Chance grimaced. He shouldn't have gone into the Dark Forest, his mother and father always told him to avoid it at all costs. Well, not all costs.
"A lone youth should not take the path ahead alone." came a small voice from behind him.
Unconsciously, the boy's nose twitched as he sniffed her scent. Oh cripes. he thought.
Gypsy.
In under six seconds, he had her pinned to an oak and was snarling in her face. "What business do you have here, gypsy?"
He had spit the last word out of his mouth as one would a curse. But when the moonlight flooded over her face, he was stunned.
She was positively radiant. Silky auburn ringlets framing her pale heart-shaped face and large silver-gray eyes that were brimming with tears and filled with fear. At the moment, anyway. He instantly let go of her wrists, but did not move away. Honestly? He didn't want to.
She stared up at him through the moonlight. Jezabella tried desperately to get her feet to move. Move! He'll surely kill- her frantic, not to mention negative, thoughts stopped abruptly when she realized it.
His eyes were the same amber color that her parents had warned her of as a young child.
Wolf.
No wonder he was alone. She still couldn't help but stare at him. So handsome. His long black hair, streaked with silver, was tugged back into a black cord at the nap of his neck and his eyes, now crystal blue, were wide in amazement.
At what? she thought, I am but a gypsy girl.
He could feel the power inside her. She seemed like a lost soul.
After what seemed to be an eternity, Chance stepped back from her warm body. She was still pressed up against the tree, as though afraid he'd attack her again. She stared at him with wide eyes before scampering off through the woods. Chance sighed and sagged back against the tree he'd had her pinned against only moments ago.
It wasn't right of him to think a gypsy was beautiful. He should have been disgusted at himself for even touching her, but he couldn't. Not when the smell of sage and cloves ensnared his senses. The youth didn't even know her name and he was intrigued by her.
"Damn gypsies." Chance cursed, making his way back to his home.