Welcome back to The Prince and the Wolf Girl; let's get straight to the story.

Chapter 4

Toshiro was abruptly woken up by his dad shaking him. Groggily he opened his eyes to see his panic-stricken father. He could tell by how high the sun was that it was nearly noon.

"What's wrong?" Toshiro asked when he was awake enough to ask.

"It's about your friend," his dad replied. Toshiro shot up, looking over at his father,

"What about her?" he asked, anxious. His dad had a guilty look that played on his face as he scratched the back of his head.

"I didn't write to the guards until this morning, but from what I've heard is that a few guards broke the rules and tortured her. She is being sent to the Scaffold right now. Get dressed. We have to go if we have any hope of stopping it," his father explained before rushing out of the room to prepare the horses. Toshiro had never gotten up so fast as he quickly got dressed, grabbing a grey cloak on the way out of his room. He met his dad downstairs on the steps mounting the horses and racing towards where the prison and scaffold were set up. As they arrived, Toshiro could see someone being forced up the steps. They quickly started pushing through the crowd attempting to get there in time. The guards pulled off the bag that had been covering her head, revealing a very bruised up girl. Toshiro froze seeing his friends' appearances, clenching his fist. They had cut her beautiful long raven black locks to her shoulders. From a distance, it was hard to see, but as he fought even harder to get to the front, he could tell she had dried blood from her mouth and some that dripped down from her scalp to her right eye. His eyes traced her body as he uncovered more bruises. He felt an ache in his chest when he realized that she had handprints around her neck. He wanted to throw up seeing her in such a vulnerable state. The guard grabbed the rope to put around her neck as his father started to climb the stairs to say something scream at the back of the crowd could be heard. Toshiro turned around to see the three wolves that had originally saved him with Karin. One knocked him to the ground growling at him as Kana jumped on the stage. Toshiro turned his attention to Karin as he watched her forcefully dislocate her shoulder, so her hands were in front before jumping onto her adoptive mother.

"Karin! Kana!" Toshiro yelled, trying to catch their attention before they left. Kana glanced at him before howling and then leaping off the stage, racing towards their territory with the other two wolves trailing behind them. Toshiro was about to go after them when his dad grabbed his collar and dragged him back to where the horses were.

"We need to get back to the castle and have an official order to stop the manhunt for your friend," he said quickly before making the horse gallop. Toshiro followed his father, halting the horses at the castle steps and letting the servants take them.

"Dad, I don't want Karin to disappear from my life! She was the only family I had for the last 4 years, and all she has is those wolves. Please let her stay here," Toshiro pleaded, wanting Karin to be safe and within his reach. He wanted to protect her just like she had protected him once. His dad stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him. He could see the desperation in his son's eyes to make sure this girl was safe.

"You love this girl, don't you?" his father asked him. Toshiro turned bright red before he nodded, slightly embarrassed.

"Yes, she's all that I have had for the last four years," he answered after a short time. His father nodded,

"Alright, let's spread the news and talk to your mother. I'm sure she'll want to know all this as well," he agreed before turning and climbing the remaining steps. Toshiro followed after his father returned to the room they were in the previous night. His mother was sitting on the couch doing a cross-stitch when she noticed that they had come in,

"Where have you two been?" she asked curiously.

" Koyuki, the girl that was captured when they found Toshiro isn't one of the traffickers. She saved our son four years ago from being killed," Toshiro's father explained. His wife blinked at him, shocked.

"So did you get her out of prison? I would love to meet her," she asked. Toshiro and his father exchanged looks before returning their gaze to the women in front of them.

"By the time we got there, they had walked her up to the scaffold; they tortured her. Some wolves stopped her from being hung and have disappeared into the woods. Toshiro wants to go after them and bring her back to be housed here," his father explained the situation that they were in. Koyuki turned her gaze to her son.

"You're in love, aren't you?" she asked with a slight smile playing on her face. Toshiro hesitantly nodded, expecting his mother to say something against a relationship with someone not royal but was surprised when she wrapped her arms around him. "You have my blessing; bring her home," his mother encouraged.

"But before we do that, we have to alert the people," his father quickly added before sending a servant to retrieve a writer, to write a decreed. It didn't take very long to make the decree and send it out to the town within the hour. Toshiro was relieved that most people in the kingdom accepted Karin after hearing what she had done.

Toshiro and his father readied their horses for a journey that they didn't know how long they would take before riding into town. As Toshiro was galloping down the main street on the horse, he recognized the old woman Hana and halted the horse next to her.

"Hana, where is the pack?" he asked quickly. Hana looked up to him before shaking her head.

"I honestly don't know. Kana said that they would have to try for another territory, but with Karin hurt as bad as she is. I don't expect them actually to be taking one now; try the edges of the meadows. No one likes crossing a meadow to fight in regardless of who you are," the women suggested. Toshiro nodded before catching up with his dad.

