“Do not speak about my father so!” Isabella growled, anger rushing through her.
“I will speak how he deserves. I don’t fall for your act; I see you for who you are! That pup is nothing but trouble. I will end it right now!” Taylor snarled, reaching for the pup.
Isabella snarled back, standing in front of the pup. “You will not touch a hair on its body! Or your mate will become a widow before you are even wed!”
“You dare?” Taylor said, furiously. His nails were now turned into long claws, his teeth elongating into fangs.
“ENOUGH!” Dominque said, his voice deep and powerful, compelling them both to follow the order of their leader. Even though not impossible, it was very hard to resist a direct order given by the leader.
Isabella felt the force of his order and through gritted teeth managed to say, “It does not deserve punishment for what its parents may have done. It does not deserve to grow up loathed and hated. It does not deserve to be told that he should die for what his parents did! No child deserves that.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she felt angry at herself for showing weakness in front of them.
Taylor glared at her for a while and then retracted his claws and teeth. “Dominque, what if you can’t find its parents? You will keep him here? How long will you hide him? They will find him and kill him.”
“I am looking for the parents. If we don’t find them, we will drop him at the door of some orphanage in one of their towns,” Dominque replied. “I sent a hawk to their mayor, informing them we had found a pup. They responded that they have lost no pup, and they are not interested.”
“We can leave the pup at one of the orphanages over there?” Isabella suggested. The baby, who had slept through all that growling and snarling, had now woken up. Isabella fed it some milk as Dominique and Taylor sat down to talk. Taylor was still throwing very distrustful looks towards the pup.
“We are not allowed to even step on their land. It will lead to another war, a war we can’t afford. The peace treaty between us breaks if we go there. I have already told them we have the pup. Now if he magically appears at the door, they will know that it was us,” Dominique explained.
“I will prowl the forest. Maybe Rose can talk to some birds and see if they know anything,” Taylor said, still frowning. His mate, Rose, had the unique ability of talking to some species of animals.
He and Isabella glared at each other for a minute, before he finally left. Dominque sighed and said, “We need a better place to hide it. I will go look. Be ready. I will come get you soon.”
With that he left, leaving Isabella feeling tired and drained.
Back in the town, Anne Bradford softly wept into her handkerchief. Her husband, Mayor Bradford, sat next to her, patting her back consolingly. His wife looked up, her eyes red, her cheeks stained with tears.
“My baby! Please, find my son! Find him! I can’t live… like this!” She sobbed. “Please. God knows, how my poor baby is. I wonder if he has even been fed. He must be crying for me.”
Her husband sighed and wiped his own tears. “I am looking, my love.” he whispered.
“My baby. My poor, poor baby! He is so small, so very small! Please, God, have some mercy. Hear the suffering of this mother. Give me my child back!” Anne broke into sobs again, collapsing on the floor.
“Please, my baby. My baby.” She wept.
Chapter 7
Dominique
He finally managed to find a small cave on the mountains bordering the forest. It was far enough that no one would come here. The cave itself was dry and warm. It was late in the night when the baby was carefully shifted to the cave. They had to make sure no one was monitoring the cabin; the council members had been behaving aggressively all day.
They had just managed to get the baby comfortable and settled down when a crackling of thunder woke it up. The little thing cried as Isabella wrapped it up in more clothes and tried to soothe it. Dominique looked outside where it was now raining heavily.
“Aye, this baby is more trouble than it’s worth,” Dominque said, groaning.
“Then leave. I will look after him myself,” Isabella said.
“You seem to have made a strong bond with the pup in such a little time. Suspicious if you ask me,” Dominque said, without turning around.
“Hence, no one asked you,” Isabella snapped back. Dominique had to suppress a laugh; she was feisty. She was truly very beautiful, but he was really starting to enjoy her fiery personality. She stood ready to fight in front of the entire pack and even stood up to Taylor. He liked how she was strong and brave. He had never particularly liked weak and vulnerable women.
“I was six when the great battle happened. Say what you want to say about my father, but he was a great father. I don’t remember much, but what little I remember…”
Isabella paused for few seconds and said softly, “I… remember him crying as he held me in his lap. I was so sick. He was always worried that I would die, or the pack would find me and kill me. This pup may have parents too, and they would be crying for their child if they are alive. Just like Dad did, they must be crying for their child.”
Dominque didn’t know why, but his heart gave a painful twinge. He suppressed it, he didn’t want to feel any sympathy for her. No matter what she said, she was still a traitor’s daughter. The traitor who revealed their location and led the humans straight to them. He had lost his father in that battle, saving his pack. A pack that the traitor doomed.
“You seem to see yourself in the pup,” Dominque stated.
