'd gone to the village to buy.

“No, thank you,” Elera declined, and he just followed her in silence. She wanted to ask multiple questions, but she appreciated the silence as well.

“Since we've met a number of times…” he started.

“Once,” she interrupted him.

“Since we've met once, can I know your name?”

“As?” She turned to him. He was already walking by her side.

“As someone who wants to be your friend,” he said.

“Why?” she asked. Why would a werewolf want to be friends with a human like her?

“Should there be a reason?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Yes,” she answered, supporting her nod. He remained silent for a while, just following beside her.

“I’m new, and I want to be frequenting this village to get some things. I would love a friend,” he said, choosing his words carefully.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“I came from Harmony Village,” he said. Harmony Village was the neighboring village, and the two villages chose themselves as brothers. She turned to him, wondering why he was telling lies to her and not telling her where he'd really come from, but she kept quiet. If he was going to play human, then she would watch how long.

“Why did you kill that wolf?” Elera asked, looking at his face to see his reaction, but his facial expression gave nothing.

“I’m a hunter,” he said. “I happen to be hunting,” he added. Wasn’t he a werewolf? He was a hunter? Why did he have the smell of a werewolf? So he hadn’t killed the wolf to save her.

“Ohhh,” she let out, unsure of why she felt disappointed.

“My name is Rowan,” he said, another beautiful smile gracing his face. He was a gentle, handsome man.

“Elera,” she replied, her house in sight, so she reduced her steps.

“Why were you in the woods, by the way?” he asked, and she shrugged.

“I love going to the hills. I love the views from up there,” she said.

“You climb the hills just to watch the view?” he asked, amused, and that earned a smile from her.

“I love doing so, and I found an earlier way up,” she said, then her smile ceased. “I haven’t gone there since that incident,” she added.

“I can go with you if you don’t mind…”

“Can you?” Elera stopped and gasped in excitement. “I don’t mind,” she said.

“Tomorrow then,” he said with a smile, and she nodded.

“Tomorrow it is,” she replied, her insides jumping with excitement.

“Does that make us friends?” he asked, squinting his eyes, his smile still bright.

“Yeah,” she said. “Bye, get home safely,” she added.

“I will. Take care of yourself,” he replied, waving while watching her go into her courtyard, looking back repeatedly to be sure he was still there watching. Once she was inside her room, Elera repeatedly squealed out of excitement. Rowan was gentle, appeared protective, and kind. He held all the attributes of a friend. He would make a good friend.

Rowan held himself and his wolf back from jumping on her right there and claiming her as theirs. She was surreal up close, and she had such a heartwarming smile. Initially, he was caught between her many questions, but watching her go, his heart clenched, and he would rather deal with those many questions. But the meeting was successful. He heard her voice, though he lied to her, but he was able to become her friend. Leon had been lecturing him in the past days about how complicated humans can be, but all of that didn’t matter now. He wanted this complicated human regardless.

Leon stood up as soon as he saw him enter his chamber.

“Did you meet her?” he asked, and Rowan replied with a smile. “Did it go smoothly?” he pressed on.

“Yeah, but I had to lie…” Rowan said. “I don’t think I enjoy having to lie to her,” he added, and Leon scoffed.

“Did you think she’ll accept you being a werewolf just like that?” he asked. “Rowan, there are some precious things we have to earn only with lies. Just know her more before letting her know who you really are. Get to know her perception of werewolves,” Leon continued. “You can't just put it on her that you aren’t like her. You are different, you are supernatural. I mean, she’ll run off like they do,” he said.

There had been stories of werewolves whose mates were human and had rejected the realization. Some of those werewolves lost it when they couldn’t take the rejection and became feral. He didn’t want that for himself.

“A step at a time,” Rowan said to himself.