Wolven Master: The Final Chapter

Wolven Master:
The Final Chapter

   Vala lept back from Argent with a start as the massive figure of a red wolf-like creature rose with a growl from the bushes a few steps away.  Her head hung in shame but Argent reached forward to cup her chin and tilt it upward as he pulled her back to be close to him.  Argent turned to face Adal with a haughty smirk all while pulling tight the reins of his horse who had nervously whinnied and tried to flee at the sight of Adal.
   
Adal chortled, panting loudly as his muscular frame seemed to vibrate with every breath.  It was clear he was angry but something else was amiss.  Although towering over the two more delicate figures before him, his body was slouching, shoulders forward, unlike his usual, proud demeanor of assertive dominance.
   
Vala considered him, blinking and furrowing her brow as she felt detached from him suddenly with his changed aura.  She lightly twisted away from Argent and took a step toward Adal slowly.  "Master," she whispered, reaching for his large paw-like hand.
   
Adal moved his hand from her reach and crossed his arms across his broad and hairy chest.  He inhaled slowly.  He shot a questioning and dangerous glare at the slender, well-dressed man behind his pet.  "What are you doing all this way from the city, good sir?" he asked with a raised brow, his thick tongue lapping over a front fang methodically.
   
"I was out for a ride," answered Argent matter-of-factly.  
   
Before Argent could continue explaining his presence, Vala chimed in.  "Master, why have you been away so long?  I have been so worried.  Is something wrong?"  Her eyes were searching his for things unsaid, trying to break through his jumbled thoughts, as was her ability to normally do so.  She could not.  It was as if he had put up a barrier surrounding his mind.  This was new.  She shuttered and stepped back from him, feeling rejected.
   
He looked down upon the flame-haired human with great affection and longing.  His arms ached to hold her.  But he fought his urges.  "I have been with my kind, Vala."
   
She nodded looking down at her feet then back up at him.
   
"They are suffering in my absence,"  he explained but with no further detail.  He would keep to himself the truth of his family nearly being destroyed by a ruthless pack of wolves who were led by the coldest, most cunning of creatures and Adal's enemy, the black wolf known simply as The Blacksmith.
   
Vala sighed quietly, her pouty mouth twitching in thought.  She wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about but understood family was very important to Adal and if they needed him, he would surely go to them.
   
Argent stood silently, his mare now soothed and quiet also.  The pair were nearly as frigid and still as statues, apparently barely noticeable by the other two as they continued their interlude.
   
Adal dropped his arms to his side.  He had been determined to remain straightforward in his duty of explaining to her, not allowing emotions to interfere, but he couldn't maintain the act.  He had missed her desperately, thought of nothing and no one else these many days of being away from her.  Unanticipatedly his hands were upon her shoulders, his face nuzzled into her hair.
   
Vala was startled at this, but she wrapped her arms about his large frame, allowing him to love on her as he normally did.  She felt the angst and stiffness in his body melt away at her touch and she stroked his back comfortingly.
   
Adal's hands dug into her flesh and he pushed back from her as if a spell had abruptly been broken.  His eyes then upon Argent, he growled low in his throat, remembering he and his pet were not alone.  He looked back down at Vala, his amber eyes like liquid gold as they burned with passion and love for his human.  He dreaded the next few words.  "I must return to my land.  I can no longer stay here on these shores, Vala.  I..."  he stopped and turned back toward Argent and with a snarling, booming voice he barked, "Some privacy, please!"
   
Argent lifted a brow and made a small clicking sound as he inclined his chin in a slight bow.  "Certainly," he said softly, leading his horse and turning away to saunter down the grassy slope and onto the beach.
   
When Adal was certain the man was out of earshot, he leaned down to kiss Vala upon the forehead.  "I want you to come with me, my pet.  I want you to be mine forever.  I need you.  I love you."  He pulled her body into him and a pitiful whine escaped his throat.
   
Vala was breathing quickly now, his words a warm  blanket enveloping her, making up for the long days of loneliness she'd just lived through.  She leaned into him, taking in the words, cherishing them.  Still, she couldn't help but feel there was something wrong.  Adal's presence was welcome but what had she just done?  Had she not just surrendered herself to a past romance?  Had Argent's welcomed lips not just been claiming hers in fierce passion?  Had all those thought-to-be long, lost feelings not just come rushing back like an old friend?  She swallowed hard and buried her face in Adal's crimson fur.  In his arms, where she usually felt safe and at home, she now felt lost and confused.
   
