The Midnight Prince

Meeting Natalie

(Flint)

Chance and I follow Dylan down the gravel path towards the other three barns and some pastures.

“Welcome to Shawnee Pack grounds. We were just at the main house, it’s where my family and I live, and where guests stay. Mom is a great cook and loves hosting so don’t be surprised if she hovers a bit.”

Chance laughs at him. “Our mom can be a bit of a helicopter mother so trust me, we’re used to it.”

Dylan chuckles. “Yeah, they can’t help it. They love to love.” He points to the first barn that has the sides open and is connected to the pasture of cows we past coming in. “There’s our cattle barn, that’s where we keep the breeding heifers and our bulls. They get to stay with the ladies through fall, then we’ll move them out to one of the south pastures by the yearling calves. I doubt you’d be going over there much, that’s more or less where we get all the beef for the pack members. It’s cheaper growing our own cattle than buying them from the butchers.” We keep going and I can’t help but find my irritation growing as the sun beats down onto us, burning my arms and heating my covered back.

“That barn over there is one of the utility buildings. We keep the bigger farming equipment there until we need to use it, like the combine and the plow. Dad headed over to the other Utility building. We just got some anhydrous tanks to spray out on the fields, it’s dangerous stuff to breathe in, that’s why having one of the trucks parked by our big machinery is a big No-No.”

A Pickup truck comes down the drive towards us, and as it passes, Dylan tips his hat to the driver.

“This area up here is the horse barn and outdoor arena. My sister wants Dad to put in an indoor arena abut he’s not about to spend a hundred thousand dollars on some fancy indoor arena when the horses only bring in enough money to pay for their upkeep.”

“If you don’t profit from them, why have them?” Chance questions.

“They’re fun, and it’s a good way to keep the younger ones busy. Teenage wolves are restless, if you give them a horse and shows to worry about, they’re less likely to get knocked up.” He chuckles lightheartedly and shoots Chance a smile. I can practically feel her undressing him with her eyes beside me.

As we get closer to the Horse barn, the smell of s**t and sawdust fills my nostrils. Although, I am pleasantly surprised that horses don’t stink as badly as the cows did.

Anxiety starts to grow in my stomach the closer we get to the horses, and Drago begins pacing. Something’s different here, I feel uneasy. He whines and I acknowledge it too. A sensation I’m uncomfortable with vibrates from my core into my extremities. A deep sense of need, of belonging pulls ahead, and if we hadn’t been heading in the direction I’m sure my body would have shifted this way.

There’s shouting ahead, and I can see some sort of scuffle by the large fenced arena. A single horse stands by the gate, tacked up in riding gear, seemingly waiting for its rider to finish their fight. It’s like the horse is used to this sort of thing and knows when they’re done, it’s back to work.

Dylan breaks out into a jog, cursing under his breath, Chance and I follow to see if there’s anything we need to help with.

Two girls are rolling around in the dirt;one blonde and one dark haired. The dark haired girl pushes the other off and straddles her,using one hand to pin the blonde’s head down and the other to start repeatedly punching her in the face.

“You jealous little b***h!” The dark haired girl screams.

Dylan reaches the fight. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he yanks the girl off the other and carries her away. The blonde pushes her hair out of her face, revealing an obviously broken nose and an eye that’s already swelling shut. “You crazy ass mutt!” The blonde screeches and one of the other girls that had been standing by watching moves to her aid, offering a handkerchief for the blood. The blonde shoves her hand away and pushes herself off the ground.

I’m oddly impressed at the damage the mystery girl had done to her opponent in just a few seconds.

“Goddamn it Nat, what the hell is wrong with you!” Dylan drops the girl, Nat, and she starts dusting herself off and swipes her hair out of her face.

Her bottom lip is busted and there’s a bruise on her forehead but other than that she’s clean, this Nat girl won that fight. “Aren’t you even gonna ask what happened? That little tramp put a snake on the barrel! She literally tried to get me killed.” Nat huffs, again brushing at the yellow dust caked onto her jeans, jeans that are so tight on her curvaceous frame they may as well be her skin.

Dylan pinches the bridge of his nose. “I feel like spooking your horse while you’re practicing hardly counts as attempted murder. Look, I’ll talk to her, but next time maybe we don’t beat the s**t out of her, yeah?”

“Yeah whatever.”

“Thank you,” Dylan gestures to me, “this is Flint Kingston, as in future King Alpha Flint Kingston. And his sister, Princess Chance. Flint, this is my younger sister Natalie.”

Natalie’s gaze meets mine and the entire universe comes to a halt. The birds stop chirping, the wind is no longer blowing, the pain of the sun burning into me has stopped. The only thing still moving with me is Natalie. Her Amber eyes are so warm and full of the same fire that burns inside of me. We were born from one flame, I have no doubt of that. Cut from the same disastrous cloth, sculpted from identical obsidian wolf magic.

The pain of Slate’s betrayal, of Kaylee’s abandonment, everything fades into nothing as I fall into a trance, mesmerized by Natalie’s deadly beauty and energy.

“Holy shit.” She whispers breathlessly, no doubt feeling what I am.

Holy s**t. Drago purrs. We’re so screwed.