When Madeline woke up, it was the time of midnight. She didn’t know what time it was as the room had no clock and the only clock was the bell that rang far in the distance in one of the villages or towns. She had a headache, and she felt thirsty. The room was dark to let her know that night had prevailed, and the castle grounds appeared to be quiet. The crickets outside continued to chirp.
Getting down from the bed, her feet met the cold floor, and she padded her feet across the room to look outside the window which looked empty. By the looks of the stars and the ambience, she knew it was late in the night. Once she had got on the bed, she didn’t know when she fell asleep, and it was a deep and a good one. Who knew having liquor would end up in her having a good sleep which she hadn’t had in a long time.
At the same time, Madeline started to remember the events that took place hours ago. One image falling over another, where she remembered meeting James and his possible alliance with Lady Catherine. The carriage…Oh the carriage, she closed her eyes. Her body slid down while holding the grills of the window to sit down on the floor, on her heels.
The feeling of Calhoun’s lips on her made her tremble and shiver that raised goosebumps on her arms at the thought that they had kissed. No, no! Madeline corrected herself. Calhoun was the one who had kissed her, and it wasn’t her who had initiated the kiss. She had felt his lips moving against her, coercing her to open herself to him, and she had…
“Kill me,” muttered Madeline to herself. With the kiss that took place not just once but over and over with their lips touching each other and the tongue, she didn’t know how to face the King anymore!
How did that happen?! One minute she had been feeling extremely hot and wanted Winter to come right away because of the unbearable burn she felt all over her body.
Unconsciously her hand moved to touch her lips, tracing it and remembering the way it felt when he had kissed her. Thinking about it, she felt something in her stomach, and she put her head between her knees, “What am I going to do?”
Standing up, she fanned her hand over her face that had turned red. She wished she could ignore it easily by saying it was nothing. But it was her kiss. On her lips. How could he steal it away from her just like that! Leaning forward, she tried to see if there was anyone outside, noticing how clear it was with no guards or wolves, Madeline decided to step out of the room. She had eaten in the afternoon, and she was hungry now.
Picking up a coat that was hanging on the stand, Madeline wore it, tying the sides before stepping outside the room.
She was greeted with low burning lanterns that hung on the walls. Some places held the torches of fire that burned in low flame because of the possible lateness in the night. The corridors were clear without the maids. When she leaned forward, she noticed the guards who were situated in the bottom ground. Now that she was out, in the quiet night, she forgot about her hunger and decided to spend some time alone without being watched or hovered. The maids weren’t there to attend her as they would have thought that she was still sleeping and would wake up only in the morning.
As Madeline made her way, she took note of the King’s room whose doors were closed. There was no light in there, and it made her wonder if Calhoun was in there or was out for work. The village she came from, it was told that the night creatures were the children of the devil because they indulged themselves in drinking the human’s blood and killing them for sacrificial purpose. That the vampires never slept during the time of night but only slept during the time of the morning, which was a lie.
Did Calhoun sleep?
She would have told that the bed was used to sleep, but with Calhoun in the picture, there were other purposes of the bed apart from resting.
Walking away from the rooms and the corridor, she made her way down before sneaking away from there. It felt good to be out like this, thought Madeline to herself. When her eyes moved up to look at the sky, she noticed how the moon was full—the clouds blowed across the stars and moon because of the wind.
Madeline made her way through the other part of the corridors, spending her time walking aimlessly but freely this time where she didn’t have to find the fearful expression directed towards her by the servants of the castle.
While trying to make her way towards the kitchen, she heard something rustle behind her. When Madeline turned around, there was nothing in there. But when she turned to look forward, she felt her blood drain out of her face at the sight of the large four-legged creature that looked nothing less to a shadow.
Out of fear, she took a step back to hear the black wolf growl at her lowly, and she froze.
Madeline had come out of her room to have something from the kitchen and not to turn to someone’s food instead.
Madeline wanted to run away, but she was scared that it would only increase the chances of her being bitten by the wolf who was Calhoun’s favourite. Calhoun had told her that they were left out loose at night to roam around the grounds of the castle, but she didn’t know it also included inside the castle.
The night was quiet and cold that the growl of the wolf frightened her. The creature was bigger than the size of a dog. The growl that started low started to increase, and Madeline was sure she was going to turn to wolf meat tonight. Or maybe she should just lay down on the floor and act dead, thought Madeline to herself, maybe that way the wolf would leave her.