"Who was that?" Toshiro's father asked, looking over at him.

"That's Hana. She is like an honorary member of the pack, and they go to her whenever someone has injured, especially Karin. Kana, the pack leader, liked having another human around to help Karin whenever she needed," Toshiro explained before picking up their speed once again heading into the forest. It didn't take them very long to get to the cabin and where the wolves had once lived. "This is where they use to huddle down," he explained before point to a large rock the overlooked the area. "That's where Kana and Karin would sit during the meetings.

"So Karin really was accepted fully as a wolf. It sounds as if she a leader?"

Sort of, whenever Kana wasn't around, Karin was in charge, but Karin also lead the charge against other packs; Kana definitely sees her as her child and the next leader of the pack," Toshiro finished explaining as they trotted through the forest towards the meadow.

"That explains how she was able to dislocate her shoulder with little less than a yell," his father pointed out. Toshiro scratched the back of his head before he answered

"Actually, I've never seen Karin do that before, and from how she got on Kana, it tells me that she was actually hurt pretty bad by doing that." Their conversation went back and forth until Toshiro became silent, seeing the old cement building where he first met Karin. "This is the building Karin saved me in; the meadow is just passed it." with that, he pressed the horses' side, making it go faster. His father followed behind him, wanting to ask questions but decided against it. Toshiro could tell that they had crossed through the meadow due to how the plants had been stepped on and saw some blood on several of the leaves. They approached the wooded area where they assumed the pack had made camp.

"Where are they?" his father asked. Toshiro almost felt like he was the father in this situation, having to answer most of the questions.

"I don't know, it's only my guess that they are here, but I actually don't have a clue. I've never been on the move with the pack before," he answered before yelling out her name, "Karin!" in the hope that it would make her, in the very least, come out of hiding and look.

Karin was sleeping on Kana's belly when she woke up hearing her name. The whole pack perked up, hearing it, and turned to look at Kana.

"It's Toshiro; what should I do?" Karin asked, not sure of herself. Kana thought for a moment before looking down at her adopted daughter. As much as she didn't want to give her away to a human, she knew Karin's life would be better. Sighing, she stood up, looking down at the pack.

"We will test him!" she replied before nodding to the pack. As if it was preplanned several wolves ran into the woods disappearing out of sight, with only one appearing in front of Toshiro and his father. Its ears were pinned on its head, growling before it howled. Toshiro's father's first instinct was to grab his son, but after noticing his son's behavior, he didn't.

"They are going to test me; stay here. I'll be back shortly," he informed his father before unmounting his horse and taking a blanket out from the saddlebag and a small knife before heading after the wolf. As he got closer to it, it went back into the woods. Toshiro ran after it; he could hear the other wolves coming up behind him through the trees and quickly dived to avoid them. The original one stopped to face him as the two from both sides of him joined it.

"Why should we let Karin go with you? She's our sister unless you can prove you can protect her, she's not going with you," the middle one growled before they charged. Toshiro tossed the blanket on the ground before taking out the small knife and running towards the wolves. As they jumped towards him, he slid underneath them, making small cuts on their belly. The wolves landed, looking back at him. "You already know this game, I take it," the wolf started, turning to look at the white-haired male as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Yeah, Karin told me that it was a way to train to see who would last in a battle," he answered before running on grabbing the blanket before he left them; he was met by several other wolves and easily making small cuts on their paws, backs, and bellies until he was in front of Kana and Karin out of breath.

"You made it," Kana said, standing up,

"Of course, I did. I think you know as well as I do that Karin needs to be with humans. She might be your adopted daughter, but you are very different than her," Toshiro argued.

"Humans are the ones that hurt her! Wolves have never laid a fang on her," Kana said before jumping down to stand in front of him.

"That won't happen again," Toshiro growled before making his move towards her. Kana easily avoided his attack before knocking him over, making his knife fly out of his hand.

"Now that you have no weapon, what are you going to do?" Kana mocked before attacking again. Toshiro quickly rolled out of the way before jumping onto her back.

"Says you!" he yelled before he bit her ear. Kana sighed before sitting down as Toshiro let go and jumped off her back. "So I win, right?" he asked, collecting the blanket and walking to was Karin had been watching the fight. Karin looked at Kana, asking permission; Kana sighed and nodded.

"Yes, make promises you'll take care of her," Karin immediately ran over to Toshiro; he embraced her in a hug before wrapping the blanket around her being careful with her arm that had been dislocated before turning back to Kana.

"With my life," he answered as they walked back down to meet her on level ground. Karin hugged Kana when they got to where she was as a goodbye.