As if reading her mind this time, Adal straightened his body and stepped back from her, his hands still firm upon her delicate, white shoulders.  He could feel her trying to invade his mind and he fought her attempts to do so.  He cleared his throat and turned away from her, dropping his hands from her beautiful skin with reluctance.
   
Vala drew in a slow breath, expecting the worst, expecting his huge paw to strike her face or a roaring yell to lash out at her for her careless behavior with Argent.  But, neither came.
   
"I cannot take you with me, Vala."  Again, his shoulders slumped as if in defeat.
   
She just knew this was a result of her actions previously with another.  But, somehow, she wasn't even sorry.  She had loved Argent.  Had loved him fully and completely... long before Adal had come along.  And even though she felt an undying loyalty to her master, she also couldn't help but feel an undying longing for Argent.  Even now the sting of his kiss still lingered upon her mouth.  Her mind wandered to their brief moment of lusty abandon just before Adal had revealed himself.  She closed her eyes.
   
Snapping back into present, her eyes shot open and as if just now hearing what Adal had said, she felt a twinge of nausea pang her gut.  "What?"  she whispered.
   
Adal swung back round to face her quickly and with a slight lilt in his voice, he continued. "But, I want you to wait here for me.  It won't be long and I will be back..."
   
Vala shook her head violently, suddenly feeling utterly abandoned and angry.
   
Adal continued, disregarding her head-shaking, placing his firm grip upon her shoulders once more.  "Time will pass quickly, my pet.  I will be back from time to time and before you know it, I..."
   
"No," she said.
   
Adal looked a little confused.  "What?"
   
She put her tiny hands to her shoulders and removed his hands from holding her.  "No, Adal.  I cannot wait for you," she stated, looking him directly in the eyes.
   
Adal blinked and tilted his head to one side, not only at her "no" but also at her calling him by name instead of her usual address of "master."
   
Vala turned from him.  "I cannot wait for you that long."  She touched the collar at her throat and sighed, her breath staggered as it left her lips.  "I do not do well in solitude.  I cannot do what you ask."
   
He was behind her then, wrapping his strong arms about her slight frame.  "Vala," he whispered, a catch in his throat.
   
Her world seemed to be crashing down around her, yet strangely she was feeling sure of herself, secure and strong.  This was unusual because she had always been so reliant upon belonging to a powerful male, yet in the wake and realization of losing her master and choosing to venture out on her own, she somehow did not feel as if she were making a regrettable choice.  She patted one of his arms then slithered from his embrace, turning to him.
   
His eyes were frantic, his mouth agape and his hands open, palms upward in a questioning gesture.
   
She smiled softly.  "I love you, Adal."  She placed a gentle hand upon his chest and looked deeply into his frightened eyes.  "I must go now.  You must release me," she said, tapping her fingertips upon the obsidian tag which bore her given name.  "I chose to be yours... and now I am choosing to let you go.  I implore you to allow me this choice."
   
Adal looked dumbfounded and taken aback.  He really hadn't considered her answer would ever be "no."  And, he most assuredly hadn't expected her to ask for her freedom.  He gathered what dignity he felt he had remaining and shook his wild-looking mane of blood red fur, attempting to shake off the immense chill her words had given him.  He had to let her go.  If she couldn't wait for him, then he had no choice.  His heart was crying not to let her go, his soul virtually feeling ripped apart as he hesitantly placed a thick claw at her throat, tearing the collar from her neck in one swift motion.  
   
She massaged the bare skin now exposed where the collar had remained for so many months.  Feeling an incredible weight lifted from her spirit, she felt lighter than a feather.  Practically floating toward the larger-than-life wolf, she embraced his mighty form, a happy tear dancing off her cheek and onto his bristly hair.  "I will never forget you, Adal."
   
He winced under the torture of her touch, her curvy body so close, her soft, languid tones caressing every one of his senses.  While still holding her against him, he glanced down at the collar in his hand at her back, his fist closing around it tightly as his mind wandered to all the lovely memories they'd made together.  He breathed in her scent one final time and with a sudden and powerful movement, he turned, releasing her and was gone.
   
Vala could only see the rustle of tall grass and lower limbs of trees being disturbed as he was cutting through the landscape as a red-brown blur.  She felt a tug at her heart, a small part of her wanting to run after him, but she planted her feet and held her chin high.
   
"Off to conquer the world again, eh?"
   