“What was your name?” asked Madeline, trying to remember the wolf’s name. Calhoun had mentioned the name, and she tried not to move from where she stood, “Maddox!” she remembered, but the wolf didn’t like her calling its name. Stealthily, it moved towards her, pulling its mouth wide and she noticed how white its teeth looked because of its black fur and the darkness around them.
When it growled and snapped its teeth, Madeline couldn’t stand still anymore. She bolted from there by turning around and started to run. This didn’t help but only worsened as the wolf was quick to jump on its feet, following her like a devil had unleashed hell into her life. All she wanted was some peace, not to be turned to pieces instead!
Madeline was only a human who could run only a certain distance who would be caught by the wolf before it would swipe its paws or claws on her. She turned to look at the wolf that was about to get her, she noticed it was close which was when she turned back to find Calhoun. She jumped right into his arms for protection.
Utterly scared to her wits end, Madeline shivered out of fright, “Save me!” she whispered, her hands trembling whilst they were holding the front of his shirt awkwardly. It wasn’t just her hands but also her legs that were shaking. It was a miracle that Madeline was not crying right now because the wolf was something to be scared of.
She had her eyes closed hoping she was safe, after all, it was Calhoun’s pet. The silence continued to fill back where the air was not gushing through her ears, and the growls from the wolf had quietened down.
“I was wondering who was playing out in the corridor with Maddox. It looks like you two are getting along well,” said Calhoun above her, his hand moved to place it on her small back. It would be rude not to provide comfort to the girl when she was openly seeking out for it.
“He is going to eat me!” cried Madeline, her eyes continued to stay shut as she clung to his front.
Calhoun took note of his beloved pet who now had taken his position in front of them. Sitting as its tail wagged like a well-behaved boy, “I don’t think Maddox wants to eat you. He only meant to play with you,” Calhoun pacified her with his words before adding, “The only wolf who will eat you here is me.”
Madeline was too scared to take the flirtatious words of him, and she slowly pulled away, turning around to see the wolf right in front of them. When she felt it was okay to step away from Calhoun like a damsel in distress, the wolf who was sitting stood up, taking a step forward that led to Madeline quickly fall into Calhoun’s arms again.
“Please ask him to go away,” she pleaded. It was as if the wolf was waiting to scare her.
“Why? He is a harmless thing. Look, how cute he is,” replied Calhoun, but Madeline’s eyebrows furrowed.
“He is cute?” she asked as if it was the ridiculous thing she had ever heard. That wolf was nowhere to be cute with its sharp teeth which had tried to snap at her.
Calhoun noticed how Madeline tried to cling to him like her life depended on it. If Madeline had been listening to his words closely, she should have known that no thing or person could hurt her with him around, but he didn’t want to remind her. Not when he was enjoying her holding on to him. What a lovely creature, she was, thought Calhoun to himself.
He had seen Madeline slip away from his quarters. Her robes sweeping through the clean white floors of the corridors, her fingers tracing the walls mindlessly. Though the other wolves often roamed outside the grounds of the castle, it was only Maddox who walked inside and outside the castle.
His wolf exactly knew how to scare a person.
He wasn’t the kind of man to let an opportunity slip through his fingers. He was someone who made opportunities possible. When he leaned forward, he smelt the flower-like fragrance waft from the top of her hair.
While Calhoun was enjoying having her in his arms, Madeline was not ready to leave his side. She didn’t know why the wolf was growling and wanting to snap its teeth at her.
“Maddox is only trying to familiarize himself with you. Why don’t we make a proper acquaintance?” Madeline heard Calhoun hum at the end. The hand that was on her lower back, moved to her waist so that he could have her turn around, “Watch,” ordered Calhoun and Madeline noticed how Calhoun stepped forward. His hand reached the head to pat the wolf and give the wolf a scratch below its ear.
“You are his master. He will listen to you,” stated Madeline. Creatures who were brought up by people were always loyal and harmless towards their master.
Calhoun then replied, his hand still giving the wolf an ear rub, “He will listen to you, once he knows you have accepted me,” turning around, Calhoun smiled at her, “Come here, Maddie.” Madeline was not sure about going close to the wolf because the first time she had tried to pat it, the wolf had shown her its beautiful teeth.
Seeing Calhoun wait for her, Madeline took one step towards them, and she sat down next to where Calhoun was. Under Calhoun’s touch, the wolf was indeed harmless, but the same could not be told otherwise when it came to others.