"You can always come and visit. We will be returning to where we had once raised you," Kana told her before pressing Karin to go back with Toshiro as the rest of the pack came out from the wolves. Toshiro led Karin back to where his father and their horses were waiting. His father was slightly surprised to see Toshiro emerge with a girl staying closes to him.

"This must be Karin," he greeted as they got closer to him.

"Yeah," Toshiro answered shortly before he held out a hand to help Karin on to the horse. Once she was situated, Toshiro got on behind her, holding her between his arms as he held onto the reins. The trip back into the kingdom was quiet and took less time than going out since they knew where they were going instead of constantly looking around. When they arrived, Toshiro's mother was waiting for them on the steps. She was overjoyed seeing her husband and son return with Karin. Toshiro helped Karin down off the horse, allowing the servants to hold the horse steady. Once she was down on the ground, she turned to his parents and bowed.

"Karin, you don't have to. You saved our son, so pleases don't bow to us," the queen encouraged, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Karin nodded before shying away, using Toshiro as a barrier, taking him slightly by surprise. In all the time he had known her, she had always been outgoing and never shied away from anything, he was about to ask her why she was hiding when his gaze met his, and he could tell from the look in her eye that she was scared to even of him. It brought his attention back to what had happened.

"Well, Karin, let us have a doctor look at your injuries and show you where you will be staying," Toshiro's father voiced before the king and queen lead the two up the stairs to the same hallway Toshiro's room was in. "Your room will be right across from Toshiro's." he continued.

"You two can relax for a bit while we go get the physician," his mother encouraged, opening up the door to Karin's room. In the room was a small makeup table with a couch that sat in front of the window. To the right of the room was a queen size bed against the wall with a nightstand on both sides of the bed, and on the left side was a door that led to a bathroom. Karin looked around the room before settling on the couch. Toshiro kept the door open as he watched her before walking after her.

"Karin, are you alright?" he asked. Karin nodded into her arms, "You aren't acting like yourself; what's on your mind? You have always been able to speak your mind," he reminded her. Karin glanced up at him before she moved her hand to her throat, remembering how he had pinned her down before she was captured. Toshiro watched her movements, feeling guilty when he saw her tracing where he had placed his hands. "I'm sorry for everything; I didn't want things to be like this, I promise," he said gently before reaching for her. He felt a pain in his chest as he watched her flinch away from him.

"Sorry," she breathed out, "This place is weird," she finally voiced. Toshiro was about to say something when a physician came in to look at Karin. Karin allied the physician to look at her shoulder and arm; he was very pleased with how it was popped back into its socket and told her to keep it in a sling for a few more days. He made a note about the handprint around her throat, but other than that, her injuries were relatively minor, considering that they had already started to heal. Soon the servants came in to help Karin get in the bath; she fought against the servants as they tried to clean her hair and change the bandages. Eventually, they allowed her out of the water and put on a long dark blue nightdress before being allowed out of the bathroom. She saw Toshiro and his parents talking on the couch quietly. The servants exiting after her caught their attention to make them look at her. Toshiro stood up, seeing her; the dress made her neck visible, making Toshiro's handprint even more evident.

"You look lovely Karin, I'm sure once your all healed up that you'll look even more stunning," she voiced with a smile.

"We also are punishing all the soldiers that had a hand in you being in prison as wells as the torture, abuses, and almost hanging you," his dad added, "so rest easy. Now you had a long day, we will let you rest for now, and continue talking tomorrow," he said before standing up and leading his wife out of the room shutting the door behind them. Toshiro and Karin stood in the room waxing each other for several moments before Toshiro sighed,

"Karin, it's been a long day; I think you should retire to bed," he said before going over to her bed and pulling back the covers. Karin slowly walked over to him, waiting for him to move before she took a seat on the bed. "I'm sorry," he apologized, shocking Karin.

"For what?" she asked shyly.

"For this," he said before touching her neck, tracing his handprint, causing her to flinch back, "I made you scared of me, and I'm so so sorry," he apologized. He could tell that Karin quickly forgave him as she wrapped her arm around him, snuggling her face into his shirt.

"You're the same Shi- Toshiro," Karin corrected herself. Toshiro moved his hand to her head, messing up her hair.

"For you, Karin, you can call me Shiro," he told her. Karin breathed out, relieved that he hadn't changed as much as she thought.

"I was terrified, you know, at the scaffold, I thought I was going to die, I thought I was going to die in the integration room to, all I could think about though, was I deserved it because I kept your secrete from you and I'm sorry," she apologized. Toshiro quickly engulfed her in a hug, hearing her words.

"Don't apologize; I almost strangled you and let you be taken to prison; I'll protect you from here on out," he promised before pulling away and resting his forehead against hers. The two continued to converses as Karin turned back to her normal self, at least when it was just her and Toshiro, but she was shy and would hide behind him with others.

That's it! The next chapter is the last!

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Until Next time!

~ FoxFlame864 ~