Frost Bite.

Chapter Sixteen.

Blythe.

Someone was holding me, whispering that everything would be okay, repeating that they were there as if to constantly remind me of their presence. The voice grew increasingly familiar as time passed and I could manage to breathe, my body numb from the pain, my mind a cluster of confusing thoughts and images. My heart had been torn into two, one part loved Nixon while the other had feelings for Aron but Aron had rejected me and Nixon was to marry a noble woman. So then, where did my heart belong? I opened my eyes enough to take in the dark world around me and found a man, cradling me to his chest with his head resting on mine. The body belonged to the owner of the voice who had called out my name before. I tilted my head back, hand gripping his shirt once more. He reacted, pulling his head away from mine, tired eyes blinking down at me when his arms instinctively tightened around my form "Zane?" I gently asked to which he hummed lowly in response, his head leaning back against the base of the tree. Hours seemed to have passed, hours of him being worried and fearful of my state and remained at my side no matter how much time ticked by. It made sense that he was tired since the hours had ticked closer to dawn. My hand slid up his chest to his neck, cupping the side of his face in my palm. He smelt similar to Nixtoni, he looked similar to him as well and I couldn't stop myself from tilting his head down and placing a small kiss to his lips. His entire body stiffened, his eyes widening as if he was just now waking up from a deep sleep. I pulled away from him, running my nose along his cheekbone until I could bury my face in his neck, moving to sit up on my knees in the snow, in between his parted legs with his knees propped up "Thank you" I whispered, leaning up to plant a kiss to the center of his forehead before pulling away, my hand dropping away from his face to support my body in the snow. The sun was slowly starting to rise over the horizon, painting the world in a series of pinks, purples, oranges and yellows. Zaniel furrowed his brows up in confusion as to why I had kissed him, slight worry hidden behind his pale blue eyes. I knew that I owed him an explanation and turned my eyes down to the snow, not knowing where to start or what to say "Blythe-." he began, his voice low, laced with fear and concern that was directed towards me. I flinched at the tone, my hands curling into the snow, gripping the stinging cold as an attempt to distract me from the stabbing pain in my chest. I closed my eyes and parted my lips "He is my mate" the words fled from my mouth long before I could stop them. There was a long, silent pause that caused me to open my eyes and look up at him. From the look in his eyes, it was clear that he knew exactly who I was talking about "It's hard-." I whispered, my hand moving to grip my chest past the material of the dress Zane had gifted me. I couldn't look at him and instead tilted my head back to stare at the sky above past the bare branches of the tree he was leaning against "He's the one chosen to be mine, the one my wolf loves beyond compare-." I blinked when my eyes began to grow wetter. I knew that the pain I was feeling wasn't mine, it was her's, my wolf was the one feeling heartbroken but we shared one heart and what she felt, I experienced "He is my fate-." Zane sat perfectly still, wide awake as he carefully watched me, studying my every move and taking in every word. His hands balled slightly at his sides. I breathed a laugh, my eyes searching the heavens as if an answer would be written in the stars or clouds of what I should do "But he's a King and I-I am a commoner, no worse, I am a wolf" my eyes grew foggy and I knew that if I blinked, tears would spill from their corners. I tried to hold them back as long as I could but they soon broke through, trailing down my cheeks and to my ears since my head was tilted back "The people would never accept me as their Queen so there is no avoiding it, he has to marry a woman of nobility, someone the citizens would look up to, admire" I smiled, a heartbreaking sight that made Zane's breath catch in his throat and his hands start to tremble, knuckles turning white, not from the cold but from clenching them so tightly. His legs moved from beside me but I couldn't register it as I continued to speak, words flowing from my lips without paying much mind as to what would happen if they were to be spoken "And I will always be the woman behind the scenes, the one he steals kisses from whenever his wife isn't looking-." I was cut off by two strong arms wrapping around my shoulders, bringing me closer to his warm body. Zane held me close, having got up onto his knees to reach me, his head buried in my shoulder as I froze, my eyes widening at the smell of him, his scent so overpowering, so familiar that it made my canines ache with a need to taste it "You are not meant to be someone's second choice" he uttered, his words sounding muffled by my skin and hair. I raised my trembling hands to grip the back of his suit jacket, my fingers balling around the fabric as my eyes flickered from blue to black. My head turned to hide my face in the crook of his neck "You smell just like him" his eyebrows furrowed up when I ran my hands around his back to place them palm down on his chest, pushing hard until he fell back into the snow, letting go of me from the force of my shove. I loomed over him, supporting my own weight as I stared down at him "It confuses her-." I breathed, my eyes flickering again as if to silently tell him who the 'her' was. He recognized that I was talking about my wolf and stayed quiet as I snaked one hand up from his stomach to his chest, eyes following the trail, slowly "She thinks you're him" I moved so that my knee was brushing up against him, my core rubbing over his thigh through our clothing. He stayed still, his hands clenching in the snow only to relax then ball again. I leaned down so that our faces were only inches apart "She wants you" I moved to kiss him but he flipped us over, forcing me into the snow with his legs on either wise of me, hands pinning my wrists down above my head. His jaw tightened and his teeth clenched as he looked me over, his eyes roaming my features "And you? Do you want me?" he demanded, placing emphasis on the word 'you'. I snapped out of it, my wolf retreating when she realized that it wasn't Nixtoni but instead Zane was the one hovering over us. My mind raced for an answer, mainly because he was being so serious about the question. When I didn't reply, he let go of me "Of course not, you want the Huntsman" he got up, straightening out his jacket and started heading back in the direction of the castle. I couldn't move, my body frozen in place as I watched him leave, his back disappearing in between the trees with the sun still rising overhead. My chest rose and fell until I rolled over onto my side, my eyes blinking at spot where Zaniel had sat, cradling me to him, whispering to me as I cried, holding me and reassuring me that everything would be alright. I found myself asking why he had reacted the way he did towards my wolf confusing him with his brother. Perhaps he didn't like being compared to his older sibling? But why would he ask if I wanted him? Did he want me to want him? I stayed there for some time until I stood up and disappeared deeper into the forest, bare feet brushing over the snow as my hands slid along the bases of trees.