She turned to see Argent behind her but a few paces away, lightly clutching his steed's reins, the horse looking as calm and dainty as he did in all his silky, gray exterior.  The breeze played at Argent's silvery hair,  yet only one stubborn strand came out of place and he tucked it back promptly with a graceful hand.  Her mind wandered to the first time she'd placed that very same strand back into place while eating supper with Argent in his home.  She admired his coolness and shook her head with a sideways grin, taking in the absolute beauty of the tall man before her.
   
She nodded.  "Aye.  He is gone."
   
Argent looked up into the sky and slowly all around them as if pondering the clouds and weather, seemingly uninterested in the brute's absence, at last bringing his direct gaze back to her, his eyes falling to her bare throat.  His tongue lightly touched his lips as he remarked, "I see he is not the only thing gone."  He cracked a familiar smirk.
   
Her hand went up to the nakedness of her neck and she inhaled, smiling.  "It was time," she said.  "I... I need..."
   
Argent closed the gap between them, dropping his mare's reins only to refill his hand with a mass of her copper tresses.  Gently, he lifted the hair to his nose, breathing the smell of it in deeply, the fragrance slightly differing from what he remembered.  It now was earthy, reminiscent of cedar and salt water, only a hint of the lilies and vanilla from times past remained.
   
"You need to be... free," he finished for her, his cool breath upon her face.  "I know."  He kissed her forehead and pulled her to him.
   
"Yes," she exhaled.  She felt closer to this man than ever before in light of his complete understanding of her.  Then again, she thought, he'd always understood her better than any other.  She hugged him close to her, appreciative of this intimate embrace.  She'd been alone for so very long, then only in the presence of a quasi-human creature, she'd forgotten how enjoyable the warm touch of another human could be... especially this human.
   
Argent stroked her hair.  How he'd missed her.  How he'd longed for this... for her to be free of any "master."  He knew she didn't truly "belong" to any man.  She was far too headstrong and stubborn to really be owned by anyone... or anything.  This is what he loved about her.  Her strength.  Her ability to reduce anyone to a mere puddle with her undeniably quick wit and sharp tongue.  He had known from the very start that her days as a slave were numbered.  His hopes had been to convince her of this during their time together.  But, that hadn't happened.  How could he be sure now that she wouldn't divert back into the same pattern of needing to "belong" to some handsome, dominating beast?  But she is different, isn't she? he thought to himself.  He pulled back to look at her face.  She was smiling sweetly at him, her emerald eyes a lovely sight to behold, one he'd missed very much.
   
"Darling..." he started, returning her smile but with a concentrated brow.  His mind was racing as he studied her pretty face.  Controlling his urge to take her in his arms again and devour her to the core, he cleared his throat and lifted his head with a stiffened neck and rather serious expression.  "You know... I will never be able to be that man you so long for," he said in a low tone.  He also meant to say that he was far from being the "marrying" kind, but he kept that bit to himself... for now.
   
She wanted to laugh, but she merely smirked cutely and wrinkled her nose as she shook her head.  She sighed.  "Argent," she began, "Honestly, my dear, I do not long for anything but the comfort of a real bed... and a bath!"
   
He chuckled at this and snaked a long arm about her waist, pulling her back into him.  His mouth a hair's width from hers, he said, "And so you shall have them, my Ginger Kitten."  He kissed her then, holding nothing back, releasing all his pent-up passion into her mouth in that one fiery moment.
   
Her lips parted softly then eagerly as his tongue swirled into her mouth and over her tongue with delicious intensity.  She moaned deeply, her arms flying up to wrap around his neck, her fingers interlacing in his platinum hair.  She felt an unprecedented love for him as their bodies melted together.
   
And is if by magic, for the second time in their period of acquaintance and friendship, Argent whispered into her mouth, "I love you, too."
   
She smiled as she heard this, knowing he'd heard her thoughts as he had once before.
   
Kissing her nose then forehead, he took her hand in his and led her toward the still-patiently-waiting horse.  "Let's go home," he said.
   
She nodded with a grin, her green eyes sparkling in the dimming light of evening.
   
He lifted her onto the mare's back, and mounting the horse behind her, he made a quiet clicking sound between his teeth and cheek, the animal responding immediately, walking away from the lake and back into the forest toward town with a seemingly happier-than-usual canter.  Argent held the reins in one hand and wrapped his other around her waist.
   
"Kitten," he said quietly.
   
"Yes?"
   
"Tell me... what was your name before all of this... being owned nonsense?" he asked in that cavalier British accent she'd grown to not only admire but love.
   
She leaned back into him and relaxed against his body, sliding her warm little hand over his much cooler, tapered one.  She smiled slowly and breathed deeply the heavily-scented forest air.
   
"Elizabeth."

THE END.