Zane.

I left her there, feeling like an i***t for having asked something like that. Of course she didn't want me, between Aron and my brother, she was too occupied to even notice that I cared for her. When she had confessed to me that Nixon was her mate, my blood had started to boil, my hands trembling from the jealousy and envy that had enveloped me. I wanted to share that type of bond with her but he had taken that from me and not only that, he would marry a noble woman soon and toss her aside. He didn't deserve to be her mate and she didn't deserve to be treated that way. I slammed the door shut to my chambers, running my hands through my hair as I leaned back against the wall, her confused and puffy red eyes staring back at me in my mind when I had asked the question of whether she wanted me. It was clear that her wolf did but she only wanted me because I smelt like Nixtoni, looked like him to a certain extent. I wanted all of her to want me, not just her wolf but her as well. The sun was still rising over the horizon, the orange light pooling into my room as I took in the sight of it. The gold sheets were replaced with new, clean ones, the mess of books on the coffee table had been organized, the frame of the painting above the fireplace had been polished. The painting of a white bear fighting a grey wolf. I tore my jacket from my shoulders and tossed it aside, the black silk material meaning nothing in comparison to the books I was aiming for. I took one in hand and slumped down in one of the black armchairs, opening it to the last page I had read. Every last one of the books were on history and wolves since I wanted to know as much about her and her kind as possible. There I would sit, for hours into the night, reading. A maid would come in every now and then to fill my glass of wine or to bring me a plate of food. I ran my fingers over the aged pages of words, until one of them jumped out at me. The word 'mates' was written in scribbled ink and peaked my interest, so I began to read the line then the paragraph then the page that leaked into a chapter as the sun rose high into the sky and time ticked on. I wanted to know her, to understand what she was going through. She was alone in the world, most likely the last of her kind with no one to know what she was dealing with, to know how she worked both through mind and body. I wanted to be there for her in a way neither Aron or my brother could, I wanted to understand her anatomy, how her body could shift into that of a wolf, to understand her emotions that were shared with those of her wolf. It was around midday when a servant woman knocked on the door to my bed chambers. I paid her no mind as she creaked open the door and peeked inside to announce that my brother had called for a Court meeting. She then left, closing the door, her feet echoing on into the distance as I finished the page I was on. The author had been a human man who had fallen in love with a wolf but she was mated to a higher up among the wolves. He studied her, conversed with her and wrote down as much as he could before he had been killed by her mate in cold blood. History could sometimes be a cruel and fierce place where love often lead to death. I closed the book and turned to look out the window of my chambers at the bare forest beyond, coated in a grey, gloomy light. The corner of my lips tugged up. Perhaps this story too will end in death